ServeTheHome.com

Over the past few weeks I have had the chance to play with some 8 core 16 thread Intel Sandy Bridge-EP based Xeon samples which will ultimately be part of the Xeon E5-2600 lineup. I will say that the turbo frequencies seem to be working a little strangely on these chips, but the one I am using for the benchmarks can maintain 3.1GHz across all eight cores quite nicely and the memory controller supports eight DIMM sockets fully populated. I figured I would share a preview of the Intel Xeon E5 series’ performance. Again, please see this as a preview so final shipping numbers should be a bit better. The most comparable CPU ise the Xeon E5-2687W which is a 3.1GHz 150w 8C/16T part designated for workstations. Yes, the new LGA 2011 dual socket Xeons are going to be expensive, but with AMD’s Bulldozer-based Opteron 6200 series CPUs putting out performance numbers well below expectations, Intel has a lot of leeway to price these for aggressive margins. I will also note however, that the G34 platform still has some very compelling use cases, especially with 4P systems and using very low-end chips to build memcached 2P/ 4P servers. Continue Reading

Today we are looking at the ASUS P9X79 motherboard for Intel’s LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge-E processors. It is quite likely that this board gets paired with one of two types of chips, first the Intel Core i7-3930K or a lower-clocked Xeon E5 CPU. As we have covered previously ASUS does a great job of segmenting markets by building a basic board design, then adding features for a slight price bump. The P9X79 is the entry model for ASUS, but it still has a ton of functionality as it should being a Sandy Bridge-E board. Continue Reading

For the Supermciro X7SPE-HF-D525 pfSense appliance I discussed in the linked post I of course wanted a chassis for my appliance and decided to purchase the CSE-502L-200B for just under $70 (see ebay and NewEgg). Oftentimes one does not need a massive chassis for a server. Frankly, with all of the mITX and mATX form factor boards out there, and all of the onboard features the boards have, there are a lot of applications where people do not need a large/ deep chassis. Using a shallower rackmount chassis allows one to use much smaller lightweight wall mounted network rack or telco post rack which saves a lot of space. As a result, for my Atom based pfSense appliance, I purchased a Supermicro CSE-502L-200B. Continue Reading

I just wanted to update everyone on the Supermicro X7SPA-HF-D525 and X7SPE-HF-D525 review that was posted earlier as I have had a bit more time running the unit, especially as a pfsense appliance. Areas that will be looked at here are a higher-than-spec memory limit (4GB is not the max!), power consumption, and a word about IPMI 2.0 connectivity. Thus far, the network cabinet at home has been rock solid with the pfsense box managing routing duties in a fan-less configuration this week, even after I have been running a lot of network tests on the box. This is one I was able to justify purchasing for the new house which was great. Continue Reading

The Supermicro X7SPA-HF-D525 and Supermicro X7SPE-HF-D525 boards reviewed today are somewhat unique, and let’s face it; fairly expensive Intel Atom based boards. Both boards are centered around an Intel Atom D525 dual core 1.8GHz chip that can handle up to four threads through Hyper-Threading. While an Atom D525 is a fairly standard part, especially when it comes to low power PC’s, Supermicro has done a lot to turn these boards into something suitable for server use.

For those wondering, the reason I am doing a split review here is because the X7SPA-HF-D525 and X7SPE-HF-D525 are both very similar boards. The “A” version is a standard mITX size board while the “E” version is slightly elongated to work with Supermicro’s CSE-502L-200B chassis and a 1U PCIe riser (review coming shortly as I purchased one of these also.) For practical purposes, the technical aspects are nearly identical aside from the size. Continue Reading

IBM ServeRAID M1015

One of the most popular SAS 6.0gbps/ SATA III controllers for enthusiasts is the IBM M1015. In its native form, it is a very capable host bus adapter (HBA) based on the LSI SAS2008 chip. With the low price on places such as ebay (see here for an ebay search for the M1015) and an enthusiastic community that has learned to unlock many features, it has quickly become a go-to choice for low-cost SATA III connectivity. This series of articles was written by Pieter Schaar perhaps best known as the one behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular contributor in the STH forums and has been detailing his learning in threads such as these. I do want to note that these modifications are not endorsed by this site, LSI, IBM or others and the information herein is purely for educational purposes. If you do encounter problems, you are solely responsible for those consequences.

