(this page reminds me of this)

Intro

This page is to capture work in trying to come up with some system configs to order in November 2010. For more general discussion of components see the potential servers page.

cpu: xeon L34XX

The quad-core low voltage xeon L3400 series is really nice. Four cores for 30-45W is impossible to beat. This is socket LGA1156.

L3426 4 core / 8 threads 8M Cache 1.86 GHz 45W ~$300
L3406 2 core / 4 threads 4M Cache 2.26 GHz 30W ~$200

motherboard: X8SIL-F

product page
Provantage.com has it for $181

includes I/O shield part number MCP-260-00027-0N

NOTE: figuring out which RAM this board can take is sort of tricky, the board supports different capacities depending on the number of ranks on the DIMMs. Make sure to read the special note on the product page carefully. If you want to max the board out with registered ECC ram then you have to use 4 × 8gb quad ranked DIMMs, but when using quad ranked they need to run at 800. If you use 4gb dual ranked DIMMs you only get a max capacity of 16gb, but they run at 1333.

pros:

cons:

chassis: SC111LT-330CB

SC111LT-330CB – $213 from Interpro

This should support the X8SIL-F nicely, it has the same rearwindow as another chassis recommended for use with X8SIL-F. The only difference is that this model has 330 watt p/s.

rear window part number: MCP-240-11102-0N

chassis: SC113MTQ-330B

SC113MTQ-330B – $269.50

$60 more than the SC111 but 8 drive bays instead of 4. Compatible with the X8SIL-F board.

drives

both these hdd have really good gb/watt ratios, and they are the highest scoring in terms of overall performance for 2.5" disks (according to this).

memory

The mainboard page says
Up to 32GB DDR3 1333/1066/800MHz ECC Registered DIMM / 16GB Unbuffered DIMM

It’s got 4 dimms slots. 8gb DIMMs are still cost prohibitive.

The mainboard manual also lists restrictions on how the banks can be populated based on the ranking of the dimms. The sweet spot in terms of speed/size is using 4gb, dual ranked, DDR3 1333, ECC, Registered DIMMs. One pair for 8gb, two pairs for 16gb. You can go to 32gb, but then you have to use 8gb, quad ranked DIMMs and then they have to run at 800.

Crucial.com sells a couple different 2×4gb, DDR3 1333 (aka PC3-10600), ECC, Registered, dual ranked DIMMs. They have “energy efficient” ones, supposed to save 1-4W per DIMM however these may not work in the X8SIL-F, it claims to support 1.5V only (but maybe they would work if x8 ones exist?). Very Low-profile are particularly short ones, but the normal height ones fit with the 1U cases and boards we’ve been using.

In addition to that, Crucial changes the DIMMs without changing the part number. In this case some are x8 DIMMs, which work, and some are x4, which don’t. Written on the DIMMs is a longer part number with an extension on the end, but vendors like newegg don’t list this number on their page. If you call Crucial directly you can order using the longer part number. They were also willing to let use exchange the wrong type for the right type.

CT2KIT51272BB1339 – 1.5V

CT2KIT51272BV1339 – 1.5V, very low-profile, should work if they are x8
CT2KIT51272BW1339 – 1.35V, energy efficient, very low-profile, the ones we tested didn’t work, but maybe that was just because they were x4 and maybe there is an x8 version?
CT2KIT51272BQ1339 – 1.35V, energy efficient, the ones we tested didn’t work, but maybe that was just because they were x4 and maybe there is an x8 version?

According to Interpro the following will also work

Kingston KVR1333D3D8R9S/4G

In the future we plan to order that with the systems from interpro.

sourcing

When I was having problems finding some Atom D525 mainboards and asked Supermicro, they pointed me at Interpromicro.com and they seem pretty good.
I’ve been using provantage.com for ordering drives based on a recommendation from jafo@tummy.com and they have been OK and carry a bunch of Supermicro stuff.
I always use crucial.com for memory. Usually direct from them, but sometimes other vendors I’m placing an order with will carry crucial ram for the same price.

