Single Slot GPU for Server

[scottyseng]

Looking for a single slot GPU (Must actually be single slot with the cooler) for my server so ESXI has a console output display adapter (Instead of the 1080 Ti I tossed into it). Ideally I want something very power efficient. It can be full height.

 

Looking at EVGA B-Stock, they have:

GT 710 1GB for $30

GT 730 2GB for $45

GT 1030 2GB for $70

 

I'm kind of learning towards the 710 or 730, but I was curious if there were other GPUs I should consider. The only work load would be idling with ESXI console 24/7.

Yes, I regret not spending that extra cash on a motherboard with IPMI. Xeon does not have onboard graphics.

[Turtle Rig]

5 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

Looking for a single slot GPU (Must actually be single slot with the cooler) for my server so ESXI has a console output display adapter (Instead of the 1080 Ti I tossed into it). Ideally I want something very power efficient. It can be full height.

 

Looking at EVGA B-Stock, they have:

GT 710 1GB for $30

GT 730 2GB for $45

GT 1030 2GB for $70

 

I'm kind of learning towards the 710 or 730, but I was curious if there were other GPUs I should consider. The only work load would be idling with ESXI console 24/7.

I would go with the 1030 2GB  Your going to need some juice even for virtual environments or Linux or Server and what not.

[scottyseng]

Just now, Turtle Rig said:

I would go with the 1030 2GB  Your going to need some juice even for virtual environments or Linux or Server and what not.

The GPU wouldn't be used for the VMs. It's literally just displaying the esxi console.

[Turtle Rig]

2 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

The GPU wouldn't be used for the VMs. It's literally just displaying the esxi console.

In that case save the money and buy a 730 2GB.  Reason I say 2GB is to be a little on the safe side.  It is worth 15 bucks more, because OS will eat up some of that VRAM and another task might use it lets say and botch the whole thing up.

[Bitter]

Used HD 7570 for $20 or under on eBay?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1GB-Dell-Radeon-HD-7570-1GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x16-Video-Card-DVI-DP-0NJ0D3/123594356561

[Stefan Payne]

55 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

Looking for a single slot GPU (Must actually be single slot with the cooler) for my server so ESXI has a console output display adapter (Instead of the 1080 Ti I tossed into it). Ideally I want something very power efficient. It can be full height.

What is it for?
What OS does it run on?

 

If we're talking about Linux, you should look at the AMD Offers, the newer the better!

 

For that you have the Option of going with an older Card or a more expensive Workstation Card like the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 as there hardly are any single Slot Cards...

Or go old with 240 Cards (but I don't know how good the Linux Support is)....

 

Maybe the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 550 2GD5 might fit?? Its a bit more than 1 Slot...

 

 

39 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Used HD 7570 for $20 or under on eBay?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1GB-Dell-Radeon-HD-7570-1GB-GDDR5-PCIe-x16-Video-Card-DVI-DP-0NJ0D3/123594356561

mhh, that's an old Terrascale unit, wich might not work that good under Linux.

But maybe better than nVidia anyway?

[Bitter]

Worked fine for me, so did a 6570, I can boot up ubuntu 18.04 tomorrow. What needs to be known?

[scottyseng]

47 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

What is it for?
What OS does it run on?

ESXI console output. I'm trying to attempt GPU passthrough with my 1080 Ti to a VM (Windows Server 2019), but ESXI won't let it happen unless you have a GPU for the server itself (I've tested, works fine as long as I have another GPU for esxi output itself. This single slot GPU wouldn't be under any real load, just showing the esxi console / config screen.

I'm trying to save my PCIe slots since I have a dual slot GPU, 10Gb NIC, PCIe USB 3.1 card, and a LSI Raid card.

[Bitter]

I can't imagine the 7570 failing at that, unless there's some weird Nvidia/AMD thing going on passing through the 1080ti output. I'll boot up Xubuntu 18.04 tomorrow evening, the computer with the 7570 currently has nothing attached but power/cat5 but it's at least on a desk near a monitor. I'll see what driver it's using by default and if there's a different driver available. When I initially booted up that card under Xubuntu it 'just worked' so I didn't bother to see what it was doing driver wise since I didn't care, I was just testing a CPU. If there's any particular commands and outputs you want just let me know and I'll do the good ole copy/pasta.

[unsungheroist]

looks like the gt 1030 is going to be the best bang for buck plus with newer drivers mean better support. just be aware Nvidia stealthily reconfigured some GT 1030 cards with 2GB of DDR4 memory -- the same used in most smartphones and desktop PCs -- instead of GDDR5. As Hardware Unboxed points out today in an exhaustive video exposing this problem, the net result is a crippling 65% decrease in memory bandwidth.

[ThisIsCheez]

2 hours ago, scottyseng said:

Looking for a single slot GPU (Must actually be single slot with the cooler) for my server so ESXI has a console output display adapter (Instead of the 1080 Ti I tossed into it). Ideally I want something very power efficient. It can be full height.

 

Looking at EVGA B-Stock, they have:

GT 710 1GB for $30

GT 730 2GB for $45

GT 1030 2GB for $70

 

I'm kind of learning towards the 710 or 730, but I was curious if there were other GPUs I should consider. The only work load would be idling with ESXI console 24/7.

Yes, I regret not spending that extra cash on a motherboard with IPMI. Xeon does not have onboard graphics.

