Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

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thomas1h
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Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:58 am

Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by thomas1h » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:11 am

The system will be primarily used as a file server which will be running 24/7: minimum noise is a top priority.
Any suggestions/opinions on the build much appreciated. Only the cpu heatsink is purchased (for 20$ new, though it was a good deal), all other components can be changed.

Components
CPU: g860 sandy bridge
CPu cooler: noctua nh c14
GPU:integrated- going to be a headless server so no point in dedicated gpu
MOBO: asrock z68 pro3 (atx board)
RAM:16gb ddr3
PSU:seasonic fanless x460W
HDD(s):4 WD green (2.5 inch) X 1tb (heard they were especially quiet). One 120gb ssd (boot drive)
CASE: Antec one

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:28 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Antec One is ok. Lots of airflow but not very quiet. Why not move to a mATX build? If you like Asrock, there's cheaper/newer boards out there. No reason for Z68, why not B75 or H77? Have you considered the IvyBridge Pentiums instead of Sandy Bridge? Combo of G2xxx Pentium and a low power B75/H77 mobo will shave a few watts off of your power use. Are the 4 x 1TB drives for somekinda RAID?

Your power use will be under 100W. So, probably don't need a 460W PSU.

thomas1h
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by thomas1h » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:42 pm

I was thinking of a matx build initially but the z68 is on offer for 40£, which makes it the cheapest motherboard. I have considered ivy bridge , from what i heard they are only 5-8% more efficient, but could be wrong. since i wont be overclocking an h77 board will be fine for me (provided it is cheaper than z77 that is)?

Nope, no particular preference for any motherboard manufacturer, whatever is relatively cheap that will do the job. So in my case a pico 150w psu will be fine? Which case would you recommend that is quieter (i have looked at the p280 but it is far too big i think), would adding damping material to antec one (e.g. akasa paxmate) make it quieter?

Yep the 4 1tb drives are for raid 10 (raid 10 needs 4 hdds minimum), i presume these will be making the most noise in my set up , correct?



I originally calculated my psu needs from an online power calculator- i guess they are wildly innacurate.

Thanks for your quick response :-)

edh
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by edh » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:53 pm

Without knowing the loads on the server it's hard to judge if RAM and CPU are ideal. Most NAS systems use much lower CPU and RAM but it depends what you intend to be doing with it. If this is purely for personal use then a NAS might make more sense or you could equally build a much lower power system, perhaps using a MiniITX Atom board as a base.

I would second Steve on questioning the use of ATX and would suggest a lower power motherboard and much smaller PSU. You'll save a great deal of money for a start.

Why 4x1Tb disks? Why not 2x2Tb disks? How ever quiet a 1Tb disk may be advertised in comparison to a 2Tb disk, it's only because it has less platters. By doubling up the drives you're defeating this advantage as the platter count also increases, as does the amount of other mechanicals and hence power and noise would be worse than 2x2Tb disks.

So, consider a small NAS perhaps? If not, build this as a much lower powered system anyway.
Last edited by edh on Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Pappnaas
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by Pappnaas » Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:05 am

As edh pointed out: We do not know enough.

I.E. 16Gb of RAM, for whom do you want to share files with? Complete City of Tokio? If using Linux/Samba for sharing, you'll need 2-4GB at most.

SB-CPU doesn't make any sense, IVB is cooler, hence potentially quieter. Same goes for Z68 board, as mentioned.

As long as you plan to use HDDs, you'll have no need for SATA3, SATA2 will be enough and besides, it's your network speed that does hold everything up in most cases.

Most people will opt for a premade NAS (QNAP, Synology or Thecus) because it gives you less hassle and less to worry about. And, since it is reachable via network, you do not need any silent modells, just put it in another room and a long cable will do.

thomas1h
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by thomas1h » Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:30 am

It seems my previous post has not come through yet.

The idea is that it will share large files (from 500mb upwards, mostly data files, videos etc etc.) between about 3-5 computers. The principle is that if computer 2 needs an updated file1 then it is immediately availible on the server, no waiting time requiered. The changes will be saved to the server on the fly, hence the 4 hdds in raid 10 (for redundancy ).
I figured that a dual core will be fine for these tasks. It is going to run windows home server (have not considered linux).
Yes 16gb is probably overkill - 4 is enough.
Pappnaas wrote: And, since it is reachable via network, you do not need any silent models, just put it in another room and a long cable will do.
Good point!


Good point on the NAS - they are much cheaper (by a factor of 2 at least), quieter (and more fit for purpose) than I originally though. Can NAS boxes cope with what i have described?


Thanks for your help

bonestonne
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by bonestonne » Wed Apr 10, 2013 6:31 pm

I think a NAS should work fine for what you're looking to do.

For example, if you have a word document open on computer 1 that is saved on the NAS (as in, you're editing directly off the NAS), once you click save and close the file, the changes are immediately available for you to open on a different computer.

Now, if you wanted to have two computers both editing one file, you will run into issues. I don't believe a NAS will allow for multiple computers to open a single file (you would likely get an "in use" error, or similar). Changes will not update one the fly between the two machines off a NAS, if I'm remembering this correctly.

Whether you need a server or a NAS depends a bit on which you need for your use. To just keep things simple, saving and closing a file before opening on another machine is the best way in my opinion, it just reduces a lot of unnecessary complications in a home environment.

InfyMcGirk
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Re: Advice on these specs (Noise wise)

Post by InfyMcGirk » Thu Apr 11, 2013 11:11 pm

I would strongly recommend looking into a standalone NAS. I had vaguely similar requirements to yours and it was only when I got my NAS and started to explore its feature set that I realised actually it would probably replace a proper server for lots of uses...
My NAS can even do some on-the-fly video transcoding (standard def only, of course), which I would never have expected from a little dual core Atom powered device!

I have a Synology DS1812+ (8 bay) but there's a 4 bay version (DS412+) which is cheaper if you don't need as much capacity. The models with + in the name are all relatively powerful and feature rich, with Intel Atom CPUs. They also offer lower powered, less capable models which are much cheaper and would be more than adequate if you are literally just going to use this as a file server and don't require many extra apps.

I've been amazed by my NAS - if I'd have known they had evolved into such capable devices, I probably would have got one years ago and saved a lot of electricity bills. I used to keep my PC running 24/7 for things like SSH tunnelling, torrenting and to act as a DLNA media server - all of these tasks are now performed much more reliably by my NAS.

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