Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > Socket 604

reply to JoelC707

Re: Socket 604

reply to sk1939
The 2950's are really good. I got a pair of the 2950 III models back when they were still new for use in my virtualization build at work. They've handled everything I throw at them without breaking a sweat. They DO use FB-DIMM memory that can be expensive compared to regular ECC DDR2/3. They come in 6x 3.5" drive bay mode or 8x 2.5" drive bay with a PERC 5i SAS controller as an option (does not take up one of the expansion slots either).

The biggest downside to the 2950 is they are more than you want to spend, most are in the $500 range with drives (SAS usually) or $300 without drives. The 2850 can be had for cheaper but only takes dual core CPUs IIRC and is SCSI based (6 drive bays). Do you want SATA drives in this server or will SCSI work since that's what you have now?

reply to DarkLogix
I use a Precision 690 and Poweredge 2850 for my home server array. The 2850 is my firewall and generic test box (can create an internal network to the firewall for internet access without sticking it on my main LAN). The 690 handles the DC, Exchange, Asterisk, file server, etc. It's got 7 SATA ports and they're all full. Put ESXi on a USB stick just so I could free up another drive port or drive capacity for storage lol. I'd much rather have an external drive array. Off to ebay and Newegg to window shop.... LOL

reply to JoelC707
I looked at getting a drive array, but the problem is cost. I can buy a complete Dell 2950 that can handle 6 SATA drives at 2TB each for a total of 6 TB's, or I can get a Dell drive array, »www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-EMC2-12X-S···3wt_1163 for the same price, and still have to locate the sleds.

It is the DC, but the problem I'm facing is that it is running out of RAM (it only has 1 GB) and CPU time (80%), and the DL165 is picking up the slack (failover DC). The other thing is I have some things I would like to be able to test out like virtualized desktops, but the G4p doesn't have the horsepower necessary.

reply to JoelC707
They are indeed more than I want to spend, although I found a few potential victims:

»www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-POWEREDGE-···2wt_1163
»www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-···6wt_1396

I would prefer SATA drives for the convenience of replacement, and size (I'm trying to get rid of the 4 external drives I have on my desktop). I could live with SCSI since I have about 4 spare's, but I am trying to move away from SCSI if possible. Edit: The DL360 G5 is on medium-term loan from a friend, but he will want it back by the end July, so I'm looking for a replacement before that happens, hence the looking to upgrade CPU power.

I wouldn't go with the 1950, they only have two onboard drive ports. The 2950 has six, a much better choice if you are concerned with expandability.

I understand not having funds for an external drive array. Though I was surprised how cheap this was: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···16133044. Might be able to find a used model on ebay for cheaper.

True, although the 1U format is kind of nice space wise.

I couldn't find one on Ebay other than the 24 drive version that was close to $600, and one joker than wanted $1200 for it (without drives).

This »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···16111182 looks promising, but the brand is a little suspect.

The $1200 one, if it's the same one I saw, has a port expander in it so you can run just one cable to the host and two "out" ports for daisy chaining to other enclosures. You're paying for that ability. No thanks, I'll just buy multiple RAID cards for that price. This is the Norco 12 bay I linked from Newegg (searching for it's model number didn't bring it up oddly): »www.ebay.com/itm/2U-12Bay-DAS-SA···b6cb7186 but it's more than Newegg.

HP makes a storageworks unit that's actually quite similar to the Norco for just a little more. In an enterprise setting I'd go with the HP because of redundant power. That said, the Norco uses a standard ATX and you can get a mini redundant ATX power supply and do the same thing in the Norco.

I actually think the 24-bay model is better, its considerably less than two 12-bay units usually. Of course if you don't have 12+ drives to fill and never expect to then it's a waste of money (or if you don't have the rack space).

That could be why, but they both have that feature from what I can tell (the Newegg and Ebay one).

Do they? I couldn't find it; the cheapest one on Newegg is $3300.

True.

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···16401143

vs

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···16133044

reply to sk1939
This was the HP one I saw: »www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Storageworks···85545060 The HP also appears to do RAID, that makes it more than just a DAS (Direct Attached Storage). The second Newegg one is the first one I saw and doesn't look that bad of a deal. It's nothing but a disk array though. It provides a house for drives, a data connection and power.

As for the port expander, some offer it but it requires an additional controller internal to it. If you look at your second Newegg link and look at the additional pictures you will see the ports on the back are basically pass-through. That connection houses 4 SAS data lines, 12 drives means it needs 3 connections to support all the drives. The advantage is all the drives have full bus access, the downside is most external port SAS/SATA controllers only have at lost 2 of those ports meaning you either have to redirect an internal port or run two controller cards.

Expensive, as are the sleds for that unit.

Ok, that's what I figured. Direct attached storage is a little foreign to me coming from FC, iSCSI, and SAN's.

I honestly don't know much about that HP unit. I know Dell makes a similar model that started out as SCSI and moved on up to SAS/SATA.

It's similar actually. You could build home brewed iSCSI using a DAS array for drive storage duties on the server. Of course you can also get larger enclosures that have room for a motherboard and have it all in one box with dozens of drives.

Basically think of DAS as an overgrown eSATA enclosure. Similar to eSATA, these guys use an external form of SAS (still able to support SATA drives) but house them all in one unit with shared power and potentially shared data lines.

It has it's uses and would be a good way to provide storage space for your file server especially.

I'm punching myself for considering this (»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···59107052), but how about this to replace the DL360G4p? It is technically faster (Passmark 990 to the G4p's 660) and I can move the most intense processes (Exchange and Forefront) to the DL145.

The free 2TB drive is what's making it at least somewhat tempting.

I don't like the fact that it has a laptop CPU in it and AMD is generally lagging behind Intel anyway (but if it scores higher I'd say an upgrade is an upgrade). I also don't like the fact it has only two RAM slots but that's personal preference. Mainly because I don't like being forced to use the largest chips available if I want to put a lot of RAM in it (4x 2GB vs 2x 4 GB though by now they might be pretty similar in price).

Other than that I don't see an issue with it. I've been browsing ebay for deals on large capacity servers/arrays and there is a nice one on there, 16 bay server but the motherboard in it is not much different than the G4p (dual Xeon 3.06, DDR1 memory). But it'd be a nice one to use for a general file server and later on upgrade to take on some other tasks. Price isn't bad either at $325+70 shipping.

True, I would say it's underpowered, but it is an attractive size and price.

I was taking a look as well, and other than a Dell 2950 (»www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-POWEREDGE-···235cf8fc) or another DL145 (»www.ebay.com/itm/Hp-DL145-G2-DC-···661adc17). I also have an old Core 2 E8400-based PC that I may put FreeNAS on and use that for file storage.

reply to JoelC707
On my christmas list: »www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWEREDGE-···22acfd20

With blades for that price??? O.O /drool

reply to sk1939
I've been looking on ebay now after seeing this. This is a NICE find. There's not many selling the empty chassis but there is one from the same seller for $500 ($250 shipping, must be freight). I found 1955 blades for countless sellers for under $200 shipped. Could start out with the empty chassis and fill as needed. I like this.