New PSU question

[daquint]

It seems that the rackmount PSU question did not find any takers.

 

Here is a new question:

 

Is anyone powering their Unraid with one single PSU?

 

I am wondering it is worth it, and if it is feasible to get a nice 900 or 1000W PSU.

 

With the drvies spinning down when not in use, would a sizable PSU be able to power the 12 drives, mobo, etc?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[dschur]

not worth it , IMO.

 

I'm running 10 drives, with 2 PS's. One an el cheapo eBay 550W special (I wouldn't recommend these) this has 6 drives and the mobo on it, the second is an old dell OEM (darn dell and their proprietary mobo connectors) 250W that has 4 drives on it.

 

The dual PS option of the Stacker is great.

[TCIII]

daquint,

 

I agree with dschur and with the use of two power supplies you get two more fans in the case without having to add them individually.

 

Both of my unRaid servers are in CM Stacker cases with dual power supplies.

 

Regards,

TCIII

[daquint]

yeah infortunately i didnt go the CM Stacker route. I am using a rackmount case. 

 

Oh well, i guess i can have the 2nd PSU chilling next to my case. (externally)

[sonofdbn]

I'm using a single Antec Neo HE 500 for my unRaid, with 12 drives, 4 fans and one tray with a small fan in it. Seems to be fine although currently I seem to have a DMA problem. I doubt whether the PSU is the cause, but I thought I should mention it.

[Joe L.]

I'm using a single Antec Neo HE 500 for my unRaid, with 12 drives, 4 fans and one tray with a small fan in it. Seems to be fine although currently I seem to have a DMA problem. I doubt whether the PSU is the cause, but I thought I should mention it.

According to what I've read there are three 12 volt supplies in that PS. Each can supply a max of 17 amps.

One is used for the motherboard power connector, the other two feed the connectors on the side of the case.  The two connectors closest to the cables share one supply, the two connectors furthest from the cables share the other.

 

12 Hard disks on a single 17 amp supply might just be pushing the capacity if by chance you have the drives all connected just to one of the 12 volt sources in that supply.  It might only show as DMA errors when calculating parity since at that time ALL drives are active.

 

When you have the cabinet open next make sure half of your drives are powered from a connector closest to the cables on the PS and half from the connectors furthest from the cables on the PS.

 

It may not solve the problem you have with DMA, but it sure can't hurt to split the load on the PS.

 

Joe L.

[dabl]

...

Both of my unRaid servers are in CM Stacker cases with dual power supplies.

 

Regards,

TCIII

 

what make and model power supplies are you using please?

[TCIII]

dabl,

 

I am presently using Antec 350 watt model SL350 power supplies.

 

Antec may not make these power supplies anymore.

 

If one of them dies, I will probably replace it with an equivalent Sparkle power supply.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

TCIII

[BLKMGK]

I was using the P/S that Tom recommends powering 10 drives. When I moved to 12 drives I went ahead and grabbed a second P/S that was dirt cheap and maybe 500Watts on sale at MicroCenter. No power worries and no way would I use a single 1K P/S. These are ineffecient at low power draws which is where you'll be most of the time. IMO the added fans in the second P/S are pretty much wasted since in most cases that is at the bottom of the case. My second P/S has a temp controlled fan on it facing upwards and it seldom seems to run at all...

[dabl]

I was using the P/S that Tom recommends powering 10 drives....

 

Which one is that? 

[teamhood]

Sparkle 350watt

[BLKMGK]

Sparkle 350watt

 

yup, and it supported TEN drives with no issues. IMO people overspec P/S fairly often and many manufacturers also overstate their capacity. High capacity P/S are pretty ineffecient until they are pushed close to their rated capacity - I'd have to have a VERY serious setup to even begin to consider something like a 1KW P/S. That's just nutz IMO.

