Hi ces,

I'll try

The one big benefit is ECC memory support (which some people value very much). I would also like this, but haven't found a suitable system to meet my demands yet (not even the current consumer level XEON's). This can be seen by the history of this thread. I don't run an XEON currently, because of problems with VT-d and VMWare ESXi/Intel motherboards.

AES-NI support on all models.

Some models without integrated graphics (wouldn't need this anyway..)

Then the price for the E3 XEON's are about the same as the i7 series (actually I think the E3-1230 is a bit cheeper than the i7-2600, and still offers 4 cores with hyperthreading).

That said, I'm looking forward to the Ivy Bridge cpu's/motherboards with enthusiasm. I think the Intel DQ77KB looks very promising for a ultra low power home server.

/alewinsky

I agree that you should measure the power consumption with a different number of disks. Your hurdle here is the startup consumption of the disks.

My current system (see signature, BOFH), just about hits 75-80W when the four disks are powering up. Never hits that a any other time.

If you can find a decent adapter of 100-120W then you will have no problems with your plans. It may however be a bit difficult to find one without a built-in fan..

All Sandy bridges except the i3 and under dual cores have AES-NI. So it seems like the only compelling reason to get the Xeon is for the EEC.

EEC is something that I want, but I don't know exactly why. It seems like regular memory works OK. Have you ever personally run into a situation where you know that you benefited by having EEC memory? Do you know of anyone else's war story that would illustrate such a real world instance?

First off, I see your points

I must agree that my points are not the strongest, just mentioning the possibilities with the XEON's.

I agree that AES-NI is supported by most intel cpu's. It is however difficult to locate a CPU like the E3-1220L with a low TDP and AES-NI support. So if you want a low peak power consumption and AES-NI then you don't have many options.

I need AES-NI because it enables me to use disk encryption on my ZFS array on solaris at near native speed.

ECC is maybe a longer story. If you go looking for ZFS filesystem recommendations, then you will see that most people recommend ECC memory, due to the fact that one single failed memory module can corrupt an entire disk array. This is most likely because with ZFS, all the raid calculations+checksums are calculated using the CPU/Memory (however saving me lots in expensive hardware raid controllers!!). This is the reason I go looking for ECC.

I haven't had any experience with faulty memory modules with my home systems, but plenty of failed memory modules at work (all ECC memory, so no real issues).

All in all, if I can get a low TDP CPU with AES-NI and ECC support, without too much extra cost, then I will go for it

Hi,

I'm also looking for an all-in-one solution for my living room. It will have my media stored in 12 x 2TB caviar green on a ZFS RAID-Z1 (actually: 3 different ZFS volumes, 4 HDDs each). ECC memory have become a must for my precious data since the good reviews I've been reading lately about that. I'm planning to use Ubuntu as an OS on top of the following Mobo and CPU:

SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard -> http://www.amazon.com/SUPERMICRO-MBD-X9 ... icro+X9SCM

Intel Xeon E3-1220 Processor 3.1 GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 -> http://www.amazon.com/Intel-E3-1220-Pro ... EL+XEON+E3

I've some questions that come to my mind about this build:

1) How much RAM (ECC of course) would I need for this? Any specific recommendation (brands, models, speeds)? Unbuffered, fully-buffered?

2) I'd need to buy good graphic and sound cards to reproduce (only) 1080p: any suggestions with this build?

Of course I'm not an expert and I'm still looking different solutions/builds so any suggestion will be gratefuly accepted.

Thanks so much in advance!

The SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard only takes Unbuffered, read the user reviews, most of them are using Kingston 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC, there are lot of version in terms of size, i own 2x 2gb on my server, they recently released the 8gb module versions around $70, but stick to what work for others, as this mobo is very picky with the memory.

I think the SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F is a great mobo for any server, but i do like to have seperate all my stuff, meaning that i would recommend to have a small htpc setup for your living room and server with all the hdds elsewhere for noise, size etc. Even a Celeron 530 can reproduce 1080p fairly good, you can send the video/audio via hdmi to your reciever so no need for a dedicated gpu/soundcard, so i would just build a small htpc and have the server not in the living room where sound might matter most specially so many hdds.

