Hey all, I'm building a very basic box that will be running debian (or windows xp, haven't decided yet) and a torrent client and an nzb client for downloading from usenet. Please tell me if the following hardware will be the best bang for buck:
$134 - Micro ATX barebone system, comes with the intel atom 220 (single core) + external brick psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856167032
$23 - PC 4200 1gb ram : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820144151
$84 - WD 1 TB green cav : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136490
Here's what i'm thinking... I love the fact that it's a microatx system and won't take up much room, I can just stick this into the side of my table and be fine with it. The other thing I like is that the psu will be using an external brick as the power source. So I won't have to worry about the noise from the PSU fan!
What I'm not sure of is this... I've showed this build to a couple of friends and they all say that the intel atom isn't that good and that I could build a cheaper but more powerful server instead of this. One suggestion was to use an amd 2650e cpu and although I've checked up on this suggestion, it's really hard to find mobos that support it in microatx form.
Please let me know what you guys think..
-ddrj
Need critiques/comments for this torrent/fileserver build :)
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That doesn't look MicroATX to me. Motherboard's proprietary. It is, however, pretty small form factor.
For the price, yes, you can build a small form factor MicroATX AMD for aound the same or less. Heck, Fry's had a pretty darn good sale on a Celeron E3200 Wolfdale+MSI G31 combo ($39.99 in-store, $29.99 after MSRP) just last week. Too bad the deal's over.
Something like the following would be pretty good and run much faster than that Atom.
AMD Sempron 140 Sargas, $33
Foxconn A74ML-K 740G, $50
Apex DM-387 w/275W PSU, $45
Crucial 1GB DDR2 800, $22
Western Digital 1TB WD10EARS, $85
Cost for the Case+MB+CPU is $128. There's several cases in the same form factor for around $50. I have the Apex DM-387 (ECS 945GCT-M + Celeron 430) and the PSU fan is actually pretty quiet. I don't think it even kicks in at low loads. The 80mm case fan, you'd definitely want to replace. The one I received with my case was a Delta that was jet engine loud. I tried running it without the case fan but load temps became too high for my liking. I should note, though, that I had the case underneath a desk where it was barely getting any air circulation. Just the simple action of moving the case outside the desk dropped my temps by 10C.
A downside to this, though, is that it'll most likely use more power than the Atom PC.
For the price, yes, you can build a small form factor MicroATX AMD for aound the same or less. Heck, Fry's had a pretty darn good sale on a Celeron E3200 Wolfdale+MSI G31 combo ($39.99 in-store, $29.99 after MSRP) just last week. Too bad the deal's over.
Something like the following would be pretty good and run much faster than that Atom.
AMD Sempron 140 Sargas, $33
Foxconn A74ML-K 740G, $50
Apex DM-387 w/275W PSU, $45
Crucial 1GB DDR2 800, $22
Western Digital 1TB WD10EARS, $85
Cost for the Case+MB+CPU is $128. There's several cases in the same form factor for around $50. I have the Apex DM-387 (ECS 945GCT-M + Celeron 430) and the PSU fan is actually pretty quiet. I don't think it even kicks in at low loads. The 80mm case fan, you'd definitely want to replace. The one I received with my case was a Delta that was jet engine loud. I tried running it without the case fan but load temps became too high for my liking. I should note, though, that I had the case underneath a desk where it was barely getting any air circulation. Just the simple action of moving the case outside the desk dropped my temps by 10C.
A downside to this, though, is that it'll most likely use more power than the Atom PC.
ilovejedd wrote:That doesn't look MicroATX to me. Motherboard's proprietary. It is, however, pretty small form factor.
For the price, yes, you can build a small form factor MicroATX AMD for aound the same or less. Heck, Fry's had a pretty darn good sale on a Celeron E3200 Wolfdale+MSI G31 combo ($39.99 in-store, $29.99 after MSRP) just last week. Too bad the deal's over.
Something like the following would be pretty good and run much faster than that Atom.
