Jay_S
10-05-2009, 02:18 PM
The inspiration for this build (http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=54409). This is the culmination of way too many hours of research, and represents what I consider the best bang-for-the-buck for a simple, cost-effective, and expandable storage server.
This is a storage server for streaming video to my HTPC. Requirements were:
1) very low power consumption
2) relatively inexpensive
3) high SATA port density
4) PCIe gigabit NIC
5) ability to potentially use a SATA controller in the PCIe 16 slot
Components
Motherboard: Biostar A760G-M2+ (http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en%2Dus/mb/content.php?S_ID=394)
This is the cheapest MB that I found that offers the following features:
1) 6 sata ports onboard
2) supports ECC memory (seriously - how awesome is that!)
3) can accept non-video cards in the PCIe-16 slot
4) onboard video can be UNDER-clocked
I have all unnecessary features disabled (sound, serial, parallel, etc.), the CPU under-volted, the on-board video under-clocked.
CPU: AMD 4050e (http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=428)
Sadly discontinued, this 45W TDP dual core CPU is overkill for unRAID. Shooting for lowest power, I tried disabling CNQ and manually lowering the multiplier as low as possible - system idle power consumption was identical to just leaving CNQ enabled and letting it scale as needed.
RAM: Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-533 ECC (http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/partsinfo.asp?root=&LinkBack=&ktcpartno=KVR533D2E4K2/2G)
Cheap and slow.
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-400CX (http://www.corsair.com/products/cx/default.aspx)
It's a little overkill now (see power consumption measurements below). It was selected primarily for future expansion, and because:
1) It's 80+ efficient @ 20% = 80W
2) Has SIX SATA + SIX MOLEX HDD power connectors
3) It's constantly on sale
4) It measures very well (http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2009/02/16/entry_level_power_supply_roundup/7).
HDD's: Western Digital WD10EADS (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=559)
I have three of these. Two data, one parity. They're very quiet, very low-powered, stay cool, fast sequential transfer rates - great for network storage.
Case: Coolermaster Centurion 590 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2709)
Nine external 5.25" bays for loading it up with back planes or 4-in-3's, inexpensive, decent quality, and 17.5" high (so it can be shelved horizontally inside a standard 19" rack cabinet). This was the least expensive case with 9 external bays I found. Comes with one 4-in-3 HDD adapter.
OS: unRAID basic license (http://www.lime-technology.com/joomla/) (the free one, limited to 3 drives).
Power consumption measured using Kill-a-watt:
Startup Peak: 88 W
Idle, all drives spun up: 48 W
Idle, all drives spun down: 39 W
Parity Check: 69 W
Network transfer speeds are nothing special. Because of the way unRAID works (parity calcs), transfers TO the server are slow - averaging around 20MB/s. Transfer speeds FROM the server depend on the host OS. Using WinXP transfers peak around 45MB/s. My limited testing with Win7 RC showed around 90MB/s (which is about the limit of a WD10EADS HDD).
Thanks for looking-
This is a storage server for streaming video to my HTPC. Requirements were:
1) very low power consumption
2) relatively inexpensive
3) high SATA port density
4) PCIe gigabit NIC
5) ability to potentially use a SATA controller in the PCIe 16 slot
Components
Motherboard: Biostar A760G-M2+ (http://www.biostar-usa.com/app/en%2Dus/mb/content.php?S_ID=394)
This is the cheapest MB that I found that offers the following features:
1) 6 sata ports onboard
2) supports ECC memory (seriously - how awesome is that!)
3) can accept non-video cards in the PCIe-16 slot
4) onboard video can be UNDER-clocked
I have all unnecessary features disabled (sound, serial, parallel, etc.), the CPU under-volted, the on-board video under-clocked.
CPU: AMD 4050e (http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=428)
Sadly discontinued, this 45W TDP dual core CPU is overkill for unRAID. Shooting for lowest power, I tried disabling CNQ and manually lowering the multiplier as low as possible - system idle power consumption was identical to just leaving CNQ enabled and letting it scale as needed.
RAM: Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-533 ECC (http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/partsinfo.asp?root=&LinkBack=&ktcpartno=KVR533D2E4K2/2G)
Cheap and slow.
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-400CX (http://www.corsair.com/products/cx/default.aspx)
It's a little overkill now (see power consumption measurements below). It was selected primarily for future expansion, and because:
1) It's 80+ efficient @ 20% = 80W
2) Has SIX SATA + SIX MOLEX HDD power connectors
3) It's constantly on sale
4) It measures very well (http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article/2009/02/16/entry_level_power_supply_roundup/7).
HDD's: Western Digital WD10EADS (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=559)
I have three of these. Two data, one parity. They're very quiet, very low-powered, stay cool, fast sequential transfer rates - great for network storage.
Case: Coolermaster Centurion 590 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2709)
Nine external 5.25" bays for loading it up with back planes or 4-in-3's, inexpensive, decent quality, and 17.5" high (so it can be shelved horizontally inside a standard 19" rack cabinet). This was the least expensive case with 9 external bays I found. Comes with one 4-in-3 HDD adapter.
OS: unRAID basic license (http://www.lime-technology.com/joomla/) (the free one, limited to 3 drives).
Power consumption measured using Kill-a-watt:
Startup Peak: 88 W
Idle, all drives spun up: 48 W
Idle, all drives spun down: 39 W
Parity Check: 69 W
Network transfer speeds are nothing special. Because of the way unRAID works (parity calcs), transfers TO the server are slow - averaging around 20MB/s. Transfer speeds FROM the server depend on the host OS. Using WinXP transfers peak around 45MB/s. My limited testing with Win7 RC showed around 90MB/s (which is about the limit of a WD10EADS HDD).
Thanks for looking-