My Turn: JB's unRaid plans


JackBauer

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My proposed build:

 

Case:  Antec 1200 (or maybe 900)

Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O

CPU:  Intel Core i3 - not sure which one, probobably the 530, but will wait for NewEgg's BF sale.

Power Supply:  SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W   (I have one in my main PC, so it would give me a "spare" part to my main pc if needed)

Memory:  Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/4GI

Hard drives:  Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS 2TB 5900 RPM 32MB   plus will migrate two Samsing F3's

USB Stick:  Lexar JumpDrive FireFly 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model LJDFF2GBASBNA

 

Once I use the 6 SATA ports on the motherboard, I'd add a PCIe card to give me more space.  No need to spend the money now.

 

I'm planning on buying one, maybe two Icy Dock's.  (With only 4TB of data presently needed to store - no need to load it to the max right now.)

 

NewEgg price for everything except the IcyDocks (will buy from Amazon I think to save some money)...  $907 + shipping.  (Update:  Actually Amazon charges sales tax in NY, NewEgg doesn't...  price would be the same as long as I do not mind filling out the rebate form that is available with the NewEgg purchase)

 

I could get away by re-using a Seasonic S12 power supply I have.  I'll have to give that some more thought.  This is kinda overkill - but in the end I would have a system that is reasonably quiet, and I could support up to 20 HD's.  (Of course I'm skeptical I will ever go that high before rebuilding - and hence always toy with the idea of cutting back on a number of the above...  like going to an Atom and a 590 based case, getting me up to 14 HD's)

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Read here what you will value - http://www.servethehome.com/intel-xeon-x3440-windows-home-server-minireview/

as they have a nice summary.

 

ECC is given for start as you are already using ECC memory.

 

Thanks.

 

It is strange how the MB needs ECC memory even though the Core i3 can't make use of it.

 

That article did give me pause...  But in the end the i3 is "half" the price, will use less power, and hence should run quieter too.  Those last two characteristics are pretty important to me - and since I'm only going to use this as a file server, I will probably stay with the i3.

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I wasn't asking to question your choice, but because I had always planned on getting a X3450 for this board when I do the build.  I haven't seen anyone do that yet though, since the i3 is so much cheaper.

 

I got that...  But to be honest, it did make me think for a minute about going the x3450 route. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

With the above configuration....

 

In my 1200 case with the back two fan's on medium and the large top fan on high...  (no front fans)

 

No LED's from the fans running...

 

Two HD's installed but spun down.

 

34 Watts on Kill-a-Watt

 

Oh and that includes the UPS that is powering it, and that probably draws a bit of power too.

 

Pretty pleased with that number.

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With the above configuration....

 

34 Watts on Kill-a-Watt

All I can say is W-O-W.  Makes me want to get an i3.  Maybe once SB launches the i3 will be cheaper.  I'd imagine that the PSU is not that efficient at that low of a power draw.  Imagine how much lower it would be if you were using a picopsu.  Probably under 30 watts.

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That's pretty incredible, actually.  What's the reading during a parity check?

 

I'll be generating my parity tomorrow...  

 

Doing the pre-clear on the Samsung F3 2TB I bought earlier this week  It's 95% complete and will start the parity generation tomorrow.

 

I'll let you know how that goes.

 

(Will also use it to help me determine if I can lower the fan speeds to save a few watts.  I know many will say "it's worth the watts", but some evidence suggests a warm drive (not HOT) will last longer than a cool drive...  I dunno, but will gladly save a few watts if it looks safe to - although I might forget to fix the fan speeds again in the summer, where it can be in the 90's in my place in the early evening)

 

Edit:  For kicks I just checked - it's ranging anywhere between 44 - 49 during the tail end of the preclear.  Averages around 47.

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With the above configuration....