If you want someone that's been in this exact scenario, I manage 8 servers at my job and 6 of them are running ESXi. 4 of them have IPMI but the other two we use GT 730s and have been running 24/7 for the last 4 years. Only problem I had was the fan failed on one of them so I just took the fan out and let it run without it and it's been running fine the past year. When the fan died I considered a GT 1030 but it's literally just outputting the ESXi console so it's not like it's working hard or anything. The server room stays cool enough and the fans in the Poweredge's push enough air to keep it cool without a dedicated fan

[scottyseng]

1 minute ago, ThisIsCheez said:

If you want someone that's been in this exact scenario, I manage 8 servers at my job and 6 of them are running ESXi. 4 of them have IPMI but the other two we use GT 730s and have been running 24/7 for the last 4 years. Only problem I had was the fan failed on one of them so I just took the fan out and let it run without it and it's been running fine the past year. When the fan died I considered a GT 1030 but it's literally just outputting the ESXi console so it's not like it's working hard or anything. The server room stays cool enough and the fans in the Poweredge's push enough air to keep it cool without a dedicated fan

Yeah, that's my reasoning as well. I know the 1030 is newer, but it's a little overkill for just ESXi console.

 

I'm probably learning towards the GT730. The HD7570 is dirt cheap but it's also barely much newer than my old FirePro V7900. haha.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

On 2/11/2019 at 7:13 PM, scottyseng said:

Looking for a single slot GPU ...

Yes, I regret not spending that extra cash on a motherboard with IPMI. Xeon does not have onboard graphics.

 

On 2/11/2019 at 10:01 PM, ThisIsCheez said:

I manage 8 servers at my job and 6 of them are running ESXi. 4 of them have IPMI but the other two we use GT 730s and have been running 24/7 for the last 4 years. 

I've been researching server boards & the like for a while now, thinking of building a NAS / backup box, and there's some graphics output issues that are helping hold me up from buying anything yet. (There's other issues too but for this post I'll limit to graphics / IPMI / remote setup.)

 

A lot of the server boards I see (like Supermicro) have only VGA out for the onboard graphics.  My monitor only has HDMI and DisplayPort in.  I've heard it's difficult if not impossible to go that way (VGA out -> DisplayPort in).

At least one board I'm considering (ASRock E3V5 WS, or Performance Gaming/OC if WS is unavailable) doesn't have any video outputs at all.

I have an i3-6100 sitting around, hence why LGA1151 v1 is an option.  Also the Z270 Taichi is under consideration even though it doesn't support ECC, or maybe the Gigabyte C246-WU4 & G4900.  (But I'd likely lean more toward LGA 2011 / 1366 / 771 if I don't use my i3.)

 

If I'm setting up a system for being a NAS / backup server, how might it be done without EVER connecting a display to any video outputs?  Can it be done over a network even from first unboxing a fresh, totally-unconfigured board?  Does IPMI enable that?

 

I'd want to leave the PCIe slots free for SAS/SATA HBAs, like 9211-8i or 9200-16e, for example.  Also I really don't want to spend the ~$40 on the PCIe 1x Zotac GT 710.  (That's the GPU I would have used with the E3V5 WS.)

 

Other boards under consideration include the X9DRH-7F/iTF/7TF (with E5-2630L/2609), X8DTH-6F/iF (with L5630/L5520/E5620), and X7DWE/X7DCL-i (with L5410).  Would remote / headless setup work with those?  (There's a lot of details why those are on my shortlist, but this post is already longer than I wanted it.)

[scottyseng]

10 minutes ago, PianoPlayer88Key said:

 

You would be correct about it being expensive to convert VGA to HDMI / Displayport / DVI-D (Because VGA is analog, HDMI and the rest are digital only...need a converter).

 

@leadeater I don't have much experience with IPMI, is it possible to set up a server using just IPMI? (never connecting to a display / GPU as mentioned above)

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, scottyseng said:

@leadeater I don't have much experience with IPMI, is it possible to set up a server using just IPMI? (never connecting to a display / GPU as mentioned above)

Yes, most servers don't need a monitor to set them up however the IPMI nic has to be setup for DHCP or you need to know the IP address otherwise you're screwed and need a monitor/GPU to set that up first. Once you know it and can connect to it you're good to go.

 

However servers from HPE, Dell, IBM and Lenovo require an extra IPMI license to allow remote control/screen viewing. Supermicro might, I'm not sure but that should be easy enough information to find out.

 

At work we always use iLO (HPE IPMI) to remote manage and view our servers outside of remoting in to the installed OS.

[Bitter]

Just in case you hadn't bought already, EVGA has some B-stock 710's and 720's for reasonable prices.

https://www.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=8

[scottyseng]

23 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Just in case you hadn't bought already, EVGA has some B-stock 710's and 720's for reasonable prices.

https://www.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=8

Yeah, I went for a B-Stock 730. Thanks

[Bitter]

Working out well? I may pickup a low profile 720 or 730 for an HP system that'll just be doing prime95 stuff, so I can also have the GPU doing work as well. Did you get active or passive cooled?

[scottyseng]

Just now, Bitter said:

Working out well? I may pickup a low profile 720 or 730 for an HP system that'll just be doing prime95 stuff, so I can also have the GPU doing work as well. Did you get active or passive cooled?

Active cooled. The passive ones were pretty big from what I saw. Good luck with your system though.