Anyone running an FS-12C

Question

I had been looking for a drive enclosure for my home server, and ended up on ebay (dangerous) and found these FS12 systems. Dell has a division that will build custom systems for large data center customers. When off-lease, or replaced, some seem to end up on ebay.

There seem to be at least 3 different models of FS12 listed on ebay:

FS12-NV7 - Gigabyte MB with 2 AMD 6 core CPUs
FS12-SC - Dual Xeon
FS12C - Dual Xeon

What I ended up with is an Dell FS12C, 2U server, with 12 hot-swap bays, 2 x Xeon 5420, 16GB ram, Dual PSU, Dual NIC, Dell Perc 6/i and a Newisys SAS/SATA midplane, 6 SATA ports on MB, space for 2x 2.5in drives. Doing more research this system is a version of the Newisys NDS 8200. The motherboard is an Intel s5000PAL. I am wondering if anyone else has bought one of these, so we can compare notes?

Issue #1: Noise
I went a bit overboard in buying a rackmount machine for home use. The main problem is the cooling is designed for a data center, not a closet. It has 4x 80mmx38mm 12v 1.8A PWM fans. Initially they were all on full blast, were talking 747 take-off style full blast. I found that one wasn't being recognized by the midplane, and switched its connector (all seem to need to be on the PSU side of the pairs of connectors), which has me now at 747 cruise mode, but its still way too loud to be comfortable.

Anyone have recommendations as to a supplier of heavy duty PWM fans? I would like to see if I can get some 1A fans that may reduce the noise but keep the airflow pressure.

Issue #2: Power Management
It doesn't seem like the processors get clocked down when idle. What ways are there to reduce consumption when its idle (most of the time)?
Similarly is there a way to get the Perc 6/i to power down the disks after an idle timeout?

Issue #3: BIOS
I have tried updating the bios using the intel IDA CD, but it doesn't accept the standard s5000PAL images as the MB seems to have a custom BIOS / ID, it refuses the images. Are there updated BIOS's for these systems?

DELL-Chris H · Answer

Samsp,

Since this is a FS-12C it is a custom built white box, so it is going to be tough to find downloads, but it is based off of a C2100 cloud server. So the best place to start is with the 2100's downloads. With the fans going full tilt, that may be due to the ESM being out of date, as it controls the fans.

Here is the manual - www.dell.com/.../poweredge-c2100

Here are the downloads - www.dell.com/.../poweredge-c2100

Let me know how it goes.

nciseman · Answer

SAMSP,

Just curious how this went for you. I'm looking to do similar and I still see many of these boxes on eBay. Since its been a year since your post, I'm hoping you've concluded successfully or can at least say whether its worth pursuing or not.

samsp · Answer

Unfortunately mine sits turned off most of the time.

These boxes are just not suitable for use in a domestic environment. The hardware was not designed with energy efficiency in mind, so even when idle, its consuming a lot of power. The RAM, Raid card, Chipset all produce a lot of heat, doing nothing. It therefore requires a good airflow, but was not well designed with airflow in mind, so the fans have to work hard, and so the noise is loud, even with replaced fans. I have it located in a spare bedroom, but if I close the door for noise reasons, the room will get hot - the thing consumes 200W at idle with 1 disk.

I now use home-made server and a rackable systems SE3016 as a drive array. With a 120mm fan, that is now cool and quiet enough for use as a home server.

I lust after the C6100 systems, as they are just a cool concept, but I guess would be more heat/noise than the FS12, and to be frank, I really don't have a use for that kind of power. If I was a business or academic institution that needed that kind of power, then it is a really good bang for the buck, but is no good for a home environment.

PowerEdge Hardware General

Anyone running an FS-12C

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