Thanks for your quick reply Abula:



Apart from the noise (maybe the heat) issue with the allinone home server I cannot see any other potential problem with it. And for what I need and what I'm looking for I just do not see the point of having several HTPCs spread around. In the last 5 years I've moved so many times that I already lost the count. At the moment I will enjoy some stability in my new living room but it will come the time to pack my 4 or 5 things and move again. Allinone+Hometheater+Projector is the best solution for me I think. No need for streaming, extra security or anything like that.



Thanks for your advice: I'll keep looking about different ECC memory types, still not sure what can NON unbuffered RAM could offer to me. Apparently, there are lots of motherboard models supporting ECC but not all of them give real ECC support. I'll continue looking closely this matter.

Well it depends on a lot of things, for example, X9SCM is a great server mobo, but has a very old built in GPU (i think a novex that doesnt even support 1080p, dont quote me on that but i think its right), so you will need a dedicated gpu, now mobo only comes with 4x 8xPCi (i think 2 are 8x and 2 are 4x), so no 16x pcie for a dedicate gpu, im not sure what gpu can you buy there that con work, i bet there are alternatives but none comes to my mind. Second issues is the OS, im not sure what you will be running, in a windows environment most gpus have drivers etc, but in some even linux some gpu have problems... so really comes down what OS you will use, and probably a maybe another mobo that has 16x pcie. Im just throwing some of my concerns doesn't mean im right, just for you to research, before you commit.

A dedicated file server can be running any other OS, while your htpc can run for example windows or whatever you like that can run whatever you prefer for your playback. But you can always build your server around the OS and mobo that you prefer and have your all in one, i just dont see certain OS/mobo combos doing it.

Im not sure either, its more widely available the buffered, even when i was researching my server setup, there were bigger modules available and cheaper than the unbuffered, but this is how the X9SCM is design, so stick to what have work for others.

I had two MBs SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F, both died after several months. Now I will buy asus P8B-M, same chipset, but it has x16 pcie.

PS: some ati 5450 http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-508.shtml are 1x pcie, so it fit into supermicro.

You're right, so I've changed my combo:

* ASUS P8C WS ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1155 Intel C216 DDR3 1600 -> with 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 + 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 so I could attach a nice nvidia graphics card if needed:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... alParent=1
* Intel Xeon E3 1200 Family processor with NO graphics (there are also some "L" models with much less power consumption) -> http://ark.intel.com/products/series/53495



There's no much info around about practical analysis with real results and comparison between different ECC types, but for what I've read, registered (buffered) ECC is the recommended choice when looking for stable environments and bits correction (sacrifying speed and dollars). Anyway, buffered ECC memory will require a server MoBo so I'll keep looking to find out if it worth the effort...



Thanks for your comment, I changed my mind. That Supermicro mobo was almost incompatible with the allinone system that I'm talking about.

The IGP in Xeon E3 12x5 is more than enough for pretty much any HTPC task, the only issue is with the board which doesn't have HDMI output (well, you could convert DVI to HDMI, but without sound). My P8B WS + Xeon E3-1235 had an amazing power consumption with only boot SSD drive (22W), with XBMC running it was ~35W (due XBMC rendering the UI pretty heavily) which jumped to 36-39W durring video playback depending on video load (39W for the Samsung Oceanic).

If you don't mind routing the sound separately, then you could go with one of the E3-12x5 models with IGP.

Just be careful, as the supermicro has a good track for ZFS setups, im not sure how ASUS is going to end up.

I also agree with faugusztin, the intel iGPU of Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge should be enough for 1080p playback, so you might not need a dedicated GPU as long as the mobo can use the iGPU (the supermicro cant). Also depends on what software you will use for the playback and if it supports the intel iGPu.

Even though this is against your goal, i still think its better to go separeted, the Supermicro has a good track for ZFS, so its a good bet for a storage server, vm, etc. And you can go build a really nice htpc for around $500, or even go with a small box streamer like DUNE for $200, over time should be better also, as the server probably will be fine for years to come, while you might want to do upgrades on HTPC, like for example using MADVR + LAV CVUID + LAV filters, where you would need a dedicated gpu, etc.

