NUC Killer on a budget

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
So, I was reading up on the NUCs and seeing people talk about how the power consumption was amazing, made no noise and still were able to be used for a VM server.

So I am looking for the following characteristics in order to run a VM server for housing 3-5 VMs.

- Low Noise
- Low Power
- Inexpensive (less than full price for a NUC i3/i5 build)
- Can host 3-5 VMs (I'm considering a lightweight fileserver and some other stuff for tests)
- Possibly 2 NICs
- Possibly space for 3-4 HDDs (not fundamental)

I'm aiming my budget at less than an i3/i5 NUC or, better said, around 200€-300€ (300€ is the absolute max - the cheaper the better).

Sooo, onto what I have right now:

  • Case Old, repurposed standard mid-tower ATX €0.00 @ home
  • PSU 300 Watt be quiet! System Power 7 Bulk Non-Modular 80+ Bronze €31.85 @ Mindfactory
  • HDD Old, repurposed 3 x 1TB HDDs that I have to strip out of their external HDD cases €0.00 @ home
  • CPU AMD A10 Series A10-5800K 4x 3.80GHz €80.79 @ Mindfactory
  • CPU Cooler Stock cooler €0.00
  • Motherboard Asus F2A85-M AMD A85X €60.09 @ Mindfactory
  • Memory 16GB HyperX FURY black DDR3-1866 DIMM CL10 Dual Kit (2 x 8GB) €85,84 @ Mindfactory


I want the possibility of adding an extra 16GB RAM in the future.
I'm unsure wether or not I'll need the more "special" aspects of virtualization such as VT-d and what not...
I am also concerned that the CPU isn't enough (4 cores seems good but I don't know)...

Thanks a lot guys,
Bernardo
 
Last edited:
evident

evident

Lifer
Apr 5, 2005
12,152
774
126
looks like you don't really care about form factor if you're going to repurpose your old mid-atx case.
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
VirtualLarry said:
You do realize, that those two are not compatible, right? FX is AM3+, A85X is FM2.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I messed it up with the copying and the pasting, that processor was from an alternative I was considering.

I meant to say this one: AMD A10 Series A10-5800K 4x 3.80GHz
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
evident said:
looks like you don't really care about form factor if you're going to repurpose your old mid-atx case.
Click to expand...

I don't, too much, I just mind about the power consumption, noise (not that much) and overall price/performance ratio.

I know the NUC is super small but I have this ATX case at hand and I want to repurpose it so it'll be either an ATX or an mATX build
 
R

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
164
106
bernardosgr said:
Yeah, I messed it up with the copying and the pasting, that processor was from an alternative I was considering.

I meant to say this one: AMD A10 Series A10-5800K 4x 3.80GHz
Click to expand...
Why the A10 5xxx :confused:

Wouldn't an A8 Godavari be much better?
 
R

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
164
106
bernardosgr said:
Possibly, the A8-5600K is 10€ more expensive though.

I made this forum post because I know very little about computer hardware :'(
Click to expand...
No I meant something like an A8 7650K (or 7670K) provided it fits your budget.
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
NTMBK said:
Don't go with AMD if you care about power consumption. An Intel chip will give you the same performance in a much lower power envelope. And definitely don't use a stock cooler if you care about noise levels! An i3-4130T would be a good choice: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Intel-Core-i3-4130T-2x-2-90GHz-So-1150-BOX_931553.html 35W part.
Click to expand...

I was initially considering an Intel build but as you can see, the price difference is enormous :(

For an increase in price I'd be getting half the cores and less cache. The power consumption worries me but I can perfectly deal with a computer that costs 40€-50€ a year to operate.

What I mean is this initial cost will be very important also.
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
XavierMace said:
If this is a VM server, why are you going with an APU?
Click to expand...

I really don't want an APU, I'll just slap XenServer or ESXi on it and that's it. I chose the CPU solely based on price, number of cores, frequency and cache.

R0H1T said:
No I meant something like an A8 7650K (or 7670K) provided it fits your budget.
Click to expand...

That's a little more over budget but still a considerable alternative, would it handle a few VMs (non-special usage or anything like that)?
 
