[conspire] still looking for server hardware?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Leo P (yaconsult at gmail.com):

> http://slickdeals.net/f/7839961-hp-proliant-ml10-tower-server-system-intel-xeon-e3-1220-v2-4-core-3-1-ghz-8mb-69w-2gb-single-rank-x8-pc3-12800e-memory-none-737649-s01-220-neweggflash
> 
> Ross and I are planning on coming to cabal this weekend - see you then!

Good, look forward to seeing you!

I appreciate your making the suggestion.  But:

1. This is described as a server (including by HP), but it's effectively
not server hardware at all, but rather a workstation MicroATX tower.
Nothing wrong with using a workstation for a server role, if you like
it.  But I just wanted to mention that in passing.

2.  Use of an Intel Xeon G2130 'Ivy Bridge' dual-core CPU means you're
eating up gobs of power all the time, which is the single most important
thing I'm trying to avoid, and is the reason why I've not deployed
either of the perfectly serviceable P4-based rackmount servers sitting
around unused -- because the PIII hardware used reasonable amounts of AC
power and all P4 and Xeon gear does not.  The CPU used in this HP
ProLiant ML10 has a TDP (Thermal Design Power) rating of 55W.  I can do
a lot better in this area.

3.  The second thing I'd be seeking is silent, cool operation.  In this
area, the HP ProLiant ML10 is said to have a CPU fan and a case fan --
without them bothering to say what size the case fan is.  (Larger fans
are quieter.)

4.  From professional experience, I can tell you that HP's proprietary
remote system management (Integreted Lights Out = iLO) is truly abysmal.
You get the privilege of paying some ridiculous amount of money for a
really bad proprietary-binary client that ought to be free of charge as
with the competition.

5.  From professional experience, _anything_ custom you want to do with
a machine in the HP ProLiant series requires forking out fairly
outrageiously, e.g., putting in a hard drive requires buying a HP ML10
Hard Drive Enablement Kit if converting over the optical drive bay, or 
an HP ML10 4 LFF Hard Drive Enablement Kit otherwise.  Those are $100
and $60 respectively, each, at discount.  Ka-chink!  And that's pretty
much just a drive bracket.

6.  Advert doesn't really clarify density of existing RAM, so experience
suggests that one should assume the least-dense possible RAM, which
would mean the four RAM sockets are each stuffed with a 512MB stick,
thus totaling 2GB.  Total capacity is 32GB, which is good, but my point
is that you'll end up putting the existing four in a drawer and getting
all new RAM in the saner 8GB/stick capacity.  That's $55/stick x 4
sticks equals $220 for RAM on top of system acquisition price.  

7.  No hard drive or SSD include.  Only one ethernet port.  Supports
only two 3.0Gb/sec SATA drives.  Oh, sure, you can add more in each of
those areas.  Just:  Ka-ching!

Basically:  Decent recent CPU (but not what I want), stripped down
everything, crappy little proprietary case.  

I'm thinking you saw just 'server' and the price tag, and so figured I
might be interested, right?