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  1. #1

    Supermicro SC512L with desktop board

    Hi,

    I'm looking at purchasing a quantity of Supermicro 1U SC512L-260 cases to build up some servers. While the Supermicro motherboards are great, unfortunately the price is just way to high.
    Reading through some of the posts to this site, I see that some people have managed to use desktop boards in these cases. Can anyone recommended a board to use? If possible, a picture of one installed would be nice.

    Spec's I'm looking at are fairly open. either Intel P4, 478 or 775 (800fsb) chipset, or I guess AMD if that's possible in this case.

    I don't mind having to do some reworking of the case if needed, & cabling etc.

    One thing I've noticed with non-server board is that the ram slots are often located so they would come between the CPU and the blower fan. In practical terms does this become an issue? Would I need to look at "tunnelling" the airflow around the memory?


    thanks for any help,


    Matt

  2. #2
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    unless you use supermciro P4SCx (s478) or P8SCx (s775), don't ever think about putting prescott (1M L2) in there. any prescott chip requires passive cooling to survive in 1U, period!

    short of passive cooling, which requires 'server' board, you are really limited to P4 northwoods upto 2.8B (512K/533) or 2.8C (512K/800). any 3G+ chip is in danger zone with active cooling alone.

    we use tons of gigabyte 8i845GVM-RZ boards (s478, horizontal audio ports) in SC512L with good success of running 533fsb P4 northwoods.

    your will need front panel split cable (CBL-0068) for any non-supermicro board in supermicro rack-mount case, and you also must revise rear panel IO plate or just leave it out.

    with very few exceptions, just about all current desktop boards come with virtical audio ports which must be removed in order to clear 1U height.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
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  3. #3
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    sawing off the audio connectors is no problem however you will either need to find a mobo with slanted ram slots or use low profile ram which is more expensive

  4. #4
    Thanks for the info.

    Any chance you could post of photo of one of the gigabyte boards installed in a chassis?

    One of our test mule chassis arrived this morning. Look excellent! Though i'm at a loss to know what the metal angle that's about a foot long is for.


    Matt

  5. #5
    Originally posted by sevenone
    Thanks for the info.

    Though i'm at a loss to know what the metal angle that's about a foot long is for.

    Matt
    The metal bracket that comes with the case is for wall mounting. You won't need it for rack mounting.

    Bill

  6. #6

    Get a desoldering gun

    If you will be deploying several of these case/MB combos I suggest buying a cheap desoldering gun.

    I think the results will be better just hacking the audio riser off.

    Bill

  7. #7
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    Re: Get a desoldering gun

    Originally posted by JDSBill
    If you will be deploying several of these case/MB combos I suggest buying a cheap desoldering gun.

    I think the results will be better just hacking the audio riser off.

    Bill
    fully agree... even better just use a cut-off wheel
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  8. #8
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    i use a saw with a wire edge

  9. #9
    I think the results will be better just hacking the audio riser off.
    Are you guys putting together servers or making a jigsaw puzzle?

    Just buy a Dell, for crying out loud you can get new ones with P4's for 500 a pop.
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  10. #10
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    Not 1U half depth, that's for sure.
    Jay Sudowski // Handy Networks LLC // Co-Founder & CTO
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  11. #11
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    Originally posted by afa340a
    Are you guys putting together servers or making a jigsaw puzzle?

    Just buy a Dell, for crying out loud you can get new ones with P4's for 500 a pop.
    the desktop board use by Apaq Digital Systems is ok by me and like Jay said, you can't get a 1u from Dell for only $500.

  12. #12
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    Originally posted by jt2377
    the desktop board use by Apaq Digital Systems is ok by me and like Jay said, you can't get a 1u from Dell for only $500.
    neither K7/K8 Sempron nor Athlon 64 from Dell....

    in fact, you can put Tyan S2850 in SC512L to run a rather powerful single Opteron 14x which are getting dirt cheap nowadays.
    C.W. LEE, Apaq Digital Systems
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    sales@apaqdigital.com

  13. #13
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    jt2377,

    Yes you can get a 1U Dell rackmount for under 500.. if you have a coupon.

    http://www.picvault.info/images/1200...ithoutdell.JPG

    The calculator in that pic shows the Canadian to US conversion based on 20%

    Troy

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    Originally posted by AllianceNet
    jt2377,

    Yes you can get a 1U Dell rackmount for under 500.. if you have a coupon.

    http://www.picvault.info/images/1200...ithoutdell.JPG

    The calculator in that pic shows the Canadian to US conversion based on 20%

    Troy
    but the hardware spec. is rather low...

  15. #15
    Join Date
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    Originally posted by cwl@apaqdigital
    neither K7/K8 Sempron nor Athlon 64 from Dell....

    in fact, you can put Tyan S2850 in SC512L to run a rather powerful single Opteron 14x which are getting dirt cheap nowadays.
    On your website, i see you only use SuperMicro...have you try Evercase and Skyhawk? are they good?

  16. #16
    but the hardware spec. is rather low
    I'd rather have a "low spec" IBM / Dell / HP than a mid spec whitebox, or a high spec/jigsaw puzzle machine

    Criteria for a server:

    * Redundant power supplies
    * Redundant cooling systems on
    - P/S
    - Drives
    - Processors
    * SMP capable machine
    * SCSI drives
    * Minimum 1MB Cache on each CPU

    A DL360 Dual P3/1.26 with 2 x 146GB SCSI Seagates in RAID 1 will outlast/outperform/outlive any hacked up box you manage to fit into some lookalike server case.

