SuperMicro 2U Server X9DAX-7F-HFT 128GB RAM 2x E5-2650 2.0GHz 10x 3.5" bays NAS
Woudl the above server be idea to start with for a home server: Plex, home videos, pics, music storage, file storage, blue-ray back up, maybe minecraft server for 5 family members (not really needed but an ask) - would be streaming videos via plex to google chromecast TVs (5x) other than that smart home. thinking of taking out of this case and placing into a large tower case, with better heat sink fans etc… so it is not so loud - would this be possible
I’ve got very similar hardware in my primary home server. It will do the job, but there will be caveats.
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Plex streaming performance will vary depending on if your Plex clients can direct-play the media they’re streaming. You will see buffering due to slow transcode on occasion if you have to do the work on CPU. One 1080p stream is fine, but multiple streams or a 4K stream will induce buffering issues. If you can ensure your clients will direct-play, you’ll be fine. Alternatively, you could get a cheap Quicksync machine & run Plex on that. I believe anything Intel 7th generation or newer non-F variant processors will work, and likely handle every client in your house at the same time. This forum has plenty of info on Quicksync Plex boxes.
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It will run a Minecraft server decently well under normal circumstances, but you’ll see significant TPS drops & general slowness when generating chunks, sometimes long enough to cause timeout disconnects. If you play with modpacks (like FeedTheBeast, Technic etc) they can exacerbate the performance issues further. I’ve actually elected to build a machine on a newer Ryzen chip for running gameservers due to this processor range’s low single-thread performance. It wasn’t unplayable for my friends, but it was unplayable for me.
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The X9 series board’s IPMI does not support HTML-based KVM to my knowledge. You’re stuck with using the Java plugin. Supermicro’s IPMIView tool bundles it nicely for ease of use, but it’s definitely less convenient than HTML-based KVM. It’s said that you can enable HTML5 KVM with an SFT-DCMS-Single license, but the X9 platform is not capable of running it regardless of license. You can get around this with a PiKVM solution, but at that point you might as well invest that money in newer hardware.
It is possible to put this board into another case. The form factor of the motherboard is EE-ATX (Enhanced Extended ATX). The Fractal Design Define 7 XL is the only case I know off the top of my head that supports it, as that’s what I have housing my X9DRD. I’m sure there are others, but it may be difficult to find them.
As for heatsinks, I currently use two Noctua NH-U0DX i4 coolers & they work well. You’ll want custom coolers if you swap the system into another case.
If you’re looking at this particular listing as an option, the ‘strange issue’ they report below the specs list is normal with these boards. Mine does it too, and I’ve seen this behavior in newer SMC systems as well. This one cycles quite a bit more than I’ve seen before, though. I’m not sure what to make of that. I’ve always thought of it as something akin to pre-boot testing or memory training, and not thought too much of it.
I don’t pay much attention to the value of older hardware these days, but this looks like a nice deal. I think I paid more for just an X9 motherboard & 64GB of RAM, without the whole kit this has.
Hope this helps.