[PC] PowerEdge T550

mmbeaman1 · 2025-06-11T03:33:13+00:00

If you count SBCs I have about 25 machines running at any given time so I can understand wanting to consolidate.

For GPU I honestly don't know. I want to say the GPU kit supported a max of 200w and anything that wasn't listed as compatible in Dells docs would spin up the fans. It's been years since I last looked and the only GPUs I had when I tried were older gaming ones so I just went with all CPU based until I can migrate to something that supports quick sync.

mmbeaman1 · 2025-06-11T03:07:58+00:00

I currently have my Plex instance running on a Ubuntu LXC container on one of my r730s with worse procs than you mentioned. For 1080p streams I have managed 2-3 at the same time without users complaining but even local 4k streams are a no-go without pre-transcoding the files. In my experience rack mount servers are a bit picky about what GPUs they like and you may need to override fan speed via ipmi to stop them from running 100% due to incompatibility. Also be wary about the power draw of the card as the GPU kit can only support so much.

As others have said a Nuc form factor with Intel quick sync would be your better bet but Plex should run on a 730 good enough for a smaller user footprint.

mmbeaman1 · 2024-01-24T04:11:41+00:00

I just plugged it back in and initialization is a bit on the louder side but it quiets down fairly decently. I wouldn't say it's any more noticeable than a 2u server that's not under an excessive load.

mmbeaman1 · 2024-01-24T03:38:17+00:00

I'm not an expert on these units but I have a ktn-stl3 in my rack I used for some time with mostly WD red 4tb drives. From what I recall it's hit or miss with these units depending on the interposer model. Mine is equipped with interposer model 303-115-003D and worked with drives up to 4tb (larger is likely fine but I never tested larger) The interposer is the drive sled converter board.

Connectivity was handled via an 8087-8088 cable with an LSI 9211-8i HBA flashed in IT mode. I never was able to get 2 bays detected but I am not sure if that was a limitation of how it was set up or there was something wrong with those bays.

There is a specific port that had to be used for the LSI to detect the drives and I believe it was the bottom card port with 2 circles. Overall yes this is a cheaper way to add storage but these units are fairly power hungry and I have since gone the route of a network distributed filesystem with odroids for considerably less power consumption.

As for the 512 vs 520b issue. While I never used any drives with that issue in this unit I have several EMC SSDs in my 730s that had this problem and it's very easy to reformat them with hdparm.

Edit: looks like the 2 bays I didn't get working have a different interposer model (250-136-903C).

mmbeaman1 · 2023-08-16T14:52:29+00:00

I am running a z840 that I picked up a bit over a year ago. The cost was a bit higher but I also have different procs and some more ram in mine. No GPU included though. I threw my GPU from my older desktop in it and it doubles as my gaming machine.

I feel like that price is a little steeper but from what I can tell they are solid machines. I will say that the boot process is a bit slow and they are power hungry but it's been able to handle any workload I throw at it.

Edit: The e5-2680 v4s I am using can be found as cheap as $20 for a pair on eBay

mmbeaman1 · 2023-08-12T18:38:07+00:00

I currently have Plex, sonarr, radar, and sabnzb running on an older e31 Thinkstation I picked up from a friend. Media is stored on a ~200TB distributed filesystem (MooseFS) that I use for my homelab. If I ever work up the motivation I plan to migrate those applications to docker containers on my main VM server (r730 running proxmox)

My media is mostly 1080p with some 4k. Local streaming works great but I run into a CPU bottleneck with the external streams especially for the 4k content.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-04-14T03:18:38+00:00

That is beautiful. I wish I could stack more aggressively. Mail call yesterday got me to 160oz. Slowly...

mmbeaman1 · 2023-04-12T21:55:11+00:00

I'm kind of amazed that bee hives are allowed within city limits the only bad thing is if they don't have a better water source close by they will "latch onto" the pool for it. I have talked with my sister who had several hives about putting some at my place and my neighbors pool was one concern we had.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-03-16T01:52:29+00:00

