Spec me something silent

paradigm

paradigm

paradigm

Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
Posts
37,514
Location
Leafy Cheshire
The time has come to replace my ageing server (Server 2003 Domain Controller, Exchange Server, Web Server), it is a P3 866MHz with 512MB RAM and it is now reaching the end of being responsive at all. That isn't to say it hasn't done me proud, as a de-cased laptop it has been more functional than I ever intended it to be (originally sourced to be put in a picture frame, I never thought it would become my live environment).

So this now leaves me with an environment that I can't live without and so have to migrate before it falls over! Which means I need a new machine to run it all, my only criteria being:
  • Silent - It has to run 24/7 in close proximity to where I sleep
  • Multi-Core, but Hyper-V compliant - I'm going to segregate into virtualised machines, not fussed either AMD or Intel, but I don't know if Phenom's are Hyper-V compliant
  • 8GB RAM - Due to virtualisation, I need a lot of memory available
  • RAID5 (or 6) - I need the disk performance, again mainly for simultaneous access from multiple VM's
  • 1TB-2TB storage (1TB is probably enough given I currently use less than 300GB)
  • Plain - I can't stand tacky, flashing, chromed, gash cases

Other than the above, it can't be full tower, and I'd actually prefer mATX/desktop form factor as then it could live on a shelf under the desk rather than on the floor, but if it ends up needing to be a tower then so be it. Of course O/B graphics is prefered over a dedicated graphics card (as it will be hugely overkill), but I don't want it to share system RAM.

So, please, fire away, and if anyone can answer the Server 2008 Hyper-V on Phenom question, then I'm all ears!

Cheers!
 
Shouldnt be a problem to spec, but whats your budget?
Edit: and re case, so would you prefer a HTPC case? or just a mini tower?
 
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HTPC cases are stupidly expensive because they are aimed at HTPC's. Budget is as cheap as possible for the spec I need, but there is budget per-se. Perhaps try at less than £500 (if that is possible?)

You don't happen to know if Phenoms work with Hyper-V?
 
To get in your budget you'd have to use RAID1 (pretty sure you need a dedicated RAID card for RAID5), but hows this look?
775Micro488.jpg
 
Pentium Dual-Cores are not Hyper-V compliant unfortunately, and as for RAID5, it is certainly possible with onboard adapters as I currently run RAID5 (with 6 disks) on my desktop PC (Abit IP35-PRO, onboard Intel Matrix RAID).

Secondly, although that spec has 8GB of RAM, it is in 4 sticks, the board only having 2 slots ;)
 
D'Oh re RAM, didnt really know bout Hyper V
I know its certainly not advisable to use anything other than RAID0 or RAID1 using onboard, least thats what most reviews etc say, though 2 1Tb in RAID1 should still do his job
 
Well my benchmarks and uptime certainly show that it is worthwhile me being on RAID5 on my onboard controller so that is what I'll stick to.
 
RAID5 comes into its own with more disks though. 3 disks raid 5 is pants. for 1Tb with sata i would prob just stick with RAID1
 
Sone said:
RAID5 comes into its own with more disks though. 3 disks raid 5 is pants. for 1Tb with sata i would prob just stick with RAID1
Click to expand...

RAID1 is pointless, the redundancy isn't really an issue, its speed. RAID0 would be a better choice. I'd rather go for 4 500GB disks or 6 320GB disks in RAID5 than two 1TB drives in RAID1.

Backups will be handled daily to external tape drive (ultrium3), and snapshots copied to iSCSI NAS.
 
paradigm said:
RAID1 is pointless, the redundancy isn't really an issue, its speed. RAID0 would be a better choice. I'd rather go for 4 500GB disks or 6 320GB disks in RAID5 than two 1TB drives in RAID1.

Backups will be handled daily to external tape drive (ultrium3), and snapshots copied to iSCSI NAS.
Click to expand...

for a home setup that rocks, i am still using an AIT2 drive at work. Luckily got an auto loader as it takes 5 tapes over the weekend to do a full backup :(

If redundancy isn't an issue why bother with raid at all; would you not get better performance with each VM on a dedicated disk?
 
Its easier to snapshot if the VM's are in a single storage space. Secondly, it would be faster on single disks, but only assuming every VM used 100% of the disk at the same time, otherwise having a 300MB/s sustained throughput on the filesystem will give the individual VM's the potential to be faster than a single disk if they are accessing the disk when no other VM is ;)
 
Silent is very tricky to manage, I can't advise you on specific components, but I do have some experience in this.

I had a HushPC, that was entirely fanless. It sounds great until you factor in the noise of the hard disks.

Fan noise is generally constant and your ears\brain will ignore it, the constant changes in sound from a hard disk means your brain won't tune it out, and you'll always be aware of it. (I found an awesome document about it a few years ago, but can no longer find it).
If you're expecting there to be constant disk access overnight, and you can hear those drives over the fan noise, you could have a big problem.

In order to limit HDD noise you have some options:
1) Buy 3.5" drives and put them in 5.25" insulating caddies - limited by the no. of bays 5.25" bays you have.
2) Buy 2.5" drives and put them in 3.5" insulating caddies - My approach.
3) Buy SSD's.


Sorry I can't give any concrete suggestions, my only advice is to consider your HDD choice very carefully.
 
Yes, hd noise can be overlooked. I remember replacing one with a samsung that (at the time) was considered very silent. If you're going to have many hd's and want peace, I would also consider 'hard drive suspension' see the silent pc forums for more info. Apparently this makes a huge difference as the vibrations do not get amplified by transferring to the case.
 
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