Budget file server build - AM4 board?

galneon

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Mar 27, 2010
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I need to replace my old Q9550 rig. It's been running 24/7/365.25 since 2009 and has become unstable--multiple mysterious restarts per week. I replaced the PSU and tried different GPUs, and also remounted the CPU to ensure there wasn't a hot spot on the spreader thanks to old TIM. I've also ruled out memory and all peripherals. In conclusion, it's the mainboard and I don't want to replace it with a NOS P45 board, and I can't just put up with the inconvenience because spin-up/spin-down cycles are what kill HDDs--this rig will cost me a lot of money with its instability, far more than simply building a new one.

My budget is around $300. This PC will only be used for local and remote file serving, plus a bit of casual browsing and office stuff--nothing hardcore going on with it. I want integrated graphics, either on-board or APU-based. I also have to have 8 internal SATA ports.

Right now I'm leaning towards an AM4 board. Any specific recommendations?

This rig doesn't have to be a monster, but I'd like long-lasting caps on the board. It will be running 24/7 for many years. I'd rather have a nice board than a slightly faster CPU.

Am I going down the right road in assuming AMD is more appropriate for this build? My more serious workstation is Intel-based (X99 i7-5820k) and perhaps I'm just old, but I'm guessing AMD still wins bang for the buck on the lower end...?

Edit: I should include that when I say "my budget is around $300" that all I have to budget for is a board, processor, and 16GB RAM. I'm good on case, storage, PSU. I can exceed the budget if I have to for a board with durable caps, but I do not need to go enterprise server-grade--the Q9550 rig was, in its day, a gamer rig and the Gigabyte P45 UD3R in it was more than sufficient until this last year. This is the first time I'm explicitly building a file server considering every other time my gamer rig has retired into that role...
 
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If I was in your shoes, I would probably look for someone looking to offload their z170 board. Then get something like a g4560 Pentium. Low power but 2 core 4 thread plus integrated graphics. Even the high-end boards are pretty cheap now. They should have the higher end caps and vrm's. The only catch is you would have to get ddr4 memory.

That being said, a cheap am4 board and a Ryzen 3 or 5 is pretty cheap also.
 
Is it perhaps time to refresh the HDDs too? I'm thinking of a HP Gen 8 Microserver, but it only has 4 HDD bays. Actually, you might look on ebay for old servers
 
Is it perhaps time to refresh the HDDs too? I'm thinking of a HP Gen 8 Microserver, but it only has 4 HDD bays. Actually, you might look on ebay for old servers
I've used those too, and they aren't bad for a file server. But they can be underpowered if you're doing any on the Fly video encoding. Plus they only have four HDD bays. It really comes down to how much storage you need. You could always throw 4 10tb drives in there.
 
I'm going to run each 4TB HGST mirrored pair until a member dies, after which each widowed drive will become cold storage and the online pair gets replaced in full by whatever the most efficient and reliable drive (capacity:cost, excepting shingled drives) is at that time. In my cheapness I never outright replace HDDs, and I've chosen well enough (or been lucky enough :p) over the years that I've had only 3 fatalities in my last ~54 HDDs despite always having at least 14 online at any given time.

I'll certainly look into a used z170. Hyperthreaded dual core would certainly be sufficient for my purposes. When I was younger, I'd put together AMD rigs that killed similarly priced Intel rigs, so I guess my bias holds when shopping for lower end stuff despite the fact I haven't put together an AMD box in 10 years.
 
How many max people would be accessing the box at any given time? You can get used Xeons dirt cheap on ebay.
 
This refurb Dell server seems like it would be a great option for you.
Comes with 2008 Server license too.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAAYZ64B4771


ETA: You'll want a cheap GPU for it though. The on-board GPU really sucks on these.

ETA#2: If you can wait for the big sale season, you can get brand new low end servers for around $200.
Either Dell or HP usually on those deals.


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