Pros: This is a nice small, inexpensive server barebones. It's relatively quiet and wonderfully reliable. The built-in remote-access controller is an awesome bonus. Works great with a Xeon E3-1220 V2. Supports (and requires) ECC memory.

Cons: There's only room for a single 3.5" hard drive. With a little creativity and the right SATA cable, you can attach a pair of 2.5" drives and RAID them with Intel's software RAID BIOS (Windows only, of course), but it's a bit hacky. The shortness might be a problem if you have a deep rack. :) It does not have a redundant power supply, so please don't use this for hosting production VMs.

Other Thoughts: Socket 1150 processors only support 32GB of RAM max. RAM compatibility isn't a problem if you specifically shop for RAM that is on SuperMicro's HCL or that the RAM maker guarantees works with the specific model of motherboard (X9SCL-F). You must use ECC, unregistered memory.

Pros: Notta!

Cons: 1st server blew out my ram so I got another with new ram, I think if I kept trying different ram I may get it working but please don't waste your time....

Other Thoughts: DONT BUY THIS! I am soooo ticked off I did....

Pros: This worked fine, we ordered 3. It's small, lightweight, fairly quiet (for a server) and it's cheap. Works fine in both 2x SSD and single HDD configurations. See below for 4x SSD configurations.

Cons: BUYER BEWARE. This is officially listed as being able to support 4 SSDs, yet it only includes connectors for 2. We got Molex/SSD adapters for the other 2 but these blocked air flow and started causing over heating issues. We had to rig additional fans in to avoid this issue.

In addition connections are very close together and difficult to make when using 4 SSDs. We tried several brands before giving up and using adhesive to hold the trays down.

Case has limited airflow, overheating may be an issue if you put any expansion cards in.

1 had a bad RAM slot but not a huge deal, RMAed and it and it's fine.

Other Thoughts: I would not buy this barebone if you intend to use more than 1 HDD or 2 SSDs or an expansion card.

Pros: Affordable little ESXI server

Cons: Finicky RAM / Processor Requirements

Other Thoughts: I'm really only adding to this review due to people having issues selecting memory and processors.

My first one of these had the confirmed working i3 2120T processor with 4GB of Kingston Hynix C Model KVR13E9/4HC memory. Both of which are now discontinued on NewEgg.

I can confirm an i3 3220 (Item #: N82E16819116775) does work with this model. I've also been able to get 8gb of Kingston Model KVR16E11/4 (Item #: N82E16820239223) to work without hassle with this model. After speaking with SuperMicro about memory they really only say that the best rule of thumb when selecting memory for this device is that it must be either ECC unregistered or unbuffered.

Also, on another note, ESXI 5.5 is now current, but the trick listed in the comments from previous (for version 5.1) will work in getting the 2nd NIC card in ESXI 5.5 to display and work.

Pros: Stable, runs well - when it works

Cons: Memory support for this product is horrible. I have purchased 64GB worth of memory that, according to specs, should work - but it doesn't. Now I'm stuck with a useless server and a ton of server memory I can't use.
This isn't the first one of these units I've purchased, and even purchasing the same memory I used in the previous server, it won't work. SuperMicro is of no help, they say it's a memory problem and leave it at that.

Other Thoughts: I'm pretty well done with SuperMicro at this point. I have multiple servers with SM boards in them, and about 10 of these 5017's in service. I'm going to look elsewhere from now on. Problems like this are unacceptable.

Pros: 1U, light weight, very quiet, IPMI, dual network ports, RAID support on the motherboard.

Cons: Only 2 USB ports. There are connectors for more on the motherboard, but even adding a PCI bracket with more ports is tricky due to space constraints. I would love to see Supermicro dump the two PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports and replace them with at least two more USB ports.

Out of the box, the system only supports 1 3.5" device internally. It does allow for two brackets that hold 2 2.5" devices each, allowing for up to 4 internal devices. But these brackets are not included (search for part number MCP-220-00044-0N if you need them). You'd think that for a server, even a small one, at least 2 drives would be used and Supermicro would include a bracket by default.

Other Thoughts: We are using two of these as redundant domain controllers in a small environment. We run with 8GB ECC RAM (Kingston KVR1333D3S8E9SK2/4G) and Core i3-2120T processors, plus two hard drives in RAID1. They have been flawless so far.

Pros: 1U, half depth.
Inexpensive.
Win7 install from usb stick was under 5 minutes to the desktop.
System is very simple and easy to set up.

Cons: Could have done a better job with the drive mounting.
Air flow design isn't the greatest.

Other Thoughts: Running this with a E3 1230V2 and 16G ram.
Vsphere 5.
Windows Server 2008R2 and Win7.
180G Intel ssd for running vm's, 500g 2.5" 7200 for additional storage.

Pros: Quiet, Powerful, Compact

Cons: Already mentioned, but RAM is picky. 2nd NIC needs help under ESXi 5.1 (see note below).

Other Thoughts: This RAM works: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239133

This is the ESXi 5.1 NIC fix:
http://virtual-drive.in/2012/11/16/enabling-intel-nic-82579lm-on-intel-s1200bt-under-esxi-5-1/

Pros: Compact, not heavy, loud or hot, has IPMI, supports ECC memory

Cons: very limited selection of CPUs and memory.

Uninformative manual, the shroud mentioned in the manual (page 6-6) to improve airflow is not actually supplied.

Need a special bracket to install a second 2.5" disk drive. The part number is MCP-220-00044-ON (not given in the manual). Newegg has this.

The manual does not specify the login or password for the IPMI. Both are "ADMIN" (all caps).

Other Thoughts: There is no list of compatible CPUs on the Supermicro website. We found that an i3-2120T does work. There is no list of compatible memory either. We found that several brands that appeared to meet the requirements of the 5017C listed in the manual did not work. However, the "memory error" beeps (5 short, 1 long - see page A-1) did not occur either, so we were not sure it was a memory problem. Eventually memory from a vendor that allowed us to specify the target motherboard was purchased and functioned.

Pros: Newegg inventory currently has the 2.0 BIOS and full support for the v2 processors. I'm running with the XEON E3 1230V2 3.3G 4CHT. Holds up to 32gb RAM.

Easy to build and setup. IPMI works great. Small footprint. Runs pretty cool.

Cons: You need a bracket to mount a 2.5" drive which is not included. (I hacked it for now and just put in a single screw to hold the 2.5" drive.

It appears that the eth0 and eth1 ports are flipped from the description in the manual.

Initial power on boot time somewhat slow due to IPMI initialization; I think you can disable the wait for that in the BIOS settings.

Other Thoughts: You need ram with hylinx chips. N82E16820239133 Kingston 4GB KVR13E9/4HC works great, best performance if you install 2 at a time.