Home server with 6+ HDD

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Mamaun
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Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:44 am

Hi,

My first post here altouth I'm readint SilentPcreview's articles since 2005 or so.

I'm about to build a home server to keep all my downloads and WORK centralized. I want it to be SILENT and to have a low power consumption :D

Here my first specs:

Intel Celeron G470 // Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Asus P8B75-M LX PLUS
4GB 1333 DDR3
Corsair CX500 V2 500W


And I'm wondering what case will bee silent from a HDD point of view:

Corsair obsidian 550D
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
NZXT H2 Classic
Fractal Define R4
CoolerMaster Silencio RC-650
...

I'm open to change every aspect of the hardware so suggestions will be appreciated.

THANKS :D

boost
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by boost » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:21 am

What do you want the machine to do besides storage?
Simple storage doesn't need a lot CPU power, which can make quiet cooling easier.
Where do you want to put it?
If you have room away from your workstation you can relax on silence.
What you want to build is the power and size of a workstation.
I suggest you read these two articles:
HP Proliant Microserver, I use this one for storage.
Silent Home Server Build Guide holds 6 drives in a fairly small space.

edh
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by edh » Mon Jun 24, 2013 6:43 am

If it is only for storage then I agree that you are going over the top on system components. A NAS might be more appropriate if you need it networked. How many systems are you going to be connecting to it from and for what purpose?

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:14 pm

Thanks FOR the replies.

I've read these articles. In fact I bought the lían li case Two years ago. BUt is loud as hell in its actual locatión. I'm moving the server to a bedroom, it must be quiet.

I'll use it FOR storage but I want to install subversion and probably use it as a testing server for our .net web based applications.

I want it to have more han 6 hard disk installed in it. Tons Of storage FOR movies, my photos, vídeo renderings...

We are 4 people un our startup. We all must have access to the server at the same time.

It has to be capable Of streaming (not encoding) bluray movies over gigabit lan.

EDIT: I have a phenom x6 with two ssd, 8gb DDR3 and an ati 5850 to do all the hard work. This server is only a server.

mkk
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by mkk » Mon Jun 24, 2013 3:53 pm

Do you have some specific harddrives already that you have to use? Otherwise I'd figure that up to six of Seagates 4TB(ST4000DM000 ) drives in a Fractal Design Node 304 chassis should go a long way, and be quiet thanks to the exceptional audio characteristics of this drive model. You'll just need to pick a mini-ITX motherboard.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:31 pm

thanks for the replies.

Now I have a Lian li PCQ-08 with 5 hard drives and it's not nearly quiet. I don't mind buy a mini itx motherboard but no way I'd buyy a case with smaller than 12cm fans.

I prefeer bigger case with more airflow and silent, very silent.

Cistron
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Cistron » Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:53 pm

Mamaun wrote:I've read these articles. In fact I bought the lían li case Two years ago. BUt is loud as hell in its actual locatión. I'm moving the server to a bedroom, it must be quiet.
I think 6 hard-drives will be hard to get bedroom quiet.

I use a WD20EARS, which has been tested as very quiet, however at night I can easily make out the spindle and seek noises of the suspended drive. So you might have to resort to extra silencing enclosures on top of suspension.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:02 am

Cistron wrote:I think 6 hard-drives will be hard to get bedroom quiet.

I use a WD20EARS, which has been tested as very quiet, however at night I can easily make out the spindle and seek noises of the suspended drive. So you might have to resort to extra silencing enclosures on top of suspension.
No one is going to sleep there, it'll be an office. My wife has an iMac with a SSD drive, is very quiet. She has to study and i want the server to be as quiet as her iMac. I know it's near impossible with retail cases, but I want to make it as close as possible.

mkk
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by mkk » Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:23 am

Thanks to the rear 140mm fan the airflow in Node 304 is excellent for this type of build. The two front 92mm fans are not necessary at all, even if they are quiet at about 7V. Just saying. :)

Abula
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 25, 2013 7:22 pm

Mamaun wrote:I'm wondering what case will bee silent from a HDD point of view:

