Which Supermicro X10/11 Board?


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I currently run the following system and it's been brilliant for many years now, but with the ever expanding features of unRAID it's time to upgrade. I made the mistake of not buying enough memory the first time around and to get compatible modules I have to pay silly money.

 

I love the IPMI feature as the machine sits in a rack under the stairs in a locked cupboard in a headless environment.

 

I'm wanting to go the xeon route again but with modern hardware. The X9SCM was widely recommended/used last time around and would like to know what the equivalent modern version is.

 

I run x2 AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 for my HDDs, so these still need to be compatible.

 

I don't need things like HD audio, m.2 and form factor doesn't matter (unless it's compromised). Other than that I just need a beefier xeon processor and more memory for my VMs.

 

 

Thanks

 

Quote
M/B: Supermicro - X9SCL/X9SCM
CPU: Intel® Xeon® CPU E3-1220 V2 @ 3.10GHz
HVM: Enabled
IOMMU: Enabled
Cache: 256 kB, 1024 kB, 8192 kB
Memory: 8.0078125 GB (max. installable capacity 32 GB)
Network: bond0: IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic link aggregation, mtu 1500 
 eth0: 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, mtu 1500 
 eth1: 1000 Mb/s, full duplex, mtu 1500
Kernel: Linux 4.9.30-unRAID x86_64

 

Edited by Ockingshay
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12 minutes ago, uldise said:

what you would expect from as you say more modern setup?

i think, your setup is fine, add more RAM if you run many VMs/Dockers..

 

The system is starting to choke.

 

The CPU only has 4 cores and can easily hit 100%.

8GB of memory shared across dockers/VMs isn't enough

I've run out of sata ports if i want to play around with cache pools

 

I would rather spend money on moving to a newer platform, than spend money on an outdated platform. For me, the most expensive part of unRAID is the HDDs. As i have all those now, i can indulge on the mobo/CPU side.

 

Im looking potentially for 4/6 cores with 8/12 threads, 32GB memory, more sata ports, maybe even faster NIC infrastructure.

 

This isn't small build by any means, i have 14 disks, 2 parity, 2 cache and a whole load of dockers/VMs. This server runs my entire house & business, from CCTV to Plex to OS X server and many things in-between.

Edited by Ockingshay
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i have very same MB with E3-1230 v2 with 32GB RAM as my test server now - it was on production, but i was out of PCIe slots, then i downgraded to dual CPU X8 gen MB. 

can you tell which apps/VMs are eating your CPU? Plex for transcodes? if you go with 4c/8t CPU, addition will be very small, may be max 20%. cos HT is no a full core...

if CPU usage is an issue, you should then look at Dual CPU combo...

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thanks,

 

The more i look into it, the 6 Core Xeon E5-1650 v4 Broadwell with something like a SuperMicro MBD-X10SRI-F seems to be a common pairing. The platform however is around a year old, and i need to look if v5 skyline is likely to happen.

 

I've never looked into going down the dual CPU route. let me do some research :)

 

Plex is definitely an issue. I have used CPU pinning for various dockers and know which ones max out. The lack of cores is definitely choking the server. Memory is more of an issue with VMs, and i kick myself not having bought more at the time.

 

Edited by Ockingshay
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8 minutes ago, uldise said:

then it all depends on your budget :)

Intel Xeon E5-1650 v4 @ 3.60GHz is about 14200 passmarks, your current Intel Xeon E3-1220 V2 @ 3.10GHz is about 6500, so jump a bit more twice.. very nice. but it all depends on usage, so tell us about your current CPU usage..

 

I do like that CPU, and i'm very tempted to put 2 of those in a Supermicro DP Xeon motherboard. Price is not really too much of an issue, if it's worth it. It all goes against the business and i either spend it on a server or give it to the tax man :)

 

The mobos also have dual 10GbE, which is appealing.

 

How does dual CPU scale? Is it as simple have having twice the resources or is it like GPUs with the diminishing returns? I'm thinking because we're talking about individual dockers/VM where the Cores can be assigned it will scale nicely?

Edited by Ockingshay
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The clock speed is much lower on that cpu family. Things like plex work off frequency, rather than total number of cores i believe.

 

Also, is passmark is working off the assumption of scalability in one operating system, where as in an unRAID docker environment, there are several independent systems allowing the pinning of cores independently? 

 

What appeals to me is having the ability to assign cpu cores to individual dockers/VMs to maintain a stable system. I think having lower clock speeds will generally slow the system down, as although i have more cores to give, they run at a slower frequency.

 

I'm talking about the sensibly priced E5s here :) £1500+ each on a CPU is definitely not worth it.

Edited by Ockingshay
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44 minutes ago, Ockingshay said:

I'm talking about the sensibly priced E5s here :) £1500+ each on a CPU is definitely not worth it.

as i said, it's all about budget :)

i go X8 generation route cos of budget - you can get used hardware for very cheap. my [Dual CPU] Intel Xeon X5680 @ 3.33GHz have 13800 pasmarks only, but it gives me 7 x8 PCIe slots. i have plex docker running, but i'm avoiding transcodes at all :) 

 

as for i7 vs Xeon - it basically the same, in Xeon you can run ECC RAM, not sure about i7..

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My ISP's upload speed is actually causing more CPU usage as it has to transcode my 1080p to 720p. That plus a busy household, there can easily be 3/4 transcodes going simultaneously. Plex hasn't actually been too much of a problem, but it if plex is running flat out there is very little headroom for the remaining services, hence this upgrade.

 

AMD's new thread ripper looks interesting, now doesn't seem a good time to buy and i can wait and see how this affects the xeon apple cart.

 

Thanks for your help.

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