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Thinkstation E31: SAS Capability?

IBM or Lenovo Desktops, Workstations, ThinkStations, etc. Recent vintage, hardware/software..
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kc7gr
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Thinkstation E31: SAS Capability?

#1 Post by kc7gr » Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:47 pm

I've got a 'new' (well, lightly used) Thinkstation E31 coming to replace my failing Intellistation (new machine type 2551). It is my understanding that the Thinkstations can support SAS drives with the correct BIOS/Option EPROM...? I've not found any consistent answer for this particular model as yet.

Any guidelines? I can certainly program my own chip if I have the correct image file for it. Failing that, where would I get one if I need to buy it?

Thanks much.
---
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies
T500 with Windows 7 Pro x64, Webcam, Atheros/IBM a/b/g Wireless card. Thinkstation E31, Intellistations M Pro and Z Pro.
"Quid Malmborg in Plano" (Firesign Theater)

thinkpadcollection
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Re: Thinkstation E31: SAS Capability?

#2 Post by thinkpadcollection » Thu Feb 16, 2017 7:40 pm

Do you realize this is a baby workstation wannabe? No ECC, first x16 slot blocking x1 slot below it. Motherboard is socket 1155 means 16 lanes regardless. And 2 more legacy PCI that is not wanted. Motherboard does not support any SAS drives without controller. Problem is most of SAS HBA cards are usually x4 or x8 PCI-E.

Have the E31 returned and get proper used workstation or high end 2011 socket motherboard for i7 fitting your needs and by the way SAS controllers can support SATA drives but not other way around.

I have just done quite of research into workstations and have chosen a Dell T3610 as worthy future replacement for aging optiplex 780 tower. As things are going so far, this is cheaper and quality replacement instead of struggling with only 16 lanes on 115x socket processors and no ECC support on any of socket 2011 i7 processors which is bad idea considering the future of growing larger and larger memory needs means errors.

I find this is to start right and buy parts and finish the project of mine as monthly budget allows this way.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

kc7gr
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Re: Thinkstation E31: SAS Capability?

#3 Post by kc7gr » Fri Feb 17, 2017 12:37 am

thinkpadcollection wrote:Do you realize this is a baby workstation wannabe? No ECC, first x16 slot blocking x1 slot below it. Motherboard is socket 1155 means 16 lanes regardless. And 2 more legacy PCI that is not wanted. Motherboard does not support any SAS drives without controller. Problem is most of SAS HBA cards are usually x4 or x8 PCI-E.
(snipped to save space and eye-rolling)

Do you realize it's a good idea to do some research before you start typing?

Not all E31's are created equal. The CPU in this unit (a full tower case, nothing 'baby' about it) is a quad-core Xeon E3-1225 v2. Specs are here.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65733/Int ... e-3_20-GHz

Had you bothered to research IBM/Lenovo machine type code 2551, you may have discovered this. You might also have discovered it does indeed support ECC memory.

Thanks for sharing your (heartfelt, obviously) opinions, but why did you even bother? It is clear to me you had no intention of providing a relevant, helpful or informative answer at all.

Oh, and you do realize this is not a Dell forum, yes? :roll: A great many people (myself included) have tried several Dell computers, including their servers.

I can't speak for others, but I've certainly made my choice.
---
Bruce Lane, Owner & Head Hardware Heavy,
Blue Feather Technologies
T500 with Windows 7 Pro x64, Webcam, Atheros/IBM a/b/g Wireless card. Thinkstation E31, Intellistations M Pro and Z Pro.
"Quid Malmborg in Plano" (Firesign Theater)

thinkpadcollection
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Location: kingston, ontario, Canada

Re: Thinkstation E31: SAS Capability?

#4 Post by thinkpadcollection » Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:54 pm

I just checked HMM for this.

Good to see this is a ECC but you still have 2 issues, one I just found out; power supply tops out 450W and nonstandard. And other, if you are using high powered GPU card that take double slots wide have to only have one 2x3 (6 pins total) for GPU card. GPU cards do exist with 2x6pin or 8pin & 6pin power connectors. This wide GPU cards will block x1 slot. That is a problem SAS HBA card and another issue is I outlined previously is there cards are x4 to x8 and this will not fit due to closed x1 slot. And like I said about lanes on socket 1155, that's 16 lanes total to play with for PCI-E.

Funny thing I do not like is power taps on the motherboard for hard drives. One tap for 2 drives and another one tap for two drives. Check yourself for idea of what it is like with google images and ebay on parts and interior shots.

Motherboard is standard SATA only. Will not work with SAS drives and due to this design cannot use SAS controller card but note controller can work with SATA drives as well. Intel's RAID is not suggested. Configure as normal storage.

Like I say, this is an wannabe workstation, sorry.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

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