After Spectre and Meltdown prices on used servers are nosediving. Really solid deals on heavy iron.

 

nsa, are you focusing on 5th generation of these?

After you posted I started looking at these since the price is pretty good and I am looking at the 7th generation with 6 core cpu, they are still at 120-200 range.

 

nsa, are you focusing on 5th generation of these?

After you posted I started looking at these since the price is pretty good and I am looking at the 7th generation with 6 core cpu, they are still at 120-200 range.

No, I would have bought a newer generation if the price was right then. I'm still very satisfied with the current system and can easily swap upgrade by moving my PCIE boards to a newer system if I see a very good deal. Just be careful about the shipping costs, I got free shipping on my system.

 

No, I would have bought a newer generation if the price was right then. I'm still very satisfied with the current system and can easily swap upgrade by moving my PCIE boards to a newer system if I see a very good deal. Just be careful about the shipping costs, I got free shipping on my system.

I know what you mean about shipping. The cheapest G7 with 12 cores (2 six core cpu) that I saw on ebay was 126, but cpu are in 2 to 2.4 GHz range and about 12 GB of ram. Once you start picking faster cpu, closer to 3 GHz, the price goes up to 160 or 180. That is why I have not bought one, yet.

However, with these hardware bugs, price might go down some. I am not really sure yet.

 

The prices are still good. You will need a few additions to make it a useful PC desktop by upgrading the video and adding sound. I used a Nvidia geforce-gt-710 because it don't need the external GPU power cables you won't find in a server. (I think the fan version of the gt-730 should be OK too)

 

The prices are still good. You will need a few additions to make it a useful PC desktop by upgrading the video and adding sound. I used a Nvidia geforce-gt-710 because it don't need the external GPU power cables you won't find in a server. (I think the fan version of the gt-730 should be OK too)

I might as well ask you.
I was planning on using my GTX 750 (same family as your 710), this one does not need external power. However, it does have fan and is a dual slot design, meaning it is wide and covers two slots.
From reading G5, G6 and G7 brochures I know that they have two PCI-e slots. Are the PCI-e slots side by side (next to each other) or are they separated by some other slot, or are they on different riser(?) cards?

 

My G5 has the video and scsi card installed on the motherboard (I removed the SAS controller from its slot on the motherboard) with the USB card on the riser.
The G7 (and Gen8) provide 75W of PCIe power to the x16 PCIe slots but only 25W to the x4 / x8 slots. No idea if a dual slot wide card will fit easily.

 

would one of these be good for rendering 3D stills and animation?

 

would one of these be good for rendering 3D stills and animation?

Sure. This class of computer has the reliability and power to run compute-bound programs with large datasets at full speed just about forever without overheating or crashing because of a hardware fault. What they don't have is the capability to be a great gaming machine because the graphics capabilities are limited and they are usually noisy from the cooling fans.

 

If you use Linux (like Debian64) on the HP server here are some HP specific server utilities.
http://downloads.linux.hpe.com/SDR/project/mcp/

 

Sure. This class of computer has the reliability and power to run compute-bound programs with large datasets at full speed just about forever without overheating or crashing because of a hardware fault. What they don't have is the capability to be a great gaming machine because the graphics capabilities are limited and they are usually noisy from the cooling fans.

Thanks. Would the graphics limitations prevent me using 3 or 4 monitors with it?

 

Thanks. Would the graphics limitations prevent me using 3 or 4 monitors with it?

I can run dual monitors with the GT-710. A GT-740 or better should run 3.
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-740/specifications

With a few hacks it's possible to overcome most of the graphics limitations.

G6 version

 

Some of the older Refurb quadcore+ desktop computers I have been looking at, while reading the comments, I became a little lost. Like this computer for example, the specs (from my elementary understanding) seem impressive, with ~3GHz, 8 cores, 48 GB ram, 1TB SSD, etc. but lots of people were ripping it to pieces in the comments section (mostly because of the unreasonable price I imagine).

What I distilled from the comments (plus further reading) was that there are basically 2 sets of specs; the ones always listed in bold font - the ones I'm used to paying attention to (# cores, processor speed, GB of ram, etc), and another that most people don't know about (Ram DDR#, SATA rev#, processor socket lithography, firmware #s, etc) and in a computer that old (only 8y/o?), the bold font specs don't even matter; the second set of specs is so bad that it renders the first set irrelevant. Some were saying that that old 3GHz 8-core processor would be slower than a late model Intel i5.

