Norco WHS Build

totmachen

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 18, 2003
Messages
177
I currently have over 3.5-4TB of data spread over 8 hard drives with no redundancy. I've been building out a Norco WHS in my mind for the better part of a year and finally decided it is time to put some kind of fault protection on my data. Here is what I have in my Newegg wish list, just looking for a review before I purchase.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
MB: ASRock AOD790GX
RAM: 2GB Mushkin PC2-6400
PSU: Thermaltake W0116RU 750W
HD: 3x Seagate Barracuda LP ST31500541AS 1.5TB
SATA: Marvel AOC-SASLP-MV8
Case: Norco RPC-4220
Switch: D-Link DGS-2208 GB 8-Port

The Athlon 3800+ is working pull I got for free. I selected the ASRock board for a few reasons. It has integrated graphics, two PCI-e slots, and 6 internal SATA ports. I can use the two PCI-e slots for Marvel AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and the interal SATA for a total of 22 connections. That would work perfectly with the Norco 4220 with its SAS connections using four SFF-8087 cables and one reverse breakout cable. I picked the Thermaltake PSU since I currently run one in my gaming rig and it has been rock solid. The 3 Seagate 1.5TB drives should give me the double capacity needed to duplicate my files through WHS. The 8 port DLink GB switch should work fine to connect each rig to the WHS. And since RAM is dirt cheap, the 2GB Mushkin is just an addin.

So, I think I've covered most parts with some reasonable thought. Please have a look and make some suggestions.
 
are you going to be using a 1.5TB for the system drive or are you buying a 2.5" drive to use in the Norco?
 
Danny Bui: Any specific reasons why the Corsair PSU is better than the Thermaltake? I do like that the Thermaltake is modular compared to the Corsair.

chrisman17: I have two Seagate 1.5TB drives in my current build, one with very little data on it. I was planning on migrating the data to one of the slower green drives and put the OS on the faster drive.
 
Danny Bui: Any specific reasons why the Corsair PSU is better than the Thermaltake? I do like that the Thermaltake is modular compared to the Corsair.

The Corsair has better efficiency, slightly better ripple suppression, etc. However both the Corsair and Thermaltake 750W PSUs are a bad buy right now since you can get the newer and better quality (in all aspects) Antec Truepower New TP-750 Blue for $105 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371022

It's modular too! I highly highly recommend buying it ASAP.
 
The Corsair has better efficiency, slightly better ripple suppression, etc. However both the Corsair and Thermaltake 750W PSUs are a bad buy right now since you can get the newer and better quality (in all aspects) Antec Truepower New TP-750 Blue for $105 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371022

It's modular too! I highly highly recommend buying it ASAP.

QFT

The Antec is prob the best you can get for your money right now.
I have two of the 850s and they are awesome
 
I would take a Corsair PSU over an Antec any day of the week. PC Power & Cooling is another premium brand to look into as well. The modular Corsair 520HX was recently on sale for $60 and is more than powerful enough for your build.

As far as the mobo goes you should take a look the GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H. It has everything you are looking for as well as a better name. From what I have heard the gigabyte board has some unique undervaluing capabilities that just add to the appeal of the board if nothing else.

FYI on both the Gigabyte and ASRock mobo some of the SATA ports look to be raid only.
 
I would take a Corsair PSU over an Antec any day of the week. PC Power & Cooling is another premium brand to look into as well. The modular Corsair 520HX was recently on sale for $60 and is more than powerful enough for your build.

Do note that Seasonic makes the Corsair 520HX/620HX/650HX PSUs as well as PC P&C's Silencer series. The Antec Truepower New is Seasonic made as well. So essentially, they're roughly the same quality.
 
The Antec Truepower New is Seasonic made as well. So essentially, they're roughly the same quality.

And the same product.;)

Dont they make the OCZs too? I know there some correlation with them and PCPC
 
Seasonic does not make any OCZ PSU. However, OCZ does own PC P&C now so theres your correlation.
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Do note that Seasonic makes the Corsair 520HX/620HX/650HX PSUs as well as PC P&C's Silencer series. The Antec Truepower New is Seasonic made as well. So essentially, they're roughly the same quality.
Seasonic isn't the only manufacture to sell their product under a different label. Each company has their specifications and Seasonic delivers on that. Over the years I have just found Corsair and PCP&C products to perform better than that of Antec and Seasonic due to their higher specifications. I won't buy an Antec or Seasonic, but I'll pay the premium price for a higher quality Corsair or PCP&C PSU. Call if bad luck, bad timing, bad batch or a bad product. I have had issues with both Seasonic and Antec branded power supplies and in general I don't think that argument is there that either Antec or Seasonic branded power supplies have had a better track record for performance/quality.
 
