Upgrade/downgrade.

[Jason Evans]

I am in the market to upgrade/downgrade/ idk? I am looking for guidance and help choosing a few items, mainly mobo, and cpu. I have been searching and searching. I would like to go the xeon route with an integrated gpu so I can spin up VMs and test minor graphical games (mainly mobile) using NOX, and Bluestacks. My system cannot handle that currently. I have a Dell Poweredge C2100, Those specs match what I have exactly. I have a case I want to transfer most of the drives to and use. I will be moving in Aug and don't have room to house a server blade anymore. With that case in mind, I think I can fit all my drives in there with a few tweaks.

My goals are a new mobo or used (ebay) CPU used. Trying to keep cost down, and as you can see with the Dell I dont mind using used server grade stuff.

EDIT: I forgot to post my HDD's. I have 12 HGST 2TB drives I got from ebay, and 2 Intel SSD's, one for boot and one for jails, also from ebay. (very cheap SSD's)

1.Xeon with integrated GPU
2.mobo that has a few slots for the drives, cause I was thinking I could take out the perc H200 and reuse it? It's already flashed to IT mode.
3. Retain my ECC ram, 32GB will be perfectly fine for my current storage.

Things I have to re-(use). That NZXT case, an EVGA gold rated 650w PSU, HD's in Dell blade, perc H200 raid card, the cables from the sever blade?

I am an open book for suggestions, DO's, DON'T's etc. And is this even doable?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post :)

EDIT:

HERE is the link to my official build thread.

 

[pro lamer]

3. Retain my ECC ram

TL;DR - is it RDIMM or UDIMM?

Since ark.intel.com says that only Xeon that supports integrated graphics and DDR3 is E3...

EDIT: Maybe AMD Opteron /Opteron APUs support ECC? Some people in this forum warn against AMD base platforms due to some compatibility issues but some others use AMD based systems...

 

[Inxsible]

1.Xeon with integrated GPU

Generally any Xeon ending in xxx5 usually has an integrated GPU. So E3-1225 or E3-1245. You neeed to make sure that it goes with the board you select. Because those CPUs have v1 to v6 and most have different sockets. I know v1 and v2 fit the same socket as long as BIOS is upgraded in most mobos.

Retain my ECC ram

This is most important because RAM tends to be expensive. As @pro lamer mentioned, you need to list what RAM you have (RDIMM, UDIMM etc) so that we can find corresponding boards and CPUs

 

[Chris Moore]

1.Xeon with integrated GPU

You wouldn't be able to pass the integrated GPU to a VM. You need a discreet video card to use pass-through.

TL;DR - is it RDIMM or UDIMM?

In that server, it should be RDIMM, so he will need a Xeon E5 system board to use the existing memory.

 

[Chris Moore]

Things I have to re-(use). That NZXT case, an EVGA gold rated 650w PSU, HD's in Dell blade, perc H200 raid card, the cables from the sever blade?

You might want to take a look at the list of parts I put together for this user:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459293

Some of the items I listed for him, you won't need, but the system board and CPU would be an ideal fit for the case you have and allow you to re-use the RAM you already have. Take a look and see what you think.

 

[pro lamer]

You might want to take a look at the list of parts I put together for this user:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459293

Very quiet. I use this model on two of my systems. It is only slightly louder than the Noctua cooler I have.

Dynatron R27 Side Fan CPU Cooler 3U for Intel Socket LGA2011 (Narrow ILM)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dynatron-R...Intel-Socket-LGA2011-Narrow-ILM-/401284811045

I like quiet ones! ;) Thanks from me, I may need it in future!

 

[Jason Evans]

TL;DR - is it RDIMM or UDIMM?

Since ark.intel.com says that only Xeon that supports integrated graphics and DDR3 is E3...

EDIT: Maybe AMD Opteron /Opteron APUs support ECC? Some people in this forum warn against AMD base platforms due to some compatibility issues but some others use AMD based systems...

