Migrated to new server - update and report on final build, and thanks!

[AlainF]

Dear community,

 

Some weeks ago I posted for help and opinion on a new build to migrate my disks to, and I wanted to share the final build specs with you, also as a way of saying THANK YOU for all your constructive feedbacks!

 

Eventually these are the parts I got and assembled:

 

• Case : Fractal Node 804
• PSU : Corsair SF850L
• Mainboard : ASUS Rog Strix Z690-G Gaming Wifi
• CPU : Intel Core i5 13500
• Memory : 2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5 5600MHz CL36 
• CPU cooler : Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black
• Fans : 3 x Artic PWM PST RGB 120mm, 1 x Artic PWM PST RGB 140mm
• 3 sets of deleyCON SATA cables
• 2 x Kingston 2000 GB FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (cache pool)
• 2 x Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2.5" SATA III 1TB (recovered from old rig) (docker containers, future VMs, other temp stuff)
• 2 x 8TB Seagate IronWolf HDDs (recovered from old rig)
• 2 x 8TB Toshiba MG06ACA HDDs (recovered from old rig)

 

I replaced the fans that came with the Node 804 with the Artic ones, and got rid of the built-in "fan speed switch" of the case, planning to use "auto fan control" to do the job - and it works! The CPU fan, and the Artic 120mm sitting behind it on the right side of the case, are controlled directly by the BIOS based on CPU temperature. On the other side, I have 2 x 120mm fans in the front and 1 x 140mm in the back of the HDDs, and they are chained together using PST and plugged into one PWM header on the mainboard that allows auto fan control to ramp up and down the speed of the three fans according to HDD temp.

 

This works really well, putting the drive fans to 0rpm when the drives are cooler than 30 °C, and ramping up to 50% of max RPM as temps rise but never go beyond 42 °C on any given drive. This is a perfect compromise of heat and noise for my use case. Note that the HDDs are set to spin down automatically after 30 minutes, and 90% of the time I have max 1 drive spun up so that the fans barely run at 20% of their max RPM. The only "noise" I can hear sitting 2 meters away is the one drive spinning...

 

Getting auto fan control working was a bit of trial&error. I needed to install some additional drivers, and repeat the detection process a few times, but finally it just worked and Unraid detected the PWM controller. Sadly, I don't remember the sequence of my actions and would not be able to explain to someone exactly what I did 🤓. Anyway - it works.

 

The machine is VERY powerful for my needs (mainly Plex, *arrs, and some home automation and network stuff). The CPU rarely breaks a sweat and comfortably sits at an average temperature of around 30°C. The Noctua CPU fan is inaudible.

 

It's also a quite power efficient setup, with an average consumption of around 45 Watts, which translates in my country to around 11 euros of electricity cost per month.

 

The only issue I had was that the mainboard needed a BIOS flash to support 13th gen CPUs, and I had to bring the computer to a very kind and efficient local computer shop who popped in a 12th gen CPU to flash the BIOS, for a very small fee.

 

My next project is to find a way to change the RGB lighting of the 4 Artic fans based on the temperature of the disks (just for fun).

 

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed to getting this (very nice to me) setup going!

 

A.

 

Update: here is a visual of my fan setup, the ones marked with a red arrow are the ones I replaced / installed. Blue = 120mm, white = 140mm. The disks are on the right side of the case, facing away from you.

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by AlainF

[PieR]

Thanks Alain, your post made me build my NAS too, last week!

Pretty the same build (except I'm using a supermicro X11ssh with and xeon E1240v6).

 

... my wife still thinks it looks like a coke fridge

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by PieR