Time to upgrade my original LimeTech machines - what to use?

[hawihoney]

I own two original LimeTech machines from 2007/2008. Both machines are used mainly as NAS storages and hold 40TB/50TB. The first machine has a dead motherboard, so I decided to replace these parts of both machines:

 

- Motherboard

- CPU + cooler (I do prefer the Intel platform)

- RAM

- Controller cards

- Power

 

These are the machines:

 

- The first one is a MD-1500/LL with 15 drives and an external eSATA connector. Motherboard is an Micro-ATX ASUS P5B VM DO (9.6"x9.6").

 

- The second one is a MD-1510/LL with 15 drives and an external eSATA connector. Motherboard is an ATX Supermicro C2SEA (12.0"x9.6").

 

What would be a modern upgrade for a Micro-ATX and a ATX board?

 

Many thanks in advance. Any help is highly appreciated.

 

[garycase]

Is your intention to still just use them as NAS appliances, or do you plan to run VM's and/or Dockers in v6?

 

That will impact just how much CPU "horsepower" you might want to get and how much RAM.

 

As for the motherboard & controllers ... I'd be inclined to get this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G36F9435&cm_re=supermicro_x10sl7-f-_-13-182-821-_-Product

 

It has 14 SATA ports, so a simple 2-port controller will give you as many SATA ports as you have now.    If your current system has a 4-port 1430SA controller (common in those early systems) you could simply use it for one drive and the eSATA capability with no need for buying a newer controller.

 

Since the board's micro-ATX it will work fine in both of your systems.

 

I'd either get a pair of 4GB ECC modules (if usage = just NAS) or a pair of 8GB ECC modules (if VM's/Dockers are planned);  and either a Core i3 with ECC support (just NAS) or a Xeon E3 v3 series CPU (VM's/Dockers).

 

If you're not having any power issues, you likely don't need to upgrade your power supply, as the newer system will use less power than what you're replacing.    Depends on the quality of the current PSU's ... Haswell processors won't work with some older units.    If you do want to replace them, get a quality unit [Corsair AX or HX series or Seasonic X series].

 

 

[hawihoney]

Thank you very much for your answer. Are these components something that will work with unRAID and fit into my old MD-1500/LL and MD-1510/LL?

 

1.) If I look at the motherboard "Supermicro X10SL7-F retail (MBD-X10SL7-F-O)" I only see 12 SATA ports (8+4) do I need adapter cables to get 14 of my 15+1 SATA drives attached to the motherboard?

 

http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/supermicro-x10sl7-f-retail-mbd-x10sl7-f-o-a956610.html

 

 

2.) Will an "Intel Core i3-4170T, 2x 3.20GHz, boxed (BX80646I34170T)" match that board?

 

http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/intel-core-i3-4170t-bx80646i34170t-a1251044.html

 

 

3.) Memory 2x "Kingston ValueRAM DIMM 8GB, DDR3-1600, CL11, ECC (KVR16E11/8)" ok?

 

http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/kingston-valueram-dimm-8gb-kvr16e11-8-a809391.html

 

 

4.) If power will not work I would choose "Corsair Professional Series Platinum AX760 760W ATX 2.31". Ok?

 

http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/corsair-professional-series-platinum-ax760-760w-atx-2-31-cp-9020045-eu-a861372.html

 

 

5.) Oh, forgot the cooler. It's included in the boxed i3-4170T, isn't it?

 

 

What do you think?

 

Any help is highly appreciated.

 

[garycase]

That motherboard has 14 ports => 4 SATA-II, 2 SATA-III, and 8 SAS/SATA 6Gb ports from an embedded LSI 2308.

 

That processor will work very well, and is a good choice as long as you don't need I/O pass-through (vt-d) support.    To get that, you'd want to use a Xeon.

 

The memory's fine.

 

The power supply you listed is an excellent choice.

 

And yes, the cooler is included with the CPU.