[sonofdbn]

I'm using a single Antec Neo HE 500 for my unRaid, with 12 drives, 4 fans and one tray with a small fan in it. Seems to be fine although currently I seem to have a DMA problem. I doubt whether the PSU is the cause, but I thought I should mention it.

 

I wanted to update this: the DMA problem seemed to be caused by a drive tray. Everything is fine now; certainly the Antec seems to have enough capacity for my system.

[gnollo]

I'm using a single Antec Neo HE 500 for my unRaid, with 12 drives, 4 fans and one tray with a small fan in it. Seems to be fine although currently I seem to have a DMA problem. I doubt whether the PSU is the cause, but I thought I should mention it.

 

I wanted to update this: the DMA problem seemed to be caused by a drive tray. Everything is fine now; certainly the Antec seems to have enough capacity for my system.

 

I bought the Seasonic S12-430 power supply on reccomandation from the poster below

 

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6474148&post6474148

 

From his post

 

"Power consumption measurements

 

The following are my components:

 

Intel D865GLCLK

Intel 2.26GHz Celeron D

(2) 256k ram

(2) Promise Ultra 100 TX2

(6) Maxtor drives

(3) Seagate drives

(3) Western Digital drives

Thermaltake Purepower 420

Antec True 430

(3) Cooler Master 4-3 drive cages

Note that no other fans are used

 

The following are some power consumption measurements (Kill A Watt meter):

 

Before (two power supplies)

System on, all disks spun down: 101 watts

System on, all disks spinning: 202 watts

 

After (single Seasonic power supply)

System on, all disks spun down: 68 watts

System on, all disks spinning: 180 watts

 

Since I pay $.09 per KWh, the annual cost savings will be about $26."

 

From this finding, I would think that a 430W is more than enought to power up and run 12 Hard disks....

 

[teamhood]

I am using a Seasonic 430 watt in my HTPC and I was thinking about getting two of the 330w for the unRAID server. Honestly, those P/S make no noise... all I need is to add a zalman to the CPU and I would have a fairly quiet server It is pretty loud with that intel cpu fan....

[dschur]

not worth it , IMO.

 

I'm running 10 drives, with 2 PS's. One an el cheapo eBay 550W special (I wouldn't recommend these) this has 6 drives and the mobo on it, the second is an old dell OEM (darn dell and their proprietary mobo connectors) 250W that has 4 drives on it.

 

The dual PS option of the Stacker is great.

 

I definitely wouldn't recommend the cheapo eBay PS's.

 

Mine just died, lasted ~7 months. The fan started getting super loud, shutdown the array to check on it, then it won't turn back on. Someone at work had a new Antec TruePower 430W and I liked the price (free) so that'll replace it. My recommendation, avoid the cheap, lightweight ebay "Hercules" power supplies - they don't last.

[BillK]

It seems that the rackmount PSU question did not find any takers.

 

Sorry, I didn't reply earlier, but my 4U rackmount case is only setup for a single PSU.

 

Here is a new question:

 

Is anyone powering their Unraid with one single PSU?

 

Yes, here's my current rig (updated 2/19/07):

 

Case:                IPC 19" 4U Rackmount Case Model S411 (External - - six 5.25" bays, three 3.5" bays, 1 slim CD bay; Internal - - two 3.5" bays)

Drive Cages:      3141 SATA Back Planes - - allows you to stack 4 drives in the space of three 5.25" bays (two units)

Power Supply:  Enermax NoiseTaker II 600W PSU, model EG701AX-VE

Motherboard:    Asus P5PE-VM

CPU:                Intel Celeron D 2.53Ghz

Memory:          Corsair 512MB DDR400 memory (two sticks, for a total of 1GB)

Controller:        Promise SATA300 TX4 (2)

Hard Drive:        Seagate 500GB 7K 16MB SATA2 (four), Western Digital 250GB 7K 8MB IDE (two)

Flash Drive:        Sony MicroVault Tiny 512MB USB thumbdrive

 

So far everything's working great.