Corsair obsidian 550D
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
NZXT H2 Classic
Fractal Define R4
CoolerMaster Silencio RC-650
If you are really into doing your best into silencing a server (although i do doubt will be dead silent in so many mechanical), you should get a bigger enclosure and suspend the hdds. Check HDD Elastic Suspension... Show your pics! and Testing the System with Nine Suspended HDDs

Now if you are not comfortable with suspending hdds, i would go with Fractal Design Define R4, it has very good cable management, their hdd on grommets its decent, it uses 140mm fans, and the included fans should work fine under 7v for quiet setup. I would probably add a third fan to have a positive pressure and have some air exit through the passive/hybrid PSU, to help it cool itself. It should give you 8 hdds on the standard mounts, you can probably mount more on the 2x 5.25 hdds. The case is very restrictive with the door + inside door + mesh and the rest of the case is closed aside from the 140mm exit, its kinda cheap, on sale you can find it at $80, i think it should make a good option for a small server if you are not into suspending.
Mamaun wrote:Intel Celeron G470
Why the G470? seems 2.0ghz celeron for $44, i would just go with Intel Celeron G1610 2.60GHz LGA 1155 Processor BX80637G1610 $43, faster and cheaper. Almost all ivy bridge downclock the same frequencies at idle, so it should have very similar idle temps and power consumption, while still having more ghz in case you do need them.
Mamaun wrote:Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Personally i think noctua coolers are great, probably among the best, just overpriced imo. For very quiet setup, i would recommend, if you can find one still, Scythe Mugen 3, the Slipstream that comes with the heatsink is a wonderful PWM fan, it can be dropped below 300rpm, where its inaudible, and still can be ramped up to 1600rpm if you were to need additional cooling, Asus FanXpert should help you manage it very easily, specially since its on the 4pin CPU fan heather where it has 20% limit, and with fanXpert you should be able to drop below 300rpm and create your own ramp up depending on the temp on your cpu. If you cant find it anywhere, then Thermalright HR-02 Macho, reviewed by SPCR Thermalright HR-02 Macho Quiet/Fanless Cooler, probably an overkill for celeron, but you might be able to run it passive.
Mamaun wrote:Asus P8B75-M LX PLUS
4GB 1333 DDR3
This seems fine, test fanXpert should be pretty good for a quiet setup. Check the mobo for compatibility on the memory so you avoid problems.
Mamaun wrote:Corsair CX500 V2 500W
Personally i dont think the CX is a good idea, i would probably spend a little more into Seasonic 560W 80 Plus Gold ATX 12V/EPS 12V Power Supply - X-560 SS-560KM, it should be passive at idle and very quiet even under load, in your case i think its going to stay passive almost full time, unless you are doing transcoding etc (install it with the fan up, so when its passive hot air will rise). If you feel it over your what you are willing to spend (personally i always recommend to spend as much as you can PSU), then consider Seasonic 360W 80PLUS Gold ATX12V Power Supply SSR-360GP $60, reviewed by SPCR, Seasonic G360 PSU: High efficiency & performance, low price (this one i would place the fan down to draw fresh air from the bottom as the fan is always on).

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Wed Jun 26, 2013 12:32 am

Thanks Abula.

I found the MUGEN heatsink and I'll give a try at that celeron, although here in europe G470 is cheaper. I was more worried about power consumption than horsepower, but one core plus at same powerconsumprion is welcomed.

I like Fractal Cases. Since I'll only have 4 fans (2xcase + cpu + psu), will it be capable to silence my 6 noisy HDD's?

And about the PSU, I'm on a budget, so I don't want to spend more than 100€ in it. What about a Seasonic S12II Bronze? Now I have an early version of this PSU and ABSOLUTE LOVE IT (175€ in 2006, ouch!).

