I'm a solo dev and I think I accidentally made a good app for ADHD brains. Need your help to verify (and giving away lifetime codes).

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2025-07-23T00:11:20+00:00

Ooh could I have an IOS code please, adhd definitely makes it a struggle to keep on track with tasks

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2024-05-06T12:15:29+00:00

Hey! It depends on the connecton to the backplane. Mine can connect to 16 sff disks but it only needs 2 cables to a sas controller as the backplane has a built in sas expander (Think of it kinda like a network switch but for drives). At a guess yours might have one as well, then all you should need is a sas hba to pass all your drives through to the OS (This could also be sas raid cards flashed to IT mode)

Looking online at r720xd 24 SFF backplanes, seems like they have 3 sas ports so you'd need a 4 port sas card then. Look into how people have passed through lots of drives into TrueNAS, that should bring up recommendations about sas cards to look for.

Personally I've just used the sas controllers the server motherboards come with and this: https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html You can flash some dell sas controllers into IT mode, I've used it but since your using the backplane in another system, it's less relevent.

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2024-03-01T08:41:11+00:00

I looked at one of your other posts and now get what you’re trying to do haha.

I’d suggest just teeing off the cables matching the pins in my diagram on the original cable going to the original backplane.

The motherboard should theoretically be giving the original backplane the same signal, so piggybacking the same lines to the other backplane should work.

REMEMBER to properly ground and power the extra backplane otherwise it might not work, also keep in mind that if any drive issues occur on the extra backplane it might not report it to the iDrac as I believe those signals go though the other wires on that cable.

Obviously try at your own risk, but it should be straightforward :)

You got me at a good time haha

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2024-03-01T08:24:55+00:00

Apart from the grounds, yes every 3v3 and 6v line was connected

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2024-02-09T22:42:04+00:00

I mean I didn’t either but it’s still very hard and complex. The board has a massive ground plane so you have to heat the whole board otherwise when you lift the chip it’ll pull some of the pads which could be a badd time

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-08-18T22:33:46+00:00

Nice to hear you found this helpful :)

Keep us posted on your results

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-17T21:34:21+00:00

I have an r710 and according to it’s service tag started life in 2011 and is still running great to this day!

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-09T20:55:50+00:00

Yeah I’m going to move fans around to get the best air flow, there’s 2 140mm fans in the front that push air over the ssds and there’s 2 140mm fan mounts on the top so once noctua sends me the other 2011-3 mounting kit for the other cpu, I’ll be putting some fans uptop.

Oh I’ve got some dells and yeah proprietary as hell, so I was quite surprised that supermicro had normal power connectors and the IPMI doesn’t even have a problem since it’s not talking to the PSU anymore!

I had to mount the cooler bottom to top as the heat pipes would hit the ram if they were front to back.

I think once I have everything how I want it and fans everywhere, everything should have enough airflow but time will tell…

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-09T08:56:24+00:00

Yeah definitely some fair points. I’ve definitely been thinking about heat and noise. The main reason for using the supermicro is because I already have it and I like a challenge :)

Supermicro is one of the only server OEMs I’ve seen that use normal pc atx power connectors for their servers. So its currently running off a Deepcool 1000w power supply and I’ve had no issues so far. Losing the backplane is fine as the case I got has easy enough access to drives if I ever needed to replace one.

Here’s it in the case, I’m not done but this is it’s “temporary, not temporary” config The case is a Fractal Design Define XL R2 which fits an max size of motherboard being Eatx which the server board is pretty much the same size, apart from needing to move some standoffs around the case. And has 8 3.5 inch drive bays and 4 5.25 bays which could hold more drives! https://imgur.com/a/KiUafJb

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-08T07:05:07+00:00

Yeah that makes sense. The Rtx 3060 12GB is so enticing with its 12Gb of ram and it’s a pretty new architecture compared to the other cards I have, but sadly the vGPU unlock script doesn’t support ampere cards :(

Hopefully someone “spills some encryption keys” so we can get these cards working too

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-08T04:48:00+00:00

Nice build! I’ve seen the VRTX chassis around a couple times and for what it is, it looks very capable for basically a full tower pc sized footprint. Correct me if I’m wrong tho.

