Dell PowerEdge R730

[jangm0]

Hello all,

 

I have this server I would like some recommendations for.

 

It's a Dell PowerEdge R730 with Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3.

16GB RDIMM, 2133MT/s

 

I want to have storage and dockers, so I'm thinking about Proxmox or TrueNAS. I've only just learned about Proxmox so I might be missing something here but I guess an advantage with proxmox is that I can also run VMs?

In docker I want to run Plex, Sonarr and Radarr, might be something more.

 

However there's one problem, the noise from the fans. Is there anything I can do about this? I was thinking Noctua fans but I'm guessing it's not that simple.

So if you have any recommendations here I'm grateful.

 

 

[jangm0]

Also not sure about best way to expand storage. In the front it's only 2,5" drives. But there are also PCI raisers inside, so maybe go M2 if that's possible? But that sounds way more expensive.

 

Btw I'm a noob when it comes to server hardware.

[jaslion]

31 minutes ago, jangm0 said:

However there's one problem, the noise from the fans. Is there anything I can do about this? I was thinking Noctua fans but I'm guessing it's not that simple.

So if you have any recommendations here I'm grateful.

Sell it and get a desktop.

 

This pc NEEDS these crazy strong fans as otherwise it quite literally can't cool itself in any way shape or form. The server chassis is very very very airflow restrictive and it has to FORCE air to go through.

 

It's also a 2u design so doubly so

 

As for storage yeah this isn't the server for that. It was made to hold a couple drives as a cache or application server hence 2.5 inch but NOTHING like a big storage box.

 

Genuinly just sell it and get a desktop that you mess around with. This is going to be a money eater, can never be made silent and also consumes a lot of power.

 

Like a ryzen 3600 is already WAY faster like 60% faster than this xeon.

[jangm0]

31 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Sell it and get a desktop.

 

This pc NEEDS these crazy strong fans as otherwise it quite literally can't cool itself in any way shape or form. The server chassis is very very very airflow restrictive and it has to FORCE air to go through.

 

It's also a 2u design so doubly so

 

As for storage yeah this isn't the server for that. It was made to hold a couple drives as a cache or application server hence 2.5 inch but NOTHING like a big storage box.

 

Genuinly just sell it and get a desktop that you mess around with. This is going to be a money eater, can never be made silent and also consumes a lot of power.

 

Like a ryzen 3600 is already WAY faster like 60% faster than this xeon.

Alright, thank you. I was afraid of this and I'll go back to looking into building something instead. I just hoped I could do something with the hardware I already have.

 

My brother has a lot of space and getting 2gb connection so maybe he can host it

 

But for a home server, do you have any chassis to recommend?

[jaslion]

4 minutes ago, jangm0 said:

Alright, thank you. I was afraid of this and I'll go back to looking into building something instead. I just hoped I could do something with the hardware I already have.

 

My brother has a lot of space and getting 2gb connection so maybe he can host it

 

But for a home server, do you have any chassis to recommend?

Literally a random af desktop with enough processing power. If noise is an issue then automatically servers are out of the question.

[Needfuldoer]

My home server is an R730XD and my homelab is four R730s (basically), so I've got some experience with these. "Real" servers can be fun to play with, and their parts are cheap and plentiful, but you have to be willing to live with some noise.

 

17 hours ago, jangm0 said:

However there's one problem, the noise from the fans. Is there anything I can do about this?

You can ramp the fans down lower than default by poking iDRAC with ipmitool. They can get surprisingly quiet, but 2U rack servers are never going to be silent. In my experience, 10% fan speed gets them almost as quiet as an older desktop PC.

 

https://github.com/White-Raven/PowerEdge-shutup

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/t9pa13/dell_poweredge_fan_control_with_ipmitool/

 

If noise is that big of a concern, you'll want to build a whitebox or use a prebuilt PC. An HP Z440 will let you use the same dirt-cheap registered ECC DDR4 server memory and LGA2011-3 processors as the Dell R730.

 

If you stick with this machine, I recommend running it in a utility room, not in a bedroom or the living room.

 

Expect it to draw between 75 and 100 watts at idle, depending on which power supplies you have. (All the AC power supplies for this platform should be 80 Plus Platinum rated, but if you've somehow got an 1100 watt one and you're drawing less than 10% of their capacity then you'd see consumption go down with a smaller one. Yours isn't exactly loaded to the hilt with hardware, so I'm guessing you've got a 495w PSU or two.)

 

Your biggest limitation is the eight 2.5" bays. That's going to limit your potential storage capacity unless you're willing to shell out for high capacity SSDs. It will take SAS drives though, and they're cheaper than new SATA SSDs.

 

17 hours ago, jangm0 said:

I was thinking Noctua fans but I'm guessing it's not that simple.

Noctua case fans don't generate enough static pressure to adequately blow air through the case. You're stuck with blowymatrons.