Here is my exact Ram

Generally any Xeon ending in xxx5 usually has an integrated GPU. So E3-1225 or E3-1245. You neeed to make sure that it goes with the board you select. Because those CPUs have v1 to v6 and most have different sockets. I know v1 and v2 fit the same socket as long as BIOS is upgraded in most mobos.

Awesome, ty.

This is most important because RAM tends to be expensive. As @pro lamer mentioned, you need to list what RAM you have (RDIMM, UDIMM etc) so that we can find corresponding boards and CPUs

You wouldn't be able to pass the integrated GPU to a VM. You need a discreet video card to use pass-through.

Ah shoot, ok. So I have a crappy gpu I can use, like 1 gb card. Would be more than enough for my needs I am guessing. TY for that.

In that server, it should be RDIMM, so he will need a Xeon E5 system board to use the existing memory.

Link to my Ram

You might want to take a look at the list of parts I put together for this user:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459293

Some of the items I listed for him, you won't need, but the system board and CPU would be an ideal fit for the case you have and allow you to re-use the RAM you already have. Take a look and see what you think.

Great list and within my budget, which I had forgot to mention. Wanted to keep around the 200-300 range. That being said without being able to pass through the integrated GPU, I have an dedicated sitting around I can use.
You guys are great, and thanks for posting these suggestions. Now, I took another look at my cabling situation, and I need to get new ones. So something coming from the drives going into the Raid card. Any suggestions there?

 

[Chris Moore]

Now, I took another look at my cabling situation, and I need to get new ones. So something coming from the drives going into the Raid card. Any suggestions there?

EDIT: I forgot to post my HDD's. I have 12 HGST 2TB drives I got from ebay, and 2 Intel SSD's, one for boot and one for jails, also from ebay. (very cheap SSD's)

So, the system board I pointed you at has two SATA III ports (the white ones), four SATA II ports, close to the SATA III ports and a little over from that it has four more ports that are called SCA ports. I would suggest connecting 8 of the data drives to the SAS controller and the other 4 data drives to the SATA ports with the two SSD drives connected to the SATA III ports for the speed. Unless you want to get a SAS expander card to connect all the drives (other than boot drives) to the SAS controller. A SAS expander isn't a lot of money, but it does cost and there is some additional cabling to buy. Want to look?

Have a look at this post for cable suggestion:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459302

 

[Jason Evans]

So, the system board I pointed you at has two SATA III ports (the white ones), four SATA II ports, close to the SATA III ports and a little over from that it has four more ports that are called SCA ports. I would suggest connecting 8 of the data drives to the SAS controller and the other 4 data drives to the SATA ports with the two SSD drives connected to the SATA III ports for the speed. Unless you want to get a SAS expander card to connect all the drives (other than boot drives) to the SAS controller. A SAS expander isn't a lot of money, but it does cost and there is some additional cabling to buy. Want to look?

Have a look at this post for cable suggestion:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459302

Oh ok, good read. Pretty cheap. Think I'm on my way to getting everything approved through the wife.

Ty again.

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[Chris Moore]

Oh ok, good read. Pretty cheap. Think I'm on my way to getting everything approved through the wife.

Ty again.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

This is the SAS expander I was talking about.
You can connect this to the SAS HBA you already have and it would expand the 8 port capacity of the card to 16 ports:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-46M0997-ServeRAID-Expansion-Adapter-16-Port-SAS-Expander-/292396656286

There are two ports on this card marked input that connect to the SAS controller and four 'output' ports that you connect the forward breakout cables to going to the drives.

This is the kind of cable you need to connect between the SAS controller and the SAS expander:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Internal-Mini-SAS-to-Mini-SAS-Cable-NEW-SEALED-15-INCHES/352129800027

You can run from just one cable, but having both cables installed between the HBA and the expander gives you more bandwidth. Unless you are using 10Gb networking, you will probably never notice.

 

[Chris Moore]

PS. I was Army Infantry from 1991 to 1995.

