Building Quite LOW Power NAS ( advice wanted )

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:07 pm

jessekopelman wrote:
dgccr wrote:Is there any programs out there that can give you an idea how much power your rig is pulling?
It's too hard to estimate low power PC draw, because at under 100W things like PSU efficiency and motherboard power regulation start to play a major role. A power meter is not a bad investment in terms of entertainment value -- it will last a long time and every time you get/build a new toy you can whip it out.

Awesome! Thanks again!!!!

Any truth to those rumors about linux / unix having issues with WD Green drives spinning down too much and causing premature failure? Looking to purchase my drives this week.

-daryl

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:26 am

dgccr wrote:Does anyone know of a more efficient motherboard then my choice :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813186110

My only requirement is LGA775 MATX as I already have my chip
( Celeron CONROE-L 430 35w 1.8GHZ )

Well, here is the chipset power specs:

G965 13W Idle / 28W TDP

You might want to find a G31 or G33 motherboard:

G33 5.75W Idle / 14.5W TDP
G31 7.4W Idle / 15.5W TDP

Ideally one with fewer VRM phases.

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:56 am

QuietOC wrote:
dgccr wrote:Does anyone know of a more efficient motherboard then my choice :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813186110

My only requirement is LGA775 MATX as I already have my chip
( Celeron CONROE-L 430 35w 1.8GHZ )
Well, here is the chipset power specs:

G965 13W Idle / 28W TDP

You might want to find a G31 or G33 motherboard:

G33 5.75W Idle / 14.5W TDP
G31 7.4W Idle / 15.5W TDP

Ideally one with fewer VRM phases.

Cool

This guy looks like it would fit the bill fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128357

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:15 am

dgccr wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128357

Haha, I actually just bought that one too--for my "high power" gaming system. Buy.com seems to be the cheapest place right now to get it, but it might take a while to get it.

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:49 am

QuietOC wrote:
dgccr wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128357
Haha, I actually just bought that one too--for my "high power" gaming system. Buy.com seems to be the cheapest place right now to get it, but it might take a while to get it.

If you just bought it for your gaming system then I know it will work great for my NAS, This forum has taught me alot already in info on picking lower power / ( great components )

This board appears to have everything i need i believe it doesnt have hardware raid but ill be using sofware raid with FREENAS anyway.

-daryl

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:51 am

dgccr wrote:This board appears to have everything i need i believe it doesnt have hardware raid but ill be using sofware raid with FREENAS anyway.

No desktop motherboards have hardware RAID. The Intel ICH#R is software RAID. The only real reason to get the R version is for official AHCI support (NCQ , hot plug), which might actually be useful for a file server.

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:04 am

QuietOC wrote:
dgccr wrote:This board appears to have everything i need i believe it doesnt have hardware raid but ill be using sofware raid with FREENAS anyway.
No desktop motherboards have hardware RAID. The Intel ICH#R is software RAID. The only real reason to get the R version is for official AHCI support (NCQ , hot plug), which might actually be useful for a file server.

Hmm,

Do you know if the above board can do the software raid 1 I need for FREENAS ( any *nix nas distro )

I know the southbridge is better yet less efficient in the G965

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:12 am

dgccr wrote:I know the southbridge is better yet less efficient in the G965

If you want AHCI I can recommend the Foxconn G33M-S which has the ICH9R. I think any motherboard can do OS-based software RAID. IMHO, any kind of software-based RAID is more risky than just using a single drive.

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:24 am

QuietOC wrote:
dgccr wrote:I know the southbridge is better yet less efficient in the G965
If you want AHCI I can recommend the Foxconn G33M-S which has the ICH9R. I think any motherboard can do OS-based software RAID. IMHO, any kind of software-based RAID is more risky than just using a single drive.

I see well I will be using FREENAS to manage the RAID which will be RAID 1 just mirroring ( not striping ) I was under the impression this would be a better choice as if any hardware ever dies I just would need a FREENAS box to recognize the raid and being RAID 1 I could pop the drive in any BSD machine.

Either or I would prefer to use the MB that you ordered just not sure if it will still work in my scenario I may not have to have a AHCI board.

That other ICH9R board is nice but i was looking to be priced around 50/70$

FuturePastNow · Post by **FuturePastNow** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:32 pm

dgccr wrote:Any truth to those rumors about linux / unix having issues with WD Green drives spinning down too much and causing premature failure? Looking to purchase my drives this week.

-daryl

I've heard about that a couple of times and I wonder if there's anything to it, too. Especially since I've already got one terabyte GP drive, and am planning to buy three more for a NAS.

dgccr · Post by **dgccr** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:28 pm

FuturePastNow wrote:
dgccr wrote:Any truth to those rumors about linux / unix having issues with WD Green drives spinning down too much and causing premature failure? Looking to purchase my drives this week.

-daryl
I've heard about that a couple of times and I wonder if there's anything to it, too. Especially since I've already got one terabyte GP drive, and am planning to buy three more for a NAS.

If anyone has any info on this please share as I cant see this being a good LINUX Nas choice if the rumors are true even if they are energy efficient. HD Failure would not be good.

FuturePastNow · Post by **FuturePastNow** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:17 pm

dgccr wrote:
FuturePastNow wrote:
dgccr wrote:Any truth to those rumors about linux / unix having issues with WD Green drives spinning down too much and causing premature failure? Looking to purchase my drives this week.

-daryl
I've heard about that a couple of times and I wonder if there's anything to it, too. Especially since I've already got one terabyte GP drive, and am planning to buy three more for a NAS.
If anyone has any info on this please share as I cant see this being a good LINUX Nas choice if the rumors are true even if they are energy efficient. HD Failure would not be good.

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/for ... 1009715931

That's where I first read of the issue. Searching Google for "greenpower linux problem" brings up some forum discussions. My 1TB GP drive is in a USB enclosure so I can't check the SMART data. Sometime soon I'll throw it inside the case, and I really have no idea what I'll find. I'm using Windows, though.

Edit: Hey, here's an SPCR thread about it: viewtopic.php?t=51401