Lots of space for future extensions

Bikenix · 4. Oktober 2013

My old iOmega reached it's limites and when I tried to find larger HDDs, I discovered that it had no SATA.
But good old EIDE drives with capacities > 500 GB are barely available and extremely expensive.

So I decided that it is time to build my own NAS with enough space for several HDs.

I had an old big tower with an old AMD processor in the basement, which was barely usable anymore.
The case is still in a pretty good shape and I had to replace the PSU some years ago.

It took me a while to decide if I go for a low power system with an ATOM board, or for something more open and with a little bit more power.
I decided to find a hopefully good compromise between both.
My main requirements that led to the decision:
1. >= 6 SATA-III ports
2. >= 2 USB 3.0 ports
3. limit roughly 500 EUR
4. as silent as possible
5. power efficiency

My current system:

Mainboard: ASUS H87-Pro
CPU: Intel i3-4130T
RAM: 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 Kingston HyperX
SSD: SanDisk 64GB - for OS
HDD: 2 x WD Green 3TB - RAID 1

I also recycled my good old Adaptec AHA-2940UW SCSI controller together with a Plextor CD writer. However I'm planning to replace both with a SATA BluRay writer.
I'm also planning to replace the PSU. The current be quiet PSU makes chirping noises that are not coming from any fan and it is not efficient enough.

I'm not so much concerned about power consumption in active or idle state, but the current stand by power consumption off 5 Watt is way too much.

The case has enough space for at least 6 more drives.

ryecoaaron · 4. Oktober 2013

Nice system that will work well. You might want to get another network card because the one on the motherboard is not supported well by even some of the newest kernels let alone the 3.2 backports kernel.

Bikenix · 4. Oktober 2013

Thanks, so far I haven't discovered any component that's not supported by OMV 0.5

ryecoaaron · 4. Oktober 2013

Your board must have a different network adapter than my H87 board. That solves that problem

PhantomSens · 13. Oktober 2013

Nice build and plenty of room for expansion. Try to get a Gold or better rated power supply. It will be pricey but will help keep energy costs down.

Are you sure the chirping is not the PSU's fan? I've had some fans make some odd noises. If you feel comfortable about opening the power supply and removing the fan you may be able to oil it. I've got some fans that are 15 plus years old and still working well. Just a couple of drops of oil when they start making noise. Just be sure to use electric motor oil.

jensk · 13. Oktober 2013

Zitat von "ryecoaaron"

Nice system that will work well. You might want to get another network card because the one on the motherboard is not supported well by even some of the newest kernels let alone the 3.2 backports kernel.

My mobo is using the same onboard Realtek 8111 nic. With 3.2 backports kernel and Linux-firmware-realtek http://packages.debian.org/squ…ackports/firmware-realtek this nic gives me an average of 995Mb/sec when testing with iperf.
I think this meme of "onboard realtek is no good" is out of date.

ryecoaaron · 13. Oktober 2013

Zitat von "jensk"

I think this meme of "onboard realtek is no good" is out of date.

Some realtek are ok. Others have serious problems even if they are same model (may be the motherboard causing the problem). You never see this with Intel NICs

Cpoc · 17. Oktober 2013

Same here Intel nics are the only ones I use. They just work. I am currently working on building a new server build it will have a total of 10 nics all Intel, pci pass-through with Xenserver as host.

Bikenix · 17. Oktober 2013

Zitat von "PhantomSens"

Nice build and plenty of room for expansion.

Thanks. Actually I think some cables are too long and the PSu without cable management adds some more unnecessary cables as well.

Zitat von "PhantomSens"

Try to get a Gold or better rated power supply. It will be pricey but will help keep energy costs down.

That's what I want to do. I'm just not sure which PSU exactly. The current one is a 'be quiet' :lol:
Currently I power it off after shutdown, so there is no immediate need. The only inconvenience is that I have to go into the basement to switch it on or off, instead of using WOL.

Zitat von "PhantomSens"

Are you sure the chirping is not the PSU's fan? I've had some fans make some odd noises. If you feel comfortable about opening the power supply and removing the fan you may be able to oil it. I've got some fans that are 15 plus years old and still working well. Just a couple of drops of oil when they start making noise. Just be sure to use electric motor oil.

I'm absolutely sure. I suspected the fans as well and checked them already. The noise didn't stop when I stopped the fans, so it must be something else. Meanwhile I suspect a coil with loose windings.

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