I'm looking for a good power supply for my Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O. It looks like this board requires a PS that meets the SSI standard. I think that means

EPS12V vs. ATX12V.

 

Here is the equipment I'm looking at and my uses. This is my 1st unRAID build.

 

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

CPU: Intel G620

Power Supply: ?

Case: Either AZZA Helios 910,  Antec 902 or maybe something smaller. I don't need much space.

Drives: 3 - 2TB green drives and 1 500GB cache

Software: SABNzbd, SickBeard, CouchPotato, OpenVPN if I can figure it out.

 

I'm looking at either the SeaSonic SS-400F or Antec NEO ECO 400C. The Antec is around $75 less than the SeaSonic. The SeaSonic sounds amazing and gets great reviews but I'm wondering if the extra would really be worth it over the Antec. I don't mind spending more if it's that much better or would pay for itself through lower power usage. Can anyone advise me?

 

Seasonic: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151097&Tpk=seasonice%20ss-400

 

Antec: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

You are correct that the X9 needs an EPS12v.

 

Both PSUs should work just fine.

 

I'll admit the seasonic is a much better PSU. I'll also admit $75 is a massive price difference.

 

I noticed you said this is for 3 drives for now and I also noticed that you are looking at cases that can go up to 15 drives (not to mention a server board that can to 100's of drives). A 400 watt PSU will not be able to drive that many drives.

If that is something you are considering in the future, maybe you should invest in a 650 watt now, especially if you are looking at that seasonic.

That motherboard seems to get really good reviews and I picked up an Open Box on NE a couple of weeks ago. Too good a deal to pass up. I also want to run the G620 chip which seems suited for a small server. Those cases are really too big for my needs but I figured I could expand as needed. I doubt I'll ever need more than 5-6 drives total and it sounds like a 400W power supply could easily drive that many and not be big enough to waste power. My original plan was to build the server in a LIAN LI PC-Q08B case but the motherboard won't fit.

 

Ideally, I'd like to do what you're doing with VMware. I doubt I can get unRAID to do all I want it to and don't really want a second 24/7 box running.

It sounds like you have a plan.

 

good catch on the OB from NE.

I tend to have the supermicro open box bookmarked and take a look once a day. (saw an MV8 earlier)

 

I will point out that the G620 does not have VT-d. you would have to go with a xeon and that is about 3 times the price.

 

I'm not familiar with VT-d but from a look at link below, it doesn't look like it'll be a show-stopper. Thanks for your helpful comments here and on other posts. I've learned a lot from reading your answers.

 

http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/06/25/understanding-vt-d-intel-virtualization-technology-for-directed-io/

 

I think I'll watch the NE specials coming up over the next couple of weeks. Maybe I'll get lucky and fine the seasonic on sale.

 

VT-d is needed for directpath that is so you can pass hardware directly to an ESXi guest. Like a raid card to unRAID.

 

Newegg has 15% all corsair PSUs today only with EMCJJKG23

Hmmm, I have questions on that...

 

Do I need to "directpath" for 3 physical drives directly to unRAID under ESXi?

Can it be done without a raid card?

Will I then need VT-d to make it work?

 

It's sounding like I might need it if I ever want ESXi. Any idea how much more power the Xeon will pull at idle than a G620?