Abula
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Abula » Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:34 am

Mamaun wrote:I found the MUGEN heatsink and I'll give a try at that celeron, although here in europe G470 is cheaper. I was more worried about power consumption than horsepower, but one core plus at same powerconsumprion is welcomed.
Nice that you have access to the mugen, us in the North america cant get Scythe products until they rework their distribution. Just to mention the only thing that i did find bad on the Mugen is their mounting mechanism, not that its bad, but hard to do as its bolted throught the bottom, a little hard to do it alone, not a big deal either, but much easier to do noctuas/thermarlight/prolimatech mounting brackets. On the CPU, honestly i never have used or even seen the G470, seems in the US its like OEM cpu, mostly for manufacturers of pcs, seems the price in the US is very close to what the 1610 is, but idk in europe. On sandy bridge most of the dual cores will have very similar consumption on idle as alll downclock the same, the difference was on loads as some had higher defualt clocks, same happens with ivy bridge, now speaking directly on G470, idk its a single core 2.0 ghz celeron.... could be it consumes less having one less core than the 1610, but my experience with i3 2100T was it idle really low, very much the same as the celerons and pentiums, but all were dual cores, i manage to idle around 14W headless. Here is up to you, if you can get the G470 cheap and you don't need the cpu pwoer that 1610 has, then go for it. The mugen should cool either at the lowest setting fine, on my HTPCMI (check sig) i have a mugen3 cooling an i3 2120 at 300rpm and even under Prime95 doesnt reach dangerous temps, load that will never happen on real world usage, so overall i expect that you will be able to run it at its minium settings and be fine with virtually silent CPU cooler, again the only thing that its harder to mount, once you do it its fine, very secure. One other thing about the fan, it can be droped very low, but will also depend on the motherboard and how it handles PWM fans, Asus should be fine, as they have 20% minimun on the CPU 4pin heathers, and fanxpert should be able to overwrite it and get it as low as it can, but im just saying this in case you go with another motherboard that can impact how the fan can be manage.
Mamaun wrote:I like Fractal Cases. Since I'll only have 4 fans (2xcase + cpu + psu), will it be capable to silence my 6 noisy HDD's?
The best is to suspend them or to enclose them, the mounting on the R4 is on rubber grommets that will help some, but wont be as effective as the others mentions. Get quiet drives is another key thing, SPCR liked a lot the WD Reds 3tb, im about to mount 8x seagate 4tb on my server that i have read comments from fellow forum users that are decent drives, but no direct review form spcr.
Mamaun wrote:And about the PSU, I'm on a budget, so I don't want to spend more than 100€ in it. What about a Seasonic S12II Bronze? Now I have an early version of this PSU and ABSOLUTE LOVE IT (175€ in 2006, ouch!).
The hdds will probably be the loudest components on the build, i believe the CPU cooler will be virtually inaudible below 500rpm, and the case fans can be brought down with the included fan controllers to 7v where they will be really quiet, you can still drop them 5v if you still can hear the case fans. The only remaining noise source will be the fan on the PSU. I have no experience with Seasonic S12II series, the only thing i can point you is a thread Hows the Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze ??.

Personally i always spend lot on PSUs, specially looking for something quiet, PSU is an item that you don't replace that often, i usually just upgrade motherboard/cpu/gpu, etc, but PSU unless its starting to fail or get noisy, i leave it, so i like to invest as much as my budget allows on them.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:17 am

thanks!!

Will a i3 3220T consume less power? Since it will be 24/7 I dont' mind spend a little more (gold psu + 35W cpu) to have lower annual commercial energy cost that make it cheaper over time.

james
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by james » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:54 am

IMHO, the T (35W) versions are pointless. Just get a 55W one and underclock it to reduce max power. Idle power is the same.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:01 am

Ok.

I need some power to manage Windows Server 2008, SQL server and to test some .Net applications. We will virtualize the server because of stability and recovery time.

We are 4 in the company.

Will G1610 be enough?

EDIT: what about a seasonoc fanless x400?

Pappnaas
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Pappnaas » Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:10 am

VM on a Celeron?

You will not have a snappy server, expect some boot times and stuff. If you and the other guys make money with this server, then testing time will matter?

That's no home server anymore. And if you really want to virtualise, i would not recommend anything without VT and other technical goodies, do not know if the G1610 supports any of them.