 

[Jason Evans]

This is the SAS expander I was talking about.
You can connect this to the SAS HBA you already have and it would expand the 8 port capacity of the card to 16 ports:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-46M0997-ServeRAID-Expansion-Adapter-16-Port-SAS-Expander-/292396656286

There are two ports on this card marked input that connect to the SAS controller and four 'output' ports that you connect the forward breakout cables to going to the drives.

This is the kind of cable you need to connect between the SAS controller and the SAS expander:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Internal-Mini-SAS-to-Mini-SAS-Cable-NEW-SEALED-15-INCHES/352129800027

You can run from just one cable, but having both cables installed between the HBA and the expander gives you more bandwidth. Unless you are using 10Gb networking, you will probably never notice.

That seems like the better way to go. I'll just need to see about pci lanes and bandwidth since I'll the pci-e populated with the gpu. I do plan to go 10 GB in the future as I decide to expand my home network. I love how cheap this stuff is. But it adds up.

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[Jason Evans]

PS. I was Army Infantry from 1991 to 1995.

Ty for your service. I was a combat Engineer from 99 to 09.

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[Chris Moore]

Ty for your service. I was a combat Engineer from 99 to 09.

Thank You. I always appreciated the manual labor the attached Combat Engineer unit saved us by using the equipment they had.

 

[Chris Moore]

I was thinking I could take out the perc H200 and reuse it?

This is the only thing that takes PCIe lanes. The expander gets all the data through the cables. It only plugs into a card slot for power.
If you really wanted to save the slot for something else, you could use one of these jobs to power the card:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/M-2-to-PCI...Riser-Card-VGA-Extension-Cable-1/322923171579
It doesn't need to connect to the system board at all. Just power.

 

[Jason Evans]

Thank You. I always appreciated the manual labor the attached Combat Engineer unit saved us by using the equipment they had.

Definitely. The ACE when it ran, was an amazing machine.

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[Jason Evans]

This is the only thing that takes PCIe lanes. The expander gets all the data through the cables. It only plugs into a card slot for power.
If you really wanted to save the slot for something else, you could use one of these jobs to power the card:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/M-2-to-PCI...Riser-Card-VGA-Extension-Cable-1/322923171579
It doesn't need to connect to the system board at all. Just power.

Ahh. I might be set without that. Looking at the mobo you linked. I only really need pci-e. I am going to do a mock up today with these extra parts I've got laying around just to see how the hard drives are going to work. I'll post up some pics when I do so that way folks here can get a visual of this Frankenstein re-build lol

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[Jason Evans]

You might want to take a look at the list of parts I put together for this user:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/new-freenas-build.64095/#post-459293

Some of the items I listed for him, you won't need, but the system board and CPU would be an ideal fit for the case you have and allow you to re-use the RAM you already have. Take a look and see what you think.

Sorry for the delay on this upgrade guys, I am ready to pull the trigger finally. My area got hit hard with hail right around the time I was wanting to get everything for this upgrade. Well what sucks is several of the items are sold out, so I am have been looking for similar or the exact items. Think I lost my chance on the mobo used. So it looks like I might need to get new, unless another model will work the same. I am putting the list in the cart at ebay now so see what my total is. I didn't even get to do a mock up yet. Insurance for the house and my vehicle have been backed up, and kind of a nightmare to deal with. Probably 75k in dmg to the hosue, and my car that was outside has a ton of water in it, and is most likely a total loss.

 

[Inxsible]

Insurance for the house and my vehicle have been backed up, and kind of a nightmare to deal with. Probably 75k in dmg to the hosue, and my car that was outside has a ton of water in it, and is most likely a total loss.

Ouch !! Nightmare to deal with it !

Hope you get through the insurance muck fairly quickly. Good Luck !

 

[Chris Moore]

Well what sucks is several of the items are sold out, so I am have been looking for similar or the exact items.

I will update the list for you.

Insurance for the house and my vehicle have been backed up, and kind of a nightmare to deal with. Probably 75k in dmg to the hosue, and my car that was outside has a ton of water in it, and is most likely a total loss.

Sorry about the storm damage. Good luck with the insurance.