Hello all,

 

I tested unRAID a bit and was quite impressed by it, so I decided to build a system to run it 24/7. Please comment if the selected components are known to be OK or if I should avoid any of them for any reason. I want my system to use as little power as possible; the rest doesn't really matter (as long as it's stable ).

 

- MB: ASRock 880GM-LE, AM3 Does the integrated Radeon HD 4250 use much power? Would it be better to go with a MB without an integrated graphics card for lower consumption? Since have two ancient 2MB Ati Xpert@Work PCI cards lying around, maybe something like MSi 870-C45, AM3?

- CPU: AMD Sempron X1 140 2.7GHz

- RAM: Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 1.5v (there is a 1600 version for 3€ more, is it worth it?)

- HDD: 2x WD Green 2TB (will buy) + WD Green 1.5TB (already have it)

- USB: Corsair Flash Voyager 2GB (already have it)

- Case & PSU I also already have.

 

One more question -> does Cool & Quiet functionality work with unRAID? That is extremely important to me. I didn't get a chance to test any power saving options, because I was trying out unRAID on a box with a P4 Northwood CPU that didn't have Speed Step when it was made. That old chip just EATS power, at idle it pulls from the wall the same as my i7 2600K @ 4.6 GHz, which is around 100W I also have a computer with a non-overclocked 1156 i3 540 3.06GHz (integrated graphics, only 1 HDD & 1 optical drive) which at idle pulls 42W from the wall. I would like my unRAID server not to use any more than that; preferably less.

 

Any advice, recommendations, feedback, comments etc. greatly appreciated!  

 

 

Edit:

I've been looking at this: Asus AT3IONT-I, 441.

I'm not familiar with Mini ITX boards, so I'm wondering -> would this board fit into a mATX compatible case? Also, would it be correct to assume that I could expand the default 4 SATA ports with a PCI express SATA card (if / when the need arises)?

How many drives do you want your server to support?  What case and PSU are you using?

 

- MB: ASRock 880GM-LE, AM3 Does the integrated Radeon HD 4250 use much power? Would it be better to go with a MB without an integrated graphics card for lower consumption? Since have two ancient 2MB Ati Xpert@Work PCI cards lying around, maybe something like MSi 870-C45, AM3?

 

I saw two of these boards DOA when I was testing them, never saw an actual good one.  I requested a refund.  On paper it looks like it should be compatible with unRAID.  Hopefully you have better luck than I did.  In general, onboard video will be more power efficient than a video card.

 

- CPU: AMD Sempron X1 140 2.7GHz

- RAM: Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 1.5v (there is a 1600 version for 3€ more, is it worth it?)

- HDD: 2x WD Green 2TB (will buy) + WD Green 1.5TB (already have it)

- USB: Corsair Flash Voyager 2GB (already have it)

 

That all looks good.  The RAM speed really won't matter much either way in unRAID, but the faster RAM may come in handy later if you ever re-purpose it.

 

Cool & Quiet works on some motherboards.  I believe unRAID does have the drivers for it.

 

MiniITX will fit in just about any case, including a mATX or full sized ATX case.  MiniITX uses the four screw-holes closest to the IO panel and none others.

The PSU is a 400W Enermax that I don't need for anything else, I have no idea about the make or model for the case (it gets the job done, though ).

 

I will start with 3 drives and then if the need arises I will add more. The initial 3.5TB (2+2+1.5) should be enough for quite a while, so I don't think I'll ever need many drives, I just like to leave my options open for the future. Since I could if necessary add a 4-port controller card to that Asus AT3IONT-I motherboard, which already had 4 ports, it's starting to look like a better option compared to a regular AM3 board (at least as far as energy efficiency is concerned).

That Asus is a nice a little board.

 

I use one for a HTPC.

 

I will point out that an ATOM D525 will have a bit more horsepower and use less electricity. it should cost just a few bucks more..

 

and to answer your other question.

yes you can buy an 8 port PCIe card and expand that board to use more drives later.

Cool & Quiet works on some motherboards.  I believe unRAID does have the drivers for it.

Actually I think that the CNQ drivers are not included in 4.7 but they are in 5.0b6.  My first server used a sempron 140 and 3 green HDDs and it pulled ~65w when idle because CNQ did not work.  I switched to a E5500 and my server now idles at ~42w.

 

Since I could if necessary add a 4-port controller card to that Asus AT3IONT-I motherboard, which already had 4 ports, it's starting to look like a better option compared to a regular AM3 board (at least as far as energy efficiency is concerned).

If you don't need the processing horsepower for add-ons (like airvideo, etc) then an atom or zacate board would be a good choice.

I guess I won't need much processing power, since the only add-on I plan to use so far is Transmission. Good point about the ATOM D525 - I completely forgot that it has 1 core more than the Sempron And if I'm reading the specs right, it's also multithreaded? Very nice! I am seriously considering this ATOM board because it might be just what I need.

 

I found this scary stuff on the forums here:

Samsung F4s:These silently corrupt data.

Western Digital EARS:These drives had a jumper issue, and additionally can suffer from high LCC count.

Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS: Requires a firmware update to CC35

My recommendation? Buy a Hitachi Deskstar 5k3000.

