Lenovo ThinkServer RD640 Deal – only $453

Today we have a deal on a Lenovo RD640 2U server system at Amazon. Credit for this deal goes out to @triggerhappy on the STH forums. The Lenovo RD640 model number, per the listing, is 70AY0006UX. The basic specs are fairly impressive, easily coming in equal to or better than building many new LGA1155/ LGA1150 systems in the same $453 range. Servers are usually heavy and expensive to ship but this one comes with Amazon Prime shipping.

Here is a quick recap of what you get with the deal:

• 1x Intel Xeon E5-2620 V2 – $399 sold normally by itself
• 1x 8GB DDR3 1333 (figure this is about $50-60 itself)
• 1x 2U RD640 barebones with a single power supply (800w from what the model number says) that is dual capable
• 1x Optical DVD±R/±RW

Clearly, the pricing of this server is far below the cost of the components. One caveat is that while these have space for 8x 3.5″ bays, they do not come standard with the trays. One can find them on ebay for $16 or less. We were able to test two Lenovo ThinkServer RD640’s over the summer and they worked well. Rails for this should be Lenovo 03X3878 or one can potentially use a universal option. The IPMI was active on our test unit and was Avocent based. The KVM-over-IP functionality required a key to unlock. The server does support up to two processors which is great considering dual socket motherboards are generally $300 or more alone.

The included Intel Xeon E5-2620 V2 is a 22nm part, so the power consumption should be better than the V1 parts and will work in dual socket configurations whether one wants to upgrade now or in the future when used chips become less expensive.

Here is the Amazon Link to the deal. For the price, it is an excellent option and could easily make for an inexpensive compute node.