The cheapest 12/2U or 24/4U Bay Server is back

[riskit]

UPDATE 20 July 2012

Just to let everyone know this eBay deal is DEAD on Ebay but they still have this in stock with a 120 GB HD (http://www.ebay.ca/itm/150813402842?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.ca%3A80%2Fsc h%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3984.m570.l1 313%26_nkw%3D150813402842%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1) and just recieved a large shipment of 12 & 24 bay AMD Supermicro servers picture below (http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412640/are-you-looking-for-a-less-expensive-norco-4220-4224-alternative/322).

I caved in and brought one this week by calling them directly and am having it ship to a USA address

I made arrangements by call Andy at Tamsolutions directly (801-796-1696), info@tamsolutions.com

Also note you can have it ship to Canada by freight , but you would need to have your own broker set up and you would be required to pay all fees associated with it.
or use UPS (UPS is $$$).

http://cdn.avsforum.com/7/70/7064da23_image.jpeg



Check this link out: Coming Soon in a few days!

It is a COMPLETE COMMERCIAL GRADE DATA CENTER SERVER ~ [B]$199!!!!

Here it is... The news you have been waiting for:


The new machines are in and being readied for shipment.

The Supermicro Server Specs;>


SuperMicro Server Chassis: SC846 (http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/846/SC846E1-R900.cfm) Link to manual (http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/chassis/tower/SC846.pdf)
SuperMicro H8DME-2 (http://www.supermicro.com/aplus/motherboard/opteron2000/mcp55/h8dme-2.cfm)

Dual Core AMD Opteron, 2212 HE w/ passive cooling

(3) AOC-SAT2-MV8 Controller Cards (http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/Supermicro%20AOC-SAT2-MV8.cfm)
Supermicro AOC-SIM1U(+) & and AOC USB2RJ45 (http://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/AOC-SIM1U.pdf)

(2) Supermicro 900w pws-902-1r redundant PSUs. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325&tag=avsforum00-20&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fredire ct.html%3Fie%3DUTF8%26linkCode%3Dur2%26camp%3D1789 %26creative%3D9325%26tag%3Davsforum00-20%26location%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com% 252FSupermicro-900W-Redundant-Power-Supply%252Fdp%252FB001GAGFQ6)
(8GB) Super Talent 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2-667MHz ECC Registered CL5 240-Pin DIMM (http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdetail.aspx?itemid=27248928&partno=T667RB2G4&rid=fd_01)


This server is really awesome... and the best thing is... it should require little to no modifications to function in the home environment.

The server comes with a fan wall already installed as well as a plastic shroud that directs the airflow for maximum cooling.

All five cooling fans are 80mm! This makes quieting down this server.... very easy and affordable!


The seller will be posting these machines on ebay as soon as he has cleared and removed the HDDs... He anticipates this to be in the next week or two



They got an unexpected shipment of servers from another customer... this time they are 2U

http://www.avsforum.com/content/type/61/id/44011/width/350/height/700

So if you really don't need a 24 drive server and would prefer the smaller form factor of a 12 drive setup... one of these these machines maybe perfect for you...

The Specs I know:
Supermicro Server Case SC826 (http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/2U/?chs=826)
Supermicro X7SBE (http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/3210/X7SBE.cfm)
(1) AOC-SAT2-MV8 (http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/Supermicro%20AOC-SAT2-MV8.cfm)
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU

AVS Forums will update as soon as they know more...


Source


So if you would like to be one of the first to get your hands on their new stock... Give them a call at 801-796-1696 or email them at jdye@tamsolutions.com they will gladly put your name on the list for the next available units.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412640/are-you-looking-for-a-less-expensive-norco-4220-4224-alternative

[canuckinternet]

We actually use a very similar config on our array of backup servers. This is a really good buy but the shipping and customs will kill it.

[riskit]

We actually use a very similar config on our array of backup servers. This is a really good buy but the shipping and customs will kill it.

Shipping is $90 to a drop off location in Upstate NY and then there's the taxes on $200 but no duties when you drive this monster back into Canada.

:)

[canuckinternet]

Shipping is $90 to a drop off location in Upstate NY and then there's the taxes on $200 but no duties when you drive this monster back into Canada.

