Low watt Server Mini-ITX suggestion.

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enewmen

enewmen

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Mar 6, 2005
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Hi all.

I'm looking for a modern Mini-ITX server motherboard for general office use. Needs to support Windows Server 2012 x64, so a consumer type mobo won't work. Here is the environment/mission:
Usually Idle, so low watts in 24/7/365 environment. So 4-core SOC or a mobile version is OK.
Web Server, when active, it should be able to load complex web-sites fairly quickly.
MySQL and SQL Server. Visual Studio source control. Email server, etc.
M.2 SSD boot drive and ECC RAM will be nice. A 3.5" RAID1 array should have plenty of redundant space.

I can search online myself, but I'm not sure the correct environment for the board - not a RACK server for example. I'm looking for something that can fit in a generic "shoebox" ITX case with an ATX power supply.

This is what I found after some searching - see any problems?: http://www.newegg.com/global/sg/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182973

Any ideas?
Thanks!
 
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That Xeon-D is not the best value for money, plus there are better alternatives for this.

So, if you want a low power system and don't want to expand it in the future, there is the ASrock C2750D4I, with an 8-core Intel Atom CPU, lots of sata ports, and an 8x pcie slot that you can use for 10G networking if you need it later on.

The other alternative is an ASrock EPC612D4I with an lga2011v3 socket and low power Xeon 2608l v3/v4 or some other low power CPU. But you can choose one with a higher TDP and restrict the maximum frequency in Windows, therefore it won't go over that frequency ever, but regardless of the TDP, they usually consume the same amount of power at idle, if they have the same core count. More cores will, of course need...
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PhysX_HW

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Sep 23, 2015
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That Xeon-D is not the best value for money, plus there are better alternatives for this.

So, if you want a low power system and don't want to expand it in the future, there is the ASrock C2750D4I, with an 8-core Intel Atom CPU, lots of sata ports, and an 8x pcie slot that you can use for 10G networking if you need it later on.

The other alternative is an ASrock EPC612D4I with an lga2011v3 socket and low power Xeon 2608l v3/v4 or some other low power CPU. But you can choose one with a higher TDP and restrict the maximum frequency in Windows, therefore it won't go over that frequency ever, but regardless of the TDP, they usually consume the same amount of power at idle, if they have the same core count. More cores will, of course need more power even when they are doing nothing, but will give you more performance when you need it.
It would be more expensive, but you'd get USB3 onboard and the ability to later upgrade to a 22-core CPU (E5-2699). This board only has 4 sata ports, but you couldn't fit more that that in a shoebox anyway. And you can get ECC SODIMMs.

If you insist on an NVMe drive, then you'd need to use the only pcie slot with an adapter, but to be honest, I think you should be fine with an 850 Pro or similar.

I didn't mention prices, because it depends on your region, the C2750D4I is around £380 and the EPC612D4I is £250 plus the price of the CPU, but you can find cheap Xeons on eBay, for example an E5-2650v3 ES for $150.

It's up to you, I'd rather go for the LGA2011, due to the upgradeability.
 
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