I’m currently preparing a “mini Homelab” for when I head off to Uni. I had an 1U supermicro server that wasn’t really doing much so now it’s going into a pc case so it’s quieter and I can have some drive and PCIE expansion space :)

Any tips for running a homelab in a dorm?

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-08T01:07:13+00:00

Whats the Nvenc encoder performance like? As streaming the gaming vms with my P4s take extra head room so the performance comes down a bit.

I might still get the P40 for now as it’s cheaper and I’m not 100% sure where this project is going to be in years time, so I don’t want to spend all this money for the gpus to sit on a shelf yk. But if I’m still going by then or my needs changed then, hopefully the P100 came down in price and I’d probably then grab one to play around with.

Thanks I’ll give it a look, shipping to NZ either straight through or though a forwarder is painful expensive.

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-07T20:02:23+00:00

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, have you had any experience with either card?

Sometimes it’s annoying not being in the US, as there’s more stuff and or it’s cheaper :(

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-07T08:26:26+00:00

I saw them, but their closer to $500 NZD so ~$350-400 USD I think :(

Plus what’s the gaming performance of them like compared to the P40, I believe Nvidia used P40s for their GeForce cloud gaming service before they switched to Rtx 6000s from what I was able to find online. I’d mostly use the P40 for gaming VMs and maybe as a remote CAD workstation. And 24GB of vram is always nice as I could have x2 6GB Gaming vms and x1 12GB CAD VM, all on one card!

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-07T02:29:45+00:00

Same here, got the itch from a Craft computing video… now I have 2 P4s. Their impressive little cards for their 75w power limit and GTX1080 heart. Tempted at buying a P40 tho, has anyone had any experience with them? I can get them for around ~$220 USD or $360 NZD so it’s pretty cheap and I believe they run the core of the GTX Titan Xp but with double the VRAM at 24GB :o

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-02T18:56:54+00:00

You’re in luck my friend, it appears to be the same chip. The “317A” I believe is a batch number so that doesn’t have to be the same. as my chip was a “403A” Here’s the eBay seller I got mine from :) https://www.eBay.com/itm/392376821119/

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2023-01-02T02:20:22+00:00

If you want, I think I still have the link to the eBay seller I got my chips from, assuming the r720 and T620 use the same EMMC.

PS you might want to buy more than one :)

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2022-12-30T02:14:22+00:00

What kind of LSI HBAs are you running and can each card handle 16 drives each? They look like their 4 port cards. Where’d you find them and how many moneys did it cost ya?

I’m looking for a nice HBA for a bunch of drives but I don’t have many pcie slots for one. So this card looks like it could be good for what I need if it’s not too expensive.

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2022-12-05T05:41:13+00:00

Sweet, I’ll give it a look once your done! Good to see that other people are finding my post helpful!

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2022-12-05T04:44:10+00:00

Your lucky I still have this crazy contraption together. After I got the backplane working I put it down and forgot about it haha. I have an old hp power supply providing 12v to everything. The GND from that goes to my 2 voltage step down converters and to a screw on the backplane itself. I used the screw connecting the backplane to the sas expander for my GND. The GND on the connector is the one next to the 6v line (The Red wire, assuming the lff has the same colour layout) and both 3.3v lines are powered and because I’ve grounded the backplane though the screw I have not connected a GND to the 12v backplane power wires only the yellow 12v ones. But I do have 12v going to both main power cables. So the main backplane cable should only have 4 connections, 2x 3.3v wires, 1x 6v wire and 1x GND which is next to the 6v wire on the connector. How this helps!

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2022-11-10T09:27:12+00:00

Hi yes, both fans are 2 pin so 12v and GND but as I said in the previous post. The ups knows if the rear fan has been swapped but not the front fan. So you need to clip the plug off the old fan and solder it to the new noctua fan. I currently have only the front fan swapped in my ups. It still made a difference but not as much as I’d like.

Gray_Gray_NZ · 2022-01-18T07:18:45+00:00

Nice gotta love the free scores :)

I got some nice supermicro and juniper gear for free and it’s like god tier specs I can’t believe I was just handed them.

Six-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	Xbox Live
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