There are now quite a few parts to this piece including:

• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 1: Getting Started with the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 2: Performance of the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 3: SMART Passthrough on the LSI 9220-8i

Continue Reading

I have a fairly strong opinion that Intel’s LGA1155 platform has a stronger set of single processor server motherboards than AMD. I actually hope the new Socket AM3+ based Opteron 3000 series will change this in the near future, but until then at the low end, Intel has the better overall platform (integrated Intel NICs supported out-of-the-box by ESXi, KVM-over-IP and etc.) Upon Sandy Bridge’s initial release, there was a huge gap between the Core i3-2100 at just over $120 (USD) and the lower-end Athlon’s at around $40. Over time, Intel has pushed the Sandy Bridge architecture down the chain to the lower-end of the marketplace, replacing 2010′s Pentiums. Today we are looking at the Pentium G630 which is one of Intel’s lower-end parts that one can get at retail for around $65. Continue Reading

One of the most popular SAS 6.0gbps/ SATA III controllers for enthusiasts is the IBM M1015. In its native form, it is a very capable host bus adapter (HBA) based on the LSI SAS2008 chip. With the low price on places such as ebay (see here for an ebay search for the M1015) and an enthusiastic community that has learned to unlock many features, it has quickly become a go-to choice for low-cost SATA III connectivity. This series of articles was written by Pieter Schaar perhaps best known as the one behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular contributor in the STH forums and has been detailing his learning in threads such as these. I do want to note that these modifications are not endorsed by this site, LSI, IBM or others and the information herein is purely for educational purposes. If you do encounter problems, you are solely responsible for those consequences.

There are now a few parts to this piece including:

• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 1: Getting Started with the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 2: Performance of the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 3: SMART Passthrough on the LSI 9220-8i

Continue Reading

One of the most popular SAS 6.0gbps/ SATA III controllers for enthusiasts is the IBM M1015. In its native form, it is a very capable host bus adapter (HBA) based on the LSI SAS2008 chip. With the low price on places such as ebay (see here for an ebay search for the M1015) and an enthusiastic community that has learned to unlock many features, it has quickly become a go-to choice for low-cost SATA III connectivity. This series of articles was written by Pieter Schaar perhaps best known as the one behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular contributor in the STH forums and has been detailing his learning in threads such as these. I do want to note that these modifications are not endorsed by this site, LSI, IBM or others and the information herein is purely for educational purposes. If you do encounter problems, you are solely responsible for those consequences.

There are now a few parts to this piece including:

• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 1: Getting Started with the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 2: Performance of the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 3: SMART Passthrough on the LSI 9220-8i

Continue Reading

One of the most popular SAS 6.0gbps/ SATA III controllers for enthusiasts is the IBM M1015. In its native form, it is a very capable host bus adapter (HBA) based on the LSI SAS2008 chip. With the low price on places such as ebay (see here for an ebay search for the M1015) and an enthusiastic community that has learned to unlock many features, it has quickly become a go-to choice for low-cost SATA III connectivity. This series of articles was written by Pieter Schaar perhaps best known as the one behind laptopvideo2go.com. He has been a regular contributor in the STH forums and has been detailing his learning in threads such as these. I do want to note that these modifications are not endorsed by this site, LSI, IBM or others and the information herein is purely for educational purposes. If you do encounter problems, you are solely responsible for those consequences.

There are now a few parts to this piece including:

• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 1: Getting Started with the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 2: Performance of the LSI 9220-8i
• IBM ServeRAID M1015 Part 3: SMART Passthrough on the LSI 9220-8i

Continue Reading