Opinions on HP ProLiant ML115 G5

[RomeoS]

Why exactly do you need 3 servers?

Surely one would suffice?

Same as 8gb ram in each?

At £99 each delivered, I couldn't miss the chance to grab a few. Started off as a learning project where I could create virtual networks and have a play. Eventually applied all I learned to the home network consisting of 4 laptops, 4 PC's and 2 media PC's.

Then came the control freak stage .

fishfishfish, It seems the 1352 is closest to the 9150e although the 1352 runs at 2.1Ghz compared to the 9150e's 1.8Ghz

 

[RomeoS]

Many thanks, RomeoS. I'll have a read up on the equivalent Phenom. There doesn't seem to be that much info available on the 1352 processor, so I wasn't sure how pokey it was. Just wondering whether it's worth going for this quad core CPU versus the cheaper dual Xeon?

No Problem .

I guess it comes down to what the new server will be doing. For example, I could drop a nice quad opteron on my encoding/ripping G5 and see a notable increase in performance.

What does your current server do and what are you looking to get out of a new one?

 

[RomeoS]

I've got no network connection from the box so can't post anything directly, nor do I have much in the way of Windows benchmarking software, however, Geekbench 2 gives an overall score of 3648 and Super Pi 1M completes in 38 seconds using my quad core Opteron 1352 @ 2.1 GHz.

For comparison, these are some Geekbench 2 scores from my old machines:

6515 = Core2Quad Q9550 @ 3.83 GHz
3648 = Quad Opteron 1352 @ 2.1 GHz
2040 = Quad Xeon 2.4 GHz @ 3.16 GHz
1888 = Athlon 64 3500+
1802 = Late 2005 PowerMac G5

3648 is not too shabby really, for £170!

Not that I was really expecting it, but just in case anyone was wondering, there are no settings in the BIOS to allow overclocking on the ML115. I'd be interested to hear how the ML110 compares - although I'll probably be gutted if it's dramatically quicker!

Glad you went for it in the then. The Dual Core version of the ML115 does have vCore and multi adjustments in the BIOS.

 

[RomeoS]

Nope, I've got the most recent BIOS. So it looks like only the dual core version of the Opteron-based ML115 allows overclocking.

The only options are the unlocked multi and vCore adjustments, nothing to change RAM frequency, HT Link etc So your not missing much to be honest.

Did you install ESXi on the machine?

 

[RomeoS]

Glad its working I used the same guides to install ESXi on a flash drive.

Very quick to boot and gets the job done although I think the drive I used may be on its way out, its about 5 years old and has 2MB/s Read and 0.9KB/s Write

 

[RomeoS]

Long shot, but does anyone know approximately how much power these consume?
I'm thinking of getting one as a home file server to replace a dual PIII (which normally uses just under 100w), and would be interested to know how much more one of these would cost to run.

The Dual Core versions I have use roughly 90Watts idle and 120ish under load. A quick google shows the Quad Core version to idle around 88-99Watts and load upto 140 although the author mentioned that he wasn't sure of the load levels when he took the readings.

http://www.techhead.co.uk/installing-vmware-esx-and-esxi-35-on-an-hp-proliant-ml115-g5-quad-core

 

[RomeoS]

Was this the ML115, and exactly which memory was it ?

I believe fishfishfish has the newer Quad Core version of the ML115 G5 which runs fine with OCZ Vista Gold Series 4GB Kit as sold by Overclockers here:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...l Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)

 

[RomeoS]

Thanks - interestingly 4GB of Crucial ECC RAM is the same price as that, so arguably you may as well go that route

If its the same price then I would go for the ECC RAM to be honest.

I dare not ask how you found the Crucial ECC ram so cheap

 

[RomeoS]

The logical place.

Aye found it, wasn't listed when I ordered a few months ago. Amazing how much prices have dropped.

Swanster, its getting more difficult to find the dual core version of the 115 G5 but I would snap up one of the quad cores, even if its a tiny bit overkill for a file server.

