Building another fileserver with 13 HDDs: Board recommendations?

[CZroe]

I really have no idea if I'm going to salvage a board from one of my other systems, build a dual-duty gaming system/file server, or go with something new and appropriate for a file server, so I come to you guys to ask: what's out there?

The chassis hasn't been used in several years but the old dual-PSU CM Stacker STC-T01 is still a monster for drive, cooling, and motherboard config (currently configured for reverse ATX with very little modding). I had an old nForce 2 400 Epox board in it (the first I recall having RAID5 on board). I plan a little more modding because the 80mm fans on the top and side are ridiculously small, especially when the circular side vent is big enough for something even bigger than 230mm. With the optional CrossFlow fan installed and three 4-in-3 modules (3.5" drive cages with 120mm fans), this thing is already a wind tunnel.

 

[Cerb]

Since this is just going on down the page, now...

You really need to figure out what you want to do with it. The hardware is out there to do a lot, but not every OS gives you the same options, and performance is going to vary by how the drives are set up, which itself is something that will be directed by what OS you use.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Fileserver: FreeNAS. ZFS Drive pool. Done.

Gaming system: 1 SSD + Data HD.

Dual-mode Fileserver & Gaming System: 1 SSD. Data HDD. VMWare running FreeNAS + ZFS Drive pool. Hope nobody hits your NIC too hard when you're gaming.

 

[CZroe]

Thanks.

I'm 75% sure I want it to also be useful as a general-purpose desktop running Windows which could also be used as a light gaming LAN terminal when we have friends over (think: old games or low settings), though it probably won't be my primary gaming system. Despite excessive cooling, it will probably be always-on so total power draw is a concern. I have a feeling that almost all fans will be as slow as I can make them.

I'm considering an AMD APU platform like Steamroller (Kaveri). My old 9800GT EE (doesn't need PCIe power) probably wouldn't be much good in there but I don't need it anywhere else. Alternately, salvaging the AMD E-350 (Brazos/Zacate) from my brother's HTPC probably wouldn't do that too well either.

This case is HUGE so I am disappointed to see that most low-power platforms are only available in mini-ITX form factors with very limited expansion (one PCIe slot and few SATA ports). If there is a particular low-power product with an advantage over others when used as a light-duty workstation+fileserver, I'd love to hear about it (extra PCIe for RAID + GPU, extra SATA, etc). This case supports extended-ATX, for cryin' out loud!

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Meh.

Most modern CPUs and GPUs, low powered or not, have crazy-low idle power draw, compared to even 5 years ago.

A G2020 / Radeon 7770 combo would be decent for a "spare" gaming rig, but has a combined TDP of almost 200w. At 100% load. But when your computer is sitting there, cores shut off, voltages and clocks dropped to near-0, serving out the occasional file, the same components will be drawing like, what, 10-15w?

It'd be a similar story with an AMD APU. (There are plenty of ATX FM2 motherboards, by the way.) I'd want an A-series APU, not an E-series. (The A-series is competitive with i3 and i5 CPUs. The E-series trades blows with Atoms, and is weak for a gaming rig.)

Either way, since your server will spend most of its time idle, the primary power draws will be all those HDDs and fans. And PSU inefficiency, of course.

 

[CZroe]

I know what you mean, but Anandtech seemed to have a different perspective when they wrote the File server builder's guide back in 2011:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4666/file-server-builders-guide/3

Though power consumption factors prominently in our recommendation of the Pentium G620 over the Athlon II X2 250, it's important to not lose sight of the forest for the trees: a 20W difference in power consumption for a file server CPU is the rough equivalent of leaving a smaller, lower wattage incandescent light bulb like a reading lamp on 24/7 in your home. Ultimately, the decision is simple: is a $25 or more premium for the G620 worth saving 20W+ on your electrical bill over the long haul?

They even suggested an E350 platform: AsRock E350M1 (brother already has an Asus E350M1-M Pro we might be able to repurpose).

But you are right so I'm now strongly considering going with a Haswell i5 4670K on a cheap AsRock board with "Non-Z OC." I might repurpose my Q6600 into my nephew's next gaming system, though I think his first-gen i5 might be almost as fast as it before OC.

 

[Cerb]

They even suggested an E350 platform: AsRock E350M1 (brother already has an Asus E350M1-M Pro we might be able to repurpose).

For a file server, absolutely. Unless you go crazy with features available (like compression and dedupe), even ZFS will be plenty fast enough on an E-350. But, gaming? Not quite.

But you are right so I'm now strongly considering going with a Haswell i5 4670K on a cheap AsRock board with "Non-Z OC." I might repurpose my Q6600 into my nephew's next gaming system, though I think his first-gen i5 might be almost as fast as it before OC.

The i5 would likely be faster with an OC of its own, too. Even if the C2Q were faster (stock i5-650 v. 3.6-4GHz C2Q), I think that would be mostly a side-grade.

 

[CZroe]

For a file server, absolutely. Unless you go crazy with features available (like compression and dedupe), even ZFS will be plenty fast enough on an E-350. But, gaming? Not quite.

Yeah. I was looking for something that I could throw an old 9800GT EE in (energy efficient; needs no PCIe graphics power connector). The Zacate/E-350 graphics are already CPU bottlenecked. That's why I started thinking about Kabini even though the 9800GT is probably a downgrade (PhysX?).

The i5 would likely be faster with an OC of its own, too. Even if the C2Q were faster (stock i5-650 v. 3.6-4GHz C2Q), I think that would be mostly a side-grade.

Figures. A Haswell fileserver/gaminge system and a light-duty C2Q6600 gaming systems probably make more sense. It's a shame that the K-series Haswell doesn't support Intel vPro for FreeNAS + ZFS Drive pool.

 

[Cerb]

What exactly is beneficial about vPro (outside of a Windows AD domain environment)? Note that you would also need a Q chipset board.

 

[CZroe]

What exactly is beneficial about vPro (outside of a Windows AD domain environment)? Note that you would also need a Q chipset board.

My understanding: So the virtualized fileserver Dave suggested could use the drives and PCIe controllers natively with direct hardware access. I was thinking "Q87M vPro." Of course, it seems to be one of the few that don't do non-Z OC anyway, but that's probably because you wouldn't buy it for a K-series without vPro.

 

[Cerb]

That would mainly use VT-d, which is only well-supported on C-series boards, typically. That said, I haven't used VMWare in quite some time. They might still let you use raw disk access through software, which would do the job, too, though possibly at some performance penalty.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yeah. I was looking for something that I could throw an old 9800GT EE in (energy efficient; needs no PCIe graphics power connector). The Zacate/E-350 graphics are already CPU bottlenecked. That's why I started thinking about Kabini even though the 9800GT is probably a downgrade (PhysX?).


Figures. A Haswell fileserver/gaminge system and a light-duty C2Q6600 gaming systems probably make more sense. It's a shame that the K-series Haswell doesn't support Intel vPro for FreeNAS + ZFS Drive pool.

Idle power use on the 9800 is going to be a lot higher than a newer card.