Good luck,

Thanks everyone, you saved me from doing a very stupid thing.

I have to rethink all this allinone thing. If ZFS is the priority for me, I need to use FreeBSD (if I want latest releases and full functionality). If I use FreeBSD, there's no allinone. Although I could set up XBMC in FreeBSD (http://daemon-notes.com/articles/entert ... tpc/config) I'll always need an HTPC as a font end for it.

My mom says I need to keep studying now before I can continue posting bullshit in this forum. I'll come back if I learn something one day.

Thanks so much again for all the help!

I've actually been looking into this issue quite heavily and have come up with a couple of boards from ASRock

First: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157294 - MATX
2nd : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157312 - MITX

My preferred board is the ITX with an E3-1245 v2 (HD4000 IGP). Another reason I like the ITX board is the m-sata port (SSD) on the backside. Toss in a decent SSD along with a few 4500 RPM laptop drives for storage (1TB's readily available) and you'd easily have a silent system. Nice thing about the IGP xeon's is the ability to underclock the CPU w/o impacting video performance - I'm planning on underclocking the 1245 cpu by 75 percent and turning off the turbo-boost feature. Benchmarks show that even with that much of a drop, I'll still have 3x my current systems performance.

If you want/need more performance, then go with the MATX board and a Xeon 1270 (no IGP) as it has 2x PCIe x16 slots along with 2x PCI slots and no, those aren't PCIe slots but the old PCI slots - lots of still usable hardware for them.

Overall, the MITX offers the possibilty of dropping max system demand below 100w (Pico PSU range) for silent computer w/o sacrificing video performance (IGP and CPU clocks are seperate). Nice design and with SSE4 plus AES and such, very decent setups.

One caveat - NO ECC support on either board

Do you know if the mSATA on that Asrock mITX board is SATA2 or SATA3?

#1, Intel's poor choices in product naming and marketing.

If you think you need an i series, Pentium or celeron you might not even look at Xeon but that is a mistake because some Xeons are a better value. For example, the e3-1230v2 is a great value and the more expensive e3-1245v2 is roughly equivalent to an i3-3770 (non k) but it costs less.

I bought an e3-1245v2 because I needed integrated graphics and wanted hyperthreading. The e3-1230v2 has hyperthreading but no graphics. The e3-1225v2 has the graphics but no hyperthreading and its essentially an i5 with 8mb cache instead of 6mb. The e3-1220v2 has neither graphics nor hyperthreading but still has the big cache and its cheap.

The e3-1220l v2 looks really neat if anyone would sell it near msrp. It sounds like an i3 with speed step or whatever they call it, so it has limited over clocking instead of being completely locked down and more server features.

Lastly, almost every Xeon has vt-d while k version i series do not (ask me how I discovered that).

Any way, if you are thinking about Intel 1155 look at Xeon e3 when you shop and remember v2 is the ivy bridge version, no v2= sandy bridge.

It was someone on the forums here that suggested I look at the E3 Xeon and that's what I've decided goes into my next build. I'm still debating between the 1245 v2 or the 1275 v2 - price jump is high but for the performance difference not that bad. Main reason I'm going intel instead of the AMD FM chip is the disconnect between IGP and CPU. Clock speeds affect the APU on the AMD unlike the Xeon where they use different clocks.

Main reason I'm using it over anything else is I'm planning to underclock the beast - Minimum clock speed should be about the same performance as my current system with acceptable GPU - Not much of a gamer. Another and important reason is the HD4000 GPU drivers are open source and I'm going to run Linux on it. The reason I need the IGP is that it's going into a Mini-Itx system and the pcie slot is already targeted for a tv-tuner/capture card for an htpc. I'm even considering a BluRay burner ( don't care about movies) for backup reasons - need the capacity as I'm also planning on trying one of those new seagate 4TB models. Nice price and acceptable warranty - and full disk encryption will be used.