Takeshi

Using a trial license, I built a small NAS with a small PC and an M.2 type ASM1166 as prototype. The PC itself is a gigabyte gb-bsi3h-6100 with ac adopter, four consumer 2.5 HDDs are connected as external box powered by PICO PSU. With this configuration, total idle power consumption was 13-14W, and auto-tune worked without any problems. As gb-bsi3h-6100 has sata x1 and m.2 x1, we can use 7 sata ports as maximum using asm1166. Perhaps there are users who have already achieved something similar, but if you choose to build a NAS using an old small computer, please take a look at it. The challenge is what to do with the enclosure....

Hi @mgutt Thank you for your comment. I think same thing... At the first time, I bought Intel DC for cache drive because my wife sometimes transfer over 100GB RAW photos one time from working PC. It works so good especially continuously writing I expected, but I noticed 1.6TB cache is too much for our use case. After that I found cheap 1TB DC micron ($50). I switched it for cache. I mainly stored small files such as photoes and documents to SSD, you know,,, those files are very important for family I choosed to store them to Intel DC due to it's reliability. If I bought an affordable 2TB SSD with enough reliability, I would probably replace it from Intel DC, but right now I feel there is little cost-effective benefit. For example, 1W reduction in power consumption can reduce electricity bills by approximately 25 JP yen/month (1kW=30-35yen) in Japan, it means reduction of 300 yen/year, 1500 yen/5years. I always struggle with this balance because if the investment for this purpose exceeds this amount, the original objective will be lost. As you comment, my system can be tuned more for power consumption, but I'm still exploring what is the best for me. Your detailed advice has been invaluable by all Unraid users and I would have continued to use TrueNAS without your information. Thank you so much.

Hi everyone, Thank you very much for previous information especially @mgutt-san. I have started to use unraid last month and I tried to reduce power consumption in according to this topic. My report might be helped for new users, I report my hardware informaton, idle power consumption and briefly note. I am Japanese, so please forgive me if my English is a little strange. [Conclusion] - I could reduce idle power from 23W to 19.5W with 3.5x4 HDDs and 2.5x4 SSDs. - The information provided here is mostly correct, so new user should decide based on the cost-effectiveness of the additional devices. [Hardware] Fujitsu TX1320 M2 with genuine PSU 250W (used) CPU: core i5 6400 (changed from G4400) MEM: 8GB ECC single HBA: additional cheap asm1166/6ports with silverstone FW NIC: additional cheap 2.5GbE RLT8125B HDD: 3.5 4TB x4 (Ultrastar x1, WD blue x2, Seagate SMR x1) SDD: 1TB x2, 1.6TB, 500GB (Micron DC 1TB, Intel DC 1.6TB, normal QLC 1TB, normal MLC 500GB) [Note] - asm1166 with original FW does not work using "powertop --auto-tune" well. This site is helpful for me how to update and confirm. https://docs.phil-barker.com/posts/upgrading-ASM1166-firmware-for-unraid/ After updated, I can reduce 2-3W to just call "powertop -auto-tune". Excellent. - Fujitsu PSU is the best efficiency in my PSUs. It seems to work efficiency almost the same as PicoPSU. This used PC is easy to get very cheap price around $40-50 in Japan and it includes all for creating home NAS. - I tried some HBA. They sometimes cost only around $5-7 like IBM ServerRAID H1110. H1110 costs 5W for 4 ports. They are a cost effective option in countries with low electricity costs. However, I really wanted to try ASM1166 myself, so I eventually adopted ASM1166. - HPE Microserver Gen10 lite (X3216) does not have enought CPU power to calc parity as full speed. Idle power is almost the same as TX1320 M2. I don't recommend to use it.