New Server Build

[Teece]

So, my current server has a storied past - it's a XEON E3-1220 v3 on an ASROCK MB, and due to a few power spikes, it's on its second instance of the MB. That reinstall forced me to do a P2V with the OS, so it's currently running Server 2012 - the original OS was Windows SBS 2011 that ended up as a VM on the 2012 OS. The SBS install was getting a bit creaky, plus the base OS (Server 2008R2) is out of support, so I took the plunge and replaced it with a new domain, resulting in a few more VMs running than I had previously. The current board is limited to 32GB of memory, and I'm banging up against that quite often. So being stuck at home, I thought it would be a good time to upgrade.

Hardware ordered:
XEON E-2146G
Supermicro X11-SCL LN4F
64GB of DDR4 ECC memory (2x32 so there's room for expansion!)
SAMSUNG PM883 240GB for the OS
SAMSUNG PM983 M.2 960GB for the VM virtual disks
(Reusing 2x WD Red 3TB drives in RAID1 for slower storage)

I plan on reusing my existing case (CM 550 Silencio), but I'll need a new PSU and heatsink so I can have both boxes running whilst I transfer the VMs over. I was thinking of the Seasonic Focus GX 550 for the PSU, but I'd be interested in suggestions for a cooler - the 2146G clearly won't be overclocked, and it's a modest 80W TDP...

Certainly looking forward to a bit more horsepower!

[Xlucine]

My advice for the cooler: The cheapest one that meets the TDP requirement and takes a standard sized fan (no fancy shroud). That way, 5 years down the line when the bearing dies you can get an off-the-shelf 92mm fan (or whatever size it is) and keep on trucking - with something like one of the cheap arctic ones the fans have oddball shrouds, so may not be so easily replaceable with standard fans

[Teece]

Thanks Xlucine, that's a good suggestion re: the fan, will bear that in mind.

[Teece]

Update to say the new box is now in production! Performance is much better than the old one, most likely due to the extra memory headroom, but also 12 threads vs 4 and much faster memory. Since the physical server OS is now 2019 (vs 2012), I've been able to use Veeam Backup & Restore Community Edition to backup the VMs - amazing that Veeam offer this for free. The build isn't anything special in terms of cosmetics, but it's nice and neat. My first mATX board, and it's tiny! Selected a Antec C400 cooler, so the sole bling is the blue fan LED. It's doing a good job, CPU comfortably under 40C most of the time, despite running 7 VMs, and never goes over 70C. Best feature of the new board is the IPMI - it's great to be able to reboot the machine and interact with BIOS etc remotely, without having to plug in a display and keyboard.