Source
r/homelab•
semose

Cheapest Dual LGA 1366?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but right now, it seems like a dual LGA 1366 platform is the best cost/performance/power right now for anything approaching a serious workload. When looking to compare the cost of servers, it's best to compare barebones, as CPU/RAM/HDD is the largest cost and is the same between manufacturers. With this in mind, can anyone find anything cheaper than a Dell R710? If all you want is the metal chassis, motherboard, and fans, you can get a barebones for as low as $150 now. If you want dual PSU, rails, RAID controller, and maybe a couple of HDDs trays, you can find them for around $450:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171890026661

Just add CPU/RAM/HDD and you have a server. If you don't want to set up a rack in your home (and don't require dual PSU/IMPMI), the best alternative I've found is the HP Z800 workstation for $350:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161745854785

Because of work, I'm more used to Dell hardware, but the Z800 seems better then the Dell T5500. More HDD bays by default (4 vs 2), more SAS ports by default (6 vs 0), and more DIMM slots (12 vs 6). The T5500 does seem slightly cheaper, though.

So what are people more familiar with other manufacturers (HP, IBM, Cisco, etc) buying for their dual LGA 1366 homelabs?

Posted Aug 19, 2015, 6:32 PM UTC · edited

519
Endersgame485•

Dell C2100, make sure it is the DDR3 model

2
semoseOP•

Good call, forgot about the C2100. I have a hard requirement of 4 x PCIE slots, so I stopped looking at it. But the 12 x 3.5" HDD bays are pretty awesome for Dell's 11th generation hardware. R510 as well, but only 8 DIMM slots and 3 PCIE. Also, more rare, so a little more expensive than R710, I think.

1
AfterShock•

I recently picked up a hess core dual Xeon z600 for about $450 with 24gigs of Ram. I'd prefer the z800 but noon barebones pricing was to rich for my limited budget. I saw your pci minimum, so I don't think the Z series would work for you.

1
semoseOP•

Not a bad price. I reaaally like the extra RAM slots and SAS ports on the Z800, though. Z series is perfect for PCIE slots for me, actually. Should have been clearer: I just need 2 x 4x PCIE and 2 x 8x PCIE, not 4 x 16x PCIE.

1
bangstang•

I'm under the impression that you can plug any PCIe into a 16x slot (I.E. a 16 slot will take a 16,8,4,2,1 whatever PCIe card). Wikipedia seems to be backing me here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express under the "Form Factor" section.

1
HelperBot_•

Non-Mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

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2
semoseOP•

Precisely, which is why I originally just said that I needed four PCIE slots without specifying their speed. Servers seem to almost never have 1x slots, and I've never seen one with four 4x slots. So in almost every case where there's 4 PCIE slots in a server, it meets my requirements.

2
JeeperGeek•

Just picked up 2x HP DL360 G7's barebones for $350. And last night I ordered 2x HP BL460c G6's from eBay with 2x X5650's and 48GB of RAM each for another $250 total. I think you can do better than barebones @ $450. But to answer your question LGA 1366 for sure. I looked high and low for Sandy Bridge architecture but couldn't get close to the price of X55xx and X56xx chips.

...But in other news, if someone needs the carcasses of some blade servers or a couple E5506 chips, hit me up. :)

1
semoseOP•

Wow, you win eBay. That's some crazy good prices. I'm starting to realize HP server prices in general seem lower on average that Dell. Scavenging HP blades does seem to be a legitimate way to go. Sometime it seems like they price it out based solely on CPU/RAM/HDD. But you pretty much paid for RAM and got everything else for free in the blade purchase.

1
JeeperGeek•

I got lucky for sure but with some caveats. I had to drive 6hrs to retrieve the DL360s. I can't use 3.5" drives in this chassis and it doesn't meet your requirement of 4x PCIE - but assuming the blades show up intact (they haven't shipped yet), I should have two functional boxes for about $650 including gas.

1
Caskalefan•

How about the HP ProLiant SE316M1 G6?

You can get one on Ebay for $85 or less that has 2x psu, 1 e5620, 12GB DDR3, no drives. It would be easy to add more ram and a second CPU.

1
semoseOP•

Very, very cheap barebones, but personally, I need more PCIE than 1U can provide.

1
1823alex•

And what about the 2U version of it? Right here? Only problem is that drives are a pain in the ass for HP servers especially if they are 2.5" Here's a spreadsheet to compare some HP hard drives and other things for HP servers, It's currently only maintained for my personal servers the HP DL380 G5 and DL360 G5, but most parts are universal and that spreadhseet is just a starting point. Also, a DL380 G5 or G6 is quite roomy for PCI cards, especially since it is a 2U server.

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semoseOP•

I really need to get a better grasp on the HP line. I find it much more difficult than Dell to find all the stats at a glance, though. Seems HP deletes everything off the product page for EOL'ed servers, and Wikipedia only list product names, as far as I can find.

Anyone know where I can find anything like this, but for HP?

1
1823alex•

Harddrivesdirect.com best website I've ever used, select server from a drop down, get a list of all possible configurations hat were shipped stock from the factory.

1
Reckless5040•

Supermicro 826 can't really beat em for the price. I have one with L5520s functioning as a NAS right now. Its wonderful.

1