Silent, efficient and "fast enough" NAS/homeserver build.

[smokealot]

Hi guys

I need to build a NAS/Homeserver. Its main purpose will be streaming video, SMB fileserving, usenet downloading and unpacking with sabnzbd+ and sickbeard. I need it to be dead silent, as is it not possible to hide it away somewhere where noise doesn't matter. I would like to keep my 4x WD20EARS disks the noisiest part in the system. I have been looking at the ds411j synology NAS and the HP Proliant Microserver but i fear that these are anything but silent enough for a placement in the living room. Ive therefore decided to make one myself and i would like your comments on:

Case:
Ive got an old gaming rig with an Antec Solo case that I am planing to use, this got a nice suspension system for the hard drives which may further lower the vibrations and noise. Ive also been looking at getting the small Lian Li pc-08 which got a nice review on this site.

MB:
Therefore i need a passive cooled motherboard preferably one with onboard cpu, lots of sata ports and low tdp. I've been looking at the Asus E35M1-I, its passive, dual core, got 6 sata ports and a pci-e port for future expanding with a raid controller. its listed at 130$. Should have a low tdp too.

PSU:
Ive got an old corsair vx550w psu, with an undervolted 120mm fan. That would probably be fine, but as im trying to make the server "power efficient" and with a low tdp, I am considering getting a 80+ gold seasonic x-400 passive PSU for the server. Thats listet at 140$. That may be expensive for at PSU, but I guess that it will quickly pay for it self by slightly lowering my electrical bill

Fans:
the solo case got 2x92mm very old noctua fans in the front and a noname 120mm in the back. im guessing that these will need to be swapped out or undervolted. Can you guys recommend some good 92mm fans that can be undervolted to an inaudible lvl?

have u guys got any suggestions / comments on my upcomming server build?

thx on advance

[kuzzia]

Do you consider airflow over the HD's necessary? if not, then you could consider running just a single exhaust fan. Your system will not dissipate enough heat to need more than one exhaust fan, and perhaps a fan for the passive CPU+GPU. If the passive CPU+GPU needs additional airflow, you might as well just cool that component actively with a fan, instead of placing a fan at the front of the case.

[smokealot]

That might be a good idea, i was actually thinking that that fusion board might need some sort of cooling.
I am however running a completly fanless HTPC with the zotac fusion 350-a-e motherboard (larger heatsink), a morex 5689 case and a small SSD. Its gets warm but within acceptable parameters.

[gregrah]

I just recently purchased a Asus E35M1-I. It's surprisingly fast, and runs cool (I think a completely fan-less system would be doable).

However, I have noticed an electric "whining" sound in some instances - for example when I am looking at certain web pages that contain lots of flash content. I'm not sure what the cause is, or if it is actually the motherboard or the PSU making the sound, but it can be a little annoying to hear in an otherwise silent environment.

[HFat]

If you're really going to use a storage controller, you should use Atoms which are cheaper and better suited for this purpose. The downsides include a lack of SATA ports on the board (mitigated by the controller) and no VM extension (it doesn't sound like you want it).
I do not recommend hardware RAID for a single small server by the way (see other threads).

Therefore i need a passive cooled motherboard preferably one with onboard cpu, lots of sata ports and low tdp. I've been looking at the Asus E35M1-I, its passive, dual core, got 6 sata ports and a pci-e port for future expanding with a raid controller. its listed at 130$. Should have a low tdp too.

If I really wanted a passive board, I'd use the Zotac instead in order to get lower temperatures and electricity consumption. It has enough ports for what you want to do.
But I'd probably go for the cheaper and more efficient non-passive MSI. You have 4 spinning drives so you'll have noise. If MSI's stock fans are too noisy and if you can't cool the heatsink with a case fan, I'm sure you could rig your own slow-spinning heatsink fan.