:)

You're right, I forgot that raised it to $200. If anyone is interested, that's a 5u rackmount.

[xalex0]

With 48hr DOA warranty and the time required to move it into Canada I wouldn't riskit.

[netwise]

I recently sold 3 SuperMicro 12 bay chassis and boards similar to this from my home lab. I figured I'd share some experience with this, as I was using it for a vSphere 5 Beta lab, and it served me decently.

* The system will work fine in vSphere v4.x or v5.x. The system board, you will find from SuperMicro, has no Windows 2008 R2 drivers. I tried to get Windows 2008 R2 performing decently on it with trial copies while I was selling mine so I could demonstrate it operational, and many devices never found drivers or even if they did, the system was 'sluggish'. If you are hoping to use vSphere or Linux, you will likely be fine.
* Mine were 2U boxes, which required low profile add in cards. This unit will not have that problem. This is more of an issue than you might think :)
* The system is all PCI-X no PCI-E. This means modern cards will NOT work in it. However, HP NC7170 are dual port Intel 1000MT/PT compatible cards that work just fine. You can pick these up for about $30 on eBay
* There are only 2 USB ports on the back. If your KVM or console is USB only, you have no way to add USB storage (ie: boot from USB, run from USB, etc) without either a hub (ick) or an internal USB card or headers.
* The SAT2-MV8 "RAID" cards are entirely fake-RAID. vSphere will not see a RAID built on them. Windows 2008R2 as mentioned has no decent support.
* The RAM and CPU are compatible/generationally the same as a Dell PowerEdge 1950/2950 (which is what I have in my lab now). There are TONS of parts available for those, and by extension CPU/RAM upgrades are dirt cheap for either.
* The fact that there is an *IDE* boot drive, should scare the hell out of you due to age. However, this is likely so it can use one of the CDROM intended ports on the board, and leave all 24 SATA free for software RAID.
* The FANS blow at some 5000rpm or something crazy. If you want to put this in your basement, it better be soundproof :)
* If you're going to get one, find out if anyone near you wants one and ship them together. They're possibly going to go freight. Might as well split the cost.

All that said, when you consider what a 4 bay QNAP with dual LAN will cost, and consider that it also is software RAID - this can be a decent unit if you're looking for a massive amount of space. Just consider how much power you're going to pull to keep it running.

[galantgtz99]

I recently sold 3 SuperMicro 12 bay chassis and boards similar to this from my home lab. I figured I'd share some experience with this, as I was using it for a vSphere 5 Beta lab, and it served me decently.

* The system will work fine in vSphere v4.x or v5.x. The system board, you will find from SuperMicro, has no Windows 2008 R2 drivers. I tried to get Windows 2008 R2 performing decently on it with trial copies while I was selling mine so I could demonstrate it operational, and many devices never found drivers or even if they did, the system was 'sluggish'. If you are hoping to use vSphere or Linux, you will likely be fine.
* Mine were 2U boxes, which required low profile add in cards. This unit will not have that problem. This is more of an issue than you might think :)
* The system is all PCI-X no PCI-E. This means modern cards will NOT work in it. However, HP NC7170 are dual port Intel 1000MT/PT compatible cards that work just fine. You can pick these up for about $30 on eBay
* There are only 2 USB ports on the back. If your KVM or console is USB only, you have no way to add USB storage (ie: boot from USB, run from USB, etc) without either a hub (ick) or an internal USB card or headers.
* The SAT2-MV8 "RAID" cards are entirely fake-RAID. vSphere will not see a RAID built on them. Windows 2008R2 as mentioned has no decent support.
* The RAM and CPU are compatible/generationally the same as a Dell PowerEdge 1950/2950 (which is what I have in my lab now). There are TONS of parts available for those, and by extension CPU/RAM upgrades are dirt cheap for either.
* The fact that there is an *IDE* boot drive, should scare the hell out of you due to age. However, this is likely so it can use one of the CDROM intended ports on the board, and leave all 24 SATA free for software RAID.
* The FANS blow at some 5000rpm or something crazy. If you want to put this in your basement, it better be soundproof :)
* If you're going to get one, find out if anyone near you wants one and ship them together. They're possibly going to go freight. Might as well split the cost.

