I need some advice. Whilst I usually know what to do, I’m a bit stuck.
My current server has the following hardware:
Intel i3-8100
32GB of ECC UDIMM
Fujitsu / Kontron D3644-B Motherboard
1x 256GB Toshiba NVMe SSD (Boot) (ext4)
2x 2TB Corsair MP400 2TB placed in PCIe x4 Adapaters (with large heatsinks) (Mirrored ZFS Pool)
6x 14TB Western Digital WD140EDGZ / WD140EDFZ (RAIDZ2 ZFS Pool)
1x Intel X540-AT2 10Gb NIC
APC SmartUPS 750
The system runs Debian 12.
The server runs ~12 Docker containers for serveral home ‘purposes’ like downloads, home automation, private cloud stuff.
Currently the server idles around ~30w with the disks spun down.
I have a 4Gb Fiber connection, hence the 10Gb NIC.
The server is not busy continuously, but during peak hours it does struggle.
That’s why I’m looking to upgrade.
Things I’m considering:
CPU:
New CPU, since the current one is quite outdated.
I’m rooting for AMD, but Intel does have a much better lower idle power consumption, and with my usage profile, I don’t think I will benefit from the better performance/watt ratios for AMD CPU’s, but I’m not really sure.
AMD’s new 9000 series or the current 8000 series (G models) might have a fairly low idle power consumption which might make it doable.
I’ve looked at EPYC, but the idle power consumption seems just too high.
Memory:
AMD does have ECC support, but it’s… flaky… Intel is not much better, but there are some guaranteed options available with the W-series chipsets.
I know perfectly well that ECC is not a must for ZFS, but I feel a little bit better when using it. It’s just a matter of preference.
But as with all things, if the consideration is, ECC or a (much) lower idle consumption, I’d probably pick the lower Idle consumption.
Motherboard:
A new motherboard is one of the hardest choices. Going DDR5 ECC seems fine, but the number of motherboards with (proven / tested) low idle power usage are scarce. I’m not nitpicking on a few watts (~30W for the whole system would be fine), but I’ve read numerous stories regarding 50W+ idle consumption from several AMD and Intel motherboards, without any peripherals or addons. That’s just a waste of power (and thus heat).
SSD’s:
Nothing much to change, the seperation of the boot drive from the mirrored ZFS pool makes it so I don’t need to boot of zfs, which is much easier regarding OS Upgrades, maintenance etc…
NIC:
I’m considering using a motherboard with dual 2.5GbE onboard. My switch supports LACP, which might allow me to fully utilize my Internet connection without requiring a 10Gb NIC. Although I’m not sure the load will be sufficiently spread out of the 2 links when using Usenet or Torrents. Both use multiple connections, but it might not work properly…
Harddisks:
No changes required, just the note that the motherboard needs to have 6 SATA ports.
One more consideration, my server is placed in my Office, which is quite small (few m2), which makes managing the climate quite cumbersome. If the equipment in my Office consumes too much power, the room gets fairly hot during the summer, which is quite annoying.
So a lower idle power consumption not only saves money on the electricity bill, it also lets me keep my sanity
So a little more investment for a lower idle power consumption is quite fine.
Can anyone recommend a good setup?
Budget is not really a thing, if you can guarantee me that it will idle around 30W, give me (a lot) more performance than my current setup, I would honestly don’t care if it costs 2k EU.