 

Sooo... Which drive to buy to avoid any problems (arranged from the cheapest to the most expensive in local stores):

- Seagate 2TB 5900RPM 64MB Barracuda Green (ST2000DL003)

- WD 2TB 64MB Caviar Green (WD20EARS)

- Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB 32MB (HD204UI)

- Hitatchi deskstar 2TB (HDS722020ALA330_0F10311)

 

 

P.S. (source):

Hatachi 7K2000: Gets very hot, in excess of 46c.

Western Digital Green EARS: Has a nasty load_cycle_count issue. These drives can die within 41 days in some situations.

Samsung F4EG: Has bad firmware problems that cause bad blocks.

Seagate Green ST2000DL003: Has bad firmware, causing it to not be reported or detected correctly etc

 

A couple of things to add:

Western Digital Green: You can stop the load cycle count increasing, by disabling the auto-head-park feature. But this creates its own set of problems, when the drive is idle for 8 seconds, it will start doing automatic error-checking constantly, which will make an annoying noise and wear the drive out fast.

Seagate Green: Although it has decent transfer and random access benchmark statistics, its I/O test (which is the best indicator of real-life performance) is atrocious. About 20% worse than the WD Greens which are already bad enough.

 

don't fret the hard drive issues..

 

Honestly. I have many of every model except the Hitachi's and i plan to get some next drive purchase (baring any sales for other brands).

 

The F4's only had a firmware issue for a few months.

I have about 20 from before the issue and about 8 from after. all on original firmware. not a single issue. it was fixed. just check the dates. I have not had one problem yet. but these are still pretty new still. under a year?

 

I have about 20 EARs, no out of the ordinary issues. they all worked as advertised

I think 1 I got from the day one original release of them is just starting to get pending block errors.. over 2 years of 24x7 use? not bad... the high cycle count was WHSv1  bug if i recall. not a drive Bug?

 

Seagate 5900... some people love these. they seem to be a tad warmer  in my experience. the speed is about the same as the ears.

well I am happy with the retail batch I got that were manufactured in Thailand and are running CC34 firmware still (ain't broke, don't fix it). no issues at all..

on the other side of the coin. I got 8 (or 12?) OEM drives made in China. I tried both CC34 and CC35 on them. After i put CC35. two drives shot up over 70C and tripped smart permanently. those were in a supermicro cage with full fan and the other drives in the cage never got over 35c. one of the others did not want to format. I called newegg for an rma on the 3 drives and they offered to pay the return shipping and replace ALL of them with another brand at their expense. so i got F4's.. all in all, I wasted probably 3 days of doing nothing but messing with these 8 drives.

 

Of course that was probably a fluke and if you ordered 4 today. they would work just fine. as i said, my first batch is still going strong. personally, that was enough to make me say enough with seagate...

 

There is no perfect drive. it is all personal preference and luck based on what batch you get.

 

CPU:

yes the D510/D525 are multi-core/Multi-threaded. If i am not mistaken, so was the 330. they are also 64 bit.

the problem i was running into was a 2gig max memory on the 330 server boards. I believe the 330 IONs were 4gig max.

I am also starting to like the I3-2100 as a replacement for the atom. It idles the same and gets a bit more horsepower (at the expense of a few more watts). the I3 route costs a bit more.

 

It sounds like the atom or AMD equivalent is fine for you.

I really appreciate your in depth feedback. Since you have 20 of them, I think I will just order the EARS, because all my drives are WD (except my SSD) and I didn't have any issues with them so far.

 

I only plan to use my unRAID for storage&backups and light downloading with Transmission. Here's my updated list:

- M/B: Asus AT3IONT-I

- RAM: Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333

- HDD: 2×WD20EARS (new), WD15EADS (already have)

Plus the stuff I already have:

- USB: Corsair Flash Voyager 2GB

- PSU: 400W Enermax

- Case: Midi tower

 

So if there's anything I should know or change before I buy it, please let me know Thanks  

 

Also ... Should I use WDIDLE to modify or disable head parking on WD drives before install? Or just leave it all alone?

The Enermax PSU may cause problems when you start adding drives. It has 2 12V 20A rails so you'll need to balance your drives over both of them. A single rail PSU is preferable. See here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12219.0

Thanks for the heads up! It turns out I gave you wrong information, because I just checked the manual and the PSU is: Enermax EG465AX-VE(G) 460W. Output: +3.3V@35A, +5V@35A, -5V@1A, +12V@33A, -12V@1A, [email protected]. I have no idea why I was sure it was 400W. I guess should be OK for a while since it has only one rail. I'm going to upgrade the PSU in my desktop which right now uses Corsair TX650W (52A 12V rail). Should I hold on to it after the upgrade in case I need to upgrade my Enermax in the future? I'll order the system soon, so if there's any last-minute advice, now's the time

 

The Corsair TX650 is a great PSU for unRAID, I would definitely keep it for that purpose.  It can support over 20 drives, so you should never have to worry about replacing it as you expand.

Alright, the stuff's all here, the week is over and I finally have some time to put it together, so thanks to everyone again for all your useful feedback, this community is great.

 

I haven't put it all together completely yet, but I did a quick test and decided to stick with Corsair TX650W which I removed from my desktop (replaced it with HX1000W).

 

Only AT3IONT-I and RAM connected (power consumption):

Enermax EG465AX-VE(G):

- System on (BIOS): 32W

- System off, but plugged in: 3W

 

Corsair TX650W:

- System on (BIOS): 29W

- System off, but plugged in: 1.2W

 

I was quite surprised, because I expected the more powerful PSU to be less effective at lower draw. I'm very pleased that these Corsairs are worth the price.