# Hardware Recommendation?



## zennybsd (Apr 11, 2011)

Hi:

I am looking for some motherboards (including mini-ITX) without video support for low cost and green server development (something that is used in the blade servers eg http://thegioimaychu.vn/ntc/BaoHoang/images/supermicro/tgmcst0016.jpg).

The motherboard should comply with the following requirements:

1) takes minimal space
2) consumes least power
3) produces least heat
4) FreeBSD8/9 compatible
5) Having expandable sata ports and also adequate memory slots

I came across fb's http://opencompute.org project, but that is exactly not what I am looking for.

Inputs are appreciated about the pre-existing boards like the above. Thank you!


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## vermaden (Apr 11, 2011)

Check these mate:
http://www.ixsystems.com/ix/servers/triton-blade-servers
http://www.ixsystems.com/ix/servers/amd-based-servers/2u-servers/ax22x4
http://www.supermicro.com/servers/blade/TwinBlade/

Also TWIN servers from TYAN/Supermicro.

You can put Intel ATOM / AMD Fusion / VIA Nano platforms there with MINI-ITX motherboard sizes for example.


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## zennybsd (Apr 11, 2011)

@vermaden: Thanks for your reply.

What I forgot to mention is I am searching for a fanless model, too which is not what ixsystems or supermicro servers (limitation: only supports 2.5" drives) gives me. And both of them has a VGA output which I do not require (also consumes some power).

From my test, even a mini-ITX boards like Intel D525MW consumes very less power and the processors can be passively cooled. When I checked with GNU/Linux tools, the temperature of the motherboard and the hdds looked like this even after disconnecting two fans consuming about 3 watts for hours:


```
[root@zenny ~]# sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0:       +12.0Â°C  (crit = +100.0Â°C)

coretemp-isa-0001
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 1:       +12.0Â°C  (crit = +100.0Â°C)

coretemp-isa-0002
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 2:       +15.0Â°C  (crit = +100.0Â°C)

coretemp-isa-0003
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 3:       +15.0Â°C  (crit = +100.0Â°C)

w83627dhg-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
Vcore:        +1.18 V  (min =  +0.00 V, max =  +1.74 V)
in1:          +1.58 V  (min =  +1.37 V, max =  +1.62 V)
AVCC:         +3.39 V  (min =  +2.98 V, max =  +3.63 V)
+3.3V:        +3.39 V  (min =  +2.98 V, max =  +3.63 V)
in4:          +1.82 V  (min =  +1.11 V, max =  +0.57 V)  ALARM
in5:          +1.21 V  (min =  +0.90 V, max =  +1.63 V)
in6:          +1.59 V  (min =  +1.03 V, max =  +2.03 V)
3VSB:         +3.38 V  (min =  +2.98 V, max =  +3.63 V)
Vbat:         +3.33 V  (min =  +2.70 V, max =  +3.30 V)  ALARM
fan1:           0 RPM  (min =  703 RPM, div = 128)  ALARM
fan2:           0 RPM  (min =  620 RPM, div = 128)  ALARM
fan3:           0 RPM  (min = 3515 RPM, div = 128)  ALARM
fan4:           0 RPM  (min = 10546 RPM, div = 128)  ALARM
fan5:           0 RPM  (min = 10546 RPM, div = 128)  ALARM
temp1:        +46.0Â°C  (high = -83.0Â°C, hyst = -116.0Â°C)  ALARM  sensor = transistor
temp2:        +41.0Â°C  (high = +80.0Â°C, hyst = +75.0Â°C)  sensor = diode
temp3:        +42.0Â°C  (high = +80.0Â°C, hyst = +75.0Â°C)  sensor = diode
cpu0_vid:    +2.050 V


HDD temp

[root@zenny ~]# hddtemp /dev/sda /dev/sdb
/dev/sda: ST2000DL003-9VT166: 41Â°C
/dev/sdb: ST2000DL003-9VT166: 44Â°C
```

However, I hear the hum of the spinning platter of the HDDs a bit which I think could be reduced with sound insulation and the temperature could be brought down with the passive HDD coolers.

Above all my interest does not lie on a full-fledged blade server. However, thank you again.


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## vermaden (Apr 11, 2011)

You should check single core ATOM or C50 AMD FUSION MINI-ITX desings then, also many VIA motherboards run fanless.

I also do not get why you consider 2.5 drives as disadvantage, don't they consume LESS power?


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## zennybsd (Apr 11, 2011)

Performance is the reason. This link (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2,1018.html) explains, I guess though the link is a bit old, but still valid. Above all, 2.5" is not the de facto datacenter standard with slow IO operations, though low power consuming.


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## gordon@ (Apr 11, 2011)

Check out the Soekris line of hosts: http://www.soekris.com/


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## wblock@ (Apr 12, 2011)

zennybsd said:
			
		

> Performance is the reason. This link (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2,1018.html) explains, I guess though the link is a bit old, but still valid. Above all, 2.5" is not the de facto datacenter standard with slow IO operations, though low power consuming.



