Server Build Advice

Keltik THC · 23 Nov 2009 at 17:58

I have been interested in building a server for a while now. I have a number of PCs and Laptops and keep all my important data on external HDDs which i know will fail one day (God, please no!).

I currently have all my external HDDs plugged into my main gaming rig, about 4TBs, so depending on which room/PC i want to watch something i usually slap the files on my portable HDD and then transport my data.

I would really like to have everything networked with a server so if im in my living room and want to watch a film or listen to music i can access it via the server rather than having to fiddle with external HDDs.

Anyway, i have never built a server only my gaming rigs and my main requirements that i can think of, are that its super-stable and can hold as many SATA HDDs as possible.

Can anyone throw any advice my way? my first problem is that i cannot decide on the motherboard because i only know about the gaming/overclocking motherboards so i do not know which is a good, tried and tested mobo for my server.

any advice (not just mobo) is greatly appreciated as im a networking noob.

95thrifles · 23 Nov 2009 at 18:53

Hi, anything you buy now will be more than adequate for a server, theyre very low powered really, as you say it comes down to connectivity, dont forget you can use a controller card to add more SATA ports if needed too.
Do you have any old parts youre wanting to cannibalise (spelt wrong Im sure) or is it going to be all bought new? Either way what budget you looking at for what parts you need?

mjd · 23 Nov 2009 at 19:12

For a SOHO server of this scale a simple desktop PC would probably do the job with no problems. It really isnt worth building your own 'server' from scratch. You could consider a second hand server if you want a server in the strictest sense, or consider something like an HP ML110 G5. I have used a few ML110s for small local businesses and they dont even break sweat covering most common basic server duties.
Another possible consideration and something I have been pondering for a while would be to consider something like a hacked HP 5000 series thin client. Hang your external drives off the back and you have a very low powered file server that you can run 24/7 without upsetting the green brigade.

iNPUt · 23 Nov 2009 at 19:17

95 is right, just common components should do the trick for you home network, on the hardware side of things.

The Fractal Design Define R2 Midi Tower Case seems like a good choice for a case, 8 Harddrive bays,
A case design to be silent and quiet so would fit right in your living room, would be no differnt that build a normal home pc.

You would want a mobo with lots of sata ports and maybe an pci nic card (if on a gbit network)

What kind of budget you looking at?

Gundog48 · 23 Nov 2009 at 19:41

What kind of budget? Basicly you are just looking at a powerful computer with lots of storage. You may even be able to start the first OCUK MW server

!

Biz.Kid09 · 23 Nov 2009 at 20:06

^^ Servers dont need to be powerful, I would suggest something along the lines of Athlon II 240 will be fine i would imagine :/

Keltik THC · 23 Nov 2009 at 20:27

95thrifles said:
Do you have any old parts youre wanting to cannibalise (spelt wrong Im sure) or is it going to be all bought new? Either way what budget you looking at for what parts you need?

Well, i currently have the Asus P6T Deluxe Motherboard in my gaming rig, im not that impressed with the P6t for gaming and i am thinking if i upgrade my motherboard on my gaming rig i could use the P6TD for the server, i also have spare 3x1gb 1333mhz DDR3 RAM kicking around.

Although, if i did use the P6TD then that would restrict me to a LGA1366 processor which would be overkill for the server.... although i could just move my 920 to the server and it would give me an excuse to re-mortgage my house and buy the i7 975 for my gaming rig

... although that would probably work out to be ridiculously expensive and pointless.

So if i dont do that then everything would be bought brand new, budget wise, including as many HDDs as i can forage i would say less than £1k, although to start off with about 4TBs of HDD space would be enough as i will add HDDs as i go along.

The only preference i have is WD HDDs, in my experience i trust WD completely although the Samsung F1s do look very tempting.

mjd said:
It really isnt worth building your own 'server' from scratch. You could consider a second hand server if you want a server in the strictest sense, or consider something like an HP ML110 G5.

I have thought about buying a server, although not as fun as building my own i havent ruled this out.... But another spec i forgot to mention is that i want to built this server as silent as possible which makes me want to build it rather than buy a complete build, because then i can choose an acoustic controlled case, fans etc... and who cares about the green brigade - i wont until they force me to have a smart meter and monitor my outrageous power consumption

iNPUt said:
The Fractal Design Define R2 Midi Tower Case seems like a good choice for a case, 8 Harddrive bays,
A case design to be silent and quiet so would fit right in your living room, would be no differnt that build a normal home pc.

You would want a mobo with lots of sata ports and maybe an pci nic card (if on a gbit network)

What kind of budget you looking at?

Thanks for that man! the R2 case looks amazing and is silent... just the sort of thing im looking for, again including as many HDDs as possible im thinking less than £1k.

thanks for the advice so far guys! still stuck on deciding which mobo though... i was going to wait for USB 3.0 but i can just buy a controller card when they replace USB 2.0.

95thrifles · 24 Nov 2009 at 07:51

For HDD's the WD Caviar Greens would be ideal, 1.5Tb versions are best price point, bang a load of them in youre good to go
Yeah an i7 is total overkill, I'd just recomend selling your P6T separately
For the server a C2D is perfectly adequate, though an i5 (whilst still overkill) is very power efficient and cool running and if you can hold out for USB3/SATA3 i5 would be best bet

Keltik THC · 24 Nov 2009 at 12:20

95thrifles said:
if you can hold out for USB3/SATA3 i5 would be best bet

This is also in the back of my mind, USB 3.0 is slated to be released early 2010, not sure about SATA3.... on one hand it would be better to wait on the other i could just get some controller cards to give older hardware USB 3.0 and SATA3.

How easy would it be to sell a used P6TD? ive never really sold my old PC equipment just end up keeing it for a rainy day...

i guess i could out in on Ebay and see what happens.

95thrifles · 24 Nov 2009 at 12:24

use the members market here, so long as youve got box, which I presume for mobo you will (I used to bin everything but mobo box was same as you, now I try n keep them all) should be easier enough, its current tech so someone will want it

DragonQ · 24 Nov 2009 at 12:53

Keltik THC said:
This is also in the back of my mind, USB 3.0 is slated to be released early 2010, not sure about SATA3.... on one hand it would be better to wait on the other i could just get some controller cards to give older hardware USB 3.0 and SATA3.

How easy would it be to sell a used P6TD? ive never really sold my old PC equipment just end up keeing it for a rainy day...

i guess i could out in on Ebay and see what happens.

The Asus P6X58D and another Gigabyte x58 board support USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps (it would be wise to get out of the habit of saying SATA2/SATA3 as they are incorrect terms). I don't think they're out yet though.