Hey everyone,
first post on Level1Techs.
First Linux PC build, as well.
I leaned heavily on Wendell videos, ARSTechnica articles, and DigitalOcean articles.
@wendell mentioned in a PGP stream on 2/17/17 that I should make a thread about this build.
So, here we go.... !!
Ebay links to my purchases... hope they last a while:
SuperMicro X8DTL Dual CPU Motherboard - $97
Cooler - Intel Extreme Cooler - (2x) - $24 each
24GB ECC Reg RAM - (6x4GB) - $36 for set
Total: $235 + free shipping!!!!
- Used an EVGA 1050W power supply (bought several at once, so it was on the shelf, I'd recommend the EVGA 750BQ for a new buyer - its also compatible with dual CPU for much less money - like $70)
- I also used an old Fractal R5 because it was also on a shelf, and its very quiet.
- Finally, I loaded up a bunch (5) of refurb 3tb drives from amazon (HGST refurbs.)
- I installed Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS, made a LAMP for hosting all my sites, and started setting up the ZFS pools.
- I went with (2) 3tb drives for a cloud pool, and the other (3) as a start for a media server named PMSpool -because jokes. (And PlexMediaServer...of course)
ZFS was the perfect file system for this.
I got imaptient on shipping for coolers and ended up buying a pair of Noctua nh-u9dx-1366 coolers from amazon prime... this proved to be wild overkill for these chips. Not necessary. Intel ones are quiet enough.
I added Plex media server and began the LONG process of transferring over media. I connected drives directly via SATA to transfer files.
Everything works perfect!! Web server is up, NextCloud is excellent, and Plex Media Server is BEAST MODE. I went to my day job (financial planner, nothing IT - so sorry if I've made huge errors) and tested the media server. I have a 300mbps down connection at work and a 20mbps upload at home. I played a dvd rip and there was next to no load time and smooth as it could be, played "original" quality, so no transcode. I started opening additional tabs and was able to get to 5 or 6 dvd and/or bluray rips beforre stuttering.. (I suspect upload speed was limitation.)
I wanted to stress the CPU's, so I ssh'd into server and ran TOP command to see CPU utilization, and started crunching the video quality down to 320kb/s and start adding tabs. I ran out into issues on work-workstation after 15 streams... no stuttering up to that point - TOP showed CPU at 59%... so that's awesome.
I may have overbuilt this thing....
I wanted to share this experience so others could take advantage of these great deals on eBay. I took a bit of a chance, but man- it worked out in a big way. I have dead quiet, very powerful server now! ...and a place to keep experimenting with Linux!
Happy to answer question, if any of you have any!
_pig.
PS - thoughts if I were to do this again. I'd do it just the same. The deal is too good. 10/10 recommend. I think I want to add a SATA controller because the onboard SATA and SAS, while plentiful, are not 3gb or 6gb connections... But, as you see from post above, this isnt an issue in real world implementation. It works great! Good luck!!
PPS - I'd be happy to receive feedback about build!