 

[RomeoS]

These do look like great machines. I'm thinking of recommending it as a File Server for a hospital radio station I volunteer at. (with 2x1TB drives in RAID1). Since prices are fluctuating so wildly on these things, how much would you expect to be paying for the ML115 (Quad-Opteron) system today?

I've seen prices from as low as £118 to £350+ on various sites. Quite a few are still selling them for £165ish.

Would any of you hazard a guess as to what you would expect these things to cost in about a months time (it's slow getting anything ordered when dealing with a charity!) i.e. do you expect the price to rise anymore?

As you have mentioned earlier, prices can fluctuate wildly depending on wether HP has a offer running or not. Without the offer, they are £350+ and with the falling value of the £, the prices are likely to creep up a bit more.

And finally, as I'm hammering you all with questions here... at the current price, is this still value for money? (it seems to me that it is!)

If you can find a place selling it for £130ish and in stock then its incredible value considering you are getting a entire server with quad core processing. I personally wouldn't hesitate to press the order button on the websites selling them for £165ish.

I realise that's a lot of questions, so if you do answer.. then thanks!

Hope I have helped!

 

[RomeoS]

If you find somewhere advertising that price then snap their hand off

LOL

Thanks for that. I'm thinking that I might pick one up for myself if I can find one sub-£200 as a nice file server for home. I hope they're quiet!

Even at £350 I'm going to recommend it to the hospital radio station, it seems like a great bit of kit.

Cheers!

The first 30seconds of boot it sounds like a jumbo jet taking off but after the monitoring software has initialized, it settles to a very quiet hum.

has anyoen got the onboard raid controller working in Vmware ESXi.

Im running the latest version off usb internal port and its working sweet apart from the driver for the internal raid adaptor.

i have a nice raid 5 i want to use as storage but it wont see it.

The onboard RAID controller doesn't work with ESXi last I checked.

Exactly.

So send some links as we cannot find it!!

Cant post links here as they are competitors. Keep an eye on stock levels though, a certain server website is expecting stock in 2 weeks and they have the 115 priced at £158. The price could change when they receive the new stock though.

 

[RomeoS]

They seem to be around the £220-£330 mark at the moment.

 

[RomeoS]

I don't think were going to see £99ish any time soon to be honest. They'll fob us off with the blame on the exchange rates, though to be fair, the exchange rate was much better back then.

 

[RomeoS]

Is anyone running a 2TB drive in their ML115 G5? What's the largest drive that you have installed if less than 2TB?

Got a few Samsung SpinPoint 2TB's in one with no issues.

 

[RomeoS]

Just checked for you now mate, its the HD203WI.

Already had the latest BIOS on that particular ML115. No issues with detection etc and formatted the drives using GPT Disk option. 1862.89GB capacity per drive

 

[RomeoS]

Good question Honestly cant remember mate, must have been some time last year.

 

[RomeoS]

Yeah you should be alright The File Server runs Server 2008 R2, the rest run various OS's under ESXi.

 

[RomeoS]

Hmm could be mate. Could you post the full error message inc anything in the event log?

 

[RomeoS]

Glad you got it working

Discovered a interesting quirk today. Fitted 5 2TB drives and 1 500GB Boot Drive to one of the servers. Wouldn't power on at all. Disconnected one of the drives and it powered on fine.

Tried the disconnected drive in one of the other boxes and it works fine.
Changed that drive for another and it booted up fine.
Plugged them all back in and it wont power on.

Think that measly 325watt PSU is struggling a bit. Didn't think it was under huge stress tbh, Quad Core, 8GB RAM, Intel Pro 1000 NIC and 6 HDD's in that particular unit.

You get what you pay for I guess, at £99 a pop for the first 2 and £119 for the subsequent 2, you cant expect much.

 

[RomeoS]

My one is probably 365watt too then. Only glanced at it after an hour of cursing