Server box just died, recommendations for a new one? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 9 months ago by Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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My Intel NUC server just died (whenever it's plugged in, it makes a buzzing noise, and the external power LED is off (the internal one is on tho)), so I need a new server box. Any recommendations?

I can salvage the RAM (16 GB DDR4) and hard drive (1TB HDD) off of this one, I believe.

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[-] anzo@programming.dev 30 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

As others just said, take the challenge of repairing or correctly identify what's broken. It should be fun, and part of the diy ethos.

If, you are still going for a new piece for the upgrades...

Depends very much on your scope. Heck, there's even aesthetics. Do you prefer AMD or Intel? Don't you feel like having an ARM and take the challenge of compatible images? Would you need to check the transcoding compatibility for Jellyfin? Are you going fangless? Is one 2.5gpbs eth port enough? Etc.

That said, check the reviews from https://www.servethehome.com/ they have articles with benchmarks and videos for all the latest nucs and other hardware's form factor servers.

Be aware that Intel discontinued the NUCs iirc.. but Asus or some vendor might have picked up to grab that market segment.

Good luck!

[-] foonex@feddit.de 25 points 9 months ago

Are you going fangless?

I would definitely go fangless. I have been bitten enough times. A bite might also transfer viruses. Nowadays I defang all my computers.

[-] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 9 months ago

Dude, what the fuck. Defanging is so god damn inhumane. If you want a computer without fangs, you don’t want a computer. You want an SBC.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 1 points 9 months ago

Actually, only after posting it came to my mind that anyway all intel nukes are fangless. That's their appeal. So that their bytes leave no marks. Long live the vempire.

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago

Thank you! I'm not gonna try and fix the box itself, but somebody suggested it might be the power supply.

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago

Well, I fully disassembled it, and I've found some components that are heating up a lot and probably making the buzzing noise.

https://files.catbox.moe/6pazjn.jpg

However I have no idea what they are, if they're the problem or some connected component. The label doesn't return anything, so I think this 'uns a goner :(

[-] UltraBlack@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

ask a repair shop. Since the label is the same on the other things around it, they could use a parts tester to determine what it is and then order that part. If you're in luck, that's the whole problem. If it's some other component that failed they could still probably determine and fix it

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 months ago

To be honest, I don't think it's worth the bother. This is just an i3-5 something, and I got all the working parts off of it. But it's good a good idea, thanks!

[-] AceBonobo@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Did you try another power supply?

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 9 months ago

I... don't know why I didn't think of that. I'll have to check if I have another.

[-] rez_doggie@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Might as well repaste it as well

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

This is the most likely failed part, yes. If you feel adventurous, you can try repairing it like DiodeGone Wild. Looks like the auxiliary power supply (5V 1A independent of others; powers BIOS chips in standby to allow soft power-on) works but the main one does not. Unplug the connectors, connect the black (GND) and green (ENABLE) wires to signal a POWER ON state and check all the voltage rails. Many units use a powerful 12V supply and step-down converters to create the 5V and 3.3V rails, as well as an inverter for the -12V one – if that's the case, you can try backfeeding 12 V from another PSU and see if the rest come on. Once you identify the failed power supply, check its primary transistor(s) (big 3-pin components on a heatsink) for a short or open circuit.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 6 points 9 months ago

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[-] phillaholic@lemm.ee 1 points 9 months ago

This was the problem with my Synology recently. System would light up and "click" off over and over again. Replaced the PSU was all it needed.

[-] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
NAS	Network-Attached Storage
NUC	Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers
PSU	Power Supply Unit
SBC	Single-Board Computer

4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 13 acronyms.

[Thread #158 for this sub, first seen 23rd Sep 2023, 12:45] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[-] Contend6248@feddit.de 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

If you don't mind it being completely Chinese based, Beelink with their new Intel 12th gen mini PC were my upgrade from the last Shuttle device I've used.

Dual Intel 2.5G NIC plenty of USB and an extremely efficient Intel Alder Lake-N100 with a great price to performance closed the deal for me.

EQ12-N100 is what i went for, to be exact, there are more powerful options too, if needed.

[-] yuuki@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Do you notice any slight problem on EQ12-N100? I was worried about single channel RAM performance.

[-] Contend6248@feddit.de 2 points 9 months ago

Not at all, i use it as a firewall, so i wouldn't notice anything. I can't imagine it being a problem, it's still DDR5

[-] rambos@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

+1 for repair. Its most likely PSU and if you are happy with nuc performance its a shame to throw it away.

[-] UltraBlack@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I don't know how well your box performed, but I recently snagged a fujitsu esprimo box with an i5-6500. It has 5 sata connectors and two m.2 slots. There's space for two hard drives and there's like 5 low profile PCIE slots (2x x16 and 2x x4 I believe)

I think they're a great deal (if you get the right CPU). Apart from the weird OEM PSU and motherboard, it's a pretty bonkers box, and I got mine for 40$, which was very lucky

[-] tuff_wizard@aussie.zone 3 points 9 months ago

We’ll what do you want to do on your server? Why not just get the same one again?

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 9 months ago

I got this one for free because a company couldn't be bothered to reinstall windows

[-] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 9 months ago

Do NUCs not have LPDDR RAM, that is laptop RAM?

[-] Sekoia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 9 months ago

Yes, it's laptop RAM

[-] nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 9 months ago

You can get a second-hand, that is, used laptop and use that as a server. The hard drive can be connected using an adapter through USB.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 2 points 9 months ago

A used Lenovo think centre could be a good replacement IMO (they take SODimm, aka laptop ram, just check DDR3 or DDR4) and usually accepts two sticks + a nvmy & a 2.5 HD and usually with lots of usb & ports for screen(s). They come in all types of prices but usually seems to be sturdy and long lived.

[-] CurbsTickle@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Pretty much all of mine are just tiny/mini/micros. The stack of 6 or so in my rack power everything I run (aside from my desktop, but I do have Linux vms and a Mac mini for app builds).

No issues so far.

Storage is all on my NAS, one for things like media server content, my dev work, pictures, etc, and one that's a backup to that NAS. Only thing remote is my second level of backup.

8th gen Intel and up is pretty great for proxmox IMO.

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2023

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