Supermicro A2SDi-2C-HLN4F

[keylevel]

Has anyone tried using this board yet? https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/A2SDi-2C-HLN4F.cfm
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/A2SDi-2C-HLN4F.cfm
Looks like it could be a good candidate for a small, low-power system.

My only concern would be if the CPU is going to be fast enough?

 

[Chris Moore]

Intel says that processor is supposed to support 128GB of RAM, so that board is hobbled by having two RAM slots not installed. There is literally a blank spot on the board where they are supposed to be. I generally dislike boards like that, it is probably marketed as a "value" board.
As for the CPU, it is a 2.2 GHz dual core. As long as you ONLY serve files with it and don't try to run a bunch of other services, like Plex, it will probably be fine. It will never be supper fast and it will have limits to how much it can be expanded, but it would work for lots of people that just want a 6 to 8 drive system with 30 to 60 TB of storage. Supermicro has made some duds, but I would give this a try if someone bought it for me.

 

[keylevel]

I am planning to use this for a (relatively) low-cost home file / backup server, so not being able to use 128 GB isn't going to be an issue. Having ECC is a nice "option" though, and I like the way I can add extra SATA ports if the PCIe isn't needed for anything else. One main reason for looking at this is it's low power, so running 24/7 isn't going to burn too much electricity.

A pity there are no other E3000 CPUs out yet though.

I would like to be able to write fast enough to max out a single GBe link (assuming suitable zpool). A J1900 to SSD can do this, but that's a quad core @ 2.4GHz.

 

[Chris Moore]

I am planning to use this for a (relatively) low-cost home file / backup server, so not being able to use 128 GB isn't going to be an issue. Having ECC is a nice "option" though, and I like the way I can add extra SATA ports if the PCIe isn't needed for anything else. One main reason for looking at this is it's low power, so running 24/7 isn't going to burn too much electricity.

A pity there are no other E3000 CPUs out yet though.

I would like to be able to write fast enough to max out a single GBe link (assuming suitable zpool). A J1900 to SSD can do this, but that's a quad core @ 2.4GHz.

This should be able to maximize a 1gig NIC as long as you don't burden the CPU with something like deduplication.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[Stux]

Be curious to hear how you find it

 

[keylevel]

I'll update if I decide to go with it.

Just spotted that Supermicro are planning to release it in a 4-bay NAS case: https://www.supermicro.com/products/system/midtower/5029/SYS-5029A-2TN4.cfm

 

[Jailer]

STH has a short write up on it.

https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-sys-5029a-2tn4-review-a-small-intel-atom-c3338-nas/

 

[droeders]

Having ECC is a nice "option" though, and I like the way I can add extra SATA ports if the PCIe isn't needed for anything else.

I'd look closely at the manual before assuming that you can use the PCIe for SATA port expansion beyond the max of 8 from the MB. This looks dubious to me (from the product specifications):

"Up to 8 SATA3(6 Gbps) ports via SoC. *Number of SATA ports is configurable via BIOS setup: 4, 6, or 8. Total combined PCI-E lanes and SATA ports is up to 8."

 

[keylevel]

What it means is, there are 8 connectors on the board (4xSATA, one combined 4 port). You can use all of these if none of the PCI-E lanes are assigned to the PCEe connector. You can assign lanes in pairs, and each pair used means you lose a pair of SATA channels.

This is the new way of managing I/O with the Denverton parts. I think it should allow for more flexibility, though it may just lead to frustration when there's always one or two less lanes that you need ;-)

 

[droeders]

What it means is, there are 8 connectors on the board (4xSATA, one combined 4 port). You can use all of these if none of the PCI-E lanes are assigned to the PCEe connector. You can assign lanes in pairs, and each pair used means you lose a pair of SATA channels.

This is the new way of managing I/O with the Denverton parts. I think it should allow for more flexibility, though it may just lead to frustration when there's always one or two less lanes that you need ;-)

That's how I thought it was, but thanks for clarifying.

I also re-read your original post and see how I mis-interpreted it. You were saying that if you needed more than 4 SATA ports you could sacrifice PCIe lanes for additonal SATA. I thought you meant you could add a HBA in the PCIe slot as long as it wasn't needed for anything else.

 

[keylevel]

Yeh, sorry - I could have explained that better ;-)

 

[droeders]

No worries. Thanks for pointing out the board.

It triggered the response from @Jailer that pointed me to the SM chassis that uses this board. I'm now seriously considering that rig for an unrelated project.

 

[keylevel]

There are now a whole load of new boards in the family - up to 16 core, 12 SATA - https://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/ATOM/

 

[ryanhunt]

do you folks know where one can buy these boards from? Can't find any on Amazon, or online in Australia...

 

[keylevel]

I've seen then online in a few places in Europe and the US, but that's probably going to make them expensive for you due to shipping and customs.

And then they mainly say "available in a few days", so they're not holding stock yet.

Possibly a bit close to launch for them to be widely available yet.