Advice: This Home Server Setup...

S

silentbee

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
511
Reaction score
0
I hate to do this, but I'm about to push the button on the purchase of a machine that will become my Home Server. I will be running Windows Home Server 2011 on it -- handling backups and serving media to DLNA receivers around the house; maybe some transcoding. It's replacing my NAS.

This is the hardware I have a reasonable quote on, and I have a few queries:

Intel Core i5 2300 Processor - 2.8GHz


Am I completely wasting my money on an i5? My other option is an i3 2100. Is there a huge difference in power consumption, heat and noise? Those are my main concerns.​


MSI Intel H67 Chipset, Socket 1155 @ 100MHz FSB, Core i3 / i5 / i7 & Pentium Support, DDR3-1333, Dual Memory Channel, 2x DIMM Slots (Max 8GB) 1x PCI-Ex16, Integrated 256MB Graphics, 1x PCI 32Bit, 2xPCIEx1, 2x SATA3, 4x SATA2, 2x USB 3.0, 8x USB 2.0, 1x Serial Port, 1x Parallel Port Azalia Realtek ALC887 8CH High Definition Audio, Realtek 8111E 10/100/1000 LAN, All Solid Capacitors ,M-Flash. - MSI 3-Year Carry In Warranty

Is this motherboard okay? I have tried to find some info on it, and am coming up with very little that means anything to me. ideally I would like to be able to install 6 HDDs in the machine -- I have 4 spare at home. Presumably the DVD drive will occupy one of those SATA ports?

My other option was a Gigabyte GA-H67M-D2-B3 H67 Express Chipset LGA1155 integrated motherboard, but that has "stock issues".

Also, can someone explain how the graphics will work. I don't need discreet graphics -- I want to run the machine headlessly. This MB appears to have graphics, but so does the Sandy Bridge i5? Right?​

2x Transcend Jetram 2GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual-Channel Ram


RAM is cheap. Get 2, right?​


2x Seagate Barracuda Green 5900 Series 2TB SATA 3, 32MB cache, 5900RPM HDD


Green HDDs.​


Liton DH-24ABS 24X DVD Multi-Writer SATA


This will take up one of my 6 SATA ports, right? Leaving me with only 5 for HDDs?​


GIGABYTE ODIN 470W 24-Pin Power Supply, 4 Molex & 4 SATA Power Connectors, Intel LGA775 Ready & Approved, Includes Power Cable


Is this a good PSU? I would like the machine to run cool and efficiently. And quiet. Also, will the 4 SATA connectors limit my HDD / DVD connections? Or are the drives 'daisy-chained'?​


Gigabyte Black GZ-P1 Midi ATX 4-In-1 midi tower case, 300W PSU. 1-year warranty. Includes Gigabyte USB Keyboard + USB Laser Wheel Mouse | 3-month warranty (You will have a spare PSU)


This case is really ugly, but apparently the plain one with no lights that I wanted is in limited supply right now. It seems really strange to me to have 2 PSUs.​



Thoughts? Comments? Advice? I really appreciate it :)
 
Last edited:
I would ditch that motherboard and get something with 8 SATA ports, this would mean you probably would have to also get yourself a GPU also, but you can get a cheap nvidia, which you can use if you going to be transcoding video.

Found this mobo:

Code: 
GIGABYTE® Z68X-UD3: Z68 Express Chipset: Socket LGA1155, 2.5GT/s DMI, Supports: 2nd Generation Pentium, Core i3, i5 & i7 LGA1155
4x DDR3-2133+ Slots (Dual Ch - 32GB Max), 4x SATA2, 4x SATA3 (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10), 11x USB 2(7 on Back Panel - 4x Cable), 3x USB 3.0, 1x IEEE1394
2x PCI Express x16 (1x16/1x8), 3x PCI Express x1, 2x PCI Slots, Realtek GBE LAN, 7.1 Ch Dolby HD Audio (Optical/SPDIF Ports)
Ultra Durable 3 Features: 2oz Copper PCB, 50,000 Hour Solid Capacitors, Ferite Core Chokes, Low RDS(ON) Mosfets, Driver Mosfet
Dual BIOS™, Dynamic Energy Saver 2, EasyTune, Gigabyte Smart6, nVidia SLI, ATI Crossfire, AutoGreen, SmartTPM, XHD, On/Off Charge
Dual CPU Power, Dual BIOS™ 3TB+, Gigabyte CloudOC, Gigabyte HotKey OC, Gigabyte Precision OV, Power eSATA

This one is quite pricey (~R2100), I'm sure you can something similar a bit cheaper though.
 
Check out the HP MicroServers, too. A complete 4-bay NAS, plus a 5.25" bay for a DVD or 4x2.5" disk array for ~R1200. 2 PCIe slots for expansion, too.
 
The CPU has an IGP (integrated graphics processor), and the motherboard just has the video outputs for it, so you won't need a dedicated graphics card unless you're for some silly reason going for a P67 chipset motherboard.

There are HP Proliant Micro servers going for R1200, but they won't be able to do video transcoding anything close to the speed of that of the i5 2300. I'm not sure if you'll be able to stream Full HD videos with it either, but you will be able to watch FHD videos if you install a (low profile) dedicated graphics card in it.

I really can't commend going for such an expensive Z68 motherboard, because the GPU that comes with the i5 2300 isn't as powerful as the one coming with the i5 2500k & i7 2600k.
You should be able to do video transcoding with the IGP of the i5 2300 with the H67 motherboard, as long as you don't install a dedicated graphics card.

There are also cheaper Z68 chipset motherboards, like the Intel Z68DB, which goes for under R1200. Unfortunately this motherboard has only a limited amount of SATA ports (2x SATA6G + 3x SATA3G + 1x eSATA), but it should still be able to do RAID 5 with 4x HDD's + 1x SATA DVD drive.

