Dell goes swimming in Skylake to source 14G server line Dell is announcing a set of 14G servers, using new Intel processor chips, and replacing the equivalent 13G server line products. Customers will get better automated server setup and security plus more performance, and more and faster-access storage capacity – Dell being convinced that software-defined and virtual SAN storage …
Was going to order a single socket dell server for myself (to replace an older system I have at a colo). Tried to put a pair of 400GB SSDs in the system, and the website gave me a roughly 60 business day lead time. Without the SSDs the system could of shipped pretty quick, though I couldn't get a valid configuration the website kept complaining about the operating system, and the things it told me to do I either already did, or what it told me to do was impossible (one suggestion it had was to choose "no OS" option, and there was no such option). So I guess when I actually order it I will have to call them.
I know there is a broader SSD shortage and this problem is not specific to Dell, but was still surprised for just a pair of small SSDs the delay was so long. I had read before that it seemed like the most popular SSDs were in the 2-4TB range and I expected shortages on those, not so much 400GB.
I would of bought HP but they do not offer the CPU I need(none of their systems in their online store have it anyway), which is an Xeon E3-1240L V5 (2.1Ghz quad core 25W - I could go with the 1235L V5 as well but not even Dell has that chip).
Not sure why that CPU is so rare, seems nobody other than Dell has it (several online retailers claim to stock it but they do not actually have them in stock, I waited 6 weeks for one such retailer to ship before cancelling an order earlier in the year). Note this CPU is "L", lots of websites have the E3-1240 V5(80 watts!), but not the "L" edition(25 watts). I built another server with this CPU earlier in the year (CPU came from Dell as well). Really like the low power profile, yet still a very functional and quick processor.
I was interested in what AMD had to offer but their latest chips obviously don't come close to this power envelope. Maybe when they come out with their laptop chips next year they will release updated server chip offerings with lower wattage.
"I would of bought HP but they do not offer the CPU I need(none of their systems in their online store have it anyway), which is an Xeon E3-1240L V5 (2.1Ghz quad core 25W - I could go with the 1235L V5 as well but not even Dell has that chip)."
HPE (ahem!) seems to offer 1240Lv5 only with DL20 and ML30 gen9 servers - according to the Quickspecs. Perhaps the margins and customer interest in these CPUs are so low that HPE can't be bothered?
HPE Partsurfer comes up with the 842928-001 SKU for E3-1235Lv5, so you could ask a Proliant service partner whether they could order one for you. Or get a CPU and cooler from Ebay.
The smaller SSDs are the one with the largest issues. You may (hopefully not) be surprised to hear that the smaller, affordable-ish drives are the most in-demand which is exacerbating the supply issues at the lower end. There's not much of a queue for 7.68TB SAS SSDs.
HPE do offer the E3-1240L v5 and E3-1260L v5 on the DL20 Gen9 rack server (I assume you've bought a rackmount for a colo) however they are factory built rather than off the shelf (same as Dell, in other words).
I suspect low TDP processors are relatively rare because many servers have built in (or licensable) power capping capabilities, which allows users to cap the power - presumably you want that to reduce the colo costs or to be within an amp limit? A 35W processor will obviously use less power at the top end, but in standard idle-ish usage doesn't necessarily offer significant power savings against a normal (say 80W) processor. Worth researching as you may be able to use something like the a common as muck E3-1220 v5/v6 and cap it to achieve a similar result (but you may need iDRAC Enterprise or iLO Advanced to enable it, not sure off the top of my head).
PS - Regarding the config issues, check things like the chassis and RAID configuration for something related to No OS. You might find there's an option elsewhere in the config that then allows you to select No OS under the OS section. The Dell-EMC config tool has fun quirks like that. Alternatively talk to a Dell-EMC (or HPE) partner and have them do the configs and transaction for you.
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