R

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
164
106
bernardosgr said:
I was initially considering an Intel build but as you can see, the price difference is enormous :(

For an increase in price I'd be getting half the cores and less cache. The power consumption worries me but I can perfectly deal with a computer that costs 40€-50€ a year to operate.

What I mean is this initial cost will be very important also.
Click to expand...
Maybe a price range would help (for CPU?) also were are you buying it from? I mean like Amazon, eBay or any other site.
bernardosgr said:
I really don't want an APU, I'll just slap XenServer or ESXi on it and that's it. I chose the CPU solely based on price, number of cores, frequency and cache.



That's a little more over budget but still a considerable alternative, would it handle a few VMs (non-special usage or anything like that)?
Click to expand...
Yes so long as you're not doing something too vigorous or too "heavy duty" given the space & heat constraints.
 
Last edited:
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
R0H1T said:
Maybe a price would help (for CPU?) also were are you buying it from? I mean like Amazon, eBay or any other site.
Click to expand...

I'm looking at an overall cost that spans between 200€-300€ (max, but I'd consider going a bit over to 350€ if the increase would justify it).

COnsidering that, from what I've seen I could get other components for about 170€/180€, I'd say that leaves about 100€-120€ for the CPU.

But this is rough math and, of course, the cheaper the better.

EDIT: I forgot, I'm probably sourcing from: Mindfactory

Thanks a lot for everyone's help!
 
Last edited:
R

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
164
106
bernardosgr said:
I'm looking at an overall cost that spans between 200€-300€ (max, but I'd consider going a bit over to 350€ if the increase would justify it).

COnsidering that, from what I've seen I could get other components for about 170€/180€, I'd say that leaves about 100€-120€ for the CPU.

But this is rough math and, of course, the cheaper the better.

EDIT: I forgot, I'm probably sourcing from: Mindfactory

Thanks a lot for everyone's help!
Click to expand...
Actually you have a lot of choices & you can choose depending on what's left of your budget, like these ~

AMD A10 Series 7870K 4x 3.90GHz So.FM2+ BOX

AMD A10 Series 7850K 4x 3.70GHz So.FM2+ BOX

AMD A10 Series 7670K 4x 3.90GHz So.FM2+ BOX

AMD A8 Series A8-7650K 4x 3.30GHz So.FM2+ BOX
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
NTMBK said:
Don't go with AMD if you care about power consumption. An Intel chip will give you the same performance in a much lower power envelope. And definitely don't use a stock cooler if you care about noise levels! An i3-4130T would be a good choice: http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Intel-Core-i3-4130T-2x-2-90GHz-So-1150-BOX_931553.html 35W part.
Click to expand...

I've been reading up on this subject and it seems to me that the performance difference is not very significant, despite the AMD having 2 more cores.

Do you think I'd be able to run 3-5 VMs on just 2 cores? I'm not planning on doing any "heavy-lifting" but I could possibly put some VMs in there, running Hadoop.

35W to 90W is a big difference :rolleyes:
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
Ken g6

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
16,793
4,775
75
Looks like you can fit an i3 into $300 if you get most, but not all of the stuff at Mindfactory. They have great prices in most cases!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€114.51)
Motherboard: *ASRock B85M-PRO3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€62.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€85.84)
Power Supply: be quiet! 450W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€31.85)
Total: €295.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-29 20:49 CEST+0200

The mobo probably needs a BIOS update to use that CPU, but no other board with 4 RAM slots comes close in price. (The PSU is a stand-in for the one you listed.)
 
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
Ken g6 said:
Looks like you can fit an i3 into $300 if you get most, but not all of the stuff at Mindfactory. They have great prices in most cases!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (€114.51)
Motherboard: *ASRock B85M-PRO3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€62.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€85.84)
Power Supply: be quiet! 450W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€31.85)
Total: €295.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-29 20:49 CEST+0200

The mobo probably needs a BIOS update to use that CPU, but no other board with 4 RAM slots comes close in price. (The PSU is a stand-in for the one you listed.)
Click to expand...


