Budget Server Options (Cheap Cores on a Budget through Ebay)

[tential]

Looking for some cheap ways to get some cores onto my server.
I've seen some good "deals" on ebay.
I want to run UNRAID OS with 2 gaming rigs, background applicationis that aren't intensive (1-2 cores).
I'm thinking 10 cores is the minimum.

I've seen some decent used ivybridge 10 core options where getting the RAM alone would be huge.

What types of ebay options look appealing to ya'll if you were trying to penny pinch.

Edit:
Something like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Prolian...287804&hash=item1c9fa09f6d:g:XxEAAOSwkV5abOd7
Not that specifically, but just looking around and that looked to be a good starter although it's a 1U and passive cooling so I'd have to get more parts and less ram. I'll look but there seems to be some decent deals.
Edit2:
Better listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro...427101?hash=item441410e2dd:g:fFYAAOSwymxVR-hQ

Does anyone here get builds like this?
Also in case it wasn't clear, this is mainly to get the CPU, Mobo, and RAM.
I'll scrap the other parts like the chassis/etc.

What pitfalls am I looking at here.

 

[Markfw]

Looking for some cheap ways to get some cores onto my server.
I've seen some good "deals" on ebay.
I want to run UNRAID OS with 2 gaming rigs, background applicationis that aren't intensive (1-2 cores).
I'm thinking 10 cores is the minimum.

I've seen some decent used ivybridge 10 core options where getting the RAM alone would be huge.

What types of ebay options look appealing to ya'll if you were trying to penny pinch.

Edit:
Something like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Prolian...287804&hash=item1c9fa09f6d:g:XxEAAOSwkV5abOd7
Not that specifically, but just looking around and that looked to be a good starter although it's a 1U and passive cooling so I'd have to get more parts and less ram. I'll look but there seems to be some decent deals.
Edit2:
Better listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro...427101?hash=item441410e2dd:g:fFYAAOSwymxVR-hQ

Does anyone here get builds like this?
Also in case it wasn't clear, this is mainly to get the CPU, Mobo, and RAM.

What pitfalls am I looking at here.

Well, if you can see my sig, I just get socket 2011-3 E5 Xeons off ebay and build up from there. The 10-14 core E5's are the best. I gt a 10 core-20 thread Xeon recently for $189

 

[tential]

Well, if you can see my sig, I just get socket 2011-3 E5 Xeons off ebay and build up from there. The 10-14 core E5's are the best. I gt a 10 core-20 thread Xeon recently for $189

Ya, that's the ideas I'm looking for.
I was sifting around the Plex/Kodi forums looking through signatures trying to get an idea of what people were using.
Can you tell me about your rigs that use the e5 (Omg.. reading through your signature I didn't even understand how many rigs you have.... Mercy...)
It's probably out of my price range but I'm curious.

How does it compare to Threadripper? Which rig is the main... I'm so confused....'

Which e5 did you pick up for that price? Isn't that Haswell? I'm doing it wrong, please educate me.

 

[XavierMace]

What pitfalls am I looking at here.

Actual servers are loud. Period. Some louder than others. Most are too loud to pass the wife test. That DL360 G8 you linked to is NOT remotely passively cooled (nor is that a great price). HP's will run pretty quiet (relatively) if you don't have any PCIe cards installed. But install a higher powered PCIe card and it forces the minimum fan speed up drastically. Supermicro usually carries a bit of a price premium over HP/Dell, but they're still my preference because you've got the option to reuse the case later and BIOS updates aren't locked behind a support contract. If you want to make use of their remote management functionality, HP/Dell both have important features locked behind licensing/hardware keys (Dell more than HP). Supermicro you get everything you need out of the box, save for the ability to do BIOS updates remotely. Replacement/spare parts are generally a bit more expensive on the Supermicro's as well but you have more options. Supermicro's will also take ES processors, the HP/Dell's will not, should you be inclined to try ES's.

