***Thread will be updated as i go***
 
5 Years ago I built my First Windows server for my Families company, in that time we have grown significantly and started using the server  beyond its effective capability. We are once again adding another task for it to take on and its time for a rebuild.
 
 
 
Current Server Pics & Specs for reference
Intel Xeon E5-2630 6C/12T
Supermicro X9SRH-7F
Dual Intel 530 Series 120GB SSD in Raid 1 as Primary OS drive
Two sets of WD Enterprise 1TB HDD's in two separate RAID 1 Configurations 
4x 4GB DDR3 ECC RAM
And a Janky 4U Server case i found at Microcenter
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
New  Server Specs *UPDATED*
 
AMD EPYC 7281 Server Processor 16-Core / 32-Thread 2.1 GHz (2.7 GHz Turbo) 

• Socket SP3
• Socket Count 1P/2P
• Max Turbo Core Frequency 2.7GHz
• All Core Boost Frequency 2.7GHz
• 8 Channels DDR4 DRAM
• 128 Lanes PCIe 3.0
• 32MB L3 Cache
• TDP 155W/170W

Motherboard SuperMicro MBD-H11SSL-NC & TweakTown Write up on i 
 
1x SUPERMICRO CSE-835TQ-R920B Black 3U Rackmount Server Case, 

• 920W Redundant Power Supplies
• 2 x External 5.25" Drive Bays
• 8 x 3.5" SAS / SATA Hot-Swap Drive Bays

 
1x Supermicro FN SNK-P0063P H11 AMD EPYC 7000 Series Passive CPU Heat Sink Socket SP2425
 
1x HighPoint SSD7110 PCI-Express 3.0 x16

• 3 x NVM3 M.2 Ports &
• 4 x SFF-8643 SAS / SATA ports 
• PCIe 3.0 x16
• Bootable RAID Controller Supports M.2 in 0, 1, 1+0

 
2x Samsung 983 DCT MZ-1LB960NE 960 GB NVMe M.2 Enterprise Class Drive - PCIe 4x
 
4x SAMSUNG M393A2K40BB2-CTD 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2666 
 
1x ICY DOCK ToughArmor MB998IP-B

• Rugged Full Metal 8x Bay 2.5" SAS/SATA SSD/HDD
• Backplane Cage for one External 5.25" Bays
• 2x SFF-8643 SAS

 
4x Seagate Enterprise - ST6000NM0105 Capacity 3.5'' HDD 6TB 7200 RPM 4Kn SAS 12Gb/s 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive 
 
4x Samsung - 883 DCT 480GB (MZ-7LH480NE) 480 GB 2.5" Enterprise Class Internal Solid State Drive - SATA III in TWO separate Raid 10 arrays  Samsung Direct link
 
1x Intel E10G41BFSR Server Adapter X520-SR1 10Gbps PCI Express 2.0 x8 1 x LC
 
1x Silverstone Model ECU01 PCI Express Card with Dual Internal 19pin USB 3.0 Connectors 








 
 


More to Fallow 

I assume you have a NAS for backup?

updated

More Goodies in preparation for the server upgrade
 

 
Before

 
 
After

Nice upgrades

Very impressed

rjohnson11
Glad you went with the EPYC processor. Next year the 7nm EPYC processors will come out so you should be able to seamlessly upgrade if desired/needed. 

I didnt know that, I decided to go with the Base Model EPYC CPU after running some in depth system monitoring on the current server. Which showed that the old XEON 6 core / 12 thread was only being loaded at a Max of 50-60% Usage during peak times. which should see a nice improvement with even this base model EPYC.

XrayMan
 
Nice project. Definitely taking time to complete.

Lots of research, reading, watching and learning. This server will be the backbone of my company for the next 5+yrs. So im taking things slow and planning each step out. 

No need to rush this project. Looking forward to the next update.

Ever tire of tracing Ethernet cables? Tired of incorrectly labeled wires???
 
Welcome to the colorful world of CAT6 cables!! 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A little RAID 10 Storage Porn 
 

 

Vlada011
AMD done so great job with EPYC processors that they don't need to build nothing 3-4 years only to drop price of their processors could hold on on market and profit. But they will continue to improve them. I think... how long EPYC could serve as Gaming processor without bottleneck and in same time to allow owner to work rendering and serious jobs. 
 
But better question is how much you could save with EPYC and profit enough for extra RIG for games only if you go instead Intel Xeon.

EPYC is not really a gaming multi-core processor. That is what Threadripper is for. EPYC is really built for servers and 2nd gen 7nm EPYC processors are coming soon. 

Looking forward to more updates.

Oh EPYC will do fine in games that use Vulkan API  and games that take use of  UNity & CryEngine game engines.

these are very SMP friendly all their cores will be used as they have limitless SMP Support.

For the Supermicro H11DSi-NT there are tweaked biosses that allow you to OS the EPYC 7601's to around 3.6 to 3.8Ghz wihtout issues.
so that with dual 32 core to even dual 64 core CPU's will give you lots of advantages plus 8 channel DDR4-2666 ECC Reg per CPU.
that being NUMA Octo Channel for that part will give you a boatload of system ram bandwidth pretty much about 170.4GB per second, Dual EPYC destroys EPYC if all cores are used.
 
You just need to know what to run with it, there are always ways, at 2CPU.com this is our norm ;)
Here the H11DSi-NT a board I would be choosing with a pair of EPYC 7371 CPUs.
https://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/EPYC7000/H11DSi-NT.cfm




Here a review of it at Serve The Home:
https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-h11dsi-nt-review-dual-amd-epyc-motherboard/
 
Here info about the EPYC 7371 CPU's
https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7371-pricing-update-an-insane-value/