Motherboard for a low-power home server

[luckylinux]

Hi all.


I'm looking into buying a C204/C206/C216 motherboard for use with a Xeon E3-1265LV2 (Ivy bridge) CPU and 16-32GB DDR3 Unbuffered ECC.

I've seen reviews of ASUS P8C WS on Newegg and it doesn't really seem that great.
Another option I considered was the Supermicro X9SAE-V (No IPMI, only Intel AMT) and the Supermicro X9SCM-iiF (IPMI, only 4 expansion slots).

This motherboard will be used as main low-power home server solution with 3x3TB HDDs (maybe more) which is always powered on. No critical data should be on it. I'll use this box only as download box and for video surveillance and maybe a little more. Main data will reside on another box which will be most of the time on stand-by.

Due to these criteria maybe a low-cost H77 motherboard + a G530 CPU may be more than enough for the job. I may even use an ASUS E350 motherboard. I just though that if I was going to buy a new motherboard it would be better to buy something I could re-use in the future.

Low power consumption is important, hence I plan to power it through a PicoPSU if that's possible. An energy-efficient ATX 300W PSU could also be used though.

I didn't quite understand if Intel AMT (on Supermicro X9SAE-V) also allows access to BIOS level functions and is a real alternative to IPMI. With IPMI I can access BIOS, Linux command line, etc
Intel AMT seems to be more Windows-host oriented and I'm not sure if that's suitable for my application (I plan to either use Gentoo GNU/Linux or FreeBSD).

Any insights on these (or others) motherboards? Any recommendations? Thank you.

 

[Juan_Jose]

What issues have you seen with the P8C WS I have been using this board for our internal WHS and Windows Server Essentials without issues.

The digital PWM design also has a high degree of flexibility at tuning the VRM for max efficiency. Additionally our board offers full power shedding functionality so you can adjust phase response to be very aggressive if you really want to maximize power consumption. Of course the key reason considering this board is the official support for Xeon and ECC memory. That being noted if you are looking for a home server solution there definitely are lot of options depending on what functionality you are looking to have out of the home server

As you noted an integrated solution may be another option but keep in mind that load dependency as well as concurrent load on I/O bus can be an affecter when considering these type of solutions.

Hope this helps or if you have more questions let me know.

 

[luckylinux]

What issues have you seen with the P8C WS I have been using this board for our internal WHS and Windows Server Essentials without issues

Seemed like some features of the C216 chipset were missing. No IPMI/KVM. Seems that Intel AMT is not supported either for remote management. Windows Server 2012 support missing (though I'm almost 100% sure I won't need any Windows Server * support ). Onboard video doesn't seem to work (out of the box). Lots of beeps. Uncomplete manual and unhelpful support. See other issues on newegg.

Additional details
Electricity prices around here are at about 0.25$ / kWh.
About power consumption: I already own a server for NAS (with 8 HDDs it consumes about 135W at idle) based on the C616 chipset. I'd rather not leave this on 24/7 because of power usage (would make around 300$ / year of electricity at idle all the time).

From a pure financial point of view it surely isn't worth to create another high-end system since it would take at least 4-5 years to get the money I spent on the new system worth of electricity.
From a pure financial point of view maybe something like a FX-4320 + AMD motherboard + ECC memory would allow to achieve power consumption of around 50W at a very interesting price (around 300$ for everything, while a Xeon 1155 + ECC + Mainboard would make something around 600$). Power consumption would be a little higher though.

I'm beginning to balance out the gain in energy costs versus the cost of equipment because I don't expect components to last forever, not more than 3 years anyway.



I target a power consumption (for this system) of around 40W or lower if possible with 3 HDDs of 3TB each (maybe up to 6, but in this case I may accept a higher power consumption). For this target it would mean around 88$ / year of electricity alone.


Not sure if you can help me plan this in some way. Maybe in the end leaving the NAS on 24/7 @ 135W may still be the best option, although I doubt it. I'd rather leave it on stand-by most of the time and power it on on demand through WOL.