I don't know these people and I don't know their agenda. What they are saying sounds plausible, but really? I can go buy a brand new I5 computer from Best Buy and it will be faster than this 3Ghz 8-core monster?

I bring this up not to diminish the impressive-sounding specs of your DL380, but to try and get a true understanding of exactly how impressive they are. I know the machine is old. I know it's cheap. I can find newer ones on eBay for <$200 that are very tempting. But If I'm going to get a computer for doing 3D rendering, would I be better off getting one of these and upgrading the GPU (et. al.) or getting a brand-new sub-$1k "gaming" desktop from Best buy, whose bold font specs are lower than the DL380's?

I feel like I'm borderline hijacking here. Or maybe more than borderline. If you'd like, I can start my own noob questions thread.

 

Some of the older Refurb quadcore+ desktop computers I have been looking at, while reading the comments, I became a little lost. Like this computer for example, the specs (from my elementary understanding) seem impressive, with ~3GHz, 8 cores, 48 GB ram, 1TB SSD, etc. but lots of people were ripping it to pieces in the comments section (mostly because of the unreasonable price I imagine).

What I distilled from the comments (plus further reading) was that there are basically 2 sets of specs; the ones always listed in bold font - the ones I'm used to paying attention to (# cores, processor speed, GB of ram, etc), and another that most people don't know about (Ram DDR#, SATA rev#, processor socket lithography, firmware #s, etc) and in a computer that old (only 8y/o?), the bold font specs don't even matter; the second set of specs is so bad that it renders the first set irrelevant. Some were saying that that old 3GHz 8-core processor would be slower than a late model Intel i5.

I don't know these people and I don't know their agenda. What they are saying sounds plausible, but really? I can go buy a brand new I5 computer from Best Buy and it will be faster than this 3Ghz 8-core monster?

I bring this up not to diminish the impressive-sounding specs of your DL380, but to try and get a true understanding of exactly how impressive they are. I know the machine is old. I know it's cheap. I can find newer ones on eBay for <$200 that are very tempting. But If I'm going to get a computer for doing 3D rendering, would I be better off getting one of these and upgrading the GPU (et. al.) or getting a brand-new sub-$1k "gaming" desktop from Best buy, whose bold font specs are lower than the DL380's?

I feel like I'm borderline hijacking here. Or maybe more than borderline. If you'd like, I can start my own noob questions thread.

No, you're not hijacking. These are very valid question on why use a old rack server instead of a brand new I5 from Best Buy. The reason I don't just buy a Best Buy machine is the same reason the data centers don't just buy the fastest Best Buy machines. The reason is reliability and redundancy when your data/code is your gold. What you get is top of the line hardware that's actually been spec'd for 24/7 usage. This machine is a replacement for a quad processor Dell desktop that was in my home shop mainly for programming duties. I don't think 3D rendering would be a good application for this type of machine if the software depends on GPU power. The desktop/gaming market is clearly geared to the monster video card power needed for good 3D rendering.

 

I don't think 3D rendering would be a good application for this type of machine if the software depends on GPU power. The desktop/gaming market is clearly geared to the monster video card power needed for good 3D rendering.

I am not really sure what I'm talking about but my understanding is that for 3D modelling, GPU is less important than a fast processor and ram. When I look at computers designed for 3D modelling, they don't have the high performance gaming GPU (it's decent but not crazy) and they cost a lot more than gaming laptops.

 

Some of the older Refurb quadcore+ desktop computers I have been looking at, while reading the comments, I became a little lost. Like this computer for example, the specs (from my elementary understanding) seem impressive, with ~3GHz, 8 cores, 48 GB ram, 1TB SSD, etc. but lots of people were ripping it to pieces in the comments section (mostly because of the unreasonable price I imagine).

What I distilled from the comments (plus further reading) was that there are basically 2 sets of specs; the ones always listed in bold font - the ones I'm used to paying attention to (# cores, processor speed, GB of ram, etc), and another that most people don't know about (Ram DDR#, SATA rev#, processor socket lithography, firmware #s, etc) and in a computer that old (only 8y/o?), the bold font specs don't even matter; the second set of specs is so bad that it renders the first set irrelevant. Some were saying that that old 3GHz 8-core processor would be slower than a late model Intel i5.