Seasonic isn't the only manufacture to sell their product under a different label. Each company has their specifications and Seasonic delivers on that. Over the years I have just found Corsair and PCP&C products to perform better than that of Antec and Seasonic due to their higher specifications. I won't buy an Antec or Seasonic, but I'll pay the premium price for a higher quality Corsair or PCP&C PSU. Call if bad luck, bad timing, bad batch or a bad product. I have had issues with both Seasonic and Antec branded power supplies and in general I don't think that argument is there that either Antec or Seasonic branded power supplies have had a better track record for performance/quality.

/facepalm

There is nothing different between an M12 from Seasonic and an HX from Corsair. They are the same PSU with a different name on it. If you wanted to cite the warranty or the customer support sure, but don't sit there and say that you don't trust Seasonic power supplies, but you trust Seasonic power supplies with a sticker on them that says Corsair.
 
/facepalm

There is nothing different between an M12 from Seasonic and an HX from Corsair. They are the same PSU with a different name on it. If you wanted to cite the warranty or the customer support sure, but don't sit there and say that you don't trust Seasonic power supplies, but you trust Seasonic power supplies with a sticker on them that says Corsair.

/double handed facepalm

You did read the part where I said
I don't think that argument is there that either Antec or Seasonic branded power supplies have had a better track record for performance/quality.
right?

There is a difference between having a strong track record from the start with your entire line vs. only recently offering a few select premium models.
 
Hmm, didn't expect a PSU brand fight in my Norco WHS thread but ok. I made my purchase today and should have all items by Wednesday. I did go with the GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H, mostly because of brand recognition and the quality support that comes with it. I will miss the built in eSATA port but I can get a PCIe 1x card for that if needed. For the PSU, I went with a Corsair 520hx. I decided that if I'm pulling all but one of the 8 drives in my current system, there is no need to leave a 700W Toughpower in it. I don't game as much as I use to so I think the Corsair will power this basic system well and the Toughpower can handle all the drives in the server.

I got lucky and scored two of the 1.5TB drives through the Fry's promotion found in the Hot Deals thread today so that saved 40 bucks. Also, Newegg threw in the reverse breakout cable for free when purchasing the Norco 4220.

Now I get to wait for my new toys to come in.
 
nice man, that PSU will do nicely...

My 4020 is looking old and outdated... I want a 4220 also :D

i love that MB choice the UD series are great motherboards....

what CPU you running again?
 
Athlon X2 3800+. It's a working pull I got for free, should do basic file serving very well.
 
Just a follow up on this.

The last of the parts came in Tuesday of this week. I get the Thermaltake TP 700 and data drives out out of my current rig and then put together the WHS. Everything seems to be working without issue. I did have to set the onboard SATA ports to IDE mode (no AHCI) otherwise I couldnt get past the SAS card BIOS screen. While WHS was installing I put the Corsair HX520 into my gaming rig but it wouldn't turn on. Double checked the cabling, make sure everything seems good but still no power. I did the paperclip trick and the PSU turns on. Odd indeed. I take the PSU to work the next day and test it on two other machines. Same thing, won't turn on a machine. Contact Newegg, get a RMA and the replacement came in on Friday. Pop that in and my current rig is running flawlessly.

Now I'm working on getting all 4TB+ of data migrated over to the server. I have been using Unstoppable Copier to transfer the files in bulk and it is currently showing an average of 35MB/s. I'm not sure what speeds I should be getting but to me it seems a bit low. Once I finish a batch transfer of 100GB I allow WHS to duplicate files and using the Disk Management plugin I see that the duplication speeds around 70-90MB/s. My one guess is that the original transfer dumps the file to the OS drive which is set to IDE mode but they got rid of the landing zone issue in power pack one.

I haven't transferred anything over the network yet so I can mention much about it's speed.
 
IDE and not AHCI sucks since you will not have hotswap.... you will have to restart the computer to add more drives... which sucks..

my WHS has a 4 month uptime atm, and that is with replacing my 7x750gb WD GP drives with 5 1TB RE2-GP drives....
 
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For now it should be fine for now. It is only on the 4 onboard ports connected by a reverse breakout cable. One of those ports is taken by the OS drive. I only have 8 drives total right now so I'd have to fill up another 9 before I have to worry. I give it a year....
 
just make sure to backup data or migrate off the drive pool drives before doing a reinstall

too many people have had a reinstall fail for no reason dumping all data.... :(
 
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