How cool is that Hypercube Lego Server, featuring the powerful Xeon D-1540 on tiny and familiar Supermicro X10SDV-F motherboard

What a nice way to start the day, thanks to TinkerTry commenter Jay Oliphant @JackOfAllTech. I somehow hadn't spotted this article yet, what a great find! Jay is also the super helpful TinkerTry visitor who helped me squash a strange TinkerTry CDN bug, back in 2014.

A Lego server, nice! Hey @paulbraren, guess whats inside it? - https://t.co/yey8zPN1J0

— Jay Oliphant (@JackOfAllTech) January 19, 2016

The article is an in depth and fun look at a rather novel approach to chassis design for these generally efficient and cool-running Xeon D-1540 motherboards. He also uses heatsinks on his M.2 Samsung SM951 drives that can heat up a bit when abused over long periods, along with some beloved Samsung 850 EVOs.

These two motherboards are so similar that they even share the same X10SDV-TLN4F(F) User's Manual.

• The Supermicro X10SDV-TLN4F is pre-installed in the TinkerTry'd Bundle mini-tower SYS-5028D-TN4T

• The Supermicro X10SDV-F is used in this Hypercube Lego Server.

The only significant differences are the lack of two Intel X552 10GbE ports in the lego variant, along with the lack of an included CPU cooling fan, with a Noctua 60mm stepping in to that role, as seen above. Mike Schropp, in his masterpiece at Total Geekdom, explains:

• Hypercube Lego Server

Conventional case design usually employs a single intake and a single exhaust fan (though sometimes just an exhaust). This systems works well enough and gets the job done, but excelling where mass-produced systems do an adequate job is an essential aspect of my computer design. I aim to design a high-performance cooling system that offers maximum cooling performance. One of the challenges usually faced in smaller form-factor systems is heat and controlling thermals, but the design of these Lego cases takes that small form factor and uses it to our advantage.
...
SYSTEM DESIGN
The design of the system itself is built around a couple of core principals:
-Excellent Cooling Performance
-Excellent Reliability
-Excellent Acoustics
-Platform Versatility
-Extended Features
-Power Consumption
-Upgradable and Serviceable
Anyone who’s ever interacted with server grade equipment knows that a lot of noise is not usually a big concern when it comes to these kinds of systems...

What do you think, do you love it for the cool factor alone?

See also at TinkerTry

• Order a TinkerTry'd Supermicro SuperServer Bundle - powerful and efficient home virtualization lab solutions

• Benchmark Optimized BIOS Settings for Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T

• BIOS/IPMI Upgrade Procedure (with video)

• World's fastest consumer SSD - Samsung 950 PRO M.2 NVMe benchmark results

• First look - Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD in a Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T

• My experience with the Samsung 850 EVO 2TB SSD, and how it fits into my hybrid home lab strategy

• Superguide: SuperServer home virtualization lab storage tiers, platinum through bronze, how many efficient drives fit inside this tiny chassis?

See also