Mobo & PSU Advice - Home Server

Simpic

Simpic

Simpic

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3 Sep 2009
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167
Hello,

I'm currently running 2 HP Microservers, one as a unRAID NAS (5 Disk 7.2TB + Cache) and one as a general Linux box running SAB, CP, SB & Headphones.

I'm looking to combine them both into one box which I can control slightly more from a power perspective by using S3 Sleep that is not available on the Microservers (BIOS limitation)

I looking at the following components: -

Case: Xcase RM 400/10

PSU: Xcase 500 watt 80+ PSU

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220L V2

RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Green

Mobo: MSI Z77A-G43, Intel Z77, S 1155


Does anyone recommend a different Mobo or PSU. I'm looking to keep idle power consumption to a minimum.

Thanks,

Simpic
 
Are you really intending to replace the two HP Microservers with a "rack mount" solution?

I don't think you could achieve lower power consumption by going down that particular route.
 
Hi,

PSU's rated Gold are the most efficient. Most sold are Bronze.

This Gold supply would be plenty powerful enough though it only has 4 SATA power connectors so you may need a few molex to sata power leads to power all the drives. Also from a top brand, though check it fits the case.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-020-SS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2383


On the case perspective , I usually stick with standard or large ATX cases with plenty of space between drives to reduced the need for forced cooling. Far better to leave an empty slot between them where possible.


Have you measured the power consumption of the micro servers? Mine is around 40W (though quite drive dependant) which is approx £50 per year so even with two it will take quite a while to recover the expenditure.

I also have a mITX board with a dual core Celeron G530. Quite a pokey chip for £30. Coupled with a DC:DC power supply, 8GB and SSD it pulls 17W from the wall socket idle and 40 with Prime at 100% CPU. Not bad for a 65W TDP CPU.

From what I read the super low power CPU's aren't that much more power efficient as idle power is very similar so unless you constantly have the system loaded you won't really save a great deal.

My board:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-206-MS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1965

While the board isn't great from a NAS perspective due to only 4 sata, it is very efficient so look for stripped down boards with minimal features. Extra features and duplicate voltage regulation all eat power even when idle. Perhaps a B75 series board with 6 SATA would suit.
 
decto said:
Hi,

PSU's rated Gold are the most efficient. Most sold are Bronze.
Click to expand...

Titanium is the most efficient then Platinum, gold etc. Titanium are fairly rare but platinum are pretty common in business servers.

Ratings are listed here.

OP:

The E3-1220L v2 Xeon is a great low power CPU. It has all the Xeon features, a reasonable clock speed and a TDP of 17W. The only downside is that it is a tray (rather than retail boxed) only unit. This may make it a little difficult to source as it is designed for the OEM and not retail market.

If you want to make full use of those server level Xeon features then you could also look at the Intel S1200KP mITX C206 workstation board. More expensive than a desktop board but built to workstation standards and allows both ECC (unbuffered) and standard ram. Asus also do a H77 mITX board with 6x SATA.

If you really want to go rack mount then the X-Case is a good contender in the budget sector. Just be aware that you may find the case fans are a little noisy and so may want to budget for replacements. I haven't tried these cases but I would suspect the fans are not participially high quality at that price.

RB
 
I'd recommending have a looking at the Intel DQ77KB mainboard (G630 CPU), as I used one of these in my home pfSense F/W. The whole things runs from a Dell 90w laptop power brick which it averages around 20w usage.
 
[RXP]Andy;23469098 said:
I'd recommending have a looking at the Intel DQ77KB mainboard (G630 CPU), as I used one of these in my home pfSense F/W. The whole things runs from a Dell 90w laptop power brick which it averages around 20w usage.
Click to expand...

Cool, I guess the next step would be raspberry pie, but what about useful real world performance :)
 
Thanks for all your replies Gents.

The first reason for exploring this route instead of the current Microserver solution is due to not being able to put them to sleep.

So there is a small pay off between a potential slightly higher wattage on the new solution but being able to put it to sleep for ~ 20 hours a day vs having the Microservers running 24/7.

I will look at all the board and power supply suggestions and post my thoughts.

Thanks again.

PS. I have just bought a power meter from eBay. That should help me solidify my findings :-)
 
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