Thank you for your reply.

 

[meatling]

Hi luckylinux,

we happen to have a computer that's quite similar to the one you plan to build:

A Supermicro X9SAE board with a Xeon E3-1265LV2 processor, built into a Supermicro CSE-732D4-500B case with 32 GB ECC RAM (4 * Samsung M391B1G73BH0-CK0).

With one WD RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB hard disk the system consumes some 30 W when idle, therefore I believe you might be able to (just) meet your limit of 40 W consumption with three disks.

HTH.

 

[luckylinux]

Hi luckylinux,

we happen to have a computer that's quite similar to the one you plan to build:

A Supermicro X9SAE board with a Xeon E3-1265LV2 processor, built into a Supermicro CSE-732D4-500B case with 32 GB ECC RAM (4 * Samsung M391B1G73BH0-CK0).

With one WD RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB hard disk the system consumes some 30 W when idle, therefore I believe you might be able to (just) meet your limit of 40 W consumption with three disks.

HTH.

Thank you for your reply.

That's quite interesting (considering the RE4 disk has a relatively high power consumption). I'm a bit uncertain about whether to actually go with that combination though. The mainboard you own (which I liked because of the large number of PCIe slots) doesn't provide IPMI and costs roughly 310$ here.

On ServeTheHome they report almost 40W for the E3-1230 which is similar (but least energy-efficient).
Seeing the ServeTheHome article I may even use an old Athlon X4 (or X2) I already own or even a FX-4100 if it consumes less power at idle. I don't think I could use a PicoPSU with either of them though. Motherboard & Processor would be desktop class though (but with ECC RAM) ...

The case - although not expensive at all - is just too large for my purposes. I wanted to use something like a Silverstone GD-07 (which I already own) or something like 2U or (at worst) 3U.


Do you think a cheapo AMD motherboard may do the job just fine or would it be better to go with high-end equipement to gain (just) a few Watts in power consumption? IMHO at idle there's not so much difference ... and the server is supposed to stay at idle most of the time.

 

[munkle]

If you are considering an e350 box I would take this over one.

Here's a review of the processor, though its a different board. Almost the same power consumption as e350 but better performance.

 

[luckylinux]

If you are considering an e350 box I would take this over one.

Here's a review of the processor, though its a different board. Almost the same power consumption as e350 but better performance.

Thank you munkle. It seems interesting. Unfortunately around here Biostar motherboards are not available (at all).
And I would've preferred an ATX (or even micro-ATX) form factor in case I needed to expand the setup.

Idle power consumption may be roughtly on the same level as a G530 or the likes + a H61 motherboard I think ...

 

[luckylinux]

If going the high-end route,which of the following motherboards would you suggest (or others)?

1. Supermicro X9SAE-V @ 330$ (without IPMI, difficult to find, needs either E3-1265L V2 or a discrete graphics card which I'd rather not use)
2. Supermicro X9SCM-iiF @ 250$ (with IPMI = higher power consumption ?)
3. ASUS P8C WS @ 210$ (without IPMI nor AMT, needs either E3-1265L V2 or a discrete graphics card which I'd rather not use)

Paired with a Xeon E3-1265L V2 CPU. Since the X9SCM-iiF has a dedicated graphics anyway I may get the E3-1230 for 60$ less (230-240$) in that case.
ECC memory will be used (probably 2x8GB modules,maybe 4x8GB in a second time) and a Seasonic 300W PSU will power the system.

At the moment I only plan to add an USB 3.0 PCIe controller to it in order to do PVR.


Any recommendation (or others)? IPMI may be great if power consumption doesn't skyrocket because the server is a bit far from a monitor & keyboard. I could branch a long manual KVM cable to a screen & keyboard not too far away but I'd rather not do it if possible.
Thank you again for your help.

 

[meatling]

Personally, I would opt for the X9SAE (not X9SAE-V) because I'd want a PCIe x16 slot for the option to use discrete graphics, but that's really just me.

