New [NAS] build
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:47 pm
I'm running out of space and will need to rebuild my nas soon, so i was hoping to go a lot greener this time and aim for <40w at idle (with hdd's spun down). Current setup idles at 200w, peaking at 300w when the hard drives spin up. This nas is running 24/7, with no power saving settings currently employed.
Current setup :
Corsair TX750 (750watt)
e4300
2x2gb ddr2-800
msi 680i
pci geforce2mx
highpoint 2320 raid card
8x 1tb raid 5 (storage)
2x 640gb raid 1 (os/temp drive)
1x 250gb
icute case which currently has 18hdd bays and 2x 5.25 bays
I'm only really familiar with intel systems so i need some help here. I'm hoping after selling the old components, they should easily pay for the cheaper amd parts (excluding hdd's).
So what i need for the new setup:
PSU???
AMD dual core???
1x2GB ddr2-800 - from original setup
AMD mobo with onboard video????
no raid card (software raid)
8x1.5tb (raid 5 or raid z - could be 2tb disks if they catch up in $/gb)
1x 640gb (os/temp drive) - from original setup
icute case - from original setup
Price references can be easily gained here - (see post below)
I've labelled the questions with letters to try keep my post simple, i tend get lost in my words easily.
I need a new psu for my desktop, so the TX750 will be put into that. Now i'm unsure on what psu to go in the nas. The pico psu's look tempting, but it seems a lot simpler to stick with a regular psu, especially if i am to add more hdd's later. The enermax 425w modu82+ psu seemed to have great efficiency, however only the next model up (525w) is available locally.
a) What PSU would you recommend? Enermax modu82+ 525w ?
What AMD cpu would you suggest that can be underclocked/undervolted and employs whatever power saving modes are available? I assume the cheapest dual core AMD is the Athlon 64 X2 4600+, seen in this list - (see post below)
b) Which AMD cpu would you recommend, and is the sempron at all comparable?
I don't think i really make use of 4gb of ram. The nas is only used via remote desktop. The only thing it runs currently is a torrent program. However the new setup will also have to compute the raid calculations, but i guess that won't use up much ram either?
c) Should i stick to 1x2gb stick of ram, purely to save power?
I assume onboard video will use less power than a pci geforce 2? I need a motherboard with as many sata ports as possible. The current 680i has 8 ports aswell as 4x full sized pci-e16 slots, good for expansion cards. At the very minimum i need 12 sata ports, doesn't matter if they come from an expansion card(s). There are a lot of motherboards to choose from, and i really don't know where to begin considering i don't know a lot about the various amd chipsets. First priority is as many sata and pci-e slots as possible (assuming pci-e expansion cards), second is gigabit ethernet, third is power efficiency. I'd probably also prefer to go with the gigabyte brand, especially if the price difference is only something like $20-30.
d) Which motherboard would you recommend?
Lastly, I'm considering going with OpenSolaris and setting up a zfs raid-z, for the extra protection. Though i really hate using anything apart from windows, i find troubleshooting in linux etc to be quite difficult. I'm currently just running vista on the nas, after spending 2 weeks screwing around with linux - long story. For now i'm playing around with Open Solaris in VMWare. I'll either end up going with OpenSolaris/Raidz or Windows/Software raid 5.
e) Will Open Solaris support all those power-saving features? I can't name them off the top of my head, the features relating to amd, as well as being able to spin down hdd's/arrays when not in use
I had some spare time recently so was browsing these forums and looking through various articles on power-efficient setups. Now i don't have enough time to fully research everything, so sorry for the 'noobish' questions. Thanks in advance for your input
Current setup :
Corsair TX750 (750watt)
e4300
2x2gb ddr2-800
msi 680i
pci geforce2mx
highpoint 2320 raid card
8x 1tb raid 5 (storage)
2x 640gb raid 1 (os/temp drive)
1x 250gb
icute case which currently has 18hdd bays and 2x 5.25 bays
I'm only really familiar with intel systems so i need some help here. I'm hoping after selling the old components, they should easily pay for the cheaper amd parts (excluding hdd's).
So what i need for the new setup:
PSU???
AMD dual core???
1x2GB ddr2-800 - from original setup
AMD mobo with onboard video????
no raid card (software raid)
8x1.5tb (raid 5 or raid z - could be 2tb disks if they catch up in $/gb)
1x 640gb (os/temp drive) - from original setup
icute case - from original setup
Price references can be easily gained here - (see post below)
I've labelled the questions with letters to try keep my post simple, i tend get lost in my words easily.
I need a new psu for my desktop, so the TX750 will be put into that. Now i'm unsure on what psu to go in the nas. The pico psu's look tempting, but it seems a lot simpler to stick with a regular psu, especially if i am to add more hdd's later. The enermax 425w modu82+ psu seemed to have great efficiency, however only the next model up (525w) is available locally.
a) What PSU would you recommend? Enermax modu82+ 525w ?
What AMD cpu would you suggest that can be underclocked/undervolted and employs whatever power saving modes are available? I assume the cheapest dual core AMD is the Athlon 64 X2 4600+, seen in this list - (see post below)
b) Which AMD cpu would you recommend, and is the sempron at all comparable?
I don't think i really make use of 4gb of ram. The nas is only used via remote desktop. The only thing it runs currently is a torrent program. However the new setup will also have to compute the raid calculations, but i guess that won't use up much ram either?
c) Should i stick to 1x2gb stick of ram, purely to save power?
I assume onboard video will use less power than a pci geforce 2? I need a motherboard with as many sata ports as possible. The current 680i has 8 ports aswell as 4x full sized pci-e16 slots, good for expansion cards. At the very minimum i need 12 sata ports, doesn't matter if they come from an expansion card(s). There are a lot of motherboards to choose from, and i really don't know where to begin considering i don't know a lot about the various amd chipsets. First priority is as many sata and pci-e slots as possible (assuming pci-e expansion cards), second is gigabit ethernet, third is power efficiency. I'd probably also prefer to go with the gigabyte brand, especially if the price difference is only something like $20-30.
d) Which motherboard would you recommend?
Lastly, I'm considering going with OpenSolaris and setting up a zfs raid-z, for the extra protection. Though i really hate using anything apart from windows, i find troubleshooting in linux etc to be quite difficult. I'm currently just running vista on the nas, after spending 2 weeks screwing around with linux - long story. For now i'm playing around with Open Solaris in VMWare. I'll either end up going with OpenSolaris/Raidz or Windows/Software raid 5.
e) Will Open Solaris support all those power-saving features? I can't name them off the top of my head, the features relating to amd, as well as being able to spin down hdd's/arrays when not in use
I had some spare time recently so was browsing these forums and looking through various articles on power-efficient setups. Now i don't have enough time to fully research everything, so sorry for the 'noobish' questions. Thanks in advance for your input