Building a Server for Home Lab

marcinozga

I have a Gigabyte board in place right now in my home server. No problems with it thus far.

And my brother-in-law is sending his Gigabyte mainboard for repair, because he didn't want free professional advice from family member, and instead relied on Tom's Hardware or similar board.

Every vendor has bad products and every vendor has good ones. In my experience, Gigabyte mainboards are problematic and require more time investment than others.

Alex Sage

Who makes a nice looking case?

coliver

@marcinozga said:

@coliver said:

I have a Gigabyte board in place right now in my home server. No problems with it thus far.

And my brother-in-law is sending his Gigabyte mainboard for repair, because he didn't want free professional advice from family member, and instead relied on Tom's Hardware or similar board.

Every vendor has bad products and every vendor has good ones. In my experience, Gigabyte mainboards are problematic and require more time investment than others.

Agreed completely. I generally follow the whatever is cheapest trend... That Gigabyte board was inexpensive at the time and the Gigabyte board in my main desktop computer was also super inexpensive. Neither have had any problems. You're right though all companies have a failure rate I've just been lucky to have good experience with them.

marcinozga

@anonymous said:

Who makes a nice looking case?

Lian-Li for example. Fractal Design are not bad either.

coliver

@anonymous said:

Who makes a nice looking case?

Everyone? BitPheonix has some nice MicroATX cases but if you want a decent case at an inexpensive price Rosewill is generally my go to manufacturer.

marcinozga

If I hit powerball, I'm buying this "case": http://www.redharbinger.com/shop/cases/cross-desk-usa-only/

Alex Sage

Parts Ordered, with be here tomorrow!

Alex Sage

Here is what I ordered:

Thermaltake CORE V21 Black Extreme Micro ATX Cube Chassis CA-1D5-00S1WN-00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PDDMN6S
EVGA 500 W1 80+, 500W Continuous Power, 3 Year Warranty Power Supply 100-W1-0500-KR
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H33SFJU
Gigabyte FM2+/FM2 AMD A78 HDMI Dual-Link DVI D-Sub 2-Way Crossfire mATX Motherboard GA-F2A78M-D3H
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I6DLJHQ
AMD A8 series Processor 3.6 4 AD767KXBJCBOX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011BD60S0
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) UDIMM Memory
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG9EEW
SanDisk Internal SSD 120GB 2.5-Inch SDSSDA-120G-G25
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S9Q9UKS

stacksofplates

@marcinozga said:

If I hit powerball, I'm buying this "case": http://www.redharbinger.com/shop/cases/cross-desk-usa-only/

years of research?

stacksofplates

@anonymous said:

Who makes a nice looking case?

Who needs a case, just screw it to the wall

quicky2g

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

coliver

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

quicky2g

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

Ahhhh gotcha software versus hardware. I use software RAID at home too. Misread the comment.

Btw if you can handle the noise, a coworker of mine keeps saying there are tons of great deals on eBay for IBM servers...2x quad core CPU, dual PSU, SAS drives, RAID card (sometimes), 16GB+ of DDR3 for under $500 in a rackmount case.

scottalanmiller

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

That's not without RAID, though. that's still with RAID.

scottalanmiller

@quicky2g said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

Ahhhh gotcha software versus hardware. I use software RAID at home too. Misread the comment.

Btw if you can handle the noise, a coworker of mine keeps saying there are tons of great deals on eBay for IBM servers...2x quad core CPU, dual PSU, SAS drives, RAID card (sometimes), 16GB+ of DDR3 for under $500 in a rackmount case.

That's because.... IBM servers.

coliver

@scottalanmiller said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

That's not without RAID, though. that's still with RAID.

I always assume when someone says without RAID they mean without hardware RAID. I think that was the correct assumption in this case.

Dashrender

@scottalanmiller said:

@quicky2g said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

Ahhhh gotcha software versus hardware. I use software RAID at home too. Misread the comment.

Btw if you can handle the noise, a coworker of mine keeps saying there are tons of great deals on eBay for IBM servers...2x quad core CPU, dual PSU, SAS drives, RAID card (sometimes), 16GB+ of DDR3 for under $500 in a rackmount case.

That's because.... IBM servers.

Not that I'll be buying them any more - now that Lenovo owns everything - but overall I've loved all of the IBM servers I've worked on and deployed over the years. Granted it's nothing like Scott has.

scottalanmiller

@coliver said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

That's not without RAID, though. that's still with RAID.

I always assume when someone says without RAID they mean without hardware RAID. I think that was the correct assumption in this case.

that's a really weird way to say that you want RAID.

Do you want dinner?

No

Hey, where is my food?

You said you didn't want dinner!

I meant... I didn't want a salad.

huh?

scottalanmiller

@Dashrender said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@quicky2g said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

Ahhhh gotcha software versus hardware. I use software RAID at home too. Misread the comment.

Btw if you can handle the noise, a coworker of mine keeps saying there are tons of great deals on eBay for IBM servers...2x quad core CPU, dual PSU, SAS drives, RAID card (sometimes), 16GB+ of DDR3 for under $500 in a rackmount case.

That's because.... IBM servers.

Not that I'll be buying them any more - now that Lenovo owns everything - but overall I've loved all of the IBM servers I've worked on and deployed over the years. Granted it's nothing like Scott has.

They are fine, i just don't like them as much as the alternatives and now that they are gone there isn't a path to anything and little reason to use them in a lab as IBM experience isn't valuable anymore like it use to be.

coliver

@scottalanmiller said:

@coliver said:

@scottalanmiller said:

@coliver said:

@quicky2g said:

@anonymous said:

I have been thinking about this board:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

Micro ATX

Supports up to 64GB of RAM.

Has RAID (I don't intent to use it)

OnBoard Ethernet 1 x 10/100/1000 Mbps

ONBOARD USB 3.0 HEADER(S)

8 SATA 6 GB/S Connectors

Why build a server without RAID?

Software RAID and XenServer work very nicely together.

That's not without RAID, though. that's still with RAID.

I always assume when someone says without RAID they mean without hardware RAID. I think that was the correct assumption in this case.

that's a really weird way to say that you want RAID.

Do you want dinner?

No

Hey, where is my food?

You said you didn't want dinner!

I meant... I didn't want a salad.

huh?

No argument that it is weird... but it seems to hold out on most topics about RAID.