Here is our newly assembled whitebox.
Hardware:
Mobo: ASUS DSBV-DX/SAS
CPU: Intel Xeon 5405 * 2
MEM: Infineon fully buffered DIMM 4G * 4
HD: Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS(500G/7200RPM) * 4, group in raid 1E

Software:
ESXi 3.5 Update 4: successfully recognize the RAID 1E, keep runing 24 hours daily since April.
Host VM: 4 windows 2003 R2 system for dummy test, 1 Ubuntu 8.X(One of my coollegue is crazy about it, and he decide to upgrade it to 9.X enterprise version), 3 Windows 2003 standard version for internal develope & test role as DB server & web server.

Remark:
The ESXi can also recognize the RAID 0/1/10 created by the on-borad LSI 1068 chips without any morphing at installation. However not fully tested.
As the slim budget, we choose enterprise level SATAII hard disk at present. Hope the economic cyrsis get off soon the end of this year.
May try the optional ZCR(zero channel raid) LSI 8300XLP later, while not quite shure it can fully supported by the ESXi.

Question:
If anybody here have use the 8300XLP in ESXi server?
The memory is really, really, really hot! The ASUS website recommand a optional MemCooler while not available here in Shanghai, China(We work at AmCham Shanghai). We decide to buy it overboard, any suggestion?

At the last, truely thanks to Dave.Mishchenko giving us many clues alone the way, check this thread.

I bought one of these at NewEgg for $10. The reviews were right, it keeps the memory very cool but don't even bother with the stupid flashing crab eyes. They unscrew and just clip the wires leading to them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835119011

Glad to hear that you got a system up and running.

Do you have an option for Intel Directed I/O or VT-d in the BIOS?

Thanks Bookworm. I've check out the link. I am just wondering if the 'crab' can cover all 6 dimm slots in our mobo. Anyway, thanks.

And Dave, the mobo is base on 5000V chipset which do not support vt-d. I'm not sure, maybe the 5400 series chipset can. Right now, we have install 2 windows 2003 R2 64bit OS in our server without running into any problems.

The crab is designed for 4 dimms but it has 2 fans the blow down on the memory. If you have the memory with the heat sinks the air going past them should carry over.

The nice thing about the crab is that there is only 1 attach point that latches onto one of the dimm latches. So you could center it in the middle of the 6 sticks with only 1 stick on each side sticking out. In other words, attach it to stick number 2. That's assuming that all 6 sticks are next to each other of course.

I haven't seen anything that is designed for 6 yet. I'll go take a picture of mine and post it in soon.

Here is what the crab looks like.

And no, the box is not powered down. It looks like the CPU fan is spinning at exactly the strobe rate of my camera. It froze the fan dead stopped!

Hi all,

Hi wmzwhywj,

You told that "The ESXi can also recognize the RAID 0/1/10 created by the on-borad LSI 1068 chips", it's RAID or just as single driver?

The LSI1068 is a true RAID controller so ESXi will be able to recognize RAID arrays that you create for it.

Thanks Dave,
I'm very confuse choosing the right system that can run esxi on it.
We don't want to spent money for the system not compatible with esxi.

We plan to buy motherboard that its onboard RAID controller supported by esxi as "RAID" not just "single DRIVE".

What about with its SATA controller, can i use them mix with SAS?

I'm not sure if the SATA controller will take SAS. But with most SAS RAID controllers they'll work fine with SATA drives. What sort of performance do you need from the disks? If you plan to load up the disk I/O then you might consider getting a better controller with battery backed write cache as it'll have a significant impact on performance.

Have you checked the official VMware HCL for supported motherboards?