# Server model choice



## jailed (Jun 28, 2013)

Hello,

First, forgive me if I opened this thread under a wrong category. Before that, I was using PC-based servers for years. This is my first time to order a server class computer. I want to buy a new entry-level server. I have two models for the same price and I couldn't select one.


 Dell PowerEdge R210 II
 IBM Express X3250 M4 2583KEG
Each model has the same E3-1230v2 CPU. Do you have experiences with one of these models with FreeBSD? If you use one of these, do you suggest me to buy one? Should I know anything about these servers and FreeBSD?

Thanks.


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## DutchDaemon (Jun 28, 2013)

I have two of the Dell T110 (a smaller model) and they work fine. The only thing that (probably luckily) doesn't work is the built-in RAID. This is actually a software/fake RAID, so I'm using gmirror on the AHCI disks to get RAID1. Nice little workhorses for their footprint and price. I'm sure the R2xx is similar in a lot of respects.


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## jailed (Jun 28, 2013)

@DutchDaemon,

Thanks for your reply. I have read the reviews and everybody talk about poor RAID performance on R210 II too. Even if some versions declare themselves as having hardware RAID, they are soft/fake RAID too.

But I am happy to hear from you that Dell servers have no big issues with FreeBSD.

I'm in contact with local Dell suppliers but I couldn't find this model in stocks yet. IBM is my second choice. I have to buy a server in a week and still digging about that.

If someone has experience with FreeBSD on IBM models, I'd like to hear about rewievs.

Thanks for your help.


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