 

34 Watts on Kill-a-Watt

All I can say is W-O-W.  Makes me want to get an i3.  Maybe once SB launches the i3 will be cheaper.  I'd imagine that the PSU is not that efficient at that low of a power draw.  Imagine how much lower it would be if you were using a picopsu.  Probably under 30 watts.

 

You're probably right...

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article986-page4.html

 

But soon enough I'll have 5-6 drives in there...  (Although most will be spun down 99% of the time)

 

It's a damn nice ps though...  essentially fanless.

 

I pay a premium for quiet pc's.

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It's really impressive and interesting. I'm considering at some point rebuilding a server for even less power consumption, relegating the old one as backup server. For every 30W saved, with my prices that is approx. 500DKK / 100USD saved per year! And I even have a spare PicoPSU from my CarPC.

 

Please keep posting real world numbers and configuration :-)

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(Will also use it to help me determine if I can lower the fan speeds to save a few watts.  I know many will say "it's worth the watts", but some evidence suggests a warm drive (not HOT) will last longer than a cool drive...  I dunno, but will gladly save a few watts if it looks safe to - although I might forget to fix the fan speeds again in the summer, where it can be in the 90's in my place in the early evening)

 

Edit:  For kicks I just checked - it's ranging anywhere between 44 - 49 during the tail end of the preclear.  Averages around 47.

 

Just confirming, since you talked about fans and temps just above...those numbers are wattage, not drive temps, right?

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Just confirming, since you talked about fans and temps just above...those numbers are wattage, not drive temps, right?

 

Correct.

 

I finished my parity build yesterday.

 

Have three drives in the 1200 case, with a 5in3, without that horrible Icy Dock fan.

 

Just using the two rear fans in the 1200, and the large fan on top.

 

Started with top fan on high, back fans on medium.

Temp rise from ambient to the highest temperature drive was 14.4C, over the span of 2.5 hours.  (Max drive temp 35C)

 

Next I lowered the rear fans to low.

Temp rise was then 16.5C over the span of 1 hour.  (Max drive temp 37C)

 

Next I lowered the top fan to medium (rear fans remained on low)

Temp rise was 18C over the span of 3 hours.  (Max drive temp 38C)

 

Finally I lowered the top fan down to low (all fans on low)

Temp rise was 19.1C over about 1.5 hours.  (Max drive temp 42C)

 

During the parity build the lowest power draw was at the end, 55 watts.  (Although in the end the CPU fan had to speed up to account for less case airflow...  I had gotten down to 54, but then the cpu fan increased)

 

In the end, 3 watts bought nearly 5C of temperature improvement.  So I think I'll go turn my fans back up.

 

By the way - all fans now on low, drives spun down...  31 watts.

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I would go for this option:

 

Top fan to medium (rear fans remained on low)

(Max drive temp 38C)

 

38C is a perfectly acceptable drive temp.

 

Actually, I would consider 42C during a parity check to be acceptable as well.  If you can get away with all your fans on low and drive temps in the 30s during normal operation, then I would just run with that.  You can always kick the top fan up to medium as you start a parity check if you wish.

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Actually, I would consider 42C during a parity check to be acceptable as well.  If you can get away with all your fans on low and drive temps in the 30s during normal operation, then I would just run with that.  You can always kick the top fan up to medium as you start a parity check if you wish.

 

I agree.

 

However...  Right now there are only 3 drives in the system.  I will soon be popping in drives four and five (migrating the data from existing drives to the unraid server, then will add those drives for more capacity when needed)

 

Hard to say how that will affect my temperatures as right now two of the five bays in my Icy Dock are free and probably allowing a fair amount of air flow through them with limited obstructions.

 

But also right now it's the winter time in the northeast - and the temperatures will be much higher in the spring and summer months. 

 

As ambient temperatures rise and my 1200 case drive population grows, it might just make sense to leave my fans on higher permanently just to be ultra-safe.

 

After all...  3 watts * 24hrs/day * 365 days/year = 26.2kwhr...  Or about $3.5/year in costs.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

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