Need advice on a VEP slave build

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by smoakyyy, May 29, 2020.

  1. smoakyyy

    smoakyyy Newbie

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    Hello everyone!

    I'm looking to buy an old HP server for slaving VEP, and would like some insight.

    I have two options for the server, both are HP Proliant DL360P G8 server.

    Option 1 -
    Product Type: 1U Rackmount
    Processors: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 @ 2.0GHz ,total 12 Core
    Storage: 2x 300GB SAS HDD
    Memory: 128GB DDR3RAM
    Hard Drives: Up to 8x 2.5" SAS/SATA hard drives
    Maximum Internal Storage: Up to 32.4 TB of data
    I/O Slots: 3 PCIe Gen3 Slots and 1 PCIe Gen2
    Remote Management: HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) for ProLiant
    Price - 699.66USD

    Option 2 -
    2*Xeon E5-2650 v2,
    96GB Ram,
    4x600GB SAS,
    p420i with 512MB cache and battery,
    dual power supply
    Price - 637.34USD

    I am very new to this and would like some advice. Which one should i take, and do I need any other hardware other than SSDs to get it running?
    Thanks in advance.
     
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  3. tzzsmk

    tzzsmk Audiosexual

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    you should aim for at least 3GHz cpu as bare minimum,
    lots of RAM is useful,
    also preferably get all-SSD build, I doubt there are any affordable SAS SSD on the market, so such servers are a big no for VEP build imo
    :chilling:
     
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  4. Pure Energy

    Pure Energy Producer

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    dont do it the noise is horrendoes go for what i did Dell 5310 Percision workstation 128gb ram quite cant hear it

    I bought mine for 600 canadian

    step up get 5820 or 40 used pack it with hard drives Raid 50 you can use 8tb drives very staable and they are raackmountable and fit as is on the side in a rack with out the hardware on a shelf
     
  5. Pure Energy

    Pure Energy Producer

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    if noise it not a factor then had a card and MD1200 storage server 500 doolars 15 hard drives 6gb tansfer holds 8tb drives
     
  6. Pure Energy

    Pure Energy Producer

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    my setup for Cubase is Dell 5810 128 gb RAM and a MD 1000 15 X 2TB raid 50 for 2 drive failure a litle noisy but works for me i just trun off the MD when doing vocals :)
     
  7. KungPaoFist

    KungPaoFist Audiosexual

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    Do these rack-mount servers run smoother as a slave than a comparable desktop PC? Or if the desktop is 3.9 overclocked? I assume the desktop processing is more strenuous than the server no?

    I'm wondering because it looks like the price range is similar and it looks like the single-core on these is on the lower end.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  8. smoakyyy

    smoakyyy Newbie

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    Noise is not an issue for me, as i'm gonna put it in a machine room and use it as a slave. I read somewhere that you can reuse old server units as slaves. I believe JXL does this also. Will it work?
     
  9. twoheart

    twoheart Audiosexual

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    You have probably seen the video from JXL about his VEP setup. Of course, it looks nice when many servers are flashing in a rack.
    But 19'' racks also have many disadvantages and I wouldn't use them if the space allows it.
    I got off the rack servers again. One reason is the really unpleasant background noise, another reason is the heat build-up. The operation of (several) servers in a machine room requires a concept for heat dissipation in addition to the insulation of the background noise.
    If you want to run your server room in a basement, it is possible that this will work without air conditioning. If you don't have a cool basement room, an air conditioning system is actually essential, since servers don't react well to high temperatures. Unlike PCs, servers implicitly require air conditioning, usually around 20 degrees Celsius. If you don't have air conditioning, your server may quickly die of heat exhaustion.
    Besides, nowadays you should at least think about the environment, and servers are not very good at that.
    At least where I live, server hardware is on the one hand much more expensive than desktop PCs and on the other hand the life span is shorter due to the high stress, because servers are usually exchanged every 3 to 4 years via leasing anyway.
    Also other components (RAID controller, Ethernet controller and especially power supplies) are very expensive.
    In the past I had considerable problems with broken miniaturized power supplies for 1U 19'' servers. Sometimes the spare part prices for them were almost half as expensive as a new server after two or three years of server life.
    And last but not least a server is simply harder to maintain for a normal user. Everything is miniaturized and built in and requires considerable skill to repair.
    So before you really invest in 19" hardware for your machine room, I would recommend comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a server to an equivalent desktop or tower PC over 5 years including all side costs like power consumption, air conditioning and maintenance.


    cheers :)
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2020
  10. jazzzz

    jazzzz Platinum Record

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    I think the E5-2620 is 6-core (12 threads), has the same cpubenchmark than the late 2012 i7 mac mini, and it uses ddr3 memory which is a big disadvantages.
    Just because some people make videos about how cool is reusing old hardware as a slave, don't mean that's the best option.
    Slaves have a role, distribute tasks between many resources. One slow slave does nothing cool. Especially when you think about running it heavily with so much memory and storage.
    An AMD ryzen 5 3500U (which is for laptops) is faster with only 4 cores and using 6 times less power. This is just an example for comparison, not recommendation.
    Put many old pcs with VEP in the network if you'd like but share the tasks wisely between them.
     
  11. twoheart

    twoheart Audiosexual

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    I don't think it pays to use old and especially weak hardware and then simply increase the number of units. This increases the administration effort (e.g. for updates) and the energy consumption.
    I think some older PCs from the gaming or 3D design area bring the most performance per dollar. They won't bee good enough for DAW usage but would fit quite nicely into a VEP setup.
     
  12. Paul Pi

    Paul Pi Audiosexual

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    Personally i think 1U (aka blade) servers are nothing more than a rod for your own back - definitely don't go 1U unless you really can keep that noisy bastard real cool... I have a 4U rack server (dual xeon E5-2670 @ 2.6GHz, 128GB, 4 X 1TB SSD) running a heap of orchestral kontakts through VEP and i've had no significant heat/hardware or indeed performance problems whatsoever - mostly because there's plenty of room for adequate airflow and (i'm thinking) none of the kontakt libs i'm using are too taxing!
     
  13. twoheart

    twoheart Audiosexual

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    I've got the the same processors, but bought the HP Z820 with 2x E5-2670 used for ~$500 w/o disks and RAM (had spare parts in stock from older PCs). When I lay it down flat, it is almost a 4U rackmount. :rofl:
    Anyway it runs quite smothly.

    P.S.: I moved my server room to the basement years ago and the machines ran 24/7. Nowadays we care a lot more about the environment, so I shut down all the machines in the evening. The disadvantage is that the HP Z820 does not support wake-on-LAN and I have to start it manually when I start working.
    So if one buys a machine for VEP use to run in a machine room, he/she should care about the ability of WOL.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2020
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