I purchased a few Ivy Bridge based Intel Core i3 and Pentium G series CPUs in the period between when they became available and their official release. One thing that I did want to point out to all of those Intel "push pin" retail heatsink and fan is the the new Ivy Bridge Intel Core i3 and Pentium G...
The Supermicro X9DR7-LN4F is a dual socket LGA 2011 motherboard for Sandy Bridge-EP processors that has outstanding features, lots of onboard drive connectivity. A quick preview, the Supermicro X9DR7-LN4F motherboard ended up with a 9.4/10 overall rating and a coveted "Recommended Buy" for reasons below. Jeff is working on an in-depth storage piece with the X9DR7-LN4F. I see the Supermicro...
We watch SSD pricing fairly regularly at ServeTheHome. When SSDs were newer technology, a 60GB to 64GB SSD was enough to install an operating system and a few programs, making it a lower cost boot drive option when prices were $1.50 to $2/ GB. These days, larger capacity drives are well under $1/GB so we are something similar to...
In this follow up article on the LSI HBA features comparison we take a look at the power consumption of LSI's SAS2008 and SAS2308 based HBA controllers. Whether you are building a small business server, colocated server or a simple home server, power consumption is a major focus these days and it helps to know how much an add-in...
Today we are looking at the Intel Core i5-3450, which is a fairly fast Ivy Bridge CPU. Recently we looked at the Intel Core i7-3770 and found it to be an able performer. For those looking to save a few dollars, the Core i5-3450 sells for under $200 and is plenty fast for most workloads today. The Core i5-3450...
After finding some PDFs with various bit of info on LSI's range of host bus adapters (HBAs) I thought I would bring them here to help anyone looking at using one. LSI HBA cards are great way to add fast storage beyond the motherboard supplied SAS and SATA ports. A LSI HBA is a simple disk controller and is great...
One of the most requested features we have on this site is for a RAID reliability calculator. Over the past few years, one of the big questions is how can a user get a rough ballpark estimate about which RAID levels are the most risky to implement. About two years ago I published the RAID Reliability Anthology primer which...
The Supermicro X9SCL+-F is a a Intel Xeon E3-1200 (and V2) series, LGA 1155 server motherboard that is designed to be a solid, low-cost entrant in the marketplace. Before we continue, let's address the obvious question, what is the difference between the Supermicro X9SCL-F and X9SCL+-F? Simple, the X9SCL-F utilizes the platform's Intel 82579LM gigabit NIC alongside a 82574L...
You may remember back in May Patrick did a review on the ASUS P8Z77 WS workstation motherboard. Since he tests a lot of hardware, this board made it my way to replace an old ASRock P55 Deluxe3 and try it out long term. Below is a write up on my experiences setting up the ASUS P8Z77 WS motherboard, getting it...
We recently received word that LSI is busy at VMworld this week releasing a new LSI Nytro MegaRAID in 100GB, 200GB and 800GB capacities. This is a product where we really see the fruit of the LSI SandForce acquisition. The product basically combines a LSI MegaRAID controller and caching technology with SandForce solid state drives.
I actually think this is...