All that said, when you consider what a 4 bay QNAP with dual LAN will cost, and consider that it also is software RAID - this can be a decent unit if you're looking for a massive amount of space. Just consider how much power you're going to pull to keep it running.

Thank you for the info on these... i was so very tempted to get one. You have provided enough information to prevent me of doing such. There are a few key issues that won't work for me. None the less, this is still a super hot deal. Thanks goes to the OP as well... super hot find.

[sexyj]

WOW, buying this

Perfect for my unraid server.

Edit1: Dam it, wont let me buy and ship to niagara

Edit2: Just signed up a new ebay account with cbi address totalling @ 288.76

[riskit]

here is more info on the seller and mods to the server

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412640/are-you-looking-for-a-less-expensive-norco-4220-4224-alternative/30

[netwise]

here is more info on the seller and mods to the server

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412640/are-you-looking-for-a-less-expensive-norco-4220-4224-alternative/30

Them are some creative guys :) Seems though by the time they've done all that work, they might just be better off picking up a 3U/4U server rack case. Still, even at $500 all in ($200 in mods it would seem and at LEAST $100 shipping), it's not all bad if you have ZFS or WHS2011 or something that can do quasi-RAID without needing it to be hardware based.

Thanks for the link, a lot of creativity in that thread.

[taz_miz_zaz]

Them are some creative guys :) Seems though by the time they've done all that work, they might just be better off picking up a 3U/4U server rack case. Still, even at $500 all in ($200 in mods it would seem and at LEAST $100 shipping), it's not all bad if you have ZFS or WHS2011 or something that can do quasi-RAID without needing it to be hardware based.

Thanks for the link, a lot of creativity in that thread.

Gotta say I do agree with the creativity. I've even seen mods of Norco cases where they essentially welded 2 together to enable 40+ bays of HDDs.

As to your comment on better off I'd have to say its quite unlikely. I've been looking at building something basically identical out of new parts and this is how it breaks down:

* Norco 4220 or similar case: not less than $350 ($430 if you want the 24 bay)
* Power supply: $100
* Motherboard: $100
* CPU: $100
* Memory: $100
* 3 x 8 Channel SATA cards or if you are lucky on Mobo only 2 cards: 3 x $125
* Bunches of SATA cables (often longer than typical as a short run is 18 inchs): 20 x $1 (assuming crap from China)

All in without shipping costs (and you better believe in shipping costs on that server chassis) is $1145. Plus you've kind of gotten whatever crap is available rather than carefully selecting top quality parts (also no server grade parts which can sometimes mean instability, lack of drivers and even things just not fitting). Especially the SATA cards, good ones can be rather difficult to find (due to driver difficulties).

The problem that many people miss out on is that this hypothetical system still has many of the same issues of the $200 one on eBay. Notably you still need to replace the fans as it'll be screeming loud (even Norco cases tend to come with the loud fans).

And quite honestly if you have a garage or room that can have the door closed on it then you don't have to care about noise and suddenly all the mods are just pointless exercises in geekdom. Fun though :cheesygri

All that said I've bought 2 and am busy looking up some of the modding options as I'm quite interested in making the whole system consume less power and still be super awesome. I'm also looking at picking up some quad core LGA 771 processors as well thus turning the machine from a mild manered dual core system to a beast of a 8 core (2 x 4) monster.

My plan is to install Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V (there is even a freebie version of that from MS for people who like a challenge and command prompts). Then I'll be running a few media related VMs for my home theater system. Ideally one will actually by Server 2012 (or Windows 8 I guess) using the new Storage Spaces feature to enable nice unRaid/WHS like drive pooling yet with the new MS reFS file system I'll gain protection against bit rot as well (sadly an all too common problem with large media files).

From what I can tell with drivers for the hardware it'll likely be rather challenging to get Server 2012 running on the bare metal but it appears that WHS 2011 (and thus Server 2008 R2) runs quite nicely. So by running some of the harder to find drivers OSs inside Hyper-V I'll save myself that effort.