 

[hawihoney]

Thank you very much.

 

[hawihoney]

Additional question:

 

The Intel i3-4170T is not available currently. Would the boxed version of an older Intel i3-4130T work as well with the Motherboard, RAM and Power listed above.

 

In my 15 drive system, I only need NAS functionality.

 

Thanks a lot.

 

[Chugiak]

The Intel ARK database has all the information you can imagine for their processors.  This is a comparison page showing the specs of each of those processors:

 

http://ark.intel.com/compare/77481,81209

 

It looks like the only difference between the two is that the i3-4170T has a 10% clock increase and has the AES Secure Key instructions.  Assuming the AES secure key isn't required then the i3-4130T should do exactly what you want the i3-4170T to do.

[garycase]

As noted, the 4130T will work just fine.    The performance will be about 8% lower than a 4170T, but that's not enough to matter -- and is still far more than you need for basic NAS functionality.

 

 

[mr-hexen]

You could even go cheaper with a Celeron. It runs my setup just fine (no VM's). This includes several dockers and a Plex system

[hawihoney]

Thank you very much.

 

[garycase]

Unless the cost is an issue, I wouldn't drop down to a Celeron.    The i3 you're looking at has 50% more processing power than a G series Celeron, so you'll have a lot of extra "headroom".    Also, if you DO decide to use a Celeron, be sure to get one with ECC support, so you can take advantage of the features of your motherboard.    No reason to have a fault tolerant server and not use fault-tolerant memory 

 

 

[hawihoney]

Sorry, an additional question:

 

According to the Supermicro Motherboard Users Guide, the 8 SAS ports on the motherboard, have the same pin layout as the SATA ports. Can I put my SATA cables/drives into these SAS ports without adapter cables? If no, what adapter cables do I need?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[uldise]

Sorry, an additional question:

 

According to the Supermicro Motherboard Users Guide, the 8 SAS ports on the motherboard, have the same pin layout as the SATA ports. Can I put my SATA cables/drives into these SAS ports without adapter cables? If no, what adapter cables do I need?

 

Thanks in advance.

No, you will need breakout cables - one cable will split one SAS connector to 4 SATA connectors.

Edit: No need for breakout cables, thanks Gary for correcting my mistake..

[hawihoney]

Hmm, now I'm lost.

 

The motherboard manual says, that all 14 ports (SATA and SAS) have the same pin layout (see attachment). My first idea was to connect 14 drives with my standard SATA cables to these 14 SATA/SAS ports.

 

I thought that this might be possible, because an answer to the following StackExchange questions says, that SATA drives can connect to SAS ports directly:

 

http://serverfault.com/questions/510442/how-exactly-does-a-sas-sff-8087-breakout-cable-work-raid-connection-questions

 

You say that I need adapter cables.

 

What's correct?

 

 

 

My older original LimeTechnology Tower has an "ASUS P5B VM DO" motherboard and two "PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II (3.0Gb/s) 4-Port Adapter". These 15 ports go directly 1:1 to my 5in3 cages.

[garycase]

You do NOT need breakout cables with that board.    The ports all use standard SATA connections, including the additional 8 SAS ports from the LSI chip.

 

 

[hawihoney]

Again, thanks a lot for all your help.

 

 

[hawihoney]

My intial thought was to use my old SATA cards from my original LimeTech MD1500/LL build. I was wrong.

 

These Promise TX4 SATA 300 cards do not fit into my new Supermicro X10SL7-F motherboard.

 

The X10SL7-F motherboard has 14 onboard SATA/SAS connectors. I need at least 2 additional ports for the 15th drive and an additional eSATA port. So, with 2-drive parity around the corner, I will need a third port.

 

What 4-port SATA cards will work seamless with this motherboard without flashing any parts?

 

Any help is highly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[garycase]

You need a PCIe card (the TX4 is PCI).

 

This would work nicely:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124060