Supermicro X11SCM-F vs. AsRock Rack E3C246D4U2-2T — build check/help, please

TrueNAS General
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Hello. I’m about to purchase my first DIY NAS/server hardware, and I’d appreciate you taking a look and stance on the components I chose, and helping me not to regret my decisions and purchase.

I hope the build can be configured relatively energy efficient; I definitely still need to learn some more things about, for example, CPU C States and how to properly set everything up in these regards.

Mainboard: Supermicro X11SCM-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E-2236 or Intel i3-9100
CPU Cooler: maybe Noctua NH-U9S
RAM: Samsung/Kingston 16–32 GB
PSU: RM750x SHIFT 80 PLUS Gold
HDDs: 2 × Seagate EXOS X24
SSDs: 2 × SATA, 2 × NVMe

The X11SCM-F mainboard is quentioned in some other threads; I cannot insert/post links here, but the search function will present the results. I also read the archived “So, you’ve decided to buy a Supermicro X11 Xeon E3 v5/6” thread.

In other threads, the AsRock Rack E3C246D4U2-2T is mentioned rather frequently. There’s some offers on an established auction site; offers from China with free shipping to the EU. Are these offers legit? For example: ASRock Rack E3C246D4U2-2T + Intel CC150 CPU 3.50GHz 8C/16T + 16GB 2133Mhz Ram

I would need to do some more research on the ASRock mainboard, in case you’d think that this board would be a better purchase for my build, but from a first glance, it also does look rather good, only somewhat downside (but no deal breaker) is only one M.2 vs. the X11SCM-F.

There’s also the […]-2L2T variant of this mainboard with two additional 1Gb Ethernet ports, which sounds very interesting to me, but I cannot find any offers of this board anywhere.

How does the IPMI web interface compare between these two boards in terms of function, structure, and usability? I’ve seen the Supermicro HTML5 IPMI once, and I think to remember it was … okay?

Thank you in advance for your time and advice.

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I may not be able to answer your specific questions, but here are my thoughts after reading your post.

You didn’t specify ECC, but I guess you would not be building a Xeon based system if you didn’t want ECC. OTOH, you did mention an i3 (which I did not look up, but suspect probably does not support ECC).

As far as energy efficiency, I would guess you are looking at 60-70W or so, give or take, depending on what you might be doing on there. But these numbers are hard to come by, so this is just a guess. You might be able to tune things down with some effort (looking into C-states, etc.).

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Thank you!

It does, according to the specifications on Intel’s website.

Under load, that is, right? I certainly hope, but don’t think, that this would not be your estimation for idle power draw.

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Is it actually available at retail though?

Reminds me of some discussion which was happening throughout my W680 thread, which was about some other i3 model(s) supposedly supporting ECC (IIRC), so I am not sure it applies to the model you suggest. But the tl;dr is that it says so but might not be so cut and dry in reality (in particular read posts like this one).

Anyway, just go with the Xeon if you really want ECC. Unless I am wrong about all this, but at least look into it.

No that would be idle, the situation the NAS would be in most of the time, unless you are constantly transcoding or something like that.

Although, again, these numbers can be hard to come by. But it is a subject I have been keenly interested in, so I’m happy to be corrected (or hear actual data from anyone who has this board). I also have another thread going where I am discussing somewhat similar hardware (and alternatives you may also be interested in).

You replied while I was editing my first reply, so I will put this here instead.

Aah yes, almost forgot. This board only has one PCIe slot. And probably enough SATA ports (with today’s large drives) but not many extra SATA for expansion, either. Personally, I like to leave my options open a little more than that, who knows what the future brings.

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The i3-9100 supports ECC. I used one in the previous hardware for my NAS and also used ECC memory.

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Take the tutorial from the forum bot.
And mind that X11SC_ takes Xeon E-2100/2200 (or Core i3-8100/9100) while Xeon E3 V5/6 goes with X11SS_ (previous generation).

For the good reason that Chinese sellers are liquidating the stocks, so it’s available for a good price—much better than what’s left of Supermicro X11 boards.
So assume that the offers are legit, but do look up the CC150 before you go for a bundle, this one seems to be a very strange beast.

Some would say “AsRock Rack vs. Supermicro”, with respect to BIOS updates. I’d say that we’re past the point where there would be a need for BIOS updates anyway.
And the X11SCM specifically has one big downside: C242 vs. C246 (2 more SATA, and the ability to pass an iGPU). You’d need a X11SCH to match the AsRock Rack offer.

What are these intended for?

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Thank you for your answer; it was indeed one of your posts/threads that led me here (and somewhat down this rabbit hole).

I’m rather happy to hear so; the ASRock board looks better and better to me, also for reasons you mentioned further down your post. I’m even more interested in the -2L2T variant, which has two additional Intel 1Gb ethernet ports; at the moment, I don’t really need 10Gb, but having both on one board looks somewhat quote, unquote future proof to me.

I did not find that much information, but what I found was a little meh. I’m leaning more and more towards the i3-9100T (I forgot the T in my initial post), which is available rather cheap via local auction sites; and I could upgrade later down the line, once e.g. the Xeon E-2236 or even Xeon E-2278G are more affordable second hand.

The 2 × SATA drives I already have, at the moment they are set up as ZFS mirror and housing my day-to-day computer/data backups.

The 2 × NVMe would be the boot drive, either in ZFS mirror, or one as daily backup target for the other. Two boot drives were not my initial plan, they happen to being sold together with the X11SCM-F, which I’ll rather not be purchasing.

At the moment I’m waiting for answers from some Chinese sellers on that auction site; I asked if they also offer the -2L2T variant of the ASRock Rack mainboard … let’s see.

PS: I do know how to insert/post links, but when hitting the Post button, I received an error message that I am not allowed to post links. (Maybe that happened because it was my first post, I’m not really sure.)

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…and to resolve that, take the tutorial from the forum bot. As you were told.

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