Atom as file server

[fwacct4]

I would just like to pair up Atom with a good mATX or ITX motherboard, if they ever come out with a good one.

With the Atom, a Gigabit adapter, and some 500GB HDs, I would imagine some great always-on home file servers can be had which are much faster and more flexible than the specialized NAS offerings out there.

I think the file server niche really should become the next big thing, and I can't wait until better NAS solutions become mainstream.

 

[EarthwormJim]

I don't think you can buy an Atom individually.

They come attached to a motherboard already.

Unless you're seriously concerned about power draw, you'd probably be better off getting an Athlon X2 or a cheap Pentium Dual core than an Atom. For about the same price as a Atom CPU/Motherboard combo, you could get something a lot faster.

 

[pm]

I had an Atom running as a file server. It works fine for this.

But then I wanted to use it as a DVR/Tivo as well, and this required more horsepower. I bought a new AOpen i915HFS motherboard and a used Pentium M for about the cost of the Atom motherboard + CPU, and use that now instead. About the same power envelope and much higher performance.

As a NAS, the Atom is fine though.

The thing with me was, once I had a computer running all the time in the house, I kept coming up with things to do with it. It started as a NAS box for backing up my wife and my computers, but then I set up a Hamachi VPN server for remote log-ins, and then I set up a webcam so that I could watch the house when I was on vacation, and then I set it up as a Tivo-like system running Beyond TV, and then I bought a Blu-ray drive and started watching Blu-ray movies on it (Blu-ray players for a computer are half what a standalone Blu-ray player costs), and it didn't take long working down this list before I ran into performance limits with the Atom motherboard that I had. Now I'm using it as a Slingbox and I'm not sure that the Pentium M is fast enough for this (streaming TV over the internet to my laptop).

 

[fwacct4]

For me, though, I am really looking at an ultra low wattage system. I am hoping for something like 30W total for an always-on solution. I already have a Core 2 Duo HTPC, so all my desires to turn my NAS into what it doesn't want to become won't be much of a temptation for me.

 

[Blain]

I love the idea of a dual core Atom also. But the limited MB configurations keep me away.
You could always clock down an E5200 or E5300, or maybe go with an AMD build, based on the X2 4850e.

 

[mooseracing]

I've used an AMD Geode in the socket A chipset. Great low power file server and am running server 08 on it.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

As a file server it will do fine. Just don't go overboard with what you expect the processor to do. It is a low power low performance chip in comparrison to an average desktop chip.

 

[RebateMonger]

Don't forget there are two Atoms right now. The 230 is single-core. The 330 is dual-core. The 230 draws 4 Watts by itself and the 330 draws 8 Watts. Unfortunately, the motherboards use a chipset that draws about 25 Watts by itself, so you end up with a system that draws maybe 30-35 Watts.

 

[ochadd]

The Atom processors have zero purpose outside of laptops. You have to deploy them in large numbers to see the power savings. A 45 watt AMD X2 pounds them in the *** with marginally higher power consumption and loads more power. You can have better motherboards, more memory bandwidth, PCIe RAID cards, better onboard graphics.

The difference in power cost is less than I spend on toothpicks in a year. I love the Atom concept but they are just too gimped to be anything but a novelty and a niche product.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: ochadd
The Atom processors have zero purpose outside of laptops.

"Zero"... Really, "zero"? :roll:

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: ochadd
The Atom processors have zero purpose outside of laptops.

First wrong answer, Via/Geodes/Atom setups are awesome routers or kiosks.

You have to deploy them in large numbers to see the power savings.

Replacing one desktop with some thing that uses 30-40 watts total instead of the 80-200 that a C2D uses is very noticeable.

A 45 watt AMD X2 pounds them in the *** with marginally higher power consumption and loads more power. You can have better motherboards, more memory bandwidth, PCIe RAID cards, better onboard graphics.

All burning more than 100 watts. The Via/Geodes/Atom are meant for low power maintence free scenarios.

They are a million times better than any NAS offering out there under $1k.

 

[taltamir]

the atom as a fileserver sounds nice, but the atom is just too overpriced right now. It needs a system on a chip (to get rid of that power hungry northbridge) and it needs to come down in price, until then a sub 50$ amd X2 chip will do.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: fwacct4
I would just like to pair up Atom with a good mATX or ITX motherboard, if they ever come out with a good one.

Those are already available pre-built for you for very little money:

Intel ITX motherboard: Atom 330, VGA/SVideo/Sound/Gigbit NIC $80

MSI Wind Barebones PC, Atom 330, VGA, Sound, Gigabit NIC $150

I built a Windows Home Server on an Atom 230 MSI Wind Barebones and it works great. Measured power draw with a 640 GB hard drive was 30 Watts.

The only thing lacking now is an inexpensive small case that will hold at least four hard drives. HP's MediaSmart Windows Home Server seems to have a monopoly on an appropriate small case.

 

[Blain]

Why would Intel marry such a neat little dual core CPU up with the old 945 NB and ICH7 SB?
It seems such an obvious question. Has anyone read any Intel replies about this issue?

They could have done so much better. :roll:

 

[taltamir]

Why would Intel marry such a neat little dual core CPU up with the old 945 NB and ICH7 SB?

the 945 is significantly lower power than the P35 and above, and cheaper. intel is working on a real atom chipset, but it is not ready yet. The plan is "SOC", system on chip. where an atom cpu, a northbridge, and a southbride will all be a SINGLE chip. designed for low power and low cost with modern features.

 

[Knavish]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Originally posted by: ochadd
The Atom processors have zero purpose outside of laptops.

First wrong answer, Via/Geodes/Atom setups are awesome routers or kiosks.

A 45 watt AMD X2 pounds them in the *** with marginally higher power consumption and loads more power. You can have better motherboards, more memory bandwidth, PCIe RAID cards, better onboard graphics.

All burning more than 100 watts. The Via/Geodes/Atom are meant for low power maintence free scenarios.

They are a million times better than any NAS offering out there under $1k.

This is not entirely true. I'm looking for the link now, but I've seen one review site that showed the power consumption of an undervolted 4850e + mobo to be nearly the same as an Atom+ mobo. I've read in several forums of people who get an AMD setup with that chip running on less than 40W.

 

[taltamir]

the atom chip itself takes 0.6 to 2 watts...