Intel Mini-ITX Atom 8-core Hardware Build Recipe Available Here

robi · Jul 14, 2015, 8:40 PM

The Supermicro A1SRi-2xx8 motherboards have a direct 12V power input on the motherboard which looks just like the 4-pin connector on top left of this picture:

Check out in the manual PDF, it's the plug labelled J1.

It needs a cable which ends in a plug like this:

According to the manual:
Do not use the 4-pin DC power J1 when the 24-pin ATX Power JPW1 is connected to the power supply. Do not plug in both J1 and JPW1 at the same time.

So, instead a pico psu, you can use straight a 12V power source to feed the motherboard by using a direct cable. Depending on what case or cables you have, such a cable can be soldered with ease to fit your need.
I just took a cable like this:

Cut off the female part and soldered to the DC-in jack on the case (de-soldered the case's original pico-psu-style DC adaptation).
Be sure to check the pinout of the plug in the manual, it's on page 39 of the PDF, chapter 2-6, to respect +/- polarity.

Sir Loin · Jul 14, 2015, 10:40 PM

Robi is correct. For this particular motherboard series from Supermicro, you either need a picoPSU for the 20-pin connector, or a power supply with a 4-pin connector, BUT NOT BOTH. Links to both items are on the first post of this thread in the Power Supply section. Post here if you have more questions.

Jul 15, 2015, 3:05 PM

Mostly this is pointed and related to the case you are using, as I see it right, correct me please if I am wrong with this.
As an exaple:

The original Supermicro mini ITX cases comes with a power button that is able to be sorted with the cable shown below
in the post of @robi and then for sure you must be using the 4-pin connector in the upper left corner.
But if you get an ordinary mini ITX case like the M350 from mini-itx.com you should be or must be using the
24-pin connector with something like the PICO psu.

Sir Loin · Jul 15, 2015, 3:10 PM

No, this part list does not include any case from Supermicro. The only case in this part list is the M350 case, which is not a Supermicro case. With this M350 case and this motherboard you can use EITHER the 4-pin power supply OR the 20-pin picoPSU, BUT NOT BOTH at the same time.

Jul 15, 2015, 3:23 PM

@Sir:

No, this part list does not include any case from Supermicro. The only case in this part list is the M350 case, which is not a Supermicro case. With this M350 case and this motherboard you can use EITHER the 4-pin power supply OR the 20-pin picoPSU, BUT NOT BOTH at the same time.

1 from me, oki doki I understand this now.

mifronte · Jul 15, 2015, 10:35 PM

@robi - Is your Speedtest signature reflect the performance of the Supermicro A1SRi-2758f motherboard on a Gigabit broadband?

For those with tree fans installed, just how loud is the unit?

For normal desktop installation in a typical home environment, is one fan sufficient if standard firewall functions?

trumee · Jul 16, 2015, 2:49 AM

@robi @Sir Loin, Are you guys running pfsense on a VM or bare metal? It will be shame to have unused CPU on bare metal.

Sir Loin · Jul 16, 2015, 4:04 AM

I installed pfSense directly onto the SSD, not as a VM.

For fans, if you installed the fans as is, they are very loud as they spin at full speed. I didn't look in the BIOS to see if fan speed could be controlled. I added a couple Low-Noise-Adapter (L.N.A) from my other Noctua NF-F12 fans and now they run very quiet. There are only 2 fan headers on the motherboard. To install 3 fans, you'd need a Y-cable to connect 2 fans to one of the headers.

mifronte · Jul 16, 2015, 4:12 AM

@Sir:

…
To install 3 fans, you'd need a Y-cable to connect 2 fans to one of the headers.

According to the specs there should be 3 fan headers.

On another note:

Do you have IPMI configured with a static or dhcp address? I was wonder how that would work if I ran dhcp and local dns on the same instance as pfsense. If the machine is powered down, then dhcp would be down too and how would IPMI get its ip address?

Sir Loin · Jul 16, 2015, 4:19 AM

you are right, there are 3 fan headers. I can now see them on my own pictures :-)

I tested IPMI with DHCP. Ironically, I found the IP inside pfSense's DHCP status page. You can configure it to use static IP in the BIOS. In a production data center with a lot of servers running IPMI, IPMI connectiona would run off of another network and you would not use the same server as the DHCP server giving an IP address to its own IPMI port.

mifronte · Jul 16, 2015, 6:01 AM

@Sir:

you are right, there are 3 fan headers. I can now see them on my own pictures :-)

I tested IPMI with DHCP. Ironically, I found the IP inside pfSense's DHCP status page. You can configure it to use static IP in the BIOS. In a production data center with a lot of servers running IPMI, IPMI connectiona would run off of another network and you would not use the same server as the DHCP server giving an IP address to its own IPMI port.