If you decide on the X9SCM-iiF, please note that Intel E3-12x5 series processors which have integrated graphics support are not recommended. </quote src=Supermicro>

You also need to make sure that you get a board with the latest BIOS, because otherwise it may not boot with a E3-1200V2 CPU.

If graphics output and/or performance is of no concern, you might also want to look at Supermicro's X9SPV series, running with mobile processors and ECC SODIMMs.

The latter may be difficult to find, though.

 

[luckylinux]

Thank you for your quick reply meatling

Personally, I would opt for the X9SAE (not X9SAE-V) because I'd want a PCIe x16 slot for the option to use discrete graphics, but that's really just me.

X9SAE-V has 2 x16 slots (although I suppose your comment was about them running at x8 and not at x16 as in X9SAE). PCIe 3 bandwith is doubles vs the PCIe 2 so a PCIe 3.0 x16 (at x8 speed) should roughtly be equal to a PCIe 2 x16 (at x16 speed) which weren't bottlenecked as far as I remember (there was an article - maybe on Anandtech one year ago or so - claiming that the most powerful graphics cards were only bottlenecked by 10-15% when running in PCIe 2 at x4 speeds). Maybe you're used to high performance cards (Nvidia Quadro, ...) which need plenty of bandwidth but in my case I'd say it's not required. Thank you about the warning though.

The box is used for PVR and maybe some web serving. I don't think I'd need a x16 slot and I'm not so sure it's worth to pay 80$ more for the mainboard and 60$ more for the CPU "just" for that (and lack of IPMI). It's true that I'd have a more expandable platform (with 7 expansion slots instead of 4) and size is of no concern (case allows both ATX and micro-ATX boards).

Did you have any experience with Intel AMT (KVM)? I'm not sure if it's in the same leage as IPMI ...

If you decide on the X9SCM-iiF, please note that Intel E3-12x5 series processors which have integrated graphics support are not recommended. </quote src=Supermicro>

I read the comment on SuperMicro and I though about saving a few $ by buying the E3-1230 instead.

You also need to make sure that you get a board with the latest BIOS, because otherwise it may not boot with a E3-1200V2 CPU.

I think in worst case scenario I may use a G550 processor I have laying aroung just to update the BIOS. For the X9SCM-iiF I think it should come with the new BIOS though, since this board was made for Ivy Bridge Yeons and it's been a while since they've been introduced. They made a big mess in the first weeks though ...

If graphics output and/or performance is of no concern, you might also want to look at Supermicro's X9SPV series, running with mobile processors and ECC SODIMMs.

The latter may be difficult to find, though.

Curious, didn't know about this (i7 mobile processor with ECC support ... I though ECC was only for Xeons on Intel's side).

I think it would take like a month or so to get it. The cheapest one was selling at 800$ though :S Furthermore they're all mini-ITX and therefore I couldn't expand them in the future if I need to. ECC SODIMMs may be ultra expensive as well.


Thank you again for your answer. BTW, what are you using your Motherboard for? Workstation or server?

 

[meatling]

X9SAE-V has 2 x16 slots (although I suppose your comment was about them running at x8 and not at x16 as in X9SAE).

This is correct. I myself use a graphics card in a slot that's electrically only x8, but I find this aesthetically displeasing (To avoid confusion, the X9SAE box isn't really mine, since I built it for my wife. My own computer has a Supermicro H8SGL-F board)

The box is used for PVR

Is used for what?

Did you have any experience with Intel AMT (KVM)?

Absolutely not so far. I may try it out some time...

I think it would take like a month or so to get it. The cheapest one was selling at 800$ though :S Furthermore they're all mini-ITX and therefore I couldn't expand them in the future if I need to. ECC SODIMMs may be ultra expensive as well.

Where in the world do you live? Over here in Germany, an 8 GB stick of Supermicro-certified ECC SODIMM (i.e. Hynix HMT41GA7MFR8A-H9) goes for less than 50 Euros (including German VAT).