I would recommend going for 4GB RAM (like you have it now), but please just make 100% sure that the RAM is rated at 1.5V and NOT 1.65V.

You might want to rather go for the MUKii Asroc 400/470W or Corsair CX430 PSU's, since they are quite a bit better than the Gigabyte Odin (which is quite bad). The PSU that comes bundled with that Gigabyte case should be able to power your system, but it would probably fail after a year or so.
 
Last edited:
A Core i5 is definitely overkill for a home server. Servers like that don't need powerful CPU's at all and even my Microserver with an AMD Athlon Neo is more than good enough. You would need a bit more (although not much) more power if you used it as a player as well. For example a standalone NAS usually has something like an ARM-based chip.

There isn't that much difference in power consumption etc between the i5 and i3, both are actively cooled and use the same fan. The i3 will use less power but I'm not sure if it will be noticable in real life.

Depending on how many drives you want, look at the HP Microserver, it's really solidly built, small, and very cheap (about R1300). Many MyBB members now use them as home servers or media players (after adding a graphics card) since they are perfect for this role. It can hold 4 hdd's and an optical drive. It also has an internal USB port so you can install the OS on a flash drive if you want. See this thread:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/333460-HP-ProLiant-MicroServer
 
RoganDawes said:
Check out the HP MicroServers, too. A complete 4-bay NAS, plus a 5.25" bay for a DVD or 4x2.5" disk array for ~R1200. 2 PCIe slots for expansion, too.
Click to expand...

Can I run WHS2011 on them. I was under the impression that I couldn't. I want to upgrade my 2-bay NAS to more of a server-type PC.
 
I'm not fussed about RAID. I want to use WHS2011 and will use the software-based folder duplication. I like that it's done in the software and that I can choose to not have redundancy for certain folder with low-priority data that is backed-up elsewhere. For example, I have old work stuff that is archived to other HDDs and will only be on the sever for convenience -- I don't need on the server twice / more.
 
Well then that HP Proliant Server sounds perfect.

You might just want to add another 1 or 2GB of DDR3 RAM though if you're going to run MS WHS2011.
 
Why dont you go for a microatx case, and a new AMD A8-3650 or 3850? It has great IGP :)
 
Paul:
Have you seen any places in SA that stock those CPU's yet?
The motherboards for those CPU's are also very expensive.

He won't be playing games, so I don't see a point in getting such a powerful IGP or CPU.
 
Pada said:
Paul:
Have you seen any places in SA that stock those CPU's yet?
The motherboards for those CPU's are also very expensive.

He won't be playing games, so I don't see a point in getting such a powerful IGP or CPU.
Click to expand...

Well frontosa has stock of the processors and motherboards. The motherboards are no more expensive than the core series motherboard. E.g <R800ex for MATX with usb3 and sata6
 
silentbee said:
I'm not fussed about RAID. I want to use WHS2011 and will use the software-based folder duplication. I like that it's done in the software and that I can choose to not have redundancy for certain folder with low-priority data that is backed-up elsewhere. For example, I have old work stuff that is archived to other HDDs and will only be on the sever for convenience -- I don't need on the server twice / more.
Click to expand...

It runs WHS2011 perfectly with 2GB of RAM, although I later upgraded to 4. However WHS2011 doesn't have that feature (Drive Extender), only the old WHS has that. I don't care about RAID either, you lose a lot of space, it's a bitch to rebuild and the stuff that I'm scared of losing I just make backups of, it's small anyways. The rest I can always just re-download. Really pointless for home use.
 
timvdwest said:
I would ditch that motherboard and get something with 8 SATA ports, this would mean you probably would have to also get yourself a GPU also..... This one is quite pricey (~R2100), I'm sure you can something similar a bit cheaper though.
Click to expand...

I had a quick poke around, but my budget's already a little blown with the above specs. Adding another grand for a MB and more for a GPU is not really viable, unfortunately.
 
Pada said:
The CPU has an IGP (integrated graphics processor), and the motherboard just has the video outputs for it, so you won't need a dedicated graphics card unless you're for some silly reason going for a P67 chipset motherboard.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That makes sense. I thought there would be two integrated GPUs.

I really can't commend going for such an expensive Z68 motherboard, because the GPU that comes with the i5 2300 isn't as powerful as the one coming with the i5 2500k & i7 2600k.
You should be able to do video transcoding with the IGP of the i5 2300 with the H67 motherboard, as long as you don't install a dedicated graphics card.
Click to expand...

So, this MB is okay? Besides the fact that I'll only be able to plug in 5 HDDs. For some reason I have it in my head that MSI don;t make good MBs.

You might want to rather go for the MUKii Asroc 400/470W or Corsair CX430 PSU's, since they are quite a bit better than the Gigabyte Odin (which is quite bad). The PSU that comes bundled with that Gigabyte case should be able to power your system, but it would probably fail after a year or so.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll ask about better PSUs.

Basically, I'm fairly happy with the specs. I just want to enquire about the PSU and find a better enclosure -- one that also doesn't have a crappy PSU taking up space.

Thanks for your helpful comments :)
 
TJ99 said:
A Core i5 is definitely overkill for a home server..... There isn't that much difference in power consumption etc between the i5 and i3, both are actively cooled and use the same fan. The i3 will use less power but I'm not sure if it will be noticable in real life.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That answers a big question I had.

The i5 is only slightly more than the i3 and I think it might make the machine more future-proof.
 
TJ99 said:
...However WHS2011 doesn't have that feature (Drive Extender), only the old WHS has that.....
Click to expand...

It has software-based folder duplication, though. Which is better for my needs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X