Looking for opinions older IBM server blades.

[StickBirdBird]

Hey guys, I'm new here but was looking for some input from people much more knowledgeable than me. I was given an older, but complete server. Full size IBM rack mount server with blades, power supply, whole 9 yards. I have no intentions of running the tower as my home couldn't possibly power the complete system. But it does have 8 IBM System x3650 blades and one IBM System x3350 blade. The 3650s have two quad core processors inside. I believe they are Cmx5450 3Ghz quad cores. From what it looks like the socket is quite old and not supported by anything anymore, but what I was wondering is can I build something pretty cool out of one blade motherboard? Or is this just too old and out of date to support anything? 

[Jarsky]

These aren't blades, theyre completely independent servers. What you were given is a rack enclosure with 9 servers. But as you pointed out, they are quite dated and would be fairly power hungry to run a few of them. 

 

As for usefulness? Thats really up to you. Personally I would flick them all off on eBay/Craigslist/etc...and the enclosure - and use the $$$ to buy a small rack and a newer generation server for home use - but that's just me. 

 

FYI blades have a backplane, and dont have psu's, usb ports, etc...on the rear. they plug into a blade enclosure to create a blade system. The enclosure feeds all the power, networking, input/output, etc...

[StickBirdBird]

Ah Jarsky, thanks for the info. I'm not at all vered in servers, and honestly I just wanted the empty tower to make some nice sturdy storage space out of. But I ended up with a complete system. Lol. I mean what appears to be tons of fiber optic? network cards a 200lb plus power supply, everything.. I have built a gaming PC (nothing crazy and about 10 years ago) but servers are just above me. But seeing the huge motherboard in these, with dual CPU slots and tons of RAM slots, I wondered if I could reuse the mother board put some newer parts on it and run a newer version of windows to play around and tinker with it a bit. It's kinda looking like it's again just too far over my head and may not be possible/ worth it. I haven't checked local postings but do you have any info I may be able to look up some of the components I have and see some info/ value of what I have?

[Jarsky]

As for 'can you upgrade them' - the generation you have, quad cores were already the top cpu's so theres probably no upgrade path for that. As for the memory, you could take some memory from each and completely populate the server you want to keep so it has the max amount of ram. additionally make sure you have all the largest raid disks). 

 

As for price - they look like Type 7979's so are socket LGA 771. Fully featured, they're maybe worth about $200 each. Parts are hard to get for them. So generally theyre snapped up by hobbyists or people who need the spare parts. e.g this one is fully kitted, and isnt even selling for EUR 160 . 

 

But the positive is, because its not a blade system - you can sell everything off individually and only keep what you want. 

[NelizMastr]

Just for future reference, this is a bladecenter, a host for blade servers. In it are the actual blades

 

 

They can be individually accessed and used, but they share power and I/O with the bladecenter and therefore are useless without it.

 

More to the point, socket 771 servers are loud, very power hungry and overall pretty slow. Definitely don't run more than one.

[StickBirdBird]

Thanks alot for the info guys, I know you prolly see a lot of posts like this, so I appreciate you guys taking some time to give me advice and input.