Critique my low-energy file server build

[SAmalathion]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

This will be a "closet fileserver" running linux, torrentflux, samba and an ftp server. Beyond the bare performance required to run those applications, my primary goals are silence and energy efficiency.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Less than $400

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

United States, state of Indiana

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

No fanboyism whatsoever, I want the best parts at the best value

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

No recycled parts.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yeah, I posted a thread about it and this is the result of some research I've done.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

No overclocking

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Very soon.

Here's what I have:



JetWay J7F4K1G5D-PB VIA NanoBGA C7 Processor VIA CN700 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813153062

APEX MI-100 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply $55.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811154084

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218

Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory Model KVR533D2N4/1G $21.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820144151

LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D3S-04 - OEM $17.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827106261

Total: $295.95 at Newegg


Question: Should I replace the PSU with an 80plus? Or is the included 250w going to be energy efficient and quiet? I still have a little bit of money left in my budget, but I'd rather not go too much higher if I can avoid it.

Question: The mobo/cpu combo comes with a stock fan. Is it possible to replace that with a passive cooling solution?

And of course, I'm open to any other recommendations.

 

[ther00kie16]

Power supply isn't standard ATX size so I don't know if there are that many options for a replacement. Maybe you can use a picopsu?
For lower power, have you thought about Intel Atom? Some of those bundles have passive cooling.

 

[SAmalathion]

Hmm, how about one of these things? Newegg doesn't stock them, but with some googling I could probably track one down:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article286-page1.html

Would it be worth the extra effort and money?

 

[SAmalathion]

I looked into Intel Atom and got this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...2E16813121342&Tpk=atom

Reviews are describing a lot of problems with installing linux, so that's a dealbreaker for me. Anyone else?

 

[SAmalathion]

BUMP. I'm gonna buy really soon and I'd love to get a second pair of eyes on this. Is that the right hard drive for what I am doing?

 

[ther00kie16]

That hard drive is fine. You could hypothetically go with notebook drives for even less power but those tend to be expensive unless you get them on ebay (some really cheap portable drives that you can crack open for the drive inside).
I don't see anything out of place so just try how things work out and if the power supply or anything else is less than stellar, replace it later. You may want to look into Picopsu later as they will offer higher efficiency and your box really doesn't need 250w (probably just about perfect for a 90w or 120w picopsu).

EDIT: I suppose only critique would be not going with a dvd burner for only $5 more on newegg.

 

[SAmalathion]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
That hard drive is fine. You could hypothetically go with notebook drives for even less power but those tend to be expensive unless you get them on ebay (some really cheap portable drives that you can crack open for the drive inside).
I don't see anything out of place so just try how things work out and if the power supply or anything else is less than stellar, replace it later. You may want to look into Picopsu later as they will offer higher efficiency and your box really doesn't need 250w (probably just about perfect for a 90w or 120w picopsu).

EDIT: I suppose only critique would be not going with a dvd burner for only $5 more on newegg.

Thanks for your reply.

No need for a DVD burner as I have one in my main rig which will be 3 feet away

To be more specific, I thought it might be better to get a GP drive like this one:

Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS 1TB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...822136151&Tpk=WD10EACS

Only slightly (1/6th) more expensive per GB, and since I can only fit one HDD in the box I think I had better go with the biggest drive I can afford. Also it has the Green Power stuff from WD. I know the one I have listed will work, but I'm wondering if something like this would be btter for low power consumption What do you think?

 

[ther00kie16]

If you want as much as possible then by all means go for 1TB. However, WD GP line are just drives that couldn't make 7200rpm so instead of marketing them as 5400rpm (which probably wouldn't sell these days) they went with the Green solution. The power draw is not much different from Samsung's Spinpoint so get 1 of those for $175 at chiefvalue right now. Not to mention that the Samsung is 3 platters compared to WD's 4 platters so it's better and faster.

 

[SAmalathion]

Okay, I'll check that out. Performance is hardly an issue for me at all since all media transfers will be taking place over a 100mbit network, which should be far slower than any hard drive. But I am interested in having 3 platters instead of 4.

Edit: Looks like newegg has the drive for the same price

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $179
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822152102

 

[mooseracing]

I would add up all the suspected draw and look at a Pico PSU, I know you can get them in the 120 watt range, maybe a little higher even. The Pico is suppose to be over 90% efficient.

There are also some Jetway boards, IIRC, 1.3Ghz C7 that is fanless. Save a few watts there as well.

 

[ss284]

To be honest, your system wont draw much power. Even with a more efficient PSU, you might be using 5-10 more watts if even, which amounts to far less than a dollar a month.

And actually, if you are simply hosting files across a wired 100mbit network, there are many buffalo products that do the exact same thing with a smaller footprint and less power draw than you can ever hope to build yourself.

Here is a perfect unit for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822165075

 

[JackMDS]

I run a similar system, it takes about 35 to 40W at load with regular 250W PSU (No Hocus Pocus PSU).

The puny Fan is insignificant it take less than a Watt.

Any extra money invested in expensive hardware might reduce the Power consumption by 2 or 3 watts and thus would never be cost effective for the live span of the computer.

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: ss284
And actually, if you are simply hosting files across a wired 100mbit network, there are many buffalo products that do the exact same thing with a smaller footprint and less power draw than you can ever hope to build yourself.

If you like that NAS, you are among the minority here. I can't count how many threads with NAS's under 500 bucks that all don't live up to what a dedicated mini itx file server can do.

 

[ss284]

None of them will live up to the customization of a custom built file server, but for basic functions like FTP, torrenting, and file serving, it should be sufficient; not to mention time saving.

 

[aceO07]

From the review of the link jetway board, this http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813153072 is supposed to be more power efficient and fanless. However, it is also more expensive.

 

[SAmalathion]

Originally posted by: ss284
To be honest, your system wont draw much power. Even with a more efficient PSU, you might be using 5-10 more watts if even, which amounts to far less than a dollar a month.

And actually, if you are simply hosting files across a wired 100mbit network, there are many buffalo products that do the exact same thing with a smaller footprint and less power draw than you can ever hope to build yourself.

Here is a perfect unit for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822165075

Thank you for the recommendation. I don't think this will work for me as I need to be able to set up per-user security settings on the network as well as running torrentflux, and anything else in the future that I haven't thought of yet.

Can anyone comment on the disk? Is there a better terabyte drive for what I am doing?

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $179
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822152102

 

[SAmalathion]

Reading this page has suggested that the WD Caviar GP drive is the best way to go for low power, heat, and noise: http://www.anandtech.com/stora...owdoc.aspx?i=3161&p=10

I'll be going with this one unless someone has any other suggestions in the next day or so:

Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS 1TB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136151

Thanks to everyone for your helpful replies.