Low power NAS/home server build

JMcL

Hi all, I'm looking to build a NAS/media server. Below is my first attempt at putting it together:

Item|Price
4GB-Kit G-Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€22.09
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€43.50
ASRock E350M1/USB3, integrierte AMD E-350, Mini-ITX|€87.71
WD Caviar Green 2TB Sata 6Gb/s|€107.11
Lian Li PC-Q08B Mini-ITX Tower-Cube - schwarz|€88.51
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€367.91

OS will be Ubuntu.

I'll be using it primarily as a media server (more disks will come when the post flood gouging settles down), and backups/general file server.

Main requirements are that it's power consumption is as low as possible as it'll be on 24/7 for the most part, that it's quiet (it probably won't be in the living room, but still), and compact (I do want a bit of space for extra drives over time so the Lian case delivers on that front)

I had been thinking about a H61 + i3 2120T, but this is probably overkill. A75 based boards would give a bit more welly, though at the possible cost of using a few more watts on idle.

The PSU seems overkill, so I'm open suggestions on that front, as indeed on any other front anybody has insights on!

Cheers,

John

uberpixie

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2291809

An alternative....

I picked up a slight older N36 model.
Runs at 35 Watts from the wall.
Will take four hard drives and runs quiet.

Cuddlesworth

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056206048

There should still be a cashback offer which puts it at around 240 quid delivered. Its a great machine for what your going to be doing with it.

Donny5

I'd certainly add even a small 30GB SSD. Ubuntu loves SSDs, and it'll mean none of your storage drives are spinning except when you're access data.

settings

uberpixie wrote: »

Will take four hard drives and runs quiet.

I agree with uberpixie, its a great machine and hard to beat.
Although you can quite confortably put 6x 3.5" drives into it - if you are not using an optical drive. there are 4 bays then you can use a Nexus Doubletwin to mount 2x3.5" into the optical bay, even room for a 2.5" cache ontop as seen here

JMcL

Thanks for the heads up on the HP, it looks like a nice piece of kit. I presume there's nothing funny about the RAM as the "official" HP branded SIMMs seem to be charged at the usual silly prices demanded by Dell, HP et al?

uberpixie

JMcL wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up on the HP, it looks like a nice piece of kit. I presume there's nothing funny about the RAM as the "official" HP branded SIMMs seem to be charged at the usual silly prices demanded by Dell, HP et al?

Standard parts are fine. Used standard generic ddr 3 which works fine.

JMcL

Ordered from Dabs - €291 with €120 cashback, and should be an extra €10 off according to Dabs website for spends over €199, but I couldn't get it to accept the promo code. I've emailed them about it as I couldn't see any reason why it should be refused, so if it does go through, it'll bring the final price down to €161

Just to confirm on the RAM front, a pair of these G-Skill DIMMs should be ok? Non-ECC but I believe it doesn't absolutely need ECC.

Serephucus

€120 cashback, what?

Dingatron

JMcL wrote: »

Just to confirm on the RAM front, a pair of these G-Skill DIMMs should be ok? Non-ECC but I believe it doesn't absolutely need ECC.

Have 8GB of that ram in my HP works fine.

settings

yeah it accepts non-ecc, you can even use ecc and non-ecc together if you need to and it will work fine (as non-ecc)

BaconZombie

Which cashback offer did you use ?
I can only find a UK only version

JMcL wrote: »

Ordered from Dabs - €291 with €120 cashback, and should be an extra €10 off according to Dabs website for spends over €199, but I couldn't get it to accept the promo code. I've emailed them about it as I couldn't see any reason why it should be refused, so if it does go through, it'll bring the final price down to €161

Just to confirm on the RAM front, a pair of these G-Skill DIMMs should be ok? Non-ECC but I believe it doesn't absolutely need ECC.

Burgo

BaconZombie wrote: »

Which cashback offer did you use ?
I can only find a UK only version

http://www.hpshop.ie/Microserver.pdf

JMcL

Burgo wrote: »

http://www.hpshop.ie/Microserver.pdf

Beat me to it It seems to roll over from month to month from what I can see on other threads here and elsewhere, and while there isn't a link to the cashback offer from the Dabs website, the thread on Bargain Alerts that Cuddlesworth linked to above would suggest that people have bought from them and gotten the cashback in the last couple of months (huge thread, I saw mention somewhere on the last few pages). Fingers crossed anyway!