8 ms·
Ask HN: How reliable is an old, but barely-used server motherboard?
I'm building a home NAS and have an old motherboard, CPU, and memory that I can use for it. The components are server-grade (Supermicro motherboard, Xeon CPU, and Samsung ECC memory) and ~9 years old, but have only been powered-on for about 1 year. They've been in storage since 2013. I will be adding brand new HDDs, PSU, and case fans.
Am I going to have a bad time if I use these components for a box that will most likely be in operation for 5+ years?
Thanks!
- rolph 6y agocomponents can "rot" over time, you should check out the capacitors because : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague its possible there are some capacitors that are old and dry.
- Nokinside 6y agoLook for a small battery in the motherboard. If it has one, you may want to change that. Apart from that, some electrolytic capacitors may degrade over time in storage. If you use them they should self heal a little. Tantalum electrolytic capacitors are stable. If you switch the battery, it boots, passes memtest, and works fine it should be almost like new. Run tests in BIOS to make sure. Storage affects lifetime but not as much as use. It should be fine for next 5 years.
- detaro 6y agoIf it runs for a while without issues, it'll probably be good long term. But I would do an economics check: At that age, the power efficiency is likely terrible compared to modern parts, and replacing it could pay off quite quickly.
- whitepoplar 6y agoIt's an E3-1270v2 (69W TDP) along with 4 sticks of DDR3 memory. Since it will be idle most of the time, would replacing it really save much?
- h2odragon 6y ago"much" is relative... what you're building probably wont be using that much power whatever you do, so "yes a pi would be 75% more efficient there" could be technically correct and not matter. As for durability; if it runs say a 48hr burn in, I'd expect it to be more reliable than something like a raspi or "tv box" mini itx board purchased new; it was designed to be higher reliability to begin with, better components are likely to have been used, etc etc.