home file server - energy efficient

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winman15

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Mar 30, 2004
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I'm going to be building a new home file server (and by filer server I mean headless PC I can remote desktop to and connect to file shares) but I want to focus on energy efficiency since it will run 24/7. I'd like to connect it to my tv in the future so HDMI and optical sound would be nice. Budget Ideally is around the $500 mark and I already have 2 sg 500gb drives for storage and backup.
Any thoughts are appreciated. If this is not in the right section, please move it to the correct one.

Thanks in advance!
 
if you want some good energy efficiency go with intel atom cpu + wd green drives
 
Any future expansion needs? HD video decoding needed?

I'll throw something together for you.

Motherboard: Zotac mini-ITX Geforce 8200 - $119.99 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500021

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e 45w - $55.25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

Heasink Fan: Silverstone NT07-AM2 - $22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220030

RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 - $24.99 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

Case: Chenbro ES34069 - $157.56
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=CA...cb5a7a8f36c26de42b4af6477fe5377c5771d15e71800

Total: $380 after rebates ... plus shipping

That will give you expandability in terms of hard drive space, and it will also be ready for full HD video decoding if you need it for HTPC use. The motherboard supports 1080p24 + 7.1 LPCM over HDMI, and it also has a SPDIF header. The whole system shouldn't draw much power at all. The AMD 45w processors during idle state run very cool and draw very little power. People including myself who run similar systems using that processor only experience about 25w to 60w of total system power draw depending on if it's idle or at load.
 
OP I am looking to do something similar with the same focus. I created a thread over in the SFF section but not getting any feed back.

I have room for a m-atx so I will probably go in that direction to save a bit of money.

Right now I am looking at.

Biostar 780G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138134

AMD X2 BE-2300 1.9GHz but will probably go with a faster 45w X2 and underclock it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103646

for the cooler I have room so I am looking at a XIGMATEK 92mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233014

4 gigs of ram just cause it cost so little and a few Wester Digital 640gig green drives running WHS.
 
I was in the same boat as you. I went a slightly different route. I bought a Promise 4 bay NAS with 4 1TB drives. I already had the drives but I bought the nas off a member here for $250ish

Low power, quiet, SMALL, has plugins , you control with web interface.

So far its perfect for me

Zack
 
If you want good efficiency and decent performance, AVOID the Atom platform. Those CPUs are seriously underpowered and the inefficient rediculous chipsets that are coupled with it makes it a far less desirable platform for efficiency compared to a 780G chipset coupled with a low power Athlon X2.

I currently run a 780G with an X2-4850, 2x 512MB + 2x 1024MB of memory, 3x WD GP 1TB and a 1.5 TB Seagate: Total power consumption is about 60-65 watts when doing light work in the form of Torrents/backup, + it has the power to stream anything I want from mp3's to 1080i content without breaking a sweat!

The CPU is cooled "passively" with only a 80mm fan at the back of the case, another 80mm to cool the drives and last a 120mm fan in the PSU. I didn't even buy an aftermarket cooler, and the CPU is steady around 45c which is more than acceptable to me.
 
Go with the largest drives you can find. Less drives = higher efficiency.
 
Ockie said:
Go with the largest drives you can find. Less drives = higher efficiency.
Click to expand...

That's true for the most part, but the math to get there is not as simple as it may seem.

A WD10EADS 1TB drive uses 2.8w at idle. A Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5T 7200.11 uses 7.4w at idle. So a 3 TB configuration with the former uses not quite 9w, while with the later uses just under 15w. A 12 TB configuration means 34w vs 60w - that is beginning to add up, but how much?

Above numbers are from tom's: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-terabyte-1tb,2077.html

We also have to consider the cost of the drives, 12 WD10EADS will run you at least $1100 at the best price I've ever seen on them (current Dell deal), while 8 of the 1.5 seagates are typically at $129 each, for a total of $1040 - $60 cheaper.

watt * time * cost: ((26w * 24hr/day*30d)/100)kwhr*$0.078/kwhr = $14.60 - so it will take four years in the above example for the 12 green drives to pay for their additional cost over the 1.5TB Seagates. (Over the same number of 7200rpm 1TB drives, it takes just a year or two for the green drives to recover the additional costs).

Please don't beat me up on my cited drive costs or power calculation - my real point here is to convey the idea that you cannot compare just the power use of one drive vs another - take your total costs into account. If you use a real inefficient PSU, that matters, if you pay too much for an efficient PSU, that matters.

Also consider your form factor - 8 drives vs. 12 is can be important. It can be hard to find economical cases that hold more than 10 drives, especially when considering the addition of 4-in-3 ($20+) or 5-in-3 ($100+) drive cages to get the quantity you need. If you are considering a 4 drive NAS device - any savings a 4x4TB gave you may not be worth it once you've maxed out that space and need another device.

For most home scenarios, giving a bit on performance and going with something like the WD10EADS is great for a home fileserver, even streaming HD. Note that the lower heat can be a big factor if you are squeezing the drives into a fanless NAS that you are hiding in a closet. The "heat" factor is very subjective. IMHO, if you won't have a fan or any airflow directly over the drives, the green drives are almost a must and that probably override all other considerations.

The key is identifying your needs - if you see yourself running the server 24/7 for many years with a lot of drives, than the "green" drives may payoff - don't shy away from the 5400rpm drives just to satisfy your ePeen. But for a 2 to 4 drive server/nas that you do not expect to add any drives to for a number of years, than getting a good deal on the drives and buying fewer and bigger will save you more than the power saving of green drives.
 
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