    In any event I just bought 25K of new IBM / Dell servers with 2.8 Xeons as a minimum spec. When I was pricing out whiteboxes on paper, it wasn't coming out THAT much cheaper! Maybe 10%!

    We are still using all our "old" 2002/2003 era P-III Xeon servers, and will continue to do so for a while. No cPanel installation requires 3.6 GHz or 4.3 Ghz bla bla bla. CPU is never the bottleneck anyway.

    But for christ's sake, don't cut up a motherboard with a hack saw, whatever you do. This equipment is designed a certain way, it's not designed to be hacked up. Motherboard are fragile, especially the cheap ones you're describing. The PCB's are frail at best, and the vibration from the saw cutting into the audio ports will lessen the usable life of your board.

    Again, just get a real server, they're within everyone's reach nowadays.
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  17. #17

    Please PM me when you finish this project

    Hey,

    I've read this post - and decided to ask you to please PM me when you finish this project.

    I would love to host my website on your server, i'm sure your server will be VERY Stable!!!
    Cutting it up sounds like a great idea....

    Also, i would recommend you write in your web site: "Sites hosted on cut-up servers", this would be great from a marketing point of view. I'm sure....


    Best Regards,



    P.S. did you every hear about the show "jackass" on MTV? They might just like this, so record what you do.

    Good luck! you need it!!!

  18. #18
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    Originally posted by AllianceNet
    Yes you can get a 1U Dell rackmount for under 500.. if you have a coupon.
    The other thing to note is that these Supermicro cases are known as "1/2 U" cases... they're only 14" deep.

    If you step up to the Supermicro 513L, those cases are also rated to run dual Xeons.
    Last edited by bqinternet; 06-04-2005 at 08:17 PM.
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  19. #19
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    Originally posted by afa340a
    I'd rather have a "low spec" IBM / Dell / HP than a mid spec whitebox, or a high spec/jigsaw puzzle machine

    Criteria for a server:

    * Redundant power supplies
    * Redundant cooling systems on
    - P/S
    - Drives
    - Processors
    * SMP capable machine
    * SCSI drives
    * Minimum 1MB Cache on each CPU

    ... snip ...

    In any event I just bought 25K of new IBM / Dell servers with 2.8 Xeons as a minimum spec. When I was pricing out whiteboxes on paper, it wasn't coming out THAT much cheaper! Maybe 10%!

    We are still using all our "old" 2002/2003 era P-III Xeon servers, and will continue to do so for a while. No cPanel installation requires 3.6 GHz or 4.3 Ghz bla bla bla. CPU is never the bottleneck anyway.

    ... snip ...

    Again, just get a real server, they're within everyone's reach nowadays.
    Ooohhh ... we've got a bonafida server snob. Everyone point and laugh at the guy who is getting ripped off on his new boxes, and thinks his P3 DL360's are "superior" to my supermicro Dual Xeon 3.06Ghz / 2GB RAM / 4x200GB SATA / 3Ware RAID box.

    Yah ... White box is only 10% cheaper, and the CPU is never the bottleneck.

    And what in the world does a redundant CPU cooler look like? Passive CPU cooling is the best. I sure would like to see a super-duper redundant active CPU cooler fit into your 1U boxes.

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  20. #20
    thinks his P3 DL360's are "superior" to my supermicro Dual Xeon 3.06Ghz / 2GB RAM / 4x200GB SATA / 3Ware RAID box
    No, my IBM x365's are far superior to the Supermicro.

    Redundant cooling means that you have multiple air flow sources to flow over a passive heatsink, if you want to get technical.
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  21. #21
    By far IBM xSeries are more reliable. I haven't seeb other servers with bigger uptimes than them.

    The remote management capabilities help boost productivity and maintain high system availability.

    I used to deploy production servers on desktop board based computers and I had big headaches, very unreliable solution, and very poor performance in production environments.

    A server is designed to be 24h x 7 days available, and it outperforms by far desktop boards based computers.

  22. #22
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    I don't belive comments about brand-make servers being awesome, belong in this thread. They were talking about custom building a server. You go ahead and wait around for your brand-name authorized tech to show up to sell you RAM from tigerdirect for 4X the price. When something breaks I like to have it fixed within 15 minutes (not 12 hours or less). What model fan is in your brand-name server? What motherboard do you have? Perhaps this thread is better suited for the guy who is being called-out by Dell to repair your server.

    Note: I have nothing against people using brand-name servers but don't come around a thread talking trash on other peoples projects. That's like going on a custom car builders forum and telling them about how lame they are for not just buying the new Nisan Maxima with a 5yr. service warrenty because it's "reliable"?

  23. #23
    Tekerz, you're right, and I apologize.

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  24. #24
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    Originally posted by bqinternet
    If you step up to the Supermicro 513L, those cases are also rated to run dual Xeons
    It has its drawback. Supermicro 513L can only accept 2.5" drives. Ref:
    http://supermicro.com/products/chassis/1U/?chs=513
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  25. #25
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    Actually, dell and IBM have programs so you can make employees certified techs. Once you do this you can have parts same day or next day and you can replace them on site yourself.

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