Home Server - Minimal power

gtir666 · 27 May 2010 at 21:45

Evening fellas,

Need a bit advice with this one, strangley im finding speccing this build more of challenge than the usual no holds barred gaming machine.

Basically my requirement is absolute minimal power consumption so can be left on majority of the time. Otherwise your usual home server requirements.

Ive got a Q8200 and 4gb kingston hyperx 1066 ddr2 spare i wouldnt mind using in this build but not sure if they fit in with my minimal power consumption idea though?

So far these are my thoughts,

PSU - 80+ bronze minimum
HDD - Single large capacity, use less power than multiple? Western Digital green maybe?
Mobo - With onboard gfx, obviously no need powerfull gfx here. Possibly G41 chipset as would suit the Q8200 and DDR2 ive got already?

So i suppose the real question is am I going to get the low power consumption im after from skt775 and ddr2, or should I be looking at starting a fresh with more modern cpu's and chipsets?

PhillyDee · 27 May 2010 at 22:46

Sell the Q8200 tbh. Is there any need for it in a home server?
Whats the server for? Hard drives add very little power consumption.

danewesley · 27 May 2010 at 23:03

what would a mini-itx be like as a home server, they have uber low power consumption?

Speed · 27 May 2010 at 23:12

Remember that the PSU efficiency ratings are at high load, picking one with a high 80 plus standard won't make a huge amount of difference at idle/low usage. I'm obviously not saying don't pick an efficient PSU, just bare that in mind.

Atom boards work well, I had a 330 for a year or so before needing more SATA ports. But really any motherboard with a low energy CPU should be fine. I do however agree, sell the Q8200 it is overkill.

danewesley · 27 May 2010 at 23:12

not sure if the board of cpu have intergrated graphics, doesnt say on the website.

Speed · 27 May 2010 at 23:14

Good pick on the case, but the CPU is overkill.

I'd also go Samsung F3s as they run cooler, quieter and about the same energy usage as other 2TB drives.

Single large drives are the way to go, it would also help to have some more info on usage etc.

danewesley · 27 May 2010 at 23:17

i would have chosen the other mini itx board they had on here with the intergrated cpu, and ion chipset and all you would have needed was some ddr2 memory, it would have saved you a lot of money, although you can just get from another site if you wish, i think you could knock like £200 off the price there and have about the same power/ minimal power consumption.

Speed · 27 May 2010 at 23:18

Yeah that is worth considering, but it isn't cheap, it would be an Atom 330 based board. You could do it all fairly cheaply using 2nd hand parts.

danewesley · 27 May 2010 at 23:24

this is a top end board ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE comes with intergrated cpu, gfx and psu! just bang in some memory, a dvd drive, hdd and put it all in a case, job done!

danewesley · 27 May 2010 at 23:28

so id get this i think....

Plus the ASUS AT3IONT-I DELUXE for £150

so total is = £410 or there about

Big.Wayne · 28 May 2010 at 00:11

gtir666 · 28 May 2010 at 00:17

Wow cheers fellas!

Youve all helped a lot at clearing up what I should be looking at.

Ill just give a bit more info on usage, all music, cameras, camcorder, phones etc will be ripped/synced to this machine and any lengthy downloads. Then all it will do is share these with the rest of pc's and laptop in the house. The reason for this build is were fed up with having files scaterred around all different pc's, make life so much easier if they were all in one place that all pc's can access same files.

Zotac looks good but if q8200 is ott, then id prob put that setup in same bracket. Id not even thought of looking atom boards might be onto a winner their

PhillyDee · 28 May 2010 at 00:30

Depends how much storage you think you need!
How do you plan on running an OS on this?

WHS is incredibly good, you may want to install the beta version of Vail (WHS 2 codename) and give that a go. Works best on multiple hard drives as it can duplicate your files (excellent software raid) and can also backup each machine daily. (As well as remote access as standard!)

Cycrow · 28 May 2010 at 00:36

u really dont need an Ion for a home server, a bog standed intergrated gpu would be plenty.

a basic atom, or via epia would do the trick.

it really depends what you plan to do on the server, what os you want it to run etc. Sounds like you want a simple file server tbh, and they generally dont need much in the way of processing power

the via epias use about 14w of power, which includes everything bar the harddrives, basic atoms are simlar as well, especially the lower speced ones.
Any of the fully intergrated mini-itx boards will do really, then all u need to add is memory, harddrive and case.
no point going for a flashy case when u'll likly stuff it in a corner somewhere never to be seen

everyone seems to go completly overkill when it comes to home servers.

danewesley · 28 May 2010 at 00:43

Id have mine looking the sex with lian li or silverstone

PhillyDee · 28 May 2010 at 00:50

danewesley said:
Id have mine looking the sex with lian li or silverstone

Mine is racked in my cabinet. Looks much better!

Big.Wayne · 28 May 2010 at 00:53

gtir666 said:
absolute minimal power consumption

left on majority of the time

usual home server requirements.

4gb kingston hyperx 1066 ddr2 spare

all music, cameras, camcorder, phones etc will be ripped/synced to this machine

lengthy downloads.

it will do is share these with the rest of pc's and laptop in the house

were fed up with having files scaterred around all different pc's

make life so much easier if they were all in one place

all pc's can access same files

AMD Sempron 140 (45w TDP) 2.70GHz Review
Micro Fusion Remote 350 product page
ASUS M4A785D-M PRO product page

Cycrow · 28 May 2010 at 01:05

PhillyDee said:
Mine is racked in my cabinet. Looks much better!

yeah mine too

looks much more impression.

althou racks tend to be on the expensive side.

my rack is filled with 1u mini-itx servers

danewesley · 28 May 2010 at 01:20

my wifes rack is nice mind, but i think id still prefer a case.

danewesley · 28 May 2010 at 01:21

wait, where is that amd cpu on this site?