SuperMicro Hot-Swap Server - $300

[ere109]

This home server is as much valued for the case as the motherboard (maybe more). The X6 motherboard is EXCELLENT as a personal file server, and I've been able to use it with two cameras in Zoneminder, but that's the extent of its current reach. Ultimately, this is a great STARTER system for someone who just wants to try FreeNAS / TrueNAS with minimal investment. The good news is that a user could easily upgrade the motherboard at a later time and build upon a tremendous chassis and keep their drives/config. So what am I selling?
One SuperMicro SC742 hot swap chassis - with seven built-in hot-swap SATA drive cages plus four 5.25" expansion bays - combined with the SM X6DH8-G Server Motherboard that features IDE interface, SATA interface, and Ultra SCSI 320 Interface. Next come two additional hot-swap SATA drive cages, and redundant power supplies. This rack server is currently running the latest version of TrueNAS, and makes a great Windows SMB file server or Apple AFP / Time Machine setup, but could also take on roles as a PLEX Media Server or Zoneminder security server, and could easily transition over to FREENAS, UnRAID or Ubuntu Server. For the asking price, I'll include the server rails and all hard drives. I'm located in DENVER, but would help work out shipping.

FEATURES:
SC742 chassis (CSE-742T-650)
* 7 x 3.5" hot swap SATA hard drive bays
* 2 x add-on hot-swap drives
* 4 x 5.25" drive bays
* 9 installed SATA drives (250GB - 2TB)
* 1 installed SSD boot drive
* 1 Sony 3.5" floppy drive
* 1 DVD Burner
* triple redundant power supplies
* 7 Solid aluminum hard drive tray caddies w/light pipes

* 4U height Super Micro X6DH8-G Server Motherboard https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/archive/Xeon800/E7520/X6DH8-G.cfm
* Dual 64-bit Intel Xeon 3.0ghz Processors with two threads each
* 8GB DDR 333MHZ RAM (expandable to 32GB)
* 2 (x8) PCI-Express Ports
* Dual gigabit NIC's
* Ultra SCSI 320 Interface
* 2 x IDE connector
* 2 x SATA connector
* 1 floppy disk conroller
* IPMI add-on card (AOC-IPMI20-E) - fully activated
* Built-in ATI RageXL Graphics Processor
* USB 2.0

 

[Ericloewe]

I don't want to be rude, but it's this a joke thread? It's massively obsolete hardware. Why are you advertising Parallel SCSI as a feature?
The chassis may be usable, but I have some doubts that it's better than getting something more modern.

 

[olddog9]

Hello ere109,

That is a cool old system. I bet it was top-of-the-line equipment when it was new. From your post it is rather obvious you have good memories from using this workhorse system.

Over this years, I've had to finally accept the fact that I kept too much old stuff. All of it was still functional & useful, but new stuff was smaller, faster, consumed less power, and offered more features for less money. Other than fostering nostalgic memories, the operational life was over for my old equipment. I could try to find a local computer museum, but that did not appeal to me. Eventually I jettisoned a lot of old equipment; 10 platter removable disk packs (remember those ?) that weighed maybe 10 pounds, donated to a job program an old quad processor Sparc workstation, DEC Alpha workstation, cables galore, and lots of other STUFF.

Even now ... once in while ... I wished I had kept & preserved a item or two. Maybe mounted a special circuit board in a picture frame (a novel conversation piece) or repurposed some other equipment in a retro cool way.

This may sound like heresy ... ( !! ) ... but as I look at your photos and see those fans on VERY large COPPER heat sinks ... I bet you could sell those for a $100 each. Yes, I'm thinking salvage .... cannibalize this loved machine for parts. You might get more money selling off parts, than taking a single offer from someone who does not know, understand, or respect the history of your Supermicro system.

Eric is correct ... that the chassis is still useful ... and could be repurposed for another job ... with NEW power supply, motherboard, and disk controllers. Its a thought ... Think of it as similar to creating the bionic man ... we'll rebuild him faster, stronger, smarter.

good luck

olddog9

 

[ere109]

Thanks Olddog. You've hit my struggle, precisely: I still WANT this machine to serve a purpose. I used it as a Direct Attached Storage for a while, and it did really well. But I continually spent little bits of money to make this do everything I needed (like adding an LSI 9207 with an HP expander), and I finally realized I could have purchased the "right" chassis for my needs and eliminated all of the extra piecemeal bits. I upgraded to a SuperMicro 836 chassis with 22 drives, and this machine has been gathering dust in the basement - next to my Compaq 286 and Apple Power PC.
I want to declutter, but the thought of throwing away these systems that STILL WORK is really troubling.
But you're also right that someone would need a great deal of vision to make real use of this system, today. It's ready to be a DAS, right now, or someone could put an X10-generation board in and have a solid hot-swap server - but most would be inclined to buy a newer chassis to start everything fresh.
I'll have a heart-to-heart with myself and consider options - unless that buyer clicks in soon.