I'm going to have to disagree with @Markfw on the CPU recommendation given your usage. Plex's transcoder (since you mentioned Plex) and pretty much all games are more clock speed hungry than thread hungry. If speed is your primary concern, you'd be better off with E5-2667v2 (3.3Ghz/4.0Ghz Turbo, 8 Cores), IF you're going to swap the CPU's. Unless you're doing something that can REALLY make use of a lot of threads (IE running more than a handful of VM's, or doing DC), you're better off with the slightly lower core count, higher clock speed CPU's. If you're not swapping CPU's or budget is the larger concern, I'd just look at the servers with a decent chunk of RAM at a decent price and go with whatever CPU they include. Right now the RAM on these boxes are worth more than the processors.

With that said, if budget is a larger factor than performance.... Westmere-EP based rigs are drastically cheaper than Sandy/Ivy-EP rigs. $500 will get you most of the way up the product stack for that generation CPU and have quite a bit of memory. I see a 2U Supermicro with 2x X5670's (2.93Ghz/3.33Ghz Turbo, 6 Core) and 72Gb of RAM for $470. They're not quite as energy efficient (although not a terribly noticeable difference, unless you're running them hard) and limited to 6 cores per CPU. But a pair of X5670's is going to have no trouble running a Plex server, doing 1080p transcodes, and a few game servers. Also, check your local Craigslist.

Can you elaborate a bit more on your usage plan and budget?

 

[tential]

If you're saying E5-2667v2,
then I'm in the range of Ryzen now right? How do you think that compares to Ryzen, especially since you seem to also have these types of rigs too!

As for the loudness factor,
not a concern, I will get the internals and replace any loud fans with Noctua ones. My current server chassis is very quiet, even with stock fans(Rosewill but not all connected as not all were needed to keep temps extremely low).
It's also going into a custom built server "cabinet" thing I made which is designed to further cool/dampen noise. So hopefully I'm ok on that front!

My budget:
~$800?
Not really a hard budget, I'm trying to explore what my options are instead of getting Threadripper since ram is so expensive, that as you said, the used builds RAM is the sweet spot.
Usage:
Unraid OS - only needs 1 dedicated core
Media Management - (Only needs 1 core. Combined with the above for 2 cores/4 threads, that's a lot more power than I currently use to manage my media/unraid OS)

2 Gaming VMs (4 cores preferably. Gaming level will utilize my old GPUs and is more meant for console level graphics and streaming to steam link capable devices. Only 1 gaming VM is mandatory. Second one is more of a luxury (not that this whole thing isn't), and is completely not necessary.

I want to do similar to what Linus has in his 1 computer multiple gaming rigs. But I want to stream the games to client boxes. Wanted to do this ever since Unraid 6 came out with VM on it.

 

[XavierMace]

Passmark puts a single E5-2667v2 pretty close to a 1700X with a slight edge to the E5 (both single and multithread). That said, the E5-2667v2 is definitely less common as most people buying servers to want the additional cores. My recommendation would be patience and keep a regular eye on the listings. I paid $480+shipping for the second host in my sig (not including the drives/HBA) with rails and drive trays. Passmark puts the more common E5-2670v2 slightly below the 1700x overall but it loses by quite a bit on single thread.

I'm just now realizing it's sounding like you're talking about only running a single CPU? Keep in mind that you're losing half your RAM slots and at least half your PCIe slots doing that. If you're planning on multiple GPU's, you're likely going to have to run 2 CPU's.

 

[aigomorla]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/HUA...b033-4d10-8bb7-135d17c393b0&priceBeautifyAB=2

Paired with some cheap used E5's would make one hell of a cheap system.
You could probably find E5
And ECC DDR3 is also fairly cheap.

will get the internals and replace any loud fans with Noctua ones

you have never worked with a 1U chasis to be thinking this naively... lol...
meaning... GOOD LUCK.... 1U's secondary names are called the screaming pizza box case for a reason.

 

[tential]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/HUA...b033-4d10-8bb7-135d17c393b0&priceBeautifyAB=2

Paired with some cheap used E5's would make one hell of a cheap system.
You could probably find E5
And ECC DDR3 is also fairly cheap.



you have never worked with a 1U chasis to be thinking this naively... lol...
meaning... GOOD LUCK.... 1U's secondary names are called the screaming pizza box case for a reason.

