Anted Three Hundred - Server System

[o_Omgwtf]

I'm going to build a new server and I wanted some advise
I don't want you guys to give me a list of hardware, I've been doing research for the last 3 weeks and ofcourse have some ideas myself.

So basically this will be a server of which a maximum of 3 pc's are gonna be streaming video/audio from. Running samba and probably a downloadmachine + ftp and webserver. Nothing too special. Ofcourse it has to be quiet, but I don't care if its audible. And it would be nice, since it will probably be running 24/7, if it didn't use that much watt

I will be using an Anted Three Hundred case, basically because of the amount of space for hard drives and sufficient cooling for them.
I will be using a Seasonic PSU, not sure about the wattage yet... I mean with a maximum of 8 harddrives... I won't be needing more then 380 right?

So I figured it won't really need alot of CPU power, but It will also be unrarring and parring alot. So I'm not to sure which CPU to choose. The only thing I know is that I want a s775 CPU because of any future upgrades and the available heatsinks. But how much mhz will I need? I mean all C2D CPU's use about the same amount of watt and they don't cost that much either, but I just don't know how much I will need, although I think a core2duo CPU is overkill already?

The motherboard.. well to be honest I haven't really done alot of research on this part. Because there are just SO MANY OF THEM! I'm looking through the Recommended Mothersboards and TDP lists sticky threads but haven't really made a choice. I want a s775 board with enough room for harddrives, I guess 6 or 8 SATA ports will be enough since I will probably be using TB disks. And I want to have 2 x Gbit LAN. Ofcourse onboard video and support for linux. I don't really care about the rest.. or should I?

edit: I was wondering.. Is it better to choose a low watt chipset motherboard + seperate VGA card or a motherboard with onboard vga?

I'm pretty sure about the other parts of the system.. some Noctua fans, Termalright's HR-01 and some RAM.

Thanks in advance and for all the information I've gained from this community, I've been lurking around these forums for about 2 or 3 years, never even registered...! And excuse me for any grammar mistakes

[ilovejedd]

The only thing I know is that I want a s775 CPU because of any future upgrades and the available heatsinks.

Just a thought regarding future upgrades... Intel has already shifted their high end processors to a new socket. I think there has been some talk of extending the life of LGA775 for the mainstream/value end, but at this point, this is unknown.

[jhhoffma]

Well other than the question about onboard versus discrete graphics (which I would go onboard all the way), is there any other advise you wanted. You didn't want us to recommend hardware, so what other questions, specifically, did you have.

The 300 is a good case. I don't know if it's ideal for a server (it's lightweight and has no drive suspension), but I don't know that it needs to be. I've dampened mine significantly to reduce resonance, and with 8 hard drives, I don't think it'll be quiet by any stretch. Aside from the thin metal used to make the case, the only other real bad thing about it is the top 140mm fan. It vibrates like crazy and needs to be dampened (softmounted) or replaced entirely to avoid serious noise issues.
Definitely don't get a LGA775 setup for future expandibility. Anything going forward will be i7-based and have integrated memory controllers anyway.

Unless you'll be streaming 1080p material to all PC simultaneously and doing a bunch of background crap at the same time, I don't know that you'd need 2xGigE.

[o_Omgwtf]

Well other than the question about onboard versus discrete graphics (which I would go onboard all the way), is there any other advise you wanted. You didn't want us to recommend hardware, so what other questions, specifically, did you have.

Well maybe I do want some hardware advise after all.. I just meant I´m not here to just post my needs and hope for a complete list of what to buy So I do want to some hardware so I have a rough idea of what I should be looking for. Just looking for some tips on low consumption motherboards and CPU's and what speed to choose.

The 300 is a good case. I don't know if it's ideal for a server (it's lightweight and has no drive suspension), but I don't know that it needs to be. I've dampened mine significantly to reduce resonance, and with 8 hard drives, I don't think it'll be quiet by any stretch. Aside from the thin metal used to make the case, the only other real bad thing about it is the top 140mm fan. It vibrates like crazy and needs to be dampened (softmounted) or replaced entirely to avoid serious noise issues.
Definitely don't get a LGA775 setup for future expandibility. Anything going forward will be i7-based and have integrated memory controllers anyway.

I don't mind about harddrive noise too much, I'll be softmounting them and thats basicly it. I choose this case because it's pretty much the only Antec case which has 120mm fans cooling the drives. And alot of room for HDD's aswel.
And actualy I don't mind that much about future upgrades because it won't be doing more in the future... It should still be able to share/ftp/download/stream/web etc in 5 years, which I think is no problem with a C2D or similar.

Unless you'll be streaming 1080p material to all PC simultaneously and doing a bunch of background crap at the same time, I don't know that you'd need 2xGigE.

Hmm now that I think about it.. I don't realy need it but it whould be nice to hook the server up to my workstation with crosscable gbit, since I've got a 100mbps network. But its not realy nessicary.

[sjoukew]

....I will be using a Seasonic PSU, not sure about the wattage yet... I mean with a maximum of 8 harddrives... I won't be needing more then 380 right?....

Remember: a harddrive uses a lot of power at spin-up. My harddisk uses 30-35 watt at spinnup, if you are using 8 harddisks, that makes 35*8=280 Watt for the harddisks only. This is why large scsi array's spin up their disks one by one.
I don't know how much power your harddisks will use at spin up, but when using a light psu, this can be an issue.

[jhhoffma]

I don't mind about harddrive noise too much, I'll be softmounting them and thats basicly it. I choose this case because it's pretty much the only Antec case which has 120mm fans cooling the drives. And alot of room for HDD's aswel.

Well, if you going to softmount the drives, you'll need to remove the drive cage walls. They are 3.5" wide, and leave no room for suspension. Come to think of it, it'd be pretty hart to get 6 HDDs to fit in there softmounted at all. The HDD area only has 6 bays, with the other two being 5.25" (after using one for optical drive). The top two won't have airflow, so that takes you back down to six in the bottom. There isn't a lot of room there, so be sure you know exactly how much HDD capacity you need any how you plan on fitting it all in. 8 HDDs in a regular ATX mid-tower is a LOT. Four is doable though, provided you take some steps to modify the drive cage.