[riskit]

thanks for the info "taz_miz_zaz & netwise "



"taz_miz_zaz " please update us when you receive the units and the builds

:)

[taz_miz_zaz]

thanks for the info "taz_miz_zaz & netwise "



"taz_miz_zaz " please update us when you receive the units and the builds

:)

Will do. I'm hoping that they will arrive at my shipping destination around the end of the week or so and then they'll be tested for any issues. After that unfortunately they will have to wait for a bit till I get to visit my shipping destination (6 weeks :cry: ).

FYI, if netwise's comment about IDE hard drives sounds scary its mostly due to not spending time checking out the specs on the system. The motherboard has 6 unused SATA ports onboard and 1 IDE port. Due to IDE drives being essentially free to a scrounging company like the seller they were able to sell a "complete" system for $200, if they had to include a SATA drive it would have been more expensive. Also I don't know about anyone else but I feel kind of creep’d out about using used hard drives (other than ones I've made into used myself). With hard drive failure rates as random and data loss from one at 100% I generally prefer to know that it hasn't been mistreated through its life.

And anyways if you are looking at buying a system like this and don't have a giant stack of older but not currently used SATA drives sitting around it seems kind of like you may not quite qualify for a geek card (and installing a server from scratch definately needs geek card credentials).


To any who are thinking of getting this package and have low to medium computer experience (aka haven't built a few systems yourself from scratch) I would suggest against this deal. Due to the combination of server parts and hardware age it will take extra time and effort to gather together working drivers and build a stable system. The only possibly "easy" setup would be something with Server 2003 as all the official Supermicro drivers cap out at Server 2003.

Also to those who don't like taking a risk on a 100% loss and don't have a techy person in the US to ship to I would also suggest serious second thoughts.

Reports from AVSForum suggest all the units that commenters have used (and due to techy people I assume they would find issues quite quick) arrived in working order, but risking $300~ is a bit high for many people on RFD so be warned. (or be lucky like me to have techy friends in the US)

[Importz]

I thought eBay deals are not aloud to be posted?

[riskit]

I would have been all over this if I had room for it, & seriously take "taz_miz_zaz ' info since this is no small task for the inexperience user.

Here is more info from about this deal

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1698170&page=2

and if you have a 10TB +++ system check out these setup from member of Hardfourm

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1393939


:)

[Importz]

How come my eBay deal was removed but this one is not? How is this fair?

[riskit]

pictures of newstock added to O.P.

[death_hawk]

I have the biggest [expletive deleted] right now....
I'm so buying at least 5 if not more if the model number is correct.

*crosses fingers*


EDIT: [expletive deleted]!
I had a look at the thread on AVS and the units include AOC-SAT2-MV8 which means they're TQ
I would have filled an entire rack with these if they were E series.

Oh well. I'm still good for at least 2. Maybe 3.

[sexyj]

Picked up the server at Buffalo this weekend and its definitely a good buy.

All I did is plug in my hdds and the unraid key and it worked out of the box.

The fans are industrial level loud tho...

[deep]

Just called, and they may have some of these units left, are also getting in an AMD based, Supermicro-cased version....I've emailed for details, not sure what else it includes yet.

[Supercooled]

Neighborhood is going into dark when someone powers one of these up.


100TB .. So...much.. Pr0n.

[death_hawk]

Neighborhood is going into dark when someone powers one of these up.


100TB .. So...much.. Pr0n.

I'm only pulling about 600-700W load.
Now.... if I power a rack of them.... that's 7kW.

[riskit]

the seller now also has 2U 12 bay servers.

:)

[taz_miz_zaz]

the seller now also has 2U 12 bay servers.

Wow, if I hadn't already ordered mine I'd be buying more right now. Actually I'm almost going to buy more... arrrgg.

For anyone waiting to hear my reports on how awesome these are I've had them inspected and they are in perfect working order. Even had one that UPS tried very hard to put a hole in it and that didn't kill the machine (good packing job from the seller). I have heard them over the phone and can say that they are very loud, like raise your voice to be heard loud. If they are in a separate room with the door closed it should be OK, but then you would need to worry more about cooling as well (as that many hard drives can get very hot).

