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- Mar 23, 2013
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So my previous server was an i7 965EE with 12gb of DDR3 in an Asrock X58 Supercomputer motherboard. Storage (which will remain unchanged through the upgrade) was handled by 2 HGST 4tb drives in RAID1 for media and 2 WD 500gb in RAID1 for Documents, pictures, setup files, etc. This server was responsible for file sharing between computers and dishing out good ol' media via Plex to the TV's around my house. Not a ton of work for what's an obviously overpowered computer for the task. I've been looking for a way to cut a few dollars off the electric bill and a 130watt TDP CPU that was being liquid cooled seemed an obvious choice.
So, though one of the fine members here, I found what I thought was a good deal on an i3 4130T CPU and Gigabyte motherboard. This would allow me a lower power CPU and the ability to eliminate the liquid cooling and fan required for it in favor of a simple passively cooled tower HSF as well as get rid of the video card the X58 system needed in favor of onboard graphics. The package arrived a couple days ago and last night I finally got a chance to get things swapped over. I've gotta say, this i3 is a lot more zippy around Windows and Plex than I thought it would be. The new computer may have dropped from 12gb to 8gb or RAM but that's still more than enough for my needs at this point. I'm also seeing great temps, even under load and during hours of Windows updates, the CPU has reached a max temp of less than 50°C.
Just thought I'd share this here and a few before and after pics for you guys. Hope you enjoy!
Edit: One thing I was thoroughly impressed with Windows ability to handle the two array's through the transition. The WD 500gb drives were set up in hardware RAID via the onboard SATA on the old server and the 4tb drives were done via software RAID in Windows. I installed the two drives in the new system and Windows actually recognized the two arrays and after a resync, both arrays are up and running. I was expecting hours of data restoration via the external backups I made but this made life so much easier.
So, though one of the fine members here, I found what I thought was a good deal on an i3 4130T CPU and Gigabyte motherboard. This would allow me a lower power CPU and the ability to eliminate the liquid cooling and fan required for it in favor of a simple passively cooled tower HSF as well as get rid of the video card the X58 system needed in favor of onboard graphics. The package arrived a couple days ago and last night I finally got a chance to get things swapped over. I've gotta say, this i3 is a lot more zippy around Windows and Plex than I thought it would be. The new computer may have dropped from 12gb to 8gb or RAM but that's still more than enough for my needs at this point. I'm also seeing great temps, even under load and during hours of Windows updates, the CPU has reached a max temp of less than 50°C.
Just thought I'd share this here and a few before and after pics for you guys. Hope you enjoy!
Edit: One thing I was thoroughly impressed with Windows ability to handle the two array's through the transition. The WD 500gb drives were set up in hardware RAID via the onboard SATA on the old server and the 4tb drives were done via software RAID in Windows. I installed the two drives in the new system and Windows actually recognized the two arrays and after a resync, both arrays are up and running. I was expecting hours of data restoration via the external backups I made but this made life so much easier.
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they really are great chips.