New case/mobo/psu for WHS v1 rebuild

[darkenedsoul]

Hi,

What I am looking for is a case that can house 4 3.5" WD HDD's, low power consumption and motherboard that will be able to run WHS v1 (else I'd go Win 8 Pro for serving media). I do ripping on my main desktop and move files over via mounting the folders from my current WHS to the desktop.

I figure 4GB memory, intel cpu (not sure which would be cost-effective), GBe network connection to my switch which goes to my router. I saw a couple cases but can't find them now on newegg. I understand the mobo will be of the ITX form factor as well. It won't be happening any time soon but would like to get ideas on parts to put some pricing together.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

 

[Binky]

HP Microserver N54L (case, MB+CPU, HD, and memory). Recent deals have been $220-$260, after rebate. This is a really nice little package. Do the math on your build, then consider one of these. You'll want something more powerful if you're doing anything like video transcoding.

Put an alert for "N54L" over at slickdeals...

Edit: I'd also strongly suggest moving to at least WHS2011 plus drivepool. I moved from WHS and I have zero regrets.

 

[darkenedsoul]

I know a lot of folks were not happy when there was no Drive Extender for WHS 2011. I don't want to invest more cash into the system if I don't have to. The new case should have onboard graphics so I can connect to my monitor for easier viewing. Unfortunately my KVM is a 2 USB port Belkin which has served me well between 2 desktops. Monitor has DVI/VGA/HDMI inputs, using first 2 atm.

The prices on them are in the upper $200-350 range. Last time I did a restore it wiped the drives and I could have sworn I chose the proper option to add the drives to the pool so it didn't do a total restore, but luckily I had the data backed up to my DNS-323 (movies/mp3s).

Pentium CPU preferred, which is why I was checking on ITX mobo's and cases with 3 3.5" drive bays to build it from scratch. But either way works, depends on the cost difference and which one would be better. Low power usage, network streaming to my PS3 for audio/viedo wired on gigabit switch/router configuration. I'll keep slickdeals in mind though. But still would like some options for cases/mobo's to see what they have to offer. I am not sure if at some point I'd need external case for drives as I haven't been ripping a lot and have a fair bit of space left (duplicating them still even though I use SyncToy to backup to the DNS NAS box). If I did that on a regular basis I could turn that option off. Currently have 5.5TB total disk capacity in it.I think 3.xxGb free space as well.

And Windows 8 Pro would be a viable alternative from what I've been reading as well. I don't DVR to the system, cable box for that for now.

Mike

 

[386DX]

Check out the new HP Proliant Microserver Gen8. It comes with either Ivy Bridge Celeron or Pentium (CPU is socketed and can be replaced by 69W or less i3, i5, i7 or Xeon). Has a lot of the features of the full size Proliants like server chip set, dual LAN, ECC RAM, and iLO 4. If you don't know what iLO is it's a remote system management, think KVM on steroids. It allows true headless operation, you can turn on/off the computer remotely, change BIOS settings remotely, etc. At work I've had a server completely install over iLO. Once I setup the iLO port a remote team from another country installed ESX Host and four VMs all over the network without any assistant from me.