Squuiid Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Hi all. I'm building a new home server to replace my two ageing, and noisy, Dell T3400 workstations and it would be great to hear your thoughts. My goal is producing a reasonably priced, good performing, VMware host server that is as silent as possible. Specs: 1x Lian Li PC-V2130 case (holds 15x 3.5" + 4x SSDs) - PC-V2130B 1x Supermicro X10DRi-T motherboard (DP and 2x Intel10GbE) - MBD-X10DRi-T 1x Seasonic Snow Silent 1050W PSU (Platinum rated and quiet!) - SNOW SILENT-1050 2x Crucial 32GB (16GB x2) CL15 DDR4-2133 ECC 1.2V - CT2C16G4RFD4213 2x Intel Xeon E5-2620V3 6 Core CPU - BX80644E52620V3 2x Noctua NH-U12DX i4 heatsink/fan (Narrow ILM) - NH-U12DX i4 2x LSI 8 Port 6Gbps MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i with BBU (from previous servers) - LSI00212 2x Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD (from previous servers) - MZ-7PD256 2x Intel I350-T4V2 4-port Ethernet Server Adapter (from previous servers) - I350T4V2BLK 4x StarTech 3.5 inch Hard Drive Mounting Bracket Adapter for 5.25 inch Bay 1x Akasa Flexa P8 ATX12V 8 Pin Power Extension Cable (not sure if needed) - AK-CBPW08-40BK 1x Akasa Siliconized Rubber Fan Pins - 20 Pack (to silence rear fan) - AK-MX003 1x Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate G3 32GB USB 3.0 (ESXi boot disk) - DTU30G3/32GB Notes: I'd get better performance by using 4x8GB for each CPU but I went for future upgradeability rather than best RAM performance. Still deciding what HDDs to get and what capacity, to build RAID 6 array. If anyone has put together a similar build and/or has any suggestions it would be great to hear them. Thanks. tsupersonic and Aergan 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 Just took a delivery Aergan 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted January 31, 2015 Author Share Posted January 31, 2015 OK, so the Seasonic Snow Silent 1050 PSU exploded with a loud bang on first power on. 1st and last Seasonic I buy. Installed an Antec HC1200 Pro instead (pulled it from my PC) and all works fine fortunately. Runs quiet and fast! Going to have to RMA the PSU Any suggestions as to the most silent Platinum rated PSU out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aergan Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 OK, so the Seasonic Snow Silent 1050 PSU exploded with a loud bang on first power on. 1st and last Seasonic I buy. Installed an Antec HC1200 Pro instead (pulled it from my PC) and all works fine fortunately. Runs quiet and fast! Going to have to RMA the PSU Any suggestions as to the most silent Platinum rated PSU out there? Something I've learned - let stuff (especially electrical goods containing capacitors) climatise after delivery for 24hrs or more, especially in the cold weather. I've seen quite a few PSU's go bang for no reason other than they were in a cold environment not long before. Not going to help you much now but thought I would share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Just ordered an Antec HCP-1300 from Amazon. Need to process RMA through Scan but they can't deliver the Antec as fast as Amazon unfortunately. The build took me 5+ hours so Seasonic PSU was definitely room temp by the time it powered up. Thanks anyway, definitely a good tip in other situations. Aergan 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 More build pics Aergan 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T3X4S Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 What are you doing where you need so much power @ home ? Seasonic are great - I have the Platinum 1 KW - i dont think it even spins unless it is pushed. Seasonic has an excellent rep - that sucks it blew up @ 1st power up...weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 What are you doing where you need so much power @ home ? I run quite a few VMs, both for work and personal projects, host a web development environment and web servers that my bro uses, run a pfSense firewall, home server, etc. Also nice that it could function as a work DR site in a pinch. Spin up the VMs, re-point DNS and you're done. ISP are doing a survey on my building tomorrow and if all goes to plan I should have synchronous Gigabit WAN by next month too. Happy days! Aergan and T3X4S 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xendrome Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I personally would have gone with Dell again on this, 1: Price can't be that much different if at all 2: Warranty, Warranty, Warranty. vs having to deal with each vendor and their process if something goes bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 I personally would have gone with Dell again on this, 1: Price can't be that much different if at all 2: Warranty, Warranty, Warranty. vs having to deal with each vendor and their process if something goes bad Yes, I did look at this but unless you want to pay DOUBLE for the exact same specs forget it. Go to Dell's site and see for yourself. Also very hard to find a Dell chassis that holds 15 3.5" HDDs + 4 SSDs, let alone one that runs silently at this level of performance. If it were for a business I'd completely agree with you but this is for home use and consequently I have no need for 4hr mission critical support. My household insurance covers the parts and I can wait as long as I need to to replace anything that pops. I also can't afford to pay double Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Have now installed the Antec HCP-1300 PSU and this is one quiet and fast server. Really happy with it. For anyone going with Supermicro motherboards, note that you need to go into the IPMI settings on BMC and change the fan control to the 'HeavyIO' setting in order for this board to properly handle low RPM PWM fans like the Noctua series I've used. If you use the 'Standard' fan setting you will find that your PWM fans connected to your motherboard will cycle full speed for 3 seconds then low speed for 3 seconds, then full speed, etc, endlessly. The HeavyIO setting fixes that and allows them to run very quiet when idle and ramp up under load if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctebah Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The build looks amazing and the case is a monster. Wish I could afford something like that... Aergan and Squuiid 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aergan Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The build looks amazing and the case is a monster. Wish I could afford