technojunkie Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 OK so in honor of the upcoming 6.0 release and Xen integration (and the fact that I've been noodling with this idea for years) I started shopping around for new hardware for a server I shall now dub Megamind. Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X9DR3-F-O Processors: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2609 Memory: 4x Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600 Case: NORCO RPC-3216 Sata Controller (Optional): SASLP-MV8 Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 Approx Cost: $2700 Rationale: My purpose behind this server is to build a 'House Computer'. Obviously the starting point is unRAID, but I have several virtual servers running on a separate server for various extra services. I want to expand this to include virtualized XBMC/SteamOS machines as well. I selected a dual socket motherboard because of the extra PCI-E lanes (3 x16 + 3 x8). This means I can install 3 or 4 video cards plus a saslp card. (Spacing would get tight if I needed to go that far, so liquid cooling might be required) The CPUs were selected as a tradeoff between performance and cost. This starts me at 8 2.5 GHz cores, and later when processors come down a bit in price I could get faster clocks or more cores. The memory is a starting point, there's room for plenty more. I limited the case to 16 drives for 2 reasons. (This setup could easily exceed 20 drives) First my usage pattern doesn't absolutely require 20 drives, In 3 years I have only used 50% of my 12TB. Drives are growing faster than I can fill them. Second, using only the SAS connectors onboard and on my saslp card I use 16 ports. The power supply is the challenge. I selected a PSU that could support 3 decent video cards and have power leftover for 16 drives and 2 CPUs ...More to come... Quote Link to comment
Dephcon Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I would avoid EVGA power supplies, they've had less than great reviews at HardOCP and jonnyguru. Enermax is probably your best bet for >1000W, they also have an AC cord retention clip that I'm sorely missing on my Seasonic unit. I've accidentally unplugged my ESX setup a couple of times while wheeling my new case around. http://www.enermaxusa.com/psu_emr1350ewt.php Quote Link to comment
technojunkie Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 Thanks for the heads up. The enermax supply you linked appears to be out of stock both at newegg and the enermax page on amazon, could it have been discontinued? Quote Link to comment
Dephcon Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Not that I know of. Take a look at any of these brands' high wattage selection: Seasonic, Corsair, XFX, Enermax, PC Power and Cooling. I'm more worried about running three video cards in that case! Airflow may become an issue. Quote Link to comment
kwiksilver Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I would avoid EVGA power supplies, they've had less than great reviews at HardOCP and jonnyguru. Enermax is probably your best bet for >1000W, they also have an AC cord retention clip that I'm sorely missing on my Seasonic unit. I've accidentally unplugged my ESX setup a couple of times while wheeling my new case around. http://www.enermaxusa.com/psu_emr1350ewt.php http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=349 That evga 1300w has great reviews from johnnyguru. I'd put it in my rig before an enermax. Quote Link to comment
Dephcon Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 I was referring to their previous "SuperNOVA" generation, apparently they've made some improvements with the G2. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.