Motherboard and CPU for the fileserver

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:24 pm

My file server is currently set up with some temporary components. It's an AMD Phenom 8450 and Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H motherboard with 6 hard drives (4x 640 GB Blue, 1x 640 GB green, 80 GB IDE HDD, Samsung 400 GB).

This is a 24/7 system so power consumption is a major concern here. I'm looking for a new motherboard and cpu to replace this set up.

I saw the MSI KA760GM article and the Phenom draws about ~57 watts idle with CnQ which I'd wager to be close to the power consumption of my current motherboard and cpu combined. The X2 4850e draws ~33 watts.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article926-page5.html

At first I was considering going with an Atom setup but as far as I know the power consumption for those systems are about 20 watts. That's only 13 watt less than the X2 4850e. It's huge in percentage terms but not too much when you think about it.

I'd go for the Atom if the prices were equal but the board I'm looking at is ~$130. I know there are cheaper boards but I need the SATA ports.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X7SLAHB

I can get an AMD LE-1660 with an Nvidia 6150 based motherboard for about $60. I think the Nvidia chipset probably draws more power than the MSI KA760GM but the single core LE should be less than the dual core 4850e to balance out.

So it looks like the difference is $130 for ~20 watt and $60 for ~33 watt. Any factors I'm missing out here?

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:16 pm

viewtopic.php?t=49704&start=0&postdays= ... highlight=

viewtopic.php?t=52809&start=0&postdays= ... highlight=

I think the questions you've may be already ironed out in these threads. Btw, desktop ATOM itx boards are impossible to draw merely 20W from the wall. You at least need 35W for whole system including from one stick of 2GB RAM and one 3.5' HDD to one DVD writer and one normal PSU.

austinbike · Post by **austinbike** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:15 am

Two things to consider. First, atom does not have ECC, so if you are planning to be moving a lot of data back and forth, you may find that to be an issue. In addition you may find it to be underpowered.

Also, you have a ton of drives in the box. Each drive consumes power, kicks off heat and makes noise. I have found that 1.5TB drives in my NAS are just the ticket. And my systems all have notebook HD's which draw ~1-2watts vs. the ~10-13w of a 3.5" drive.