(EDIT: should have posted to the Good Deals! thread ... sorry ... anyone know how to change this post?)

 

I just bought a used (off-lease) HP P4500 from a server refurbish place (http://www.deltaserverstore.com/contact-us.html) (they're in Toronto).  Reasonable prices (I'm a customer and have no affiliation with them, this is just a recommendation).  I'm REALLY happy with my new machine (note it's only been up now for 12 hours ATTOW).

 

(Remember to ask for a controller (Host Bus Adapter) that's in IT mode, not the usual RAID one)

 

Including taxes and shipping, approx $740 CDN.  Would have picked it up if I was closer (I'm in Ottawa).  I've now got ...

 

• 12 cores (24 threads)
• 64 GB ram (ddr3)
• 12 - 3.5 inch bays for SAS or SATA disks
• VT-d supported Xeon CPUs (I'm planning on migrating my dedicated Plex server into it, so I can't say yet "for sure" it works or not)
• And I just added  a 500 GB NVME disk for VMs in an 16x slot.  I've got two 8x slots left on a riser (1 for the controller and the other for an nVidia video card) for passthrough.
• This one is LOUD though.  Gotta build a shroud to mask the noise.  WAY louder than the IBM M1 (below).  

 

My old machine was (still is for a bit) ...

 

• an IBM x3650 M1 with an LSI 9201-8i in IT mode
• 6x 4 TB 3.5 inch disks (the remaining two disks are in an external chassis connected via SAS to SATA cables
• 32 GB ddr2 ram
• 8 CPUs (not hyperthread)
• This machine works OK, dockers are pretty responsive and Unix VMs too, but windows VM are a bit luggy (yes, that's a word).
• Oh, and I did have to fiddle to find a USB key that would been seen at boot time.  But it does work.
• Oh yea, and on this older hardware, the boot time is like 5 minutes (it gets stuck at BZROOT (or something like that).  The new machine boots very normally.

 

What I really want for Christmas is the Cisco server with 44 cores (88 threads).  Pricier though.  They have a bunch of servers for 2.5 disks (if you got a bunch sitting around).  But that won't really help most of us with out collections of old SATA 3.5s.

 

Woo Hoo unRaid!  For all your HomeLab needs!

Edited November 8, 20214 yr by agau02

1 hour ago, agau02 said:

(EDIT: should have posted to the Good Deals! thread ... sorry ... anyone know how to change this post?)

 

Moved

Nice! I'll have to give them a try. I've never had luck getting anything in the west here. This looks like a good option.

Yea i love that place ive got like 3 off them so far. Super nice guys.

I picked up a Dell PowerEdge T610 from them. Delivered quickly and working fine. Had to change the controller and make a few tweaks. But it is now running Unraid and I am transferring about 60TB of data onto this, for me, new server.

I have been watching Delta Servers on eBay - very interesting.  But I'm very confused which H/W option is right for me.  Sorry, been away from the H/W game for a very long time.  I'm seeking a SFF inexpensive and quiet unit for home (deploy in office/bedroom) that I will install Unraid on.  The Dell Poweredge T4XX and Lenovo ThinkServer TS4XX series are interesting, but concerned that their controller cards may interfere with Unraid HDD (I have SATA not SAS HDDs) access (need to research).  

4 hours ago, bluewater said:

I have been watching Delta Servers on eBay - very interesting.  But I'm very confused which H/W option is right for me.  Sorry, been away from the H/W game for a very long time.  I'm seeking a SFF inexpensive and quiet unit for home (deploy in office/bedroom) that I will install Unraid on.  The Dell Poweredge T4XX and Lenovo ThinkServer TS4XX series are interesting, but concerned that their controller cards may interfere with Unraid HDD (I have SATA not SAS HDDs) access (need to research).  

• Lolight's comment about use-case is important. Enterprise level gear is materially different than consumer level stuff.
• Noise level can surprise you. In that they are generally NOT quiet. Most rack mount units (not the models you indicated) are very, very loud. ... https://techmikeny.com/blogs/techtalk/techmike-s-server-guide-how-loud-will-my-server-be. I installed an HP server in my basement and could hear it 2 floors away before building a box for it. But you get WAY more performance for the $$$ from older enterprise machines (newer ones are stupid expensive).
• Keep in mind the type of disks you already own and will want to put into it ... LFF (3.5 inch) v. SFF (2.5 inch) disks. Most enterprise machines support SFF only (it's a physical thing). I use seven 4TB WD Red SATA LFF and three 1TB LFF SAS disks in my machine (SATA and SAS can both be used on enterprise machines ... usually).
• Normally, controllers that ship with enterprise machines require all disks to be part of a raid array, these should be avoided. Replace the controller with a non-raid HBA (host bus adapter). Lots of talk on that topic for you to find.
• Lastly, pay attention to the virtualisation capabilities to pass hardware though to VMs and Dockers. Most frequent use-case for this is video cards.  I think machines that have DDR4 or better will likely be modern enough for this to be a non-issue.

I started with UnRaid on old Pentium desktop hardware with 4 disks I had lying around. I migrated to an IBM server and then to a larger HP. At each step I learned more about what I could use it for. My suggestion is start with as cheap a setup you can find until you figure out what you want to do with it. The UnRaid license is external to the machine and with a bit of planning, moving to new hardware is relatively painless. My machine (specs above) cost $700 CDN in 2021.

 

 

1 hour ago, agau02 said:

• Lolight's comment about use-case is important. Enterprise level gear is materially different than consumer level stuff.

I have deleted my response since at the time of writing I wasn't aware of @bluewater comment in another thread saying that a DIY system is not an option.