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Inxsible

After reading through the specs of X9SCL+-F and X9SCL-F, I found the following 3 differences:

How much would these differences matter?

And if not much, then why does Supermicro build similar boards like these? There is another board X9SCL that has the same features as X9SCL-F except that X9SCL doesn't seem to have IPMI.

These boards are also quite similar to X9SCMs where they have 2 SATA3 and 4 SATA2 ports vs all 6 SATA2 in X9SCLs

belt9

Here are the differences in Ethernet controllers: http://ark.intel.com/compare/32209,47620

it looks like one supports low power ram and the other does not.

also, one has a power header for sata doms that require them.

Inxsible

@belt9:

Here are the differences in Ethernet controllers: http://ark.intel.com/compare/32209,47620

it looks like one supports low power ram and the other does not.

also, one has a power header for sata doms that require them.

Thanks for the Ethernet controller comparison. Looks like 82579 works at a wee bit lower TDP and price, but does not have the Sideband interface. I have the X9SCL-F which means I get one of each ethernet controller :)
Also my board would be able to support low power RAM and has the power header for the DOM.

Inxsible

I have one question regarding the case I have: Supermicro CSE-813MTQ-350CB

In the specs, it mentions

SAS or enterprise SATA HDD only recommended

Why would that be? I plan to use this as a FreeNAS box and convert my existing FreeNAS box into a pfSense router. Would WD Reds or Seagate Ironwolfs be ok to put in? I am still not clear why a chassis would care about what type of HDDs are installed.

Secondly a more pfSense relevant question is :

my current FreeNAS box uses TYAN S5533GM2NR-LE as the motherboard. It has 2 intel NICs, so I can use it for pfSense, but the only problem is that I chose a Pentium G3240 as the processor back then (about 2.5 years ago). It has served me well, but since I plan on using VPN services, I was thinking of getting a CPU with AES.
I found these 3 on ebay that will fit the LGA1150 socket that the TYAN board has:

Intel Xeon E3-1220L v3 – 1.1 GHz, ~$50, TDP 13W
Intel Xeon E3-1230L v3 – 1.8GHz, ~$220, TDP 25W
Intel Xeon E3-1240L v3 – 2.00 GHz, ~$180 - TDP 25W

I'd love to get the 1220L-v3, because its cheap and has the lowest TDP, but will 1.1 GHz be sufficient for openvpn? I'd rather not spend the extra $120 on the 1240L-v3, if I don't really have to.

belt9

it will work for 100Mbps openvpn. I can't say exactly where it will cap out but probably before 300Mbps.

You can use gateway groups to harness both cores, but that has its own set of limitations. In practice it is a worthwhile implementation in most scenarios.

Inxsible

@belt9:

it will work for 100Mbps openvpn. I can't say exactly where it will cap out but probably before 300Mbps.

You can use gateway groups to harness both cores, but that has its own set of limitations. In practice it is a worthwhile implementation in most scenarios.

I was originally going to build a low power box with J3355 SoC which according to most on this forum would also provide upto 300Mbps openvpn. My internet connection would be as high as 150Mbps. 300, 1000 & 2000 Mbps are prohibitively expensive in my area currently. So I guess Xeon E3 1220L v3 would work about the same as the J3355, albeit with a tad more power usage 13 W compared to 10W

belt9

The J3355 will almost certainly outperform that xeon in OpenVPN. OpenVPN is single threaded and depends a lot on clock speed, the J3355 has higher clock speed and is much newer. The J3355 also has acceleration for SHA, and it likely has a better implementation of AES-NI given the large time gap between the two processors.

All that having been said, so long as you stay <100Mbps it won't matter.

chrcoluk

agreed on ECC ram with pfbasic, its fine if you got the money to throw around and want insurance, but I have worked with ZFS not using ECC for several years and have never come across the nightmare scenario that the freenas admins like to portray.

jafoca

@belt9:

The J3355 will almost certainly outperform that xeon in OpenVPN. OpenVPN is single threaded and depends a lot on clock speed, the J3355 has higher clock speed and is much newer. The J3355 also has acceleration for SHA, and it likely has a better implementation of AES-NI given the large time gap between the two processors.

All that having been said, so long as you stay <100Mbps it won't matter.

I'm considering going the J3355 route as it seems to check a good number of my boxes - mainly low power and modern processor. My Comcast internet connection is 100Mbps right now (though could move to 150 soon), so I think it should be capable of handling that even with a good handful of packages.

Has anyone found a good case for use with this board? It seems tough to find something small and cheap that ALSO handles the PCI Express card, which is needed because the board itself only has a single nic.

(Maybe we should have a dedicated thread for this board?)

belt9

If you're handy something like an m350 with picoPSU would be your most compact option.

It doesn't have an opening cut in the case for a nic though so you'd have to make that yourself (Dremel). On top of that you'd need a ribbon riser cable.

If you don't want to DIY I'd say look for a case similar in size to the m350 that already has a pcie slot. The smallest cases will require a ribbon riser cable. Unfortunately I've never looked into doing this (and if I did I would just DIY the m350) so I can't recommend you one that meets the above requirements.

Please let us know if you find something!

jafoca

@belt9:

If you're handy something like an m350 with picoPSU would be your most compact option.

It doesn't have an opening cut in the case for a nic though so you'd have to make that yourself (Dremel). On top of that you'd need a ribbon riser cable.

If you don't want to DIY I'd say look for a case similar in size to the m350 that already has a pcie slot. The smallest cases will require a ribbon riser cable. Unfortunately I've never looked into doing this (and if I did I would just DIY the m350) so I can't recommend you one that meets the above requirements.

Please let us know if you find something!

It looks like the m300 is compatible with a riser card, but it is quite a bit bigger than the m350, and ugly for that matter. I may go that route because at least it's priced well.

http://www.mini-box.com/M300-Enclosure-w-Bootable-CF-Reader_2

belt9

Excellent find! I'd say that's a go-to case for mini-itx boards needing a NIC!

Inxsible

@jafoca:

@belt9:

The J3355 will almost certainly outperform that xeon in OpenVPN. OpenVPN is single threaded and depends a lot on clock speed, the J3355 has higher clock speed and is much newer. The J3355 also has acceleration for SHA, and it likely has a better implementation of AES-NI given the large time gap between the two processors.

All that having been said, so long as you stay <100Mbps it won't matter.

I'm considering going the J3355 route as it seems to check a good number of my boxes - mainly low power and modern processor. My Comcast internet connection is 100Mbps right now (though could move to 150 soon), so I think it should be capable of handling that even with a good handful of packages.

Has anyone found a good case for use with this board? It seems tough to find something small and cheap that ALSO handles the PCI Express card, which is needed because the board itself only has a single nic.

(Maybe we should have a dedicated thread for this board?)

I was going to build one based on J3355 and had been looking for a 1U case for a long time. I found this –
PlinkUSA WebITX125 which allows front to rear mounting which would be great for a router application like pfSense, because you could easily connect the WAN and LAN ports from the router case to your switch
They have a bunch of IO plates for different motherboards, but they don't have one for AsRock J3355. You'd have to buy the universal plate and cut it accordingly with pliers.