• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Help build computer strictly for file serving.

M

maxse

Gawd
Joined
Apr 21, 2004
Messages
516
Hi guys. I need ome help. My current filesrver that is 350 PIII can't take it anymore and simply crashes all the time. I dont want raid or anything fancy. I currently have a Biostar M7NCG board that I would like to use. I have 4 hard drives now but I would def. like to expand that. It has 3 PCI slots, and his on board video and lan. So I plan to simple get an an EDIDE PCI card that will allow me to hook up more drives...

So now here is my question. Which processor would you suggest for this, and which memory? I know I don't need anything fast, but I would like it to be stable and have dencet amount of power to be able to act as a media server and to be able to upload and download as well. So let's here it what are your suggestions? Also I am thinking of getting the coolermaster CM Stacker case because I think I can fit a lot of drives in there without spending the money for a server rack case which I simply cant afford. Any suggestions?
 
RAM is more important than CPU on a file server - a Duron will be plenty of horsepower, and will even be adequate for software RAID-5. Get 512MB of RAM - DDR is cheap. 1GB will probably never be used though.

The Stacker will be a great case for you - room for 12 hard drives if you you use the 4in3 cages, 120mm fans to keep the drives cool, and room for an additional two optical drives on top of that.
 
What Doug said, a cheap sempron. Spend the money on ram and a decent enermax psu since this will be on all the time.

CM Stacker may be overkill for something that will be in the corner. Antec has a good line of cheap cases
 
thanks guys. So the sem[pron 2400 should be fine right right? Its like $70 and the retail comes with the HSF. Also I have a question about the Stacker or the Antec cases. Which Antec case can store that many drives???

Now for the stacker doug, here can I get that 4in3 cage and any idea on how and where to mount it in the stacker? I remember reading somewhere about it but I dont know where I can get this cage and how it will mount.

Now for the power supply... I have a Thermalake 400W which I plan to use. But quick question. What happens when I run out of power connectors on the PSU. How will I power the drives?
 
maxse said:
Now for the stacker doug, here can I get that 4in3 cage and any idea on how and where to mount it in the stacker? I remember reading somewhere about it but I dont know where I can get this cage and how it will mount.

Now for the power supply... I have a Thermalake 400W which I plan to use. But quick question. What happens when I run out of power connectors on the PSU. How will I power the drives?
Click to expand...
The 4in3 bays should be available everywhere you can buy the stacker.
They just slide into the front on the drive rails. Easy as pie, only thing with them is you have to take all 4 drives out to access 1.
If you are getting a stacker, get the crossflow fan if youre gonna fill all the 4in3s, otherwise you will have no intake.

 
I'm not sure of the price of the CM Stacker where you are, but the Titan 550 comes with a 550w truepower antec PSU for a few bucks more.
 
I am getting everything prolly from newegg. The 4in3 cages fit into the 5.25 bays? Like the part where a cd-rom would go or something Im a little confused. Im actually having second thought about the stacker because it so so damn expensive. Alsmot $200! And I only need it because it can fit drives because if I expand in the future I dont want to have problems... Anyways I just found this case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129124

please let me know what you think about it, and how many drives Ill be able to fit in it, and whether or not Ill be able to use the cages or not? Its so much cheaper then the stacker and every1 says it really big but I cant find a review saying how many hard drives they fit into it. Thanks guys for the quick responses.

Also I shouldnt have problems with the sempron 2400 working on my biostar micro atx board right? And also that board would fit into either of the cases above correct?
 
I'm pretty sure the antec uses rails in the 5.25" bays, you may want to double check that before going that route. The easy way around that would be to get 3.5" to 5.25" brackets.
 
damn Im confused with all these rails lol. Basically my question is. If I where to only use a DVD burner as an optical drive. How many hard drives will I be able to fit into the Antec since its so much cheaper than that stacker case. Also will the micro-atx be mountable into the Antec case.