I am considering getting a 80+ gold seasonic x-400 passive PSU for the server. Thats listet at 140$. That may be expensive for at PSU, but I guess that it will quickly pay for it self by slightly lowering my electrical bill

I doubt it would. How much does electricity cost in your locale?
There are more efficient PSUs you can get for that kind of money anyway. See pico, Kingwin/Superflower and so forth. The nicer Seasonic are obviously high-margin products.

[smokealot]

"you should use Atoms which are cheaper and better suited for this purpose"

I was considering getting an Atom based board, mostly because i don't need the GPU in the fusion boards. Can you guys recommend any? maybe a good storage controller that fits?

"You have 4 spinning drives so you'll have noise"

I am hoping that most of that will be absorbed by the suspension mounts, but of course the actual spinning noise is unavoidable and therefore acceptable.

"See pico, Kingwin/Superflower and so forth"

unfortunately those brands aren't sold in my country. It is also my understanding that those DC-DC PSU's are only "really" efficient if the power-brick used is a quality one.
therefore I am thinking that a pico psu + molex->sata converters + a nice brick will be just as expensive as a x-400. I am also guessing that there is a limit to how many harddrives a pico psu can handle?

prices from mini-itx.com
picoPSU-150-XT
£45.00 or 69,62$
2x Molex to 2x SATA Cable
£3.50 x 2 or 10,83$
150W AC Universal Adapter 12V
£43.00 or 66,53$

147$ and then there is freight and tax. the x-400 is 147$ at my local hardware store.

[washu]

If you're really going to use a storage controller, you should use Atoms which are cheaper and better suited for this purpose. The downsides include a lack of SATA ports on the board (mitigated by the controller) and no VM extension (it doesn't sound like you want it).
I do not recommend hardware RAID for a single small server by the way (see other threads).

While I agree in principle with what HFat recommends, the problem is that 90%+ of Atom boards only have a PCI slot, which really isn't suitable for a storage controller for 4+ drives. Unless the drives are being used independently or as a JBOD the PCI bus will be a bottleneck when 2 or more drives are transferring. The few boards that do have a PCIe slot only have a 1x, which is much better, but still might be limiting.

There are a couple of Atom boards that have an extra PCIe SATA controller for 4 ports total, so that may do for your needs. You would have two ports on a PCIe 4x equivalent (the DMI) and 2 on a 1x.

[HFat]

While I agree in principle with what HFat recommends, the problem is that 90%+ of Atom boards only have a PCI slot, which really isn't suitable for a storage controller for 4+ drives.

Yes, that would be yet another limitation Intel put on Atoms. But you can't say "isn't suitable" without looking at the requirements. It depends on the performance you want. I don't think this is a serious issue.
I would tend advocate JBOD to begin with (depending ...) but you should be able to split your array between the motherboard ports and the controller ports if you do software RAID.
Looking at the OP, the PCI bottleneck isn't going to be a problem for streaming videos and Usenet. As to SMB filesharing, lots of people (myself included) use ARM NAS products which are even slower than a PCI-bottlenecked box. While I never got great performance with SMB, the PCI bottleneck could indeed limit performance in some cases. But the difference wouldn't be huge.
Regardless, if you want fast writing to your RAID array I think you're right: Atoms should be avoided. As far as I know, the Atom boards which don't have the limitation aren't very interesting.

[HFat]

Can you guys recommend any?

If you want the best power efficency, the upcoming DN2800MT seems interesting (pending more information). edit: actually, that board has PCIe but would probably require some hacking to work with 4 3.5'' drives... so strike that reco!
If you want cheap, Intel's Pineview boards are OK (D510MO and such).

As to the PSU, yeah: you don't need 150W (those are crazy prices!) but I'd personally prefer a conventional PSU as opposed to a pico if you've got 4 drives.
But the point remains: that Seasonic is expensive and not that efficient. I bet you could do better for less, at least if you were willing to import.
As I don't go for expensive PSUs myself (nuke-powered grid so what's the point?), I don't know what are the ultra-efficent PSU with the best availability in Europe. I'm just not so impressed by Seasonic in general and I know less prestigious brands have more efficient PSUs than theirs.