That looks pretty awesome! Do you reckon I'll have no trouble running the VMs on that configuration?

Also, can I have VT-d? I think that CPU isn't compatible but I'm not sure..


Lastly, I've read some people saying that the B85M PRO3 came out-of-box compatible with the Haswell Revision. However, on the maufacturer's site it says that there is a BIOS upgrade (P1.20) does it come pre-installed or do I have to flash the BIOS?

If I have to flash it I don't have a compatible processor so I'll be in trouble.
 
Last edited:
X

XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
While I am personally an Intel guy, for this price range, you're probably going to be better off with an FX-6300. 6 cores at 3.5Ghz for $100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (€99.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (€70.54 @ Home of Hardware DE)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€94.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€43.95 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €309.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-30 07:15 CEST+0200

Also, I don't know if you've ever done a whitebox ESXI build before but keep in mind you're probably going to have to do some work to get drivers for these onboard NIC's into ESXI. If it's not Intel or Broadcom, you can usually count on needing to install drivers. That said, I see reports of the particular Realtek NIC on the board I linked to as working out of the box.
 
Last edited:
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
XavierMace said:
While I am personally an Intel guy, for this price range, you're probably going to be better off with an FX-6300. 6 cores at 3.5Ghz for $100.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (€99.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (€70.54 @ Home of Hardware DE)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€94.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€43.95 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €309.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-30 07:15 CEST+0200

Also, I don't know if you've ever done a whitebox ESXI build before but keep in mind you're probably going to have to do some work to get drivers for these onboard NIC's into ESXI. If it's not Intel or Broadcom, you can usually count on needing to install drivers. That said, I see reports of the particular Realtek NIC on the board I linked to as working out of the box.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your post Xavier! I like your style! So much, I decided to go your way. That and the fact that this MOBO doesn't need any BIOS upgrade and the processor seems somewhat better, performance-wise.

So this is the build I'll probably be going for. It comes a bit over (I'll be buying everything from the same store) but I've added an SSD so it's justifiable.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (€100.80 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: SilenX EFZ-100HA2 58.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (€8.90 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard (€64.85 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€82.92 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€47.85 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Total: (roughly) 340€
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-30 09:04 EDT-0400
 
Last edited:
TeknoBug

TeknoBug

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2013
2,084
31
91
Ugh, why an APU for VM? And not all CPU's support full on I/O virtualization anyhow, my i3 4010U NUC does but it's not powerful enough to run as a dedicated VM anyhow, you'd need an i5 5200U or better. And yes the power draw is incredible, only 9W on everyday use and 18W when playing a game (lol I know I know) or compiling something under Linux.

My i3 4160 however is good enough (with lack of VT-d), it does have 4 threads which is plenty for a few VM's... but you know, according to my sig, my i5 3550 is my main VM system anyways and it does a terrific job at it too.

When picking motherboards, make sure they actually support IOMMU (AMD) and VT-d, not all do.
 
Last edited:
B

bernardosgr

Junior Member
Jul 29, 2015
12
2
0
TeknoBug said:
Ugh, why an APU for VM? And not all CPU's support full on I/O virtualization anyhow, my i3 4010U NUC does but it's not powerful enough to run as a dedicated VM anyhow, you'd need an i5 5200U or better. And yes the power draw is incredible, only 9W on everyday use and 18W when playing a game (lol I know I know) or compiling something under Linux.

My i3 4160 however is good enough (with lack of VT-d), it does have 4 threads which is plenty for a few VM's... but you know, according to my sig, my i5 3550 is my main VM system anyways and it does a terrific job at it too.

When picking motherboards, make sure they actually support IOMMU (AMD) and VT-d, not all do.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure but I don't the FX-6300 is an APU, and also, I've reserached extensively and saw some people who were very satisfied with the performance of their AMD/FX VM servers.

It's definitely not a charm with regards to power consumption and I honestly would love to get an i5 or a hgher grade, low-power i3 but they don't fit the budget.

The NUC was the initial idea but it proved quite expensive so I might consider it in the future, but as a workstation.

I believe I'll be fairly statisfied with what I've put together but we'll see :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom