BUILD SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O Which i3?

[kjp4756]

I'm picking up a supermicro mdb-x10sll-f-o with 16GB RAM to build a server to replace the old beast I have in my signature. What I have right now currently works for what I need however the power usage is quite high. I run plex and deluge in jails. CPU has never been an issue nor has the amount of RAM. I also have 2 macs that use time machine shares via AFP. HDD read/write performance is a bit slow but it is faster than a USB2 HDD.

I'm guessing a current haswell i3 will be faster than the old xeons that I have now. The question is; which i3 should I go with? I'm confused between the 4100 and 4300 series. The only difference I can see is the onboard video is different. Is that the only difference? I also don't want a haswell refresh CPU. It seems you require the latest BIOS for that and there is a good chance the supermicro motherboard won't ship with the required BIOS.

 

[pschatz100]

As you noted, the graphics are different. The internal L3 cache is also a bit larger on the 4300. For the applications you mentioned, I doubt the differences would be significant.

I would not choose a low power "T" version. NAS cpu's spend most of their time idling or in a low power state, and all Intel cpu's in a given family use about the same amount of power when at idle - so you will not gain anything by purchasing a "T" cpu.

 

[kjp4756]

Good info, thanks! I was actually considering the T series up until now. So the 4150 would be a good choice then? I think that is from the 1st gen haswell release, right? According to the intel site the 4150 was released Q2 2014. I'm hoping that won't be an issue with the supermicro board.

 

[pschatz100]

I'm not an expert on issues with Haswell processors, but the performance of a 4150 should be fine. I would be surprised if a new Supermicro board did not have support for it.

 

[Ericloewe]

Q2 2014 is Haswell Refresh. It'll need the 2.0 BIOS to work.

 

[marbus90]

i3-4130 is a safe bet.

 

[nick779]

I just got a X10SLM+-F from Newegg last month and it came with the 2.0 BIOS, cant comment on the SLL. Depending on where you source the board, its a $10 difference, but with the 224 chipset.

Also, you can get a 4150 for $2 cheaper that a 4130. The 4160 (3.6GHz) is actually on sale for $112 right now on newegg too.

 

[marbus90]

The safer bet is the 4130 becaue according to asrock there's a difference between 30, 50 and 60, the latter two requiring a new bios version.

 

[Ericloewe]

The latter two are Haswell Refresh, that's the difference.