Server Recommendations

[Lockhouse]

My trusty Tranquil Server is ten years old and although it's working OK, I've had a couple of disk overheats so I'd like to replace it before I have to.

As it has to be Windows and I'd prefer a smaller box I was looking at the HP Gen8 but was worried it might be underpowered. Anyone got one or care to suggest any alternatives?

I use it for SQL Server and MS Office development, email, network backups plus media streaming video and music.

Not interested in non-Windows or NAS which I appreciate limits my options.

TIA

[sal]

The basic HP Microserver Gen8 comes with Celeron G1610T which is on the low end and not really suitable for CPU intensive tasks. Not sure what you SQL server is doing, if it's just an idle instance to play with - should be fine. I swapped the CPU on mine with Xeon E3-1265L v2 (v2 bit is important) which is 4-5 times faster, yet only 10W more heat so you can keep the passive cooling heatsink (PITA to fit active cooling in the cramped case). Unfortunately they are hard to come by as they are Ivy bridge based circa 2012 and only available 2nd hand. I'm really hoping for a refresh with more modern CPU

The best part of the Microserver is that it's dirt cheap, yet still have iLO and dual NIC, unlike it's bigger brother ML10, that is missing iLO and only have since NIC, but you can get ML10 gen9 with Pentium G4400 (Skylake) CPU for £150 after cashback and if you later find the CPU inadequate upgrade it with much faster CPU as the case is big enough for active cooling.

[redgiant]

The basic HP Microserver Gen8 comes with Celeron G1610T which is on the low end and not really suitable for CPU intensive tasks. Not sure what you SQL server is doing, if it's just an idle instance to play with - should be fine. I swapped the CPU on mine with Xeon E3-1265L v2 (v2 bit is important) which is 4-5 times faster, yet only 10W more heat so you can keep the passive cooling heatsink (PITA to fit active cooling in the cramped case). Unfortunately they are hard to come by as they are Ivy bridge based circa 2012 and only available 2nd hand. I'm really hoping for a refresh with more modern CPU

The best part of the Microserver is that it's dirt cheap, yet still have iLO and dual NIC, unlike it's bigger brother ML10, that is missing iLO and only have since NIC, but you can get ML10 gen9 with Pentium G4400 (Skylake) CPU for £150 after cashback and if you later find the CPU inadequate upgrade it with much faster CPU as the case is big enough for active cooling.

I have a old (5yrs) HP Microserver 40L that acts as my NAS and print server but it's way too slow for streaming, VMs etc. I'm hoping that there is a gen9 version of the Microserver but with all the cuts in HPE over the past few years I am very doubtful anything will come. HP ML10 or Dell T30 are the only alternatives that come close but you do loose dual NICs and iLO as Sal mentions.

[Lockhouse]

Thanks for the responses. That bears out exactly where I am. I was aware of the Gen8 CPU upgrade and also that it's getting on a bit and hard to find. I was also hanging on for a Gen9 type Microserver but as you say, with the state of HPE it's not looking that likely and there are no rumours or leaks on the web that I could find.

[administrator]

Does it have to be a server? I know I am talking linux but my home server - dev-box-before-I-went-macbook-pro - Plex server, backups, fileserver etc is just a home-build i5 with 32GB RAM and decent quality disks in the RAID. Stuck the OS on SSDs and the data on SATA drives. Would have thought things in the Windows world worked the same way or am I missing something out in terms of server spec?

[sal]

Does it have to be a server? I know I am talking linux but my home server - dev-box-before-I-went-macbook-pro - Plex server, backups, fileserver etc is just a home-build i5 with 32GB RAM and decent quality disks in the RAID. Stuck the OS on SSDs and the data on SATA drives. Would have thought things in the Windows world worked the same way or am I missing something out in terms of server spec?

The thing with HP Microserver / ML10, or Dell T20 etc. is that after cashback they are cheaper (£110-130) than anything you could assemble on your own and you still have server level warranty like advance shipment of replacement parts etc. Granted this is the price with a Celeron/Pentium CPU and 4-8GB RAM, but you can't really get MB+CPU+RAM+Case+PSU for that amount of money if you go for home-build

The Gen.8 Microserver especially is exceptionally good value for money for £110 + £10 for SD card + FreeNAS that even a non-techie can install you get high end NAS that would cost you north of £600 from the likes of QNAP/Synology. Throw in some more memory and replacement CPU and if you want a HW RAID controller and you can get an Enterprise grade NAS at consumer grade prices.

[Lockhouse]

The Gen.8 Microserver especially is exceptionally good value for money for £110 + £10 for SD card + FreeNAS that even a non-techie can install you get high end NAS that would cost you north of £600 from the likes of QNAP/Synology. Throw in some more memory and replacement CPU and if you want a HW RAID controller and you can get an Enterprise grade NAS at consumer grade prices.

I think what I'll do is buy the Gen 8 for peanuts, kit it out with an SSD and four 3TB Red drives then when the new box comes out, assuming it does, lose the box and swap all the drives to the new one. Might not even need to do any reformatting. If a CPU comes my way then consider doing the upgrade.

[Lockhouse]

Does it have to be a server? I know I am talking linux but my home server - dev-box-before-I-went-macbook-pro - Plex server, backups, fileserver etc is just a home-build i5 with 32GB RAM and decent quality disks in the RAID. Stuck the OS on SSDs and the data on SATA drives. Would have thought things in the Windows world worked the same way or am I missing something out in terms of server spec?

Unfortunately yes it does have to be a server, but I have thought about it. The 3rd party software I work on is SQL Server\Windows Server based and I'd like to replicate that environment as closely as possible. Plus that's where all my own expertise lies also - learning new stuff makes my brain hurt.

[quackhandle]

Have you had a look at the ThinkServer TS140? I managed to get one with 150 Cashback, so in the end was just over 200 notes for Xeon core (much faster than my old HP 54L Proliant.)

qh

[Lockhouse]

Have you had a look at the ThinkServer TS140? I managed to get one with 150 Cashback, so in the end was just over 200 notes for Xeon core (much faster than my old HP 54L Proliant.)

qh

I had seen the TS140. I wanted a small footprint server originally but I'm now wavering towards the TS140 as I accept the Gen8 has CPU limitations even though there are lots of hacks out there. Research continuing.