something like that... Indeed, my poor Phenom x4 Hyper-V server is looking incredibly meek at the moment. Squuiid 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Warwagon MVC Posted February 3, 2015 MVC Share Posted February 3, 2015 When you turned it on did the lights in the apartment complex dim? x-scratch, Squuiid, ctebah and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 When you turned it on did the lights in the apartment complex dim? Lol, funny you should say that, they did when the Seasonic PSU exploded with a bang! Aergan 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tagerd0g Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 damn, that's nice. wish I had money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjamine6 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 This is my gaming machine. I built it for under 250$! Not bad for a computer this good, Eh? Squuiid and vcfan 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 This is my gaming machine. I built it for under 250$! Not bad for a computer this good, Eh? Image1.jpgImage2.jpg Ha! That is a thing of beauty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjamine6 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Ha! That is a thing of beauty! Indeed it is, If you search far and wide on ebay. You can have a computer like this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 For those who are interested in building something similar, here's the final spec list I ended up going with for my ESXi server: 1x Lian Li PC-V2130 case (holds 15x 3.5" + 4x SSDs) - PC-V2130B 1x Supermicro X10DRi-T motherboard (DP and 2x Intel10GbE) - MBD-X10DRi-T 1x Antec HCP1300 Platinum PSU (Platinum rated and quiet!) - HCP1300 Platinum 2x Crucial 32GB (16GB x2) CL15 DDR4-2133 ECC 1.2V - CT2C16G4RFD4213 2x Intel Xeon E5-2620V3 6 Core CPU - BX80644E52620V3 2x Noctua NH-U12DX i4 heatsink/fan (Narrow ILM) - NH-U12DX i4 1x LSI 8 Port 6Gbps MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i with BBU (from previous server) - LSI00212 1x LSI 8 Port 6Gbps MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i (from previous server) - LSI00331 1x Noctua NF-A4x10 FLX 40mm fan (for LSI RAID card) - NF-A4x10 FLX 2x Crucial MX100 512GB SSD (from previous servers) - CT512MX100SSD1 2x Intel I350-T4V2 4-port Ethernet Server Adapter (from previous servers) - I350T4V2BLK 1x Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate G3 32GB USB 3.0 (ESXi boot disk) - DTU30G3/32GB 3x Lian Li HD-07A hard drive trays - HD-07A 1x Akasa Siliconized Rubber Fan Pins - 20 Pack (to silence rear fan) - AK-MX003 2x Powercool 20cm Male molex 4pin to 4x SATA Power Braided Cable - Black - M4XSATA 2x Noctua NF-S12A PWM Case Fan 120 mm (to replace noisy Lian Li rear case fans) - NF-S12A 1x Akasa AK-CBUB19-10BK USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 Adapter Cable - AK-CBUB19-10BK 1x Startech 6 inch USB A Female to USB Motherboard 4-Pin Header USB 2.0 Cable (to plug in ESXi boot disk inside case) - USBMBADAPT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squuiid Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 Update: Ditched the Crucial MX100 SSDs as they were garbage. Went for a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB instead. https://www.google.c...cial mx100 bsod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcfan Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 This is my gaming machine. I built it for under 250$! Not bad for a computer this good, Eh? Image1.jpg 1998 called, it wants its computer back Squuiid 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trumee Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) On 3/17/2015 at 5:04 PM, Squuiid said: For those who are interested in building something similar, here's the final spec list I ended up going with for my ESXi server: 1x Lian Li PC-V2130 case (holds 15x 3.5" + 4x SSDs) - PC-V2130B 1x Supermicro X10DRi-T motherboard (DP and 2x Intel10GbE) - MBD-X10DRi-T 1x Antec HCP1300 Platinum PSU (Platinum rated and quiet!) - HCP1300 Platinum 2x Crucial 32GB (16GB x2) CL15 DDR4-2133 ECC 1.2V - CT2C16G4RFD4213 2x Intel Xeon E5-2620V3 6 Core CPU - BX80644E52620V3 2x Noctua NH-U12DX i4 heatsink/fan (Narrow ILM) - NH-U12DX i4 I noticed that the CPU coolers are not facing towards the rear of the case. I am planning to put this motherboard in a rack chassis and need the hot air to be drawn out through the rear. Do you think the Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U will let me do that? These fans have a width/depth of 95mm. The fan you used has a width of 125mm and depth of 71mm. Is that RAM on the Supermicro QVL list for X10DRi-T? Will it not be better to go with 32GB stick of LRDIMM like this one. It is listed in the QVL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asharae Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Wow that is some incredible hardware! I'm going to be looking at building a silent server myself shortly (although not with that much power!) so thanks for posting the final spec list. What is the heat output on that like? Edit: Woot, 1337th post! Inertia 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevTech Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 5 hours ago, trumee said: I noticed that the CPU coolers are not facing towards the rear of the case. I am planning to put this motherboard in a rack chassis and need the hot air to be drawn out through the rear. Do you think the Noctua NH-D9DX i4 3U will let me do that? These fans have a width/depth of 95mm. The fan you used has a width of 125mm and depth of 71mm. Is that RAM on the Supermicro QVL list for X10DRi-T? Will it not be better to go with 32GB stick of LRDIMM like this one. It is listed in the QVL. Air cooling does not work the way you are imagining it. You need to focus on pushing cool air inwards. If you want to achieve the miracle of "suckage" you would need to apply silicon caulk everywhere to seal the case and then buy/rent an IR Heat Sensor Gun to locate all the hot spots you didn't see in advance because your human brain does not think like moving air does. The other way to "draw hot air out" is to do what most people do and simply engage in "fantasy thinking" - if you have some fans blowing air out, it must be working because you saw the same classic airflow diagram for a computer case as millions of other people did and decided "that makes sense" without ever measuring anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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