homelab @lemmy.ml Number1 @sh.itjust.works 1y ago

Optiplex or Dell R210ii

I am doing some upgrades and a big part of that for me is aesthetics and future upgrades.

I currently have a couple 7020 I5 Dell Optiplexs but I am thinking about purchasing a couple Dell R210ii.

Is this a crazy move? I love the idea of a small 1U rack mount server and plus they are cheap. I can pick them up for $150 while I would be paying $150 alone for a chasie.

Is this a crazy move?

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I would stick with the 7020's or get something smaller like a Beelink unit that seems to be all over tech YouTube right now.

The r210 is loud due to it being a 1U server. The upgrade path on the r210ii is very limited. Look up the Dell Technical Guide for the r210ii to get a list of what you can upgrade them to as far as CPU and RAM requirements. It only takes up to 32gb of ECC UDIMM which I always found more expensive than ECC RDIMM. For CPU, the best CPU it can take is only a 4 core, with no hyperthreading.

Experience: I have run two r210ii's before moving to three r230's before finally going big to a r730xd. In the past month, I have migrated away from the r730xd to a Dell 5820T and 3x Dell 3070 SFF PC's to combat the noise and heat generation in my home office.
- Intel Xeon Processor E3-1240 running in my R210 II. That's a CPU with four cores and eight threads. Source : https://imgur.com/a/AMmFbnn
  
  I stand corrected. It has been a few years since I had a working r210ii in my homelab & my remembering of the technical guide was rusty.
  
  For future people, section 6.3 has the list of supported CPU's.
  
  https://i.dell.com/sites/content/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/r-210-2-technical-guide.pdf
- SFF/Mini PCs are great
- Thanks for the insight. I'll probably stick with the 7020s. They can do everything and more the r220ii can besides fit in a nice 1U space.

9 comments