Think SSD.  Lower power (generally), 2.5 form factor, high performance.


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## vermaden (Apr 12, 2011)

zennybsd said:
			
		

> Above all, 2.5" is not the de facto datacenter standard with slow IO operations, though low power consuming.



The industry's fastest SATA drives are 2.5 mate (WD VelociRaptor): http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20

Also a lot SAS drives are 2.5 ... in datacenters 

There is also another factor that should be kept in mind before choosing the 2.5 vs 3.5 factor, the performance per WATT which is on 2.5 side.

The only advantage that 3.5 currently have is size (no 2-3TB drives in 2.5 factor, at most 1.5TB currently) and lower price per GB.

It would be nice to see comparision of for example 2.5 WD Scorpio Black 7200 and 3.5 Seagate Barracuda LP 5900 drive


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## danbi (Apr 12, 2011)

Hm... low cost "green" server and high disk performance don't match much, unless you use SSDs, which is an entirely different solution price-wise. Today's SSDs, with read/write speeds in the order of 500MB/s don't quite fit with an low-power CPU either.

Speaking of mechanical drives -- one of the cool things the 2.5" form factor brings in comparison with 3.5" form factor is seek speeds -- comparable or better seek times for much less power. This is why 5.25" HDDs became history years ago.. Not to speak of larger sized drives 
Of course, for the same storage space you pay premium over 3.5" drives, but considering physical dimensions, two 1TB 2.5" drives are smaller than one 2TB 3.5" drive. At 14-15ms seek times, they are quite comparable in performance as well.

Check current offerings at http://www.seagate.com, but be sure to review all Consumer, Business and Enterprise drives -- just to compare state of the art in 2.5" and 3.5" drives. Demand for 2.5" high-performance SAS drives is quite high.


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## zennybsd (Apr 13, 2011)

All of your inputs are extremely worth considering and appreciated.

@vermaden: Thank you for your pointer. I am using both atom 525 and amd zacate based mini-ITX boards but they have built in video which is not necessary for a headless server, and also the reason of heat and power consumption. I am searching for someone or some company which makes customized boards without video and other IOs like KB/Mouse or say bare minimum for a headless servers.

About the Velociraptor stuff, they are not available in large sizes. I am searching for 2-3TB minimum. Therefore I have to use 3.5" drives. 

@wblock: About SSD, they also generate a lot of heat and SSDs are not only smaller in size but still experimental.

@gordon: The soekris is good enough just for small home routers, the CPU are not powerful to support a datacenter load with several virtual machines. Anyway, thanks for your time.

@danbi: Thank you for your input. I fully agree with your logic that the drives would get smaller and smaller. Yet the current market has 3.5" as a standard, due to their large size and performance.

Has somebody here managed to get made a customized mobo design for headless server? 

If yes, a howto or the manufacturer's contacts would be extremely helpful! I guess they may either be from China/Taiwan ;-)


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## vermaden (Apr 13, 2011)

zennybsd said:
			
		

> @vermaden: Thank you for your pointer. I am using both atom 525 and amd zacate based mini-ITX boards but they have built in video which is not necessary for a headless server, and also the reason of heat and power consumption. I am searching for someone or some company which makes customized boards without video and other IOs like KB/Mouse or say bare minimum for a headless servers.



Mate, EVERY computer needs to have graphics card, EVERY ONE, even VMware/VirtualBox virtual machines have at least some tiny equivalent of a graphics card, every server motherboard has a graphics card (like Matrox G200eW / ATI Rage XL / ATI ES1000 / ...). You just need to have graphics card on the system to work. PERIOD.

Also the ATOM graphics card is very retarded and very simple (so very slow) so if you can't stand that graphics card that much, then take ATOM, it's almost not there


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## zennybsd (Apr 13, 2011)

@vermaden: I think you misread me. I am asking this board because if anyone here ever wanted or used something customized like I am searching for not the one that is mass produced. And I meant I do not need built-in graphic card onto motherboard. Opencompute.org is one that removed video from the mainboard.

--

I posted it after searching online for a long time if anyone here has that. So I assume myself that I am aware of the most of the products in the market, but not the ones customised by the "lion-hearted" system engineers who are not afraid to take risk and roaming around this space ;-)

PS: I didn't marked this thread as solved, but I do not know how come it was tagged 'Solved'? hmmmmm I am still searching for some inputs from those who are really onto the customised hardware design. Thanks again!


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## vermaden (Apr 14, 2011)

@zennybsd

Sounds like pretty specialist hardware you are looking at there ... I never got 'that far' to find a need to remove graphics from any system, so it seems that I will not be able to help you on this one


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## zennybsd (Apr 14, 2011)

@vermaden: I appreciate your endeavour to help. Thank you.


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