Good
Up to 32GB DDR4 RAM
High storage capacity
Looks good
Very quiet
Small size & very solid build
Bad
APU/CPU Soldered to the motherboard
No iLO
Bad rep from the Internet
The MicroServer Gen10 features AMD processors, Opteron X3000 series with 2 core or 4 core as options and turbo clock speeds up to 3.4GHz. It scales up to 32GB, double the previous Gen8 model. The motherboard switches from a socketed Intel design to a System on a Chip design from AMD meaning the processor cannot be field upgraded. The new motherboard design adds two PCI slots over 1 PCI slot in the previous Gen8 and G7 models.
For storage, 4 large form factor drive SATA slots are retained in the Gen10 model and the same limit of 4 x 4TB SATA drives in the drive slot. With SSD advancements, the new model adds the ability to replace the DVD drive with an SSD in a 5th slot near the top of the cube, but complicating things for OS installations with the absence of virtual media through iLO.
The new MicroServer Gen10 can support 32GB of ECC RAM and the PSU has been upgraded to 200W. Gone is the single VGA port, now I have TWO DP 1.2 ports PLUS a VGA port and I have watched streamed video on one monitor while working on tasks on two other monitors the RADEON graphics seems great on all monitors.
I have enabled Hyper-V and have several virtual machines running while doing other tasks and it copes very well. It has 2 PCIe slots and also has 2 NICs.
For my trial I loaded Windows 10 Pro on this machine was painless it came with Clear OS but I wanted to load Windows 10 Pro.
Getting into the server is the same as other generations. With a thumbscrew less this time round, removing the 2 on the rear, sliding back and lifting up gives us our first view of the unit. It’s really really clean inside. This unit won’t overheat that’s for sure. The cabling is tidy, the drive bays are neat and although very thin cabling is used for the SATA connectors, its not a problem as the distance is so short. HP also used similar if not the same ones in the G8 and that works fine. I/O on the inside is limited to a USB connector, 2x PCIe slots and an additional SATA connector for the DVD bay. Along with the 2 RAM slots that’s pretty much it. The large fan is quiet even with the case off and the power supply is tiny. This unit definitely has some modding potential.
The APU/CPU is also soldered on the board, so unlike the G8 where you could upgrade to a faster CPU such as a Xeon or otherwise, on the G10 this isn’t possible, which actually stems the upgradability in future quite a bit.
The door is now a removable panel the first time I took it off I thought I had broken the machine. Not much of an issue once I got used to it, just note that removing the door/panel is a challenge if you have the Gen10 stacked with a Gen8.
The Gen10 doesn’t have iLO. However if loosing iLO is the price I have to pay for 32GB RAM, 6 SATA III ports, and 3 video ports in a MicroServer then that’s OK.
I’ve had the G6 and G8 microservers in my homelab acting as backup servers for a few years now at least. What I’ve found from them is that they’re a solid performer, quiet and get the job done without any fuss. The G6 was great at capacity, the G8 having that extra control and micro SD card slot on the inside gave great flexibility for us techies! The G10 brings more updates to hardware such as faster bus and DDR4 speeds. Whilst this seems great, its not the whole picture.
I can see where HP have cut some corners and favoured others. HP doesn’t seem to know where this box will fit and it can be set up as a home theatre running Emby or a backup server, amongst many other uses. Its not a bad thing, but when multi-purpose comes in, some features have to change. We come to the iLO, which the G10 is getting a bad rep for on the Internet. Being both a home labber and a business techy, all I can say is that at home it doesn’t bother me but at work it may do, especially if its used for critical things then I’m not sure I’d like to not have that lack of management. It’s definitely not the be all and end all though as some of the Internet would have you believe.
Would I get one? I have the G8 and apart from its RAM upgrade cost, I really like it. The G10 looks good and performs well and next to my G8, it looks like they were made for each other. Apart from the CPU being soldered and the RAM prices. The current pricing for this spec is a little steep compared to the G8 but prices go down and it’s a very reasonable unit.
Specification & Features
AMD X3216 1.6GHz (3.0GHz Turbo Clock) APU (CPU with Graphics)
1x 8GB DDR4 ECC RAM (Max 32GB DDR4 UDIMM ECC RAM)
4x 500GB Hard Drive
The HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen10’s extra power, larger memory capacity and more versatile storage options make it a great choice for budget-conscious offices seeking their first server.