I will be personally inspecting and bringing the servers up to Canada in the next few weeks which will begin my saga of installing and testing Server 2012 and what combination of software I want to run.

[riskit]

I recieved my server last week and it boot up fine but it is loud, had some issues with the some parts and Tam Solutions reply quickly within a hour and was really helpfull in resolving and providing a great solution to the issues. All in I am really happy with this purchase and with Tam solotions, and now I need to buy more Hard drives, or maybe one more of those Supermicro server when they have them ready for sale.

:)

[death_hawk]

http://youtu.be/03C4tnCFEMQ

I just got an email saying they're ready to ship.

Full specs:
Processor: Dual Core AMD Opteron, 2212 HE
Speed: 2.0GHz
Motherboard: SuperMicro H8DME-2
RAM: 8GB DDR2
Hard Drive: has internal 160GB IDE drive for OS, but no hard drives in trays
Optical Drive: None
3 x SAT2-MV8 Raid Cards
SC846TQ 4U

They're listed at $300 per plus $20 for rails plus shipping.
Shipping to Great Falls is just under $70.
Shipping to Canada is probably around $700. I kid, but it won't be cheap.

[sleepyguy]

Wow... this is very neat! Trying to find a reason why I would need one... lol.

[george__]

Can I just get a case from them? If so, anyway to get a 4U case to KW without paying crap load on shipping??
I'm been considering the The Norco RPC-4220 but the shipping is KILLER.

Please advise. I'm seriously considering.

[death_hawk]

I have no idea where KW is.

I'd rather jab myself in the eye than use an RPC-422X.
I have one sitting in my garage collecting dust.

I ordered 2 with a quote coming for 2 more shipping to Canada.
I can nail a 100TB project using 2 of these bad boys.

[george__]

Okay

[sexyj]

you can pick it up at ncix


Can I just get a case from them? If so, anyway to get a 4U case to KW without paying crap load on shipping??
I'm been considering the The Norco RPC-4220 but the shipping is KILLER.

Please advise. I'm seriously considering.

[sleepyguy]

100TB :O

Man what do you guys do? Full BR backups and music in FLAC only? :)

[george__]

100TB :O

Man what do you guys do? Full BR backups and music in FLAC only? :)

I'm nearing 20TB at home right now... It becomes addictive in a way... Movies, FLAC, DATA, PICTURES, documents, etc
Just becomes headache trying to backup everything

[death_hawk]

I don't believe in deleting things (or downtime)
Looking randomly through my file server I see files from 8/10/2000

I estimated myself at 60TB with about 20TB free.

[george__]

We are DATA HOARDERS...
A lot of you older folks probably could have bought a sports car if you saved the money instead of building / paying for your servers.

[death_hawk]

I was bored and priced out 40U of storage a couple days ago.
Long story short...
500TB = $70 000

It requires 6kWh to run, so assuming $0.08 per hour, it costs you $12 per day in power costs alone.


Speaking of which, I'm kind of tempted to set up a group buy because the only way into Canada would be via Freight.
I'd like to base it out of Alberta since only GST applies here.
You would be responsible for reshipping from me to you.
A quick peek on eShipper looks reasonable. From major centers, AB to BC = $40? I'll give quotes on a case by case basis (lol)
Would anyone be interested?

[pir2]

Did anyone get one shipped directly to Canada?

[taz_miz_zaz]

Did anyone get one shipped directly to Canada?

I did not. I have it now in Canada though. Customized, 8U, 48 bays (18 in use now).

Works fantastically well. Quite happy.

[pir2]

any duties/taxes when bringing it back across the border?

[taz_miz_zaz]

any duties/taxes when bringing it back across the border?

No, but I was in the States for 2 weeks on a holiday so that doesn't really count.

[death_hawk]

I'm having 4 units delivered on Tuesday.
Man freight is quick. Picked up on Thursday.

[balance]

Brokerage fee? Shipping?

[iLLNESS]

It requires 6kWh to run, so assuming $0.08 per hour, it costs you $12 per day in power costs alone.

cheaper then running my 14kW electric heater for my pool in the winter :)

[death_hawk]

Sure, but winter only lasts for a few months.
I run my storage servers year round.