Hi, I'm new to the forums, but I have been watching EEVblog for a few years now and thought that this would be a good place to ask my question/get a second opinion about powering on a server that uses a proprietary power connector since this community seems to be more oriented/knowledgeable with electricity
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I bought one of these: (
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/333986600758) first-gen 96-core ThunderX servers made by Gigabyte with the intention of running some sort of Hypervisor (if I can get everything up and running) or Linux Distro (for server usage). This is a single node that would've been part of a 4-node system, however, it's not a true "blade" server as each node still has its own IO (4x USB 3.0 5 Gbps, 2x QSFP+, 2x VGA, 1x Serial, 1x IPMI per node) only connecting to what seems to be a shared power backplane/PSU (originally the system would have 2x 1600 W PSUs which Gigabyte claims is fully redundant, aka 400W/node).
Here's Gigabyte's official page for the full system, if you click on the specification tab you can see the full details of the full system:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Enterprise/ARM-Server/H270-T70-rev-110Fortunately, I'm not the first person who has bought one of these nodes (and if I was I wouldn't've), others have figured out what the fingers on the nodes Power Daughterboard do, and looks like at least 2 people have managed to get this system working.
Here's a labelled image of what the power board looks like and what the fingers do, done by fifteenhex on GitHub:
Top:
https://github.com/fifteenhex/crappy96corearmserverexperiments/blob/master/power_distribution_board/front.jpg Top (Direct):
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fifteenhex/crappy96corearmserverexperiments/master/power_distribution_board/front.jpgBottom:
https://github.com/fifteenhex/crappy96corearmserverexperiments/blob/master/power_distribution_board/back.jpgBottom (Direct):
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fifteenhex/crappy96corearmserverexperiments/master/power_distribution_board/back.jpgSo my *real* question is, how do I actually give these fingers power? I saw an Anandtech review with 2x CN8890s (the CPUs that are in this server) at full load can use up to 450 W, so I'd assume say taking my Dupont Wires for my Arduino kit would be a really bad idea (not sure what kind of wiring I could buy off of Amazon for this). I've been thinking about using my spare EVGA 750 G5, but I'm concerned about theoretically loading a single 12V pin with 37.5 A of current. Also, plugging in multiple 12V leads to the same finger, since it would be parallel, wouldn't it result in the server receiving >12V on the finger? Also, the 12V Standby (small finger right next to the big ground finger) is a problem since ATX PSU's only have a 5V standby (probably why the image has 5V STB crossed out and replaced with 12), so I'd probably use another 12V pin from either the 24-pin or a PCIe for the standby finger and just have the PSU on 24/7 (aka never shut the server off once it's ready for long-term use)? For the PSON, would that just be connecting the second last small finger (looking at the bottom image) to the PSON pin on the ATX 24-pin (Pin #16)? As for the other small fingers, I'm not really sure what they're supposed to do or if they're necessary to start the system.
I came here to see if what I'm thinking is sane/looking at it the right way, or if anyone has a better solution to this problem?
TL;DR: What wiring should I buy for this, if the primary 12V finger could draw a maximum of 450W (37.5A@12V)? What should I use as my power supply if I shouldn't jerry-rig a spare ATX one (and if I should jerry-rig it, any good recommended/preferred pins I should use for 12V, ground, etc)? What's the best way for me to handle the 12V Standby for the IPMI/BMC, just have the PSU on 24/7?