[smokealot]

Well i have to say that i don't share your impression about Seasonic PSU's. Anyway that aside. I cant find any 80+ gold rated modular fanless PSU's any cheaper than this one. Also this site seems to praise that PSU like no other: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1062-page6.html

I did look at a silver rated Enermax ELT400AWT-ECO II non-modular priced at 100$. That one should be quite silent and almost as efficient as the x-400. I haven't been able find any reviews about that one trough.

[HFat]

I cant find any 80+ gold rated modular fanless PSU's any cheaper than this one.

The Seasonic isn't 80+ in the range we care about unfortunately. A low-wattage PSU has a better chance of being efficient without costing as much as the Seasonic.
It doesn't matter if there's a fan. Efficient PSUs don't have to spin the fan at low loads.
You have to check the test reports.

Also this site seems to praise that PSU like no other: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1062-page6.html

If you looked at more recent reviews, you'd see things have changed.

I did look at a silver rated Enermax ELT400AWT-ECO II non-modular priced at 100$. That one should be quite silent and almost as efficient as the x-400. I haven't been able find any reviews about that one trough.

It could be a good bit worse than the X-400 actually. The rating isn't the whole story.
If you're going to spend almost as much as the Seasonic, don't go for an unknown quantity! The Seasonic is expensive and isn't the best but you could do a lot worse, especially if UK shops mark up less common PSUs like crazy...

[smokealot]

"If you looked at more recent reviews, you'd see things have changed."

would u be so kind and provide me with a few links?

according to http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs the x-400 is still the top recommended non DC-DC PSU.

And i am willing to import to get a quality PSU.

[HFat]

If you click on the link for the power supply category, you'll see a list of power supplies reviews, starting with the most recent.

If I had to buy an expensive PSU, I would buy a Kingwin/Superflower Platinums (sold here as Superflower). They're more expensive here than in the US but are still a better buy than the X-400.
But you may face a different situation. Maybe there are other expensive PSU with better availability in your locale. Maybe the X-400 is the best choice for you once shipping costs are taken into account. I don't know.

While SPCR has generally most reliable reviews in my opinion, SPCR only reviews so many PSU. Other well-known sites have reviewed popular highly efficient PSUs such as the relatively cheap low-wattage Huntkeys which are supposed to be more efficient than the X-400 at the kind of load you're likely to put on your PSU (and which are not sold here as far as I know).
If you're willing to import and/or to buy on eBay, you have lots of options.

Also note that some people do use DC-DC for boxes with 4 drives.
Picos aren't the only ones on the market and may not be the best choice for that application. I don't know because I would personally not put so many drives in a home server or put a dodgy-looking grey import in a professional server.

[smokealot]

i've found a Danish shop that sells superflower PSU's, but the low wattage choices is limited to these (as far as i can tell unrated) models:

SF450P-14P - 50$
SF550P-14P - 55$
AT-480R14A - just below 100$

the gold rated "XE" models are only available at 800+ watts and at insane prices like 250$ and up.

looking at http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80Plus ... plies.aspx i've found that the platinum rated SF-450P14PE would be ideal, but i cant find any danish,german or uk based shops that sells it...

im guessing that there is a huge difference between the P and the PE models, but i cant find the P model at superflowers homepage or at the 80plus site linked above. Do u know about those?

[HFat]

SF450P-14P - 50$

Here's a link to their page about it (easy to find): http://www.super-flower.de/index.php?id=22
I don't know how good it is. I would assume it's decent but no match for the Platinums everyone has been raving about.

i've found that the platinum rated SF-450P14PE would be ideal, but i cant find any danish,german or uk based shops that sells it...

It looks like they aren't selling that model, only the 550W which is if I'm not mistaken the most efficient regular PSU SPCR tested at low loads by a significant margin. In general, you should avoid 550W PSUs and go for 150W to 300W versions for such a NAS but this PSU is an exception which makes it worth its ridiculous price for the those willing to spend that kind of money.