I am trying to figure out how this would work in my home network where the pfSense server is also my DHCP and local DNS. If the server was off and I wanted to turn it on using IPMI, I guess the IPMI interface would hold onto the last DHCP leased address and I can access it that way? Oh well, thanks a lot for putting the build of material together. I will order the parts and build my first pfSense server.

Jul 16, 2015, 7:52 AM

If the machine is powered down, then dhcp would be down too and how would IPMI get its ip address?

It should be a static IP address, that must be entered in the BIOS.

It will be shame to have unused CPU on bare metal.

Why it should be a shame?
It will be easier to find something such as a packet that would be fast installed and use the
entire CPU power and also cores, as you might get underpowered and the CPU is to lame!
And with the PowerD options you will be able to save power on top!

athurdent · Jul 16, 2015, 11:33 AM

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but there is a real nice Supermicro App that even lets you use you the KVM console:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/supermicro-ipmiview/id952163566
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smc.smcipmitool

athurdent · Jul 16, 2015, 12:17 PM

@mifronte:

@robi - Is your Speedtest signature reflect the performance of the Supermicro A1SRi-2758f motherboard on a Gigabit broadband?

For those with tree fans installed, just how loud is the unit?

For normal desktop installation in a typical home environment, is one fan sufficient if standard firewall functions?

The M350 was either too loud (even slightly modded it to fit in a 100mm Scythe fan) or would get too hot for my taste (using L.N.A. adapters).
Also using the 4 PIN DC input made the board produce a high pitched sound.
I could not find any 40mm or 100mm PWM fans, so I took a different approach.

Buy a little fridge and a cute PS:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=333
http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=458

Change the build in fan to a PWM model:
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=82&lng=en&set=2

And tell the BIOS not to panic when the fan spins under 500 RPM:
http://wl.rekursion.ch/pwm-fan-spin-up-on-supermicro-board.html

The CPU is at about 50°C in my approx. 25-27°C "server room" under the roof of an old house and the system is really silent.

Jul 16, 2015, 6:25 PM

@arthurdent

(even slightly modded it to fit in a 100mm Scythe fan)

Do you know this one! Nothing must be drilled or cut! Enermax U.R.VEGAS

athurdent · Jul 16, 2015, 6:43 PM

I used this one: http://www.scytheus.com/products_categories/100mm-fans/
Don't think one can mount a 120x25 fan into the M350 next to the SSD, but I might be wrong there. 120mm would not fit and 25mm neither I guess…

Edit: ah, forget it, you don't put it in the case at all ;) But it does not seem to have PWM?

robi · Jul 16, 2015, 7:20 PM

@mifronte:

@robi - Is your Speedtest signature reflect the performance of the Supermicro A1SRi-2758f motherboard on a Gigabit broadband?

For those with tree fans installed, just how loud is the unit?

For normal desktop installation in a typical home environment, is one fan sufficient if standard firewall functions?

I've got 1G/200M paid for (~22 USD a month including landline phone and 120 digital TV channels), but I've never seen it really go above 700/200 even using the ISP's own CPE unit directly. So this is definitely not a limitation of A1SRi-2758f.

This unit at home is installed in an EPC2 mini-ITX case, and I've installed an 8cm fan inside of it just above the CPU with two cable ties to the holes of the case. Zero noise. It locates about 3-4mm right above the CPU heatsink, and the temperature is about 33-35degrees. The unit is located close to the ceiling in a poorly ventilated closet.
The rackmounted device is in a server room, a bit noisier but that's not an issue there.

robi · Jul 16, 2015, 7:19 PM

@trumee:

@robi @Sir Loin, Are you guys running pfsense on a VM or bare metal? It will be shame to have unused CPU on bare metal.

Bare metal, and NanoBSD due to security reasons. I've got virtualization on a dedicated separate server with Xeon CPU, 32GB of RAM and lots of storage.

trumee · Jul 18, 2015, 1:34 PM

The fans listed on the minibox website are 3 pin molex/non-pwm only. Are there any PWM fans available which would fit on the hdd brackets?

Sir Loin · Jul 18, 2015, 8:15 PM

@trumee:

The fans listed on the minibox website are 3 pin molex/non-pwm only. Are there any PWM fans available which would fit on the hdd brackets?

A quick Bing search found something like this: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/17651/fan-1145/Evercool_40mm_x_15mm_High_Speed_PWM_Fan_EC4015SH12BP.html?tl=g36c365s1814