Looks to me you want professional quality and power. I can understand that a startup does not want to spend more than necessary, but skimping on "The Server" is like a craftsman buying WalMart home quality tools to build a skyscraper.

Get some pre-build i5 desktop and add in a 4 bay NAS with iSCSI. Virtualise the server on the i5 and use iSCSI for storage needs. And consider buying something with a decent warranty or even on site support within next business day.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Fri Jun 28, 2013 9:01 am

This server is a temporary solution in my house. Un our early stages we will make photoshop, word and WordPress stuff. All with subversión.

Virtualization will be only used for "easy recover" in case Of crash.

.net applications will be relative small. We are only 4 people and our server will be iddle for the most time. We need daily backups to a USB hard disk (and cloud) too.

We will go to a real office with a real server in a few months (i hope). Then i'll keep the server here in my house.

I though we wont need such a big power. Even with virtualization.


Sorry about my english.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Tue Jul 09, 2013 2:04 am

I'm wondering if a X-400 or a Seasonic P460W will be ok to have the "server" quiet and stable.

faugusztin
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by faugusztin » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:22 am

Mamaun wrote:I'm wondering if a X-400 or a Seasonic P460W will be ok to have the "server" quiet and stable.
Yes of course. Even with a Xeon E3-1235 + 12 hard drives + some other minor stuff the max load i was able to pull from that setup was around 200-230W. That is 50% of the maximum load of those passive power supplies, and it will run fine with that load for long periods of time (my X460 in that server runs probably over a year now).

Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5, i7 - in case of Socket 1155 it absolutely doesn't matter, they all will idle at around 20-25W from the socket. The only difference is when the maximum load happens, then of course a single core Celeron will use less power than a quadcore Xeon E3 with Hyperthreading, but performance will be different too.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:34 pm

Thanks!

Now I'm searching for a heatsink that can run that celeron on passive with the fractal fans at 5v :D

Abula
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Abula » Tue Jul 16, 2013 4:25 am

Mamaun wrote:Thanks!

Now I'm searching for a heatsink that can run that celeron on passive with the fractal fans at 5v :D
At 5v the fans are gonna barely move any air, so maybe something like NoFan CR-95C, has been recently reviewed by SPCR, NoFan CR-95C Copper Fanless CPU Cooler.

But a mugen 3 (or4) will have a slipstream that can be undervolted via pwm (as long as your motherboards allows) to around 300rpm (slower than the fractal at 5V) where it will be inaudible, and cost less, but you have to make sure the mobo you chose can undervolt that low via 4pin pwm cpu header. On my htpcimi build I run a mugen 3 with scythe pwm kamaflex2 and via bios I can drop them between 250 and 300rpm, check my sig for the link.

Mamaun
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Mamaun » Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:14 am

Thanks!!

I've jut received my MUGEN 4 :D

I'l run it on an Asus P8B75-M LX PLUS. I hope to drop it between 300-400rpm :D

Abula
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Re: Home server with 6+ HDD

Post by Abula » Mon Jul 22, 2013 11:33 am

Mamaun wrote:Thanks!!

I've jut received my MUGEN 4 :D

I'l run it on an Asus P8B75-M LX PLUS. I hope to drop it between 300-400rpm :D
The fan can go there, its a matter if the motherboard will allow it to go that low. Make sure you connect it to CPU_FAN header on the motherboard, as the chassis_fan headers have a restriction of 60%, whiel the CPU_FAN has a restriction of 20% (at least thats the case on my ASUS GENE IV), get the latest of FAN Xpert, i believe for your mobo is V1.01.11, and play with it, till you get the way you want. On my intel Q67 and H61 builds, in both im able to drop them to 300rpm on pure bios, they just dont ramp up or at least to the levels where the bios will ramp it up, on the Asus you should be able to define your graph, play with the software. If you want see more, check Cool Tech: ASUS Fan Xpert 2 Demo - Take Control of Your CPU Fans

Be sure to post your experience with it and how it worked out for you.

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