New Build


Haruno

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I would like to build a new server and I'd like some feedback on my build.

 

I do not have a specific budget, but I would like to keep it below $500 excluding shipping and drives. Also, one of the goals is to be relatively low power consumption.

At the moment I'm going to start with only 2 or 3 2TB drives, but expandability to about 10 drives would be required.

 

The system would also run some addons, like sickbeard and couchpotato and a few others I'm not sure about yet.

 

Below are the components I think to use:

 

CPU: Intel Intel Celeron G550 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116524&Tpk=Intel%20Intel%20Celeron%20G550

Motherboard: ASUS P8B75-M LE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131842

RAM= Corsair 2x4GB 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233202

PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033

Case: Antec Three Hundred http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Three-Hundred-Gaming-Computer/dp/B000GQMHBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352492110&sr=8-1&keywords=Antec+Three+Hundred

Drives: WD Green WD20EARX 2TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136891

 

Any suggestion on any part or combination of parts? Will the PSU be sufficient to probably power more drives in the future?

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Haruno,

 

The Antec PSU you have seems a bit on the low side for power, assuming you want to add more drives down the road.  Plus it provides the 12V on two rails.  Have a look at the Power Supply Thread if you haven't already.

 

For about the same price there is the CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply .  That might be better suited as it has a single 12V rail capable of 32 amps, which should be more than enough for 10 drives and the mobo and still give you a bit of headroom.

 

Edited to add: read the Newegg reviews and this particular PSU may not live up to the Corsair reputation for quality.  Still, I'd stick to the thread recommendation for a single 12V rail and enough juice to power up your entire system.  The Antec 380W PSU doesn't meet that standard.

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hmmm, the Corsair Builder series seem to have a bad reputation everywhere. The reputation for the CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 (CMPSU-500CX) 500W seems as bad as CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W.

 

I would go for the Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W but it seems to be hard to get in here in Belgium. I will have to check with my dealer for this.

 

If this one isn't available I think I'll go for the SeaSonic X series SS-400FL 400W, have found one place where this one is available. It is a lot more expensive, but has good expandability in the end.

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That 400W Antec looks like it would do you well.  I've never owned a Seasonic, but you would do fine in that one too I am sure.  Although at that price range there are numerous power supplies that meet the basic requirements.  I would be inclined to look at a higher wattage PSU, but mostly because I'm always thinking of the next upgrade.  Modular cables are a plus.  I'm putting a PC Power and Cooling Silencer MK III 500W Modular 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply in my build.  It's my first PSU with modular cables.  Wow, cable management is so nice when you don't have a case cluttered with unneeded cables.

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Think I'm going to stay away from the corsair builder series. I've seen to many bad reviews of this, although this says nothing about the psu. It's possible that the people with bad luck write a bad review and the people that don't have any problems with this don't post anything about it.

 

But still I'm thinking of going for Antec HCG-520 or the semi-modular  Corsair TX550M.

 

The corsair seems to be the better option here, since it is semi-modular, and seems to be very quiet since the fan only runs at higher productivity.

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  • 1 month later...

After finally getting all the parts together, although some have changed for the better :)

 

I now have an Antec Three hundred and two case, a Pentium G850 CPU and the Antec HCG520 PSU. It all fits together nicely and works very well so far. It was very fun to put this all together :)

 

Now I have 2 case fans, one on top of 140mm and one on the back of 120mm but on the mobo there is only one chassis-fan connector.

So only one of the fans is working. In order to get the second one to work, I would need to get myself a 3 to 4-pin molex adapter. I wonder if it would really be neccesary to power up this extra fan? While preclearing this case fan has been able to keep the temperature of the 2 drives I have at around 36° Celcius.

 

Also, the mobo has one 6GB sata port, one of my drives is connected through this port. Since the drives are both the same brand and size, I can't seem to figure out which one is connected through this port. I would like to use this drive as parity drive.

How can I determine which of the drives is connected through this port?

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In order to get the second one to work, I would need to get myself a 3 to 4-pin molex adapter. I wonder if it would really be neccesary to power up this extra fan? While preclearing this case fan has been able to keep the temperature of the 2 drives I have at around 36° Celcius.
Not really answering your question but you could also get something like this and connect both fans to the same MB fan header.  Matter of fact it will allow 3 fans connected to same MB header.
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That seems like a very interesting cable :)

 

It will allow to connect both chassis fans and another extra fan that could be installed in a later stage. But will my mobo recognize the fan as one or as separate fans?

 

Also, how can I find out which of my HDD's is connected over the 6GB/s sata port?

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It will allow to connect both chassis fans and another extra fan that could be installed in a later stage. But will my mobo recognize the fan as one or as separate fans?
Can't say I've used this exact fan splitter before but the ones I have used only show up as one fan.  I would not rely on it for speeds if it only shows as one.  I just wanted mine for the power.  I don't use the MB fan speed controls.  I set them to full speed since they are in basement and noise isn't a problem.
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@ BetaQuasi: haven't thought about that :)

Now I've done that and it seems that it is my datadisk that is connected over the 6Gbps cable. Now should it be better to connect my parity disk to this link? Or should I keep it for the cache drive I plan to add soon?

 

The type of fan splitter you suggest BobPhoenix seems very interesting, I'll take a further look at it :)

To bad Newegg doesn't deliver in Belgium, these cables are kinda hard to find here.

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