ultra low energy home server ?

negger

negger

negger

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Looking to build my first server and i want it to be able to serve hd video files to four popcorn hour media players throughout my home.

so far i've looked at the following components -

Intel D945GCLF2D dual core atom itx motherboard
2 no. Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD20EADS)

i'm not sure about the power supply but i've seen this -Akasa AK-P040FG8-BKUK 400W Green Power 80+ Power Supply - but it seems a bit hefty for this kind of set up.

the server will be on 24/7 so i don't mind buying expensive kit if it will pay for it's self with low power consumption over time.

any advice welcome.
 
negger said:
Looking to build my first server and i want it to be able to serve hd video files to four popcorn hour media players throughout my home.

so far i've looked at the following components -

Intel D945GCLF2D dual core atom itx motherboard
2 no. Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD20EADS)

i'm not sure about the power supply but i've seen this -Akasa AK-P040FG8-BKUK 400W Green Power 80+ Power Supply - but it seems a bit hefty for this kind of set up.

the server will be on 24/7 so i don't mind buying expensive kit if it will pay for it's self with low power consumption over time.

any advice welcome.
Click to expand...

Take a look at this thread it may help. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17991277
 
thanks for the reply - interesting thread, and the power consumptions not that bad, but i'm after a server that could perhaps half the power of his htpc when idle perhaps even lower if thats possible.
 
Ive done exactly what you want, Ive got a sugo SG05 using an 80+ 300wPSU that it comes with running a GCLF2 with a gig of ram and a samsung F1 1TB drive all wrapped up in server 2008. It absolutely flies, i was expecting it to be quick but over gigabit im getting transfer rates to the server of ~75-98meg it managed a 7gig dvd iso in just under 2 mins. If I was taking it a step further with the power saving id pull out the psu and use a 120w pico psu and power brick for ~ £80 wich should have enough just for the gclf2 and 3 or 4 drives. The pico PSUs are massively efficient.
 
wild9 / cybergeek - just what i wanted to hear, i've read a lot of reviews regarding the dual core atom being underpowered etc but none that have said it can make a cracking server. i've looked at tranquils servers which are based on this motherboard cpu combo and they appear to get good reviews but are a bit expensive for me.

i think i've narrowed my build down as follows -

Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache £250.69
Microsoft Windows Home Server 32-Bit £81.64
Netgear GS608 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch £50.59
Coolermaster Elite 334 Case - Black (No PSU) £28.74
Intel D945GCLF2D dual core atom 330 itx motherboard £78.51 (seen for £62.00 but out of stock)
PicoPSU-120 £30.96
ACDC-12V/110W power brick £31.36
Startech Quad SATA card - Add 4x internal SATA ports using the PCI slot £35.45
2gb memory stick £20.00

Total £600 ish

just not sure about the western digital 2tb hd at that price it's not really value for money, perhaps a pair of wd 1tb greens to start with and save £100.00 ?
 
The power saving of a single drive over 2 is going to be negligable in comparison to the cost of the bigger drive. The cost for a years usage of an average hard drive on 24/7 is about £10 so unless your not changing the disks for 10+ years just save the money and buy a couple of disks.
 
you could save a few quid by avoiding gigabit unless you otherwise need it. the pch players are only 10/100 and i can only get around 5mb/s transfer over ftp into mine

i have a couple of the gs608s too, they are ok but a few of the ports won't run at the 1000 speed and need powered off/on every so often and i am thinking of changing to a different manafacturer to see if it makes any difference
 
Just a thought - Why don't you just put a large hard drive into one of your Popcorn hours and map the drive onto the other 3 Popcorn hours, that should be able to handle streaming 1 if not 2 HD movies across a 100Mb/s network.
 
cybergeek said:
Go for a ATOM ITX set up :)
Click to expand...

This is good advice. The best normal chip are the AMD Athlons with e in the name. I just bought 4850e which runs at 45w, by the time you have a motherboard, graphics, drives etc the derver machine I built runs at about 60W.

The Atom chips run at 2W i think.
 
wild9 / just what i was thinking with the hard drives, i know i originally posted 'ultra low energy' but in a year or so i bet those 2tb hd's are down to the 1tb prices.

encephalopathy / i put gigabit down just to be on the safe side - along with the 4 popcorn hours i'm also having music on demand to 5 rooms, though i know i'll only have half the stuff running at any one time max. btw do you have problems with both your gs608s, perhaps i should look at a different make as the server and switches are going out of the way and i think it would get a real pain if i had to keep reseting them.
 
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im using Intel D945GCLF2D dual core atom itx motherboard on 3 servers and run like a wet dream:D:D:D:D:D:D
i also have them setup on gigbit network
 
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I have a server based on the D945GCLF2, with 1Gb of RAM and 2 WD green drives. I'm running WHS on it too.

I use it for storing media to be played on my PS3, general file storage and for backups. It has never missed a beat in the time I've had it and is plenty powerful enough as it doesn't have to do any tasks that will put any strain on the CPU. In fact anything more would be wasted as 99% of the time it's idle.

The the abilty to automatically backup your computers is worth the price on it's own.

The only downside of the board using it for a server is only having 2 SATA ports but you have a PCI SATA card on your list so that's covered :) As you are getting it I'd save the money and get 2 1Tb drives instead of the 2Tb.
 
Im using a tranquil BBS2, which is basically a very very small case with the intel D945GCLF2D motherboard, atom dual cpu, 2gb ram and 5 internal HDD slots (and one e-sata). With 2 samsung 1TB HDD and 2 2TB WD green HDD's.
Its running a treat and I love it.
The tranquil BBS2 is really small and cheap too, one of the best purchases I have ever made
 
Bry,

I'm also considering setting up a Win Home Server system and I like the sould of what you have got.

I assume that, along with the tranquil BBS, the only other things that are needed is the Win Home Server OS, the HDD's and a monitor / kbd & mouse for setup?

I'm considering putting it in the loft, above bedrooms, how quiet is it and whats the cooling like on it with your HDD's?
 
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