Next Unit of Server

Xelene · 14 Jan 2014 at 21:55

I'm building a teensy weensy server, it will be running Linux - likely Redhat 7 beta then CentOS 7. My size budget is roughly Mac Mini size and it has to be near silent and powerful enough to run multiple VM's. I like the Intel NUC's, but they are lacking in performance and connectivity.

I'l be using this as:

* VM Host - most likely as a mini cloud - so API driven stuff. (http://www.openstack.org/)
* Steambox
* Media Center
* Router & Wifi access point

Crappy Phone photos sorry

Obligatory mound of hardware:

The case:

Xelene · 15 Jan 2014 at 17:53

CPU: Intel Haswell i7 4770T
http://ark.intel.com/products/75125/Intel-Core-i7-4770T-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz
This build is for server use, so an important CPU feature for me was VT-d, the K series don't support this so an overclocking chip was basically not viable. The S and T series chips are available in the UK retail market, which both have the visualization features I need, the S runs at 65W TDP and the 4765T is heavily compromised on stock and turbo clocks for the sake of 10W saving so this was the chip for me. I looked at the AMD 6/8 core chips but they were too power hungry / hot for a small case, and I also looked at the Xeons but discounted them (see motherboard). It's an annoyance that Iris graphics are only available on the soldered on chips, so HD 4600 graphics will have to do.

Motherboard: Asrock Z87 ITX
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87E-ITX/
I needed an ITX board for this build, this part actually took the most research. I'm installing RHEL 7.0 Beta here, so need components that are well supported in Linux, and again Visualization is key. This basically discounted anything with onboard Network that wasn't Intel. I also wanted an msata slot AND a mpcie slot, one for an SSD and one for a Wifi card. The best fit for this was the Asrock, it's the only consumer motherboard that has these things AND supports VT-d. The Asus Maximus was second choice here, everything else had Realtek / Killer NIC. The Asrock even supports Xeon chips, but not ECC RAM so it's pointless using a Xeon. All of the server or workstation boards I checked were missing one or both of msata and/or mini pcie.

Case: StreaCom F1CWS Evo
http://www.streacom.com/products/f1cws-evo-chassis/
It's tiny, about the size of a Mac Mini but taller. No clutter on the front. I last used an optical drive a couple of years ago, so a power button and LED is all I want.

PSU: Nano 150W PSU
http://www.streacom.com/products/nano150-psu/
No room for a big old PSU in this case, I'm okay with a brick tucked away somewhere out of sight.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 PC3-12800 16GB
I wanted more RAM here, but 16GB is it on MITX. These guys are very short so won't block the cooler and run at 1.35 with timings of 9-9-9-24

Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i CPU Cooler Low Profile - 92mm
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-024-NC&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2346
Small, good brand, won't obscure anything

PCIE Slot: Intel Pro 2 port Low Profile NIC
I got this from ebay, it used to live in a Dell server. Adding this gives my tiny machine 3 * Intel Gigabit network ports.

Storage: TBD

Xelene · 20 Feb 2014 at 10:14

Put it all together and it worked first time

Need to wait for payday to get the last couple of bits (storage) - so will update then.

Xelene · 21 Feb 2014 at 16:58

LePhuronn said:
How did you get the NIC card in there?

It's not in yet, but the plan is to remove the backplate from the NIC and dremel out some space, I have a PCIE riser cable.

Xelene · 21 Feb 2014 at 21:37

There's no way to put the NIC in the PCIE slot. Once the backplate is removed however...

I need to find a way to electrically isolate the card and then fitting it horizontally should be workable. The plan is to keep the tray, and then cut a cooler size hole through it.

Remember I'm using the 4770T - a low power 45W TDP part, the Noctua is going to easily cool this and the NIC is only 2/3rds the width of of a low profile slot so it ought to fit.

Xelene · 26 Feb 2014 at 08:13

Two more pieces of the puzzle are on the way:

Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260
http://ark.intel.com/products/75439/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-7260
I'll replace the bundled wifi card with this as I'm planning on using the server as a WIFI access point. This is part of the reason I'll be going with RHEL 7 Beta for the build.

Crucial M500 480GB mSATA Internal SSD
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT480M500SSD3
This part took some researching, there were 3 main contenders, the Intel 525, the Samsung 840 EVO and the Crucial M500. In the end, I discounted the Samsung because it uses TLC and it was a bit more expensive. The Intel was much more expensive and there were random reports of overheating. £200 for 500GB of mSATA was a no brainer.

Xelene · 27 Feb 2014 at 18:23

Well Redhat 7 is a bit broken for general use ATM, there's a lot of messed up dependencies in the repos and EPEL, my go to third party repository is still spotty. The kernel and libs in CentOS 6 are too ancient to get some drivers and Steam working, so until CentOS 7 is GA i'm going with Fedora 20, using a netinstall and minimal profile.

The CPU is idling at 26-28 degrees so that's good.

The back port area is cut too large on this case so the IO shield thingy just rattles around. It's also going to be a tight fit to stick in the NIC as I didn't account for the power cable taking up so much space.