In addition this is the proc. I am thinking of getting. Is it okay that its only 256 cache?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104210
 
The 4in3s do indeed install into the 5.25" bays, hence the name, 4 3.5" in 3 5.25".
That case you linked has 2 3.5"bays with fascias, and 4 internal ones, it says right there on the page you linked under Expansion.
The only thing youd run into is heat, when you start getting into 3-4 drives tehy start to kick out a lot of heat, that youve got to find some way of getting shot of.
 
hmm so basically I can only put 8 drives in there if I use the 4in3? I am confused about the part where it says it has 2 3.5" external ays and 4unternal? The hard drives go into the internal right?

The case comes with fans I think but should I still worry about heat? Would this case be okay? I really dont want to spend $180 for the stacker when I can basically get this case half price. I just don't know if its good. Basically I need a simple big case that can hold a lot of drives. I dont need anything fancy. Any1 know of any cases like that are cheap and will serve its purpose? Thanks.
 
Also what happens when I run out of tthe power connectors on my PSU I have a thermaltake 420W PSU right now. I think it has 5 hard drive power connectors. What would I do if I add a 6th drive?
 
you would have to mount the 4in3 onto the rails.
yes your matx board fits that case
256 cache is fine for what you want to do

To get more power connectors you would need a Y adaptor
 
I see. For some reason didn't think of the Y connector. I hope the PSU has enough power when I get to use the Y connector though. I didnt think it would be a good idea but I guess its okay. So any reccomends on the case yet?
 
If youve got space maybe something like the yeong yang cube
This search on newegg pulls up 6 cases with 8 internal hard drive bays.
this looks fairly promising if youre on a very tight budget and you dont mind going to town on the front so you can fit an intake fan in there.
I'd personnaly be tempted to go with a second power supply if youre using so many drives. Although that limits your options to more expensive cases if youre only willing to buy from newegg and you dont want to go all ghetto on it (PSUs fit fairly neatly into 5.25" bays)
 
For that purpose, I think that an applebred duron 1.8 would be perfect. $45 @ teh egg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104160
Drop some valueram in there, get a *nice* PSU with a strong +12v rail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104936
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103908
are both good in the ~$50 price range, and will kick the shit out of anything you are getting with a case nowadays.
I know people are going to jump all over me for suggesting this for a fileserver, but bear with me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112022
Any lian-li 6x series with the bottom hard drive rack is perfect for a file server. Why? 5x internal 3.5 drives, all cooled with 2x80mm fans. That's in addition to 3x external 3.5. If you need more, you can always get a 4in3 to drop in the 5.25, and still have space for a CD-ROM. Sure there are a lot of cases with adaquete space inside for the drives, but cooling is very important for the drives in a file server, esp. when you stack them up tight. The antec cases that have been suggested would also work well, as they have 80mm intake fans blowing across the 6x3.5, and you might even be able to find one with a nice True430 or 480. If you do end up going antec, if it has anything less than a true430, esp. if it's an SL or Smartpower, ditch the supply. They are shit, and antec should be ashamed to slap their good name on them. The case you linked isn't bad, except that 3 of the 6 drive bays aren't cooled. For a little more, go for the LL and never worry about overheating drives.
 
Well thanks everyone. Finally ordered my parts from the egg. I got 1 GIG of corsair valueselect ram for like $83 and since u said I wont need all that I am splitting it with a friend so I'll have 412. I decided to go with the 2400 Sempron retail that comes with HSF hope its good; and as for the case I went with the CM Stacker to give me most expandibility in the future, and I there 3in4 hard drive cage comes with a fan behind it so I think everything should be cool and run smoothly. Any opnions?
 
Should be good, you wont be dissapoited with the stacker, huge it is. Did you order the crossflow fan? I would, as i say if you fill all your 4in3s youll have next to no intake. Youll see what i mean when you get it. Which one did you get? You know its only suppplied with one modules (4 drives)
 
oh wait it it comes with a 4in3 already? Because I just ordered one from svc, but I only have 4 drives now so I dont really need it it yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top