Advice on new home server?

[VivienM]

I'm dangerously close to ordering some parts to build a new server box to replace a 700MHz PIII that, after almost 8 years of loyal service (in various roles), seems to be dying...

The goal is for this thing to be as low power as reasonably possible, to run 64-bit OS, and run various serving tasks (media server to feed a PS3, file server, virtualization, email, etc.). No overclocking. Quietness is good. Ability to add lots of HDs is desirable.

Note that I'm in Canada, so parts have to be from NCIX or similar. No Newegg up here.

Current list of parts:
- Antec NSK4480 with the built in 380W PSU (which I understand is a rebadged Seasonic?)
- ASUS P5E-VM DO
- 2 gigs of Crucial Rendition DDR2-667
- Intel Xeon E3110
- Pioneer DVR-212D
(and some recycled HDs)

Any thoughts?

 

[Knavish]

Why put a 3Ghz processor (Xeon E3110) in a light duty, low power server?

It is rated at 65 Watts, but it seems like a slower processor would still consume less energy. I know heat scales as the square of frequency, so I'd assume that power consumption does too. (Maybe I'm wrong here, can someone clear this up?)

Since media server in a home doesn't require a big CPU, the only task you've got listed that could be demanding is virtualization. If I was going to be doing virtualization, I'd rather have more cores and more ram instead of a fast clock.

 

[JackMDS]

So you are going to ditch relatively low consumption server and replace it with High consumption one?

May be this 20 Watt combo can do better, http://www.clubit.com/product_...il.cfm?itemno=A4842001

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: Knavish
Why put a 3Ghz processor (Xeon E3110) in a light duty, low power server?

It is rated at 65 Watts, but it seems like a slower processor would still consume less energy. I know heat scales as the square of frequency, so I'd assume that power consumption does too. (Maybe I'm wrong here, can someone clear this up?)

Since media server in a home doesn't require a big CPU, the only task you've got listed that could be demanding is virtualization. If I was going to be doing virtualization, I'd rather have more cores and more ram instead of a fast clock.

Simple reason: because it's the only 45nm chip actually available up here? And I'm figuring 45nm has a significant power advantage over 65nm...
I'd rather get the E8200 (lowest clock rate 45nm), but it's not available and won't be for a while?

And you're right about virtualization being part of this. If I want a chip with hardware VT, that means at least the E6550 (all the slower E6xxx chips seem discontinued). The E3110 is about $40 (CAD) more, probably significantly faster (2MB more cache, the Penryn improvements, and 667MHz more clock), and probably uses (substantially?) less power.

If it wasn't for the hardware VT requirement, then an E2180 would save a big pile of ca$h, would probably have more than good enough performance, and probably uses less power than the E3110. But if a year or two or three from now (after LGA775 VT-enabled chips become harder to find), I want to run Hyper-V, I'd be kicking myself big time...

I also considered putting something newer in my desktop P5W DH Deluxe instead of my E6600 and reusing the E6600, but my E6600 is one of the early ones, and from what I understand, those are quite a bit more power hungry, especially at idle?

The other option would be to go AMD with a BE-2350, but I'm an Intel fanboy and have the netbursts to prove it... and the netburst experience is what I'm trying to avoid. I don't necessarily want to squeeze every watt out, but I want to avoid some hotburst with discrete graphics idling at 120-140W...

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
So you are going to ditch relatively low consumption server and replace it with High consumption one?

Two points:
a) I also want to use virtualization to be able to retire a netburst Deleron that's... doing very little now. (It used to be a MythTV box) So... one box will effectively replace two.

b) According to my kill-a-watt, the PIII 700 with 3 HDs, ATI 9100, GbE LAN, etc., uses ~75-90W when running. My research made me conclude that an E8400 rig with onboard graphics would use the same... or less, and have insanely more performance. But perhaps I misread the reviews?
(e.g. I'm looking here at another forum, and someone has an E8400 @ 3.6GHz on a P35 DS3R with an HD3870 and claims that the rig uses 74W idle. Mine should be a good 5-10W less?)

 

[Winterpool]

I too am looking to build a new server in the near future. I described my scenario in the CPUs section (never quite sure when to post there v 'General Hardware' if discussing system builds; should probably read stickies more closely). You may want to take a look at the factors I mentioned.

To sum up: I'm looking to build the cheapest lowest-power server still capable of x86 hardware virtualisation (for 'Hyper-V'). Because of the cost of Conroes and Penryns, I looked to AMD and was intrigued by the low power yet respectable graphics of AMD 780G chipsets. Spending less than $200 on mb/cpu/video that will draw very little power (<50W idle) yet be capable of fulfilling an HD home theatre role in a pinch... that sounds extremely appealing, especially considering I'm already a good deal under water trying to afford a Wolfdale workstation (that's where my Xeon E3110 is going, some place it might actually use more than 10 per cent of its cycles).

Having a discrete graphics card will almost always cost more power, even when idle. If a server isn't going to be doing anything else, you generally want the simplest lowest-power graphics chip possible (almost always integrated). That's why the 780G is so intriguing: integrated graphics that actually can actually do something, especially when it comes to HD video. On most review sites, systems running modern video cards tend to idle between 100 and 200 watts, which is quite a bit more than 47.2.

 

[VivienM]

Well, if you're willing to wait a couple of days, I'll post how much power my E3110 server uses. I ordered the parts tonight; with a lot of luck, the thing should be running Wednesday night...

(And yes, a Wolfdale workstation would be nice, but I already have an E6600 Conroe running perfectly, and I admit to being mystified as to how my P5W DH Deluxe claims to support 1333FSB processors...)

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: VivienM
Well, if you're willing to wait a couple of days, I'll post how much power my E3110 server uses. I ordered the parts tonight; with a lot of luck, the thing should be running Wednesday night...

E3110 server is more or less up. With a 7200.11 500GB Seagate, a DVD burner, and a 120mm case fan, it seems to idle at about 56W.

Not bad for a 3GHz CPU, eh?

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: VivienM
The other option would be to go AMD with a BE-2350, but I'm an Intel fanboy and have the netbursts to prove it... and the netburst experience is what I'm trying to avoid.

Hey, Netburst is what keeps me from having to turn on the heat in my house during the winter.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: VivienM
The other option would be to go AMD with a BE-2350, but I'm an Intel fanboy and have the netbursts to prove it... and the netburst experience is what I'm trying to avoid.

Hey, Netburst is what keeps me from having to turn on the heat in my house during the winter.

And Netburst is what gets me yelled at by my neighbour when I have to turn on my (noisy) air conditioner sooner than her in the summer! It goes both ways...

May Netburst rest in peace. Long live the Core microarchitecture!

 

[VivienM]

Power consumption at close to full load seems to be in the ~86W range.

So, let's see here... according to Everest's benchmarks, this thing is about 15 times faster than the old PIII 700, and it uses less power at idle and probably about the same at load. (Yes, I know, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison due to discrete video and more HDs in the 700, but still... modern technology is impressive.)