Do I need to use ECC Ram with that mobo you posted? I don't think anything I do needs ECC ram in general. Also a mobo off aliexpress? Does the competition from them ever end? I may have purely China/Korean items soon at this rate, the competition is just so good.

Err... I already have a 1U Chassis!
But ya, I would also be getting a new chassis, I wouldn't be placing this build in a 1U chassis, it would be going in a 4U Chassis with drive bays for the UNRAID portion of the server.
My 1U chassis though is silent, although of course I built it that way and specced it that way by using Baytrail..
I'm more surprised that you can fit anything that power hungry in a 1U chassis. I was scared of putting Baytrail in a 1U chassis.

 

[aigomorla]

i dont think you need to use ECC, but if its a server i would probably put ECC on it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Wait a... min...ute...

::rereads OP::

Are you running this to support a couple gaming rigs, or do you mean you want to play games on the server (with, like, Steam streaming or something?)

 

[tential]

Wait a... min...ute...

::rereads OP::

Are you running this to support a couple gaming rigs, or do you mean you want to play games on the server (with, like, Steam streaming or something?)

I want to play games on the server like with steam streaming. I want all my heavy computing done on my server if possible. I only want thin client boxes anywhere else.
Once I figure out my wiring situation for my place, I want to try the Steam Link. I think that's my best bet since I just need 1080p streaming for the living room.

 

[ElFenix]

if you want cheap and performance i think it begins and ends with haswell. at least until DDR4 prices aren't ridiculous. good chunk of performance improvement over sandy/ivy.

 

[tential]

Haswell is my defined "cutoff" for what I recommend people in general, so I guess that's what I'll aim for then.
Do ya'll have links new or sold of ebay listings that show these good prices? I normally see Haswell as quite expensive for Xeon line processors but I'm guessing I'm doing it wrong.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I want to play games on the server like with steam streaming. I want all my heavy computing done on my server if possible. I only want thin client boxes anywhere else.
Once I figure out my wiring situation for my place, I want to try the Steam Link. I think that's my best bet since I just need 1080p streaming for the living room.

Ah. Well, if you're building a "gaming" server with multiple GPUs and so on, you're going to want something a little bigger than a 1U rackmount server.

Might be better off getting virtualization-capable workstation parts and building into an off-the-shelf full tower case. Then at least you'll be able to use larger, quieter fans.

A Supermicro X9SRA, an E5-2670v2, ~64GB of RAM, a pair of GPUs, a proper power supply, and a lovingly configured USB drive with Ubuntu and KVM will do you good and will fit in a Fractal R5 just dandy.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Haswell is my defined "cutoff" for what I recommend people in general, so I guess that's what I'll aim for then.
Do ya'll have links new or sold of ebay listings that show these good prices? I normally see Haswell as quite expensive for Xeon line processors but I'm guessing I'm doing it wrong.

No. Haswell is more expensive. The glut of used server gear is going to by Ivy Bridge or older.

 

[tential]

Ah. Well, if you're building a "gaming" server with multiple GPUs and so on, you're going to want something a little bigger than a 1U rackmount server.

Might be better off getting virtualization-capable workstation parts and building into an off-the-shelf full tower case. Then at least you'll be able to use larger, quieter fans.

A Supermicro X9SRA, an E5-2670v2, ~64GB of RAM, a pair of GPUs, a proper power supply, and a lovingly configured USB drive with Ubuntu and KVM will do you good and will fit in a Fractal R5 just dandy.

The 1U was just for parts.
I plan on buying something used for the Mobo/Ram/CPU
Maybe the Chassis if I'm lucky, but I'm not expecting to find a 24bay server chassis that also does what I want.
Chassis has to be a large storage chassis since I am also going to store things on it, so I'll probably just buy a Norco or something if I can't find one cheap off ebay. I did Rosewill last time, but 15 bays wasn't enough. I should have just gotten 24 bays hotswap from the start. Much easier to work with.