Prices (mostly from InterproMicro)

part price qty total
SC113MTQ-330B case $273.50 1 $273.50
X8SIL-F mainboard $187.95 1 $187.95
hdd $80 2 $160
ssd $120 1 $120
crucial 1×4gb RAM $132 1 $132
L3426 CPU $337.50 1 $337.50
SNK-P0046P Heatsink $29.50 1 $29.50
total $1240.45

cpu: Atom D525

Summary: the Atom based systems are half the price of the Ibex config, but half the cores, 1/4 the cache, less storage, probably less than half the wattage. If you wanted to do two of these instead of one Ibex then you’d use 2U of space. There may be situations where we’d be willing to make that trade off, examples: router, pvpn, FEWS

Various options listed on the potential servers page, but the Supermicro board is the way to go. NOTE: the product page is confusing about what RAM it uses, I mailed support and they confirmed, 2×2gb DDR3-1333 204-pin SODIMMs max.

There is a preassembled system using this board, the Supermicro 5015A-RHF-D525. Available from Interpro for $363.50.

part price qty total
system $363.50 1 $363.50
ssd $120 1 $120
memory $36 2 $72
total $555.50

Another option if we wanted hotplug is use the SC510T-200B case available from Interpro at $142.50 with the X7SPE-H-D525 board ( $213.25 from Interpro).

part price qty total
case $142.50 1 $142.50
board $213.25 1 $213.25
ssd $120 1 $120
memory $36 2 $72
total $547.75

That’s cheaper, which seems weird.

Ordering

Here’s what was ordered

Quad core, 8 disk capacity system:

part price qty total supplier
SC113MTQ-330B case $273.50 1 $273.50 Interpro
X8SIL-F mainboard $187.95 1 $187.95 Interpro
Hitachi 7k500 2.5" $79.78 4+spare $398.90 Provantage
OCZ Vertex 2 40gb $117.99 1 $117.99 NewEgg
crucial 2×4gb DDR3-1333R ECC $240.99 1 $240.99 NewEgg
L3426 CPU $337.50 1 $337.50 Interpro
SNK-P0046P Heatsink $29.50 1 $29.50 Interpro
total $1586.33

Atom, 2 disk system:

part price qty total supplier
SC510T-200B $142.50 1 $142.50 Interpro
X7SPE-H-D525 $213.25 1 $213.25 Interpro
Intel X25-V 40gb $94.99 1 $94.99 NewEgg
2×2gb DDR3-1333 SODIMM $87.99 1 $87.99 NewEgg
total $538.73

Some spare 2.5" drive trays: 4 x $13.75 = $41.25 (Interpro)
3 spare Hitachi 7k1000.C drives: 3 x $69.99 = $209.97 (NewEgg)
Another SATA card to upgrade loon: $93.26 (Provantage)
Shipping charges: $66(Interpro), $22.70(Provantage), $5.81(NewEgg) = $94.51

Total: $2564.05

Results

Power usage:
Atom/4g/SSD in the 8 disk case, fully loaded = 0.26A
Atom/4g/SSD in the 8 disk case, idle = 0.25A
Atom/4g/SSD + 5 HDDS in the 8 disk case, fully loaded = 0.33A
Atom/4g/SSD + 5 HDDS in the 8 disk case, idle = 0.30A

Quad/8g/SSD in the 2 disk case, idle = 0.32A
Quad/8g/SSD in the 2 disk case, fully loaded = 0.64A
Quad/8g/SSD in the 2 disk case, light spamd traffic = 0.35-0.45A

How much do 5 disks use?

( Atom/4g/SSD/5xHDD ) – ( Atom/4g/SSD ) = ( 5xHDD)
loaded: 0.33 – 0.26 = 0.07
idle: 0.030 – 0.25 = 0.05

How much does a Quad with 5 disks use?

( Quad/8g/SSD ) + ( 5xHDD) = ( Quad/8gb/SSD/5xHDD )
loaded: 0.64 + 0.07 = 0.71
idle: 0.32 + 0.05 = 0.37