Quiet Home Server

atmax1 · 6 Apr 2012 at 13:59

I am now working from my mac and want to turn my pc into a server but I want it to be as quiet as it can be.

The server will be connected to my tv by hdmi and will be used to render/convert media, stream to ps3 and will use xbmc for my movies as well as run server 2008 R2 in vmware to run exchange and be used for storage.

I have

i7 2600k @ stock speeds
16gb Muskin ram @ 1600mhz
Corsair H60
2x 560ti in SLI
120gb Corsair SSD
Corsair 650D
Corsair AX650w

I need
quiet case that can hold 6+ hard drives
raid card that supports raid 6
better cpu cooler?

Any advice would be great.

The Halk · 6 Apr 2012 at 16:32

I've found it's difficult to get a quiet home server, due to hard drive noise.

I have an e-350 with 9 hard drives connected through a RAID card and it's loud.

Conversely I have my main PC with only SSDs connected and very carefully set fans and it's whisper quiet.

Once you have a few hard drives I think you've already lost :/

atmax1 · 6 Apr 2012 at 17:51

Arrh there goes my dreams lol

jamesfreddie · 6 Apr 2012 at 18:01

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18216324

atmax1 · 6 Apr 2012 at 22:46

jamesfreddie said:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18216324

I have 4tb of data so would need as many drives as I can plus i need the ram n cpu power for the converting and vmware server

maybe i should buy a drobo? and quiet pc down with just 1 drive.

jamesfreddie · 7 Apr 2012 at 09:35

atmax1 said:
I have 4tb of data so would need as many drives as I can plus i need the ram n cpu power for the converting and vmware server maybe i should buy a drobo? and quiet pc down with just 1 drive.

Wat is converting?

What VMs do you want to run?

You can put 4 HDDs in the bays then if you want you can also fit 1 or 2 in the optical drive bay.

atmax1 · 7 Apr 2012 at 14:21

jamesfreddie said:
Wat is converting?

What VMs do you want to run?

You can put 4 HDDs in the bays then if you want you can also fit 1 or 2 in the optical drive bay.

I will be running windows server 2008 R2 with Microsoft exchange (hopefully) and will be converting HD Video files and play the odd game on my tv i guess as well as running streaming software to stream to ps3 (so mum and dad can put one of my films on down stirs) and xbmc for the tv in my room.. the storage server side would be nice but if 6 drives are loud i will be better off with another nas and just switch off 1am till 9am like mine do at the moment.

I did think about the HP server but I would like the power of the i7 and the ram there as I think what I want to do it wont keep up with, I may ask a friend if i could put a server in he's rack to run exchange tho, I may just end up going back to pc and getting a drobo and use the mac as a media centre again as the pc would be in my room on 24/7 and the mac you cant hear at all lol.

jack.mitchell · 7 Apr 2012 at 14:28

I have a Fractal Design Mini[1] which is very quiet with an AMD 35xxe processor with Copper Flower style cpu cooler and 6 2TB green hard drives. Can't hear it unless you're specifically listening.

[1] http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=58

atmax1 · 7 Apr 2012 at 15:54

I have been speaking to my dad n he said he may have a rack server laying around that he could install for me so i can run an exchange server so hopefully that should all get sorted leaving the server needed for converting HD video / odd game at 1080p streaming over gigabit network and xbmc.

Maybe I should sell my pc but keep the ram and get
- AMD Llano A6-3670K
- Fractal Design Define Mini
- Asus F1A75-M
- get 2x2TB drives (I got 4x2tb in 2 nas boxes)
and find a good raid card