New Build, low cost, low idle power

chokedoke

chokedoke

chokedoke

Associate
Joined
23 Jun 2009
Posts
180
Hi All,

Just a quick brief on what i am looking to build before detailing the options i have put forward already. Advice on other components would be great, although im listing intel stuff i have nothing against amd if it will do the job. I have just lost my knowledge of their products over the years.

Onto what I want the box to do! I am looking for a box to run esxi 5 and then run at least 2 server 2012 machines and one ubuntu server as well. These will be running 24 / 7 and on an adhoc basis depending on what i am doing i might spin up another server 2012, server 2008 or windows 7 or 8 machine but they will get deleted shortly afterwards.

I am looking for a machine that is small and compact that i can hide in a corner that wont make to much noise. It will be a file server, media streamer (transcoding on the fly) and backup centre for the pcs in my house. I will also be using it for an FTP and Web server.

I already have two 3TB WD green drives and 2 1TB WD green drives. I also have all the relevant software and licenses for what I need and perephierals are not an issue.

Here is what I have selected so far with the case being the main pain point for me

Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail - £89.99
Asus P8H61-I Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard - £69.95
Antec VP350P 350W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply - £32.99
Akasa AK-CC7118HP01 K25 Low Profile CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156) - £11.99
Lian Li PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case - £44.99
Corsair XMS3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz - £49.99

Total: £299.89

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
Any RAID requirements for the storage as I wouldn't expect ESXi 5 to support anything native on the motherboard (other than bog-standard SATA as independent drives)
 
Yes some redundancy would be useful maybe a raid 3 array.

To be honest i am leaning towards putting server 2012 as base on the system and using the disk pooling technology and then using hyper-v for my other servers.

The i5 pushes my budget up by £70 which is a little to much, would the 10ish watt saving make much of a difference?
 
The i3-3220 is a 55w part according to the Intel site, so the i5-3450S is able to draw more power during full utilisation. Not that it'll make much difference unless you're hammering the system, and you could probably overcome the difference by undervolting and underclocking. The i5-3450S will perform better than the i3-3220, though whether that's worth an extra £70 is something only you can answer. I went for a i5-3570T in my own Mini-ITX system, as I figured it was worth the extra money to get a low wattage quad core.
 
I have updated my build for the i5 now as think it will help me maintain a server box for a longer period of time without needing an upgrade. I'm hoping for something that will need minimal maintenance over a 3 to 5 year period.

In regards to raid does anyone have any suggestions as to what i could do for a home server appliance? Outside of the dell or hp full server solution i don't have much experience?
 
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