AMD Sempron 140 Sargas, $33
Foxconn A74ML-K 740G, $50
Apex DM-387 w/275W PSU, $45
Crucial 1GB DDR2 800, $22
Western Digital 1TB WD10EARS, $85
Cost for the Case+MB+CPU is $128. There's several cases in the same form factor for around $50. I have the Apex DM-387 (ECS 945GCT-M + Celeron 430) and the PSU fan is actually pretty quiet. I don't think it even kicks in at low loads. The 80mm case fan, you'd definitely want to replace. The one I received with my case was a Delta that was jet engine loud. I tried running it without the case fan but load temps became too high for my liking. I should note, though, that I had the case underneath a desk where it was barely getting any air circulation. Just the simple action of moving the case outside the desk dropped my temps by 10C.
A downside to this, though, is that it'll most likely use more power than the Atom PC.
First of all, thanks ilovejedd for taking the time to respond to my post hah, it made me go into a 2 day hiatus of realizing that the intel atoms may not be the best solution heh... So I looked at your build and wanted to say it was eye opening how u can build a more powerful and same cost pc than the one I first built. Also I checked up frys for deals and stuff and I came upon this bad boy! LINK TO CPU/MOBO. I grabbed that beautiful cpu + mobo combo for 49 bucks
It's an amd athlon II x2 250 regor + a biostar mcp6p m2+ moboI made a few changes, but for the most part, this build will be almost exactly how you recommended for it to be. So now i have:
CPU + Mobo combo, $49
Apex DM-387 w/275W PSU, $45
Crucial 1GB DDR2 800, $22
Western Digital 1TB WD10EARS, $85
Only a question or two though... with this setup, i could potentially turn it into a HTPC since it's powerful enough, just gotta run the audio/video wires from the server to the tv. I will have some 720p content on there and I was asking around and people told me 1gb ram will not be enough to play 720p x264 content. The CPU is powerful enough though I thought...
Also, I love this case that you bought, but I'm wondering if you're stuck with 1 3.5" internal bay for ur harddrive OR if it would be possible to convert the external 3.5" and 5.25" bays to house two more 3.5" hard drives?
Best regards,
ddrj
(p.s. really thank you for the help because my previous build was much less powerful than the atom and even though the current cpu is 65w instead of the atom's low watt, the electric bill difference is not that much more per month for the 65w)
The RAM is enough although 2GB is recommended if you can stretch your budget.ddrj wrote:I will have some 720p content on there and I was asking around and people told me 1gb ram will not be enough to play 720p x264 content. The CPU is powerful enough though I thought...
I actually use the external 3.5" bay for my HDD. The drive I used was a Western Digital WD3200AAKS and was too thick for the internal bay. I think the internal bay only accepts slimmer single platter drives (at least the one I received). I just used the space to dump all my unused cables. As for the other, I see no reason why you can't install a 3.5" drive inside the 5.25" bay.ddrj wrote:Also, I love this case that you bought, but I'm wondering if you're stuck with 1 3.5" internal bay for ur harddrive OR if it would be possible to convert the external 3.5" and 5.25" bays to house two more 3.5" hard drives?
ilovejedd wrote:The RAM is enough although 2GB is recommended if you can stretch your budget.ddrj wrote:I will have some 720p content on there and I was asking around and people told me 1gb ram will not be enough to play 720p x264 content. The CPU is powerful enough though I thought...
I actually use the external 3.5" bay for my HDD. The drive I used was a Western Digital WD3200AAKS and was too thick for the internal bay. I think the internal bay only accepts slimmer single platter drives (at least the one I received). I just used the space to dump all my unused cables. As for the other, I see no reason why you can't install a 3.5" drive inside the 5.25" bay.ddrj wrote:Also, I love this case that you bought, but I'm wondering if you're stuck with 1 3.5" internal bay for ur harddrive OR if it would be possible to convert the external 3.5" and 5.25" bays to house two more 3.5" hard drives?
Thanks for suggestions! I will get the 2gb ram
Also I forgot to ask you a few more questions if you don't mind...What 80mm fan did u replace the case fan for the case with? I think 2 of the ones on spcr recommended 80mm fans are not available, but I was just curious ...
The one I used isn't exactly what I'd call quiet. It was an Enermax Marathon 80mm with magnetic bearing. It was much quieter than the Delta fan, though and the low hum it emitted was more bearable. Case temps also increased by a bit. However, I think they're pretty good for the price I got them for ($12 shipped for 4 fans) and inside the entertainment center, the fan's inaudible to me from a distance of 12'.ddrj wrote:What 80mm fan did u replace the case fan for the case with? I think 2 of the ones on spcr recommended 80mm fans are not available, but I was just curious ...