Specification Differentiations These features: From the Oct 30 2018 Apple Event. Standard: Desktop 8th-generation 3.2GHz Intel Core Processor Thunderbolt 3 / USB C expansion (4 ports) NVMe based SSD storage running at full speeds Optional: up to 6 cores up to 64GB of RAM (SODIMMs) up to 10GbE…
Updates to this article added below, with automatic 200MHz speed recognition arriving with BIOS 1.2, for the Xeon D-1541 only. I've been informed that this is unlikely to change, but any difference in speeds of any other Xeon D system are unlikely to be noticeable. When the Xeon D was first…
I'm pleased to announce a new video that takes you all around and inside this mini-tower server, with some constructive advice. During the course of this comprehensive look at the physical design, I also find that all of the following assembly was quite straight-forward: unboxing (extremely…
Updates to this article below The Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T motherboard and CPU installed come pre-installed in a compact chassis with a 250 watt power supply, all pre-wired and ready to boot, complete with a 3 year warranty. Most places you buy this system, it arrives bare-bones, which…
JUN 30 2015 Update - New "deep dive inside" 38 minute video now available. Since last night's live-streamed unboxing and power-up-ing, I've since spent a bit of quality time off camera with this little beast, installing and configuring and testing ESXi 6.0. While fresh in my mind, I…
Updates to this article below, and lots of pictures now available too! A second camera view is now available, without the desktop shown, here. Rather than hours of arduous video editing to join the best of both videos together, time is probably better spent doing a new much shorter new video,…
My Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T is now on order, see status updates below. JUN 30 2015 Update - New "deep dive inside" 38 minute video now available. Back in 2013, we broke past the 32GB RAM restrictions for VMware ESXi 5.5, even the free version. But the hardware costs of getting a…
VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V home labs crave RAM. Lots of RAM. It's likely the bottleneck you'll bump into first. It's also not easily upgradeable, once you hit your CPU/motherboard limits. So we continue to wait for possible solutions. My own 2011-vintage Z68 based vZilla build has 32GB of…
I decided to open a web page feedback dialogue with Intel about Z97 memory limits earlier this week, on behalf of the home virtualization lab enthusiast community. I wanted to have confirmation before publishing this article, to be reasonably sure that Intel's site didn't have some sort of errors. T…
It's fair to say I've been more than a little enthusiastic about pushing the boundaries of what's possible with single, affordable, consumer level Core i7 system, with 32GB of regular DIMMs coming in at right around $200. It's really why this site was started back in June of 2011, with dawn of…
This is big news today. I'm fortunate to have an active, corporate bulk MSDN subscription through April of 2016. But those with TechNet-only aren't likely to be terribly happy about today's news. Microsoft to shut down TechNet subscription service Ed Bott, Jul 1 2013 Summary: One of the best s…
Yeah, nothing polarizes opinions more than talking about Apple. Hang on a second though, keep an open mind. I've used PCs since the mid 1980s, and I have to admit, from an engineering and design perspective, little out there impresses me like the surprisingly affordable 2011 Mac mini. Excellent…
I'm still rather fond of how TinkerTry.com/vzilla turned out, but I realize that those buying new are likely to shop around for a Z77 based system with decent ESXi 5.0 function. While I cannot speak from first hand experience, I can say that this isn't the first time I've heard of the continued …
Feb 22 2012 Update: $207.99 USD after promo code, ends midnight eastern time tonight! Here's the purchase link: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231487 Here's my DIMM drama. An intriguing tale of a month or so of oh no, followed by 32GB of sweet oh yeah! When purchasing a 4 DIMM s…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
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Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. The Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh slightly better in 2024, and hopefully Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-D) much better in 2025 featuring PCIe Gen5, MCRDIMMs, and 100GbE networking, wow! I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm in these challenging times, and grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when he was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
