The Dell PowerEdge R730 - An Introduction to AI Servers

[@brandonjohnson3566]

Love the review my friend. I own every top option model of dell's 13th and 14th gen servers from R230 all the way to R930 as well with the 14th gens. Each gen has their own server racks with dells S6100-ON switches running 40Gb ports with 40Gb to four 10Gb split cables. Each server having multiple ethernet ports for keeping uptime and diverting traffic. I use the R230 and R240 as encrypted firewalls with VPN routed traffic using Wireguard to each server for more advanced protection.

[@BobPellerin]

Thanks!

[@rongray8934]

Seemed like a great review. I'm looking at a 710 for a home lab. Thanks for sharing your info.

[@BobPellerin]

Glad it was helpful! My two cents: I would try for 730 at a minimum. Keeping in mind they are 760 now. So a 710 won’t run newer VMware and Windows Server 2025 may have restrictions on hardware.

[@J.Livermore]

splendid!, thank You!

[@BobPellerin]

Glad you liked it!

I'm considering adding an nvidia T4 to the R730, would have loved if you showed how to do that. Any difficulties or tips?

[@BobPellerin]

If anyone has a T4 to lend me I have the R730 to demo this....

[@reinekewf7987]

Actually you are able to put 3TB of RAM in this system if you use a E5-26xxV4 CPU, but 128GB RAM is rare and pretty expensive even used. Also the server accept 2400MHz RAM too, but it isn't really worth it if you consider the relative high cost and the small uplift in performance. The sweet spot is something around 32gb 2133MHz sticks if you need more ram than 768gb you could go with the 64gb modules to get 1.5TB ram. i have in my r630 the xeon e5 2699v4 and 768gb 2133MHz ram

[@callmebigpapa]

These are perfect for the home lab.

[@BobPellerin]

I prefer the old R640 personally now that the R650 is out.

[@KiraSlith]

Was hoping to see the PCIe slot config on all 3 risers.

[@BobPellerin]

Thank you for your excellent comment! I completely missed that point. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll see if I can correct this in another video.

[@KiraSlith]

@@BobPellerin That'd be VERY much appreciated. I know expansion is usually a secondary consideration when you just need CPU compute, so it's an uncommon consideration beyond the first 2 slots, but it still comes up in other niches.

[@billcameron5767]

was already a subscriber. 👍. do you have any recommendations for a server reseller in Canada?

[@BobPellerin]

My company resells servers or I can refer someone depending on the brand you’re looking for. Contact me at Cobaltium.com or ctobob.com

[@billcameron5767]

@@BobPellerin will do, thanks

[@bulcub]

did the connector come with the K80? and what is it a male or female. did you have to download k80 drivers?

[@BobPellerin]

I received it fully assembled. As to drivers, that would depend on the OS used. This one is running VMware with Linux VMs.

[@TheSubanandam]

Thanks...

[@BobPellerin]

You're welcome!

[@IggyWhite]

What puts a limit to max storage amount? With 16 4TB SATA drives it should be 64TB instead of 29TB. Is there a physical limit in some controller, it was it just a number based on largest available drives when the server was first introduced? Great content, btw. :)

[@BobPellerin]

When Dell and/or the RAID card manufacturer build and test the card they use what is available to “qualify” drives (Hds, SSDs..). So if the max was, say 20TB, then that would be the maximum documented. Over time, you’ll find that applying a new firmware to the RAID controller will increase this limit. I’ve seem it when we were at the 2TB limit a long time ago.

[@IggyWhite]

@@BobPellerin Thank you for the explanation, Bob. Do you happen to know what is the current limit for H730 and H730P PERCs? Thanks!

[@BobPellerin]

I'm sure it's written in the original documentation. I'd have to look that up.

[@Noobish588]

I have 26x2TB SSD"s in mine and it reads just fine :)@@IggyWhite

[@IggyWhite]

@@Noobish588 Yes, these PERCs read even the latest HDDs just fine. I put 4x16TB HDD plus 2TB NVMe SSD plus Tesla P4 (via PCIEx risers) in my R430 LFF and it all works great. I'm so glad that we can still use "obsolete" hardware without too many compromises. :)

[@frankwalder3608]

The 730 with v4 CPUs will take 2400MHz DIMMs.

[@RicardoHernandez-zr1pw]

What would we use them for at home?

[@BobPellerin]

Some people use them as a NAS. It’s really optimized for virtualized environments.

[@RicardoHernandez-zr1pw]

@@BobPellerin Seems overkill for a NAS. At work we use them for virtualized control systems. I’m almost considering ordering one but I don’t have any use except to tinker with it at home haha!

[@BobPellerin]

Yes, it's overkill for a NAS. If they're almost giving it away then I certainly would consider it with FreeNAS (type of software).

[@evelbsstudio]

I use mine for a few crypto validators at home, I also virtualised all my services using proxmox, nas, Web and email servers, media streaming (like plex), cctv storage, also runs my asterix home pbx, host my broadband selling nodes on it for passive income, docker containers. Basically I got rid off the mini pc's I run and put it all on the r730, it consumes electricity about the same as all the mini pc's and get better performance I also have a seperate nas as a backup just incase.

[@evelbsstudio]

Also looking at ollama for ai at home

[@yudhasetiamulya8982]

ATAS -> ATAS -> BAWAH -> BAWAH -> KOTAK KANAN -> KIRI -> KANAN -> KANAN -> BULAT

[@BobPellerin]

Cheat code? Lol

[@evelbsstudio]

Intel network is better broadcom have a host of problems with drivers. 10g daughter boards are cheap.

[@BobPellerin]

I agree. The Broadcom ones have worked out overall. Intel is better in general.