I don't know these people and I don't know their agenda. What they are saying sounds plausible, but really? I can go buy a brand new I5 computer from Best Buy and it will be faster than this 3Ghz 8-core monster?

I bring this up not to diminish the impressive-sounding specs of your DL380, but to try and get a true understanding of exactly how impressive they are. I know the machine is old. I know it's cheap. I can find newer ones on eBay for <$200 that are very tempting. But If I'm going to get a computer for doing 3D rendering, would I be better off getting one of these and upgrading the GPU (et. al.) or getting a brand-new sub-$1k "gaming" desktop from Best buy, whose bold font specs are lower than the DL380's?

I feel like I'm borderline hijacking here. Or maybe more than borderline. If you'd like, I can start my own noob questions thread.

Basically that amazon listing is old work station with some add ons and like people in comments said, it is a total rip off for 1700 USD.
You have to remember that people who sell these old systems are getting them for peanuts and now they want 1700 USD for it. Do you really want them to make 1000 or even 1200 USD profit of you?

The only advantage of a work station over the rack mounted machine is the ability to add various cards easily. Particularly video cards. I was looking through some videos that nsa linked about adding video card. The DL380 Generation 7 will easily take single slot video card in the full length x16 slot. Problem! I am looking at GTX 750, GTX 950, GT/GTX 1050 cards and NONE of them came in single slot. I would either have to mod the card and make it fit into x8 slot like the dude in the video showed because those x8 slots form a dual slot layout that would work with dual slot video card, or I can break out the back of the x8 slot so that full size x16 video card would fit in, in this way I don't need to try to cut the pcb of the video card, I might end up doing that actually because I really don't want to mess with the card itself. The only single slot modern card that sort of fits my budget/wants/needs is the GT 1030, but I think my old GTX 750 is better than GT 1030 so no point stepping down. With the work station, you could just grab whatever card is on the market and plug it in.

Here is another Dell workstation, also T7500 like the amazon one you linked. One six core 3.06 GHz cpu (your amazon was 8 cores, but that is two cpu with four cores each so you loose 2 cores), 48 GB of RAM (same as your amazon) spec sheet says DDR3 ECC, no hdd, no video card. All for the princely sum of 350 USD:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T7500...680681?hash=item4403cf1b29:g:AfoAAOSwUM5aOqSA
The thing you need to do is ask seller what kind of psu they have in it. Spec sheet says 1100 Watt in the original. But this is ebay and used stuff so need to find out.
This thing has two PCI-e x16 Generation 2 slots. Stick a couple refurbished GTX 750 cards (about 90-100 USD each) and you can have 3 monitors on each card using Display Port for total of 6 monitors.
Now buy a couple of "refurbished" 128 GB ssd for 35 USD each, get a couple of 500 GB or 1TB WD Black hdd.
I am guessing that the system with video cards and monitors would be about 1000 to 1200 USD. That is COMPLETE system. That amazon deal you linked is 1700 just for the "box". That is why it is a total ripoff.

 

GPU power even on a older cp is what you need for 3D
these severs are fun I have 2 my problem has been video I can't find a card that fit's it's only 2 inch high
The built in card is old school. But it supper for what it's doing web server to test code on.

 

GPU testing benchmarks for Linux and others.
http://www.geeks3d.com/20140304/gpu...w-fp64-opengl-4-test-and-online-gpu-database/

 

GPU power even on a older cp is what you need for 3D
these severs are fun I have 2 my problem has been video I can't find a card that fit's it's only 2 inch high
The built in card is old school. But it supper for what it's doing web server to test code on.

I don't think they make single slot GTX 750 or 950.

However. GTX 650 (there is also 650Ti) does come in single slot version. Also, I think I saw 650 in low profile single slot. The only other choice is the new GT 1030.
650 single slot: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOT-WORKIN...972020?hash=item1c5ec3c2f4:g:zRsAAOSwhkRWfZqX

The other thing you can do is take dual slot 750 or 950, but get one where second slot is just a grill for the air being blown out. Remove the bracket from the card. Cut off the air grill. Reinstall the bracket. Now you have single slot video card (assuming heat sink and fan on the card still fit inside the case).

Avoid new Chinese 650 cards on ebay. They are fake.

 

hm, this looks like single slot 750: https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-GTX-7...339368&hash=item3f9132c06f:g:S6MAAOSwkNtaVeQy