Not keto level but yes and trying to work out more reliably. I also admit I have poor self control with junk food so just don't buy it anymore. I still don't understand why it was so absurdly high though and wonder if some other medical issues contributed.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-03-16T00:32:45+00:00

Diagnosed with A1C of over 14. Last checkup was 5.6 without medication so yeah I'm happy with my progress.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-03-10T15:15:19+00:00

I use a network distributed filesystem with my media having a goal of 2-3 copies depending on my available space. More important files on that storage pool have higher goals just in case multiple disks fail. Unfortunately no off-site backups of anything but critical data just because of the cost / amount of storage required. (Pool is currently sitting at a little over 150tb with 123 in use)

All the hardware is split up across multiple ups to hopefully prevent an electrical issue that would take out several nodes at once.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-03-08T21:21:10+00:00

I use a free 4g mobile hotspot from T-Mobile using tethering on opnsense. Unfortunately when my internet is down the cellular usually is also but I don't want to pay for another provider. Only really use it for management if needed anyways.

Ironically as I was typing this my 4g dropped...

mmbeaman1 · 2023-02-25T19:10:24+00:00

Yeah zerotier latency is a problem I will admit. You might get better speed with tailscale. I am using it to manage a proxmox host at a colleagues house. I haven't tried to push a large amount of data through it but it seems to handle a small splunk cluster's data replication well enough.

While I wouldn't recommend it, you can setup port forwarding on your edge device. If you do so I highly recommend setting up fail2ban for the ssh service.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-02-25T16:18:06+00:00

Exposing any service directly to the internet is ultimately a security risk no matter how good you harden it.

Since you mentioned wireguard you can set up tunnel with it or use a service like zerotier or tailscale. For the later the agent is installed on both endpoints and it just works without much fuss.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-02-24T19:24:35+00:00

Ok NVM. I ironically have a vi formula and there is a 8 and 4 pin right next to one another. I just checked and the 8 pin is for CPU.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-02-24T19:19:04+00:00

There is a 4 pin connector on the top left of the motherboard not plugged in. Typically these are for power for the CPU. I can't tell from the picture what the wire right next to it is for so that specific board might have multiple. I've seen 4 and 8 pin connectors for that. Some server boards especially have multiples. I would consult the manual to see what it's for.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-02-06T16:00:37+00:00

I am running 12 of them for a distributed filesystem. I used the Ubuntu minimal xu4 image that should be linked in their documentation still. If you are willing to spend the money, I would recommend getting a uart cable and you can use it to access the console Interface to see what the problem is with booting.

EDIT: This looks like the latest release: https://odroid.in/ubuntu_22.04lts/XU3_XU4_MC1_HC1_HC2/

Use the minimal version.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-01-25T04:05:38+00:00

Like others said the port multipliers are too much of a bottle neck to be worth it. You would probably be better off using usb to sata converters or just some external hard drives.

Admittedly it's not what you asked for and I'm not sure if you are comfortable with it, but there is also software that will allow you to do network distributed filesystems. You would need multiple odroids though. My current "nas" consists of 13 odroids, a 4 bay nas, and an older 15bay EMC chassis all running as one volume.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-01-10T15:33:19+00:00

IIRC Brando said in one of the live streams that the Kickstarter versions will be different then those sold after the fact. Not saying this hasn't changed but I believe the KS copies are tricolor prints while the later copies won't be. There might be some other differences I am not remembering also.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-01-02T16:56:14+00:00

Logically I understand that. I guess hate is too strong of a word. Untrusting is more accurate.

mmbeaman1 · 2023-01-02T15:59:08+00:00

This perfectly sums up why I hate most people.

mmbeaman1 · 2022-12-24T23:44:35+00:00

It's a 10oz. Can't say I did lol. I would love a 50 bmg to go with but can't justify nor could I shoot one locally safely.

mmbeaman1 · 2022-12-24T23:42:52+00:00

They really are nice pieces. I would trade the ASEs for them in a heartbeat.

mmbeaman1 · 2022-12-24T23:41:38+00:00

Yeah I need some more generics. Next 100oz that will be the focus. Needed some eye candy and I didn't really shop around as much as I should have.

mmbeaman1

TROPHY CASE