Thank you again for your answer. BTW, what are you using your Motherboard for? Workstation or server?

If we're talking about my wife's X9SAE box, I guess I would call it "Personal Computer" which is used primarily for surfing, photo editing, and listening to music.

 

[luckylinux]

Is used for what?

PVR (Private Video Recorder) or DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for video surveillance system. Sorry about the use of the acronym Other than that maybe some web serving and little stuff like that.

Where in the world do you live? Over here in Germany, an 8 GB stick of Supermicro-certified ECC SODIMM (i.e. Hynix HMT41GA7MFR8A-H9) goes for less than 50 Euros (including German VAT).

Actually not too far from you I'd say. I live in Switzerland and I though it was expensive because I practically never heard of ECC SODIMM and such an exhotic item can't be cheap.By looking at the prices now it doesn't seem that bad (roughtly 30$ for 4GB stick).
Actually there seem to be a marked of ECC SODIMM larger than I expected. I didn't think so because even high end notebooks (Lenovo, Dell, HP) seem to offer Core i5/i7 models which I though didn't support ECC RAM.


I'd rather not use the G550 as a permanent option because it doesn't support ECC RAM. Heck ... at that point I could even use my Gigabyte H61 motherboard + Intel G550 for 120$ alltogether instead of the >500$ Supermicro + Xeon solution. I just don't think it's a good idea to use non-ECC memory, but maybe I'm just a bit paranoid.

From a "processing power" point of view the G550 (or I3 for instance) would do just fine. They lack AES-NI which I'd like because I plan to encrypt the disks but could very well handle it on the CPU without many problems (performance may drop a bit but that's not a big deal). The reason for the Xeon is ECC support. Nothing else.

 

[meatling]

PVR (Private Video Recorder) or DVR (Digital Video Recorder) for video surveillance system. Sorry about the use of the acronym

No reason to apologize Unfortunately I have no idea about the computational requirements of that application.

even high end notebooks (Lenovo, Dell, HP) seem to offer Core i5/i7 models which I though didn't support ECC RAM.

This puzzles me too, and it is The Reason why I haven't bought one yet. It's really a fly in the ointment to me.

The reason for the Xeon is ECC support. Nothing else.

In this case, I would recommend looking at this table which shows lots of (cheap) alternatives to Xeon CPUs.

 

[luckylinux]

No reason to apologize Unfortunately I have no idea about the computational requirements of that application.

Actually it's not much at all. I currently acquire 4 Webcam streams over USB 3.0 ports (cannot acquire all 4 on USB 2.0 because of bottleneck issues making the video stream corrupted). Currently employing an AMD X2 260 (dual core) and would've liken to improve power consumption by a little bit. Currently I think it's like 50-55W at idle (with 2x2TB HDDs).

I don't know if I could do better though (power-consumption wise).

In this case, I would recommend looking at this table which shows lots of (cheap) alternatives to Xeon CPUs.

Thank you. The "INTEL Pentium-DC G2120" looks quite attractive at just 82$ (instead of 230$+ for the Xeons) and supports ECC memory. Another option is the "INTEL Core i3-3220T" at 125$ (with the addition of HT which I don't think I need). I can live without Virtualization extensions and a little performance drop caused by the lack of AES-NI extensions.

Therefore X9SAE-V + INTEL Pentium-DC G2120 ~ 400$

Another option may be to use a FX-4100 processor + ASUS desktop board ~ 200$. This would also allow AES acceleration.

This would also allow ECC memory to be used. Not so sure about power consumption though. At idle FX processors should be almost in the same league as Intel's Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge (depends on which review you look for).

At first I though that every watt counts, but with the above estimates a few calculations may be necessary.
A permanent 20W difference in power usage would make <50$ more of electricity a year. The AMD build would cost less in the first 4 years after which it will exist more efficient solutions I could look into. Or I'm missing something?