The only cheap E5-2670v2 I see are engineering samples. How do I find a good priced rig around a Haswell processor like that?

USB drive will be running unraidOS like my current server.

 

[tential]

No. Haswell is more expensive. The glut of used server gear is going to by Ivy Bridge or older.

Ok, I've seen some good Ivybridge deals. That's where I see most of the best "deals". My only worry with Ivybridge is, am I dipping to a point where I'm better off going with Ryzen?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ok, I've seen some good Ivybridge deals. That's where I see most of the best "deals". My only worry with Ivybridge is, am I dipping to a point where I'm better off going with Ryzen?

There wasn't much of a difference in performance between the two. I think RAM costs are going to be the determining factor.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The only cheap E5-2670v2 I see are engineering samples. How do I find a good priced rig around a Haswell processor like that?

Watch eBay and wait. Then pounce.

But, if I may soapbox a little bit - don't go TOO cheap. Suspiciously cheap used hardware often has a host of... quirks. Buy what you actually want, even if it's more expensive, and don't buy something you think you can probably make work. That's money wasted, more often than not.

 

[ZipSpeed]

Ok, I've seen some good Ivybridge deals. That's where I see most of the best "deals". My only worry with Ivybridge is, am I dipping to a point where I'm better off going with Ryzen?

I'm going through the same process, looking for older hardware to increase my Distributed Computing capacity for the cheap. Best I found so far is a dual-Xeon E5-2650v2 refurb workstation with 16 GB RAM & Quadro K2000 for $800 CDN. At this point, I'm wondering if it's worth ponying up and going TR 1950X. But the workstation is complete, whereas the TR I'll have to source a complete build with expensive DDR4.

 

[ultimatebob]

There are better places to get used servers than eBay. The Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, and look for local pickup options. You'll save yourself a ton on tax and shipping, plus you'll get to inspect the server before you buy it.

I'm a big fan of PowerEdge T320's and T420's. Lots of expansion room in those suckers, plus they are tower cases that normally do not have insanely loud fans.

 

[tential]

There are better places to get used servers than eBay. The Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, and look for local pickup options. You'll save yourself a ton on tax and shipping, plus you'll get to inspect the server before you buy it.

I'm a big fan of PowerEdge T320's and T420's. Lots of expansion room in those suckers, plus they are tower cases that normally do not have insanely loud fans.

In this case, I'll no matter what gut the unit and replace it with a rackmount case. Everything gets rackmounted for me. Onlyway I keep things neat and organized. Otherwise, I'll just have a floor of hardware parts everywhere like I currently do.

I'll check out local, I never use Facebook, but I guess that's what people use now a day.
@Markfw Could you please share your gaming experience across your rigs. Do you use your rigs for gaming?
I'd most likely be aiming for something similar to one of your builds.

 

[tential]

Double Posted by accident.

 

[Markfw]

In this case, I'll no matter what gut the unit and replace it with a rackmount case. Everything gets rackmounted for me. Onlyway I keep things neat and organized. Otherwise, I'll just have a floor of hardware parts everywhere like I currently do.

I'll check out local, I never use Facebook, but I guess that's what people use now a day.
@Markfw Could you please share your gaming experience across your rigs. Do you use your rigs for gaming?
I'd most likely be aiming for something similar to one of your builds.

The only gaming is with C&C the first decade, VERY old game, and I run it on a quad core I7-950. All the TR's and E5-Xeons are doing WCG (CPU) or F@H (GPU)

I have tried Far Cry 2 and battlefield, but that before any of my new builds I have now.

 

[ElFenix]

Haswell is my defined "cutoff" for what I recommend people in general, so I guess that's what I'll aim for then.
Do ya'll have links new or sold of ebay listings that show these good prices? I normally see Haswell as quite expensive for Xeon line processors but I'm guessing I'm doing it wrong.

dunno about 2011 socket. for 1150 i just bought an e3 1225 v3 for ~90 shipped to replace a g3258. yeah, no overclocking, but 4 cores and 8 threads > 2 cores and 2 threads. and half the price of an i7.