Server reshuffle

[garycase]

So does not matter if it's direct or indirect. It must save a bit of power not using the sas2lp?

 

Is the speed of the z77/z97 chipset ultimately determined by the power of the cpu? If yes then better not get a pentium. Or is the chipset platform hub controller determining the speed?

 

The CPU doesn't impact the chipset's performance 'nor does it have any impact on the SATA ports.

 

Yes, you'd save a bit of power if you didn't have the SAS2LP installed.

 

[pras1011]

You people are so knowledgeable!!!! I think I will get the gene vii for more ports

[pras1011]

I run a basic unraid therefor how powerful does a cpu have to be? I tried to do 6 preclears and run unraid via a g645 and the preclear speeds were very low. I then moved the 6 hdds to my i7 2600k PC and they were much higher!! I am getting my 1150 gene vii mobo soon and I am thinking of getting a g3220. I think this should be enough?!?!?

[garycase]

6 preclears at a time is going to tax just about any system ... more because of the memory requirements than the CPU demands.    I never run more than 3 at once ... and this works fine on any system I've tried it on => from an i7-4790 to an Atom D525.

 

[pras1011]

The thing is when I got 8 of my 3tb hitachi drives 3 years ago, I precleared 6 together and worked perfectly on my g645. Maybe the Seagates require more CPU resources possibly.

[garycase]

I suspect that's the case.    In any event, pre-clearing isn't a frequent event, so I'd think simply doing 3-at-a-time is not a big issue.

 

[pras1011]

I ran a parity check via the sata ports and this time the average was 147MB/s 15 hours which is 3.5 hours quicker than on the sas2lp card! Bloody fast.

[pras1011]

Everything is running well and I decided to check the power consumption:

 

Old server with 14 hdds spinning was about 210 watts. New server with 6 spinning is 84 watts.

Old server with hdds spun down was 90 watts. New with all 6 spun down is 54 watts.

 

Is there anything I can do to get the spin up/spun down wattage down some more? New PSU maybe? I ran through some online PSU calculators and I am getting about 235 watts for 8 hdds.

 

thanks

[SSD]

Everything is running well and I decided to check the power consumption:

 

Old server with 14 hdds spinning was about 210 watts. New server with 6 spinning is 84 watts.

Old server with hdds spun down was 90 watts. New with all 6 spun down is 54 watts.

 

Is there anything I can do to get the spin up/spun down wattage down some more? New PSU maybe? I ran through some online PSU calculators and I am getting about 235 watts for 8 hdds.

 

thanks

 

Have your timeouts when copying large files stopped? I had similar issues and they all stopped once I converted from RFS to XFS.

[pras1011]

I haven't had any problems with timeouts in a while due to not copying a huge amount of files over. But the timeout is still there when I do an initial write after boot up but I have had this problem on the old server with the old drives.

 

I have two spare unplugged 8tb drives which I think will automatically switch to XFS when I put them in the server with v6? If so, I might plug them both in and then start transferring files from my RFS drives to the XFS drives. Then remove and reinsert the RFS drives to convert them XFS.

 

That might work.

[pras1011]

Anyone have ideas on reducing power consumption?

[garycase]

There are two things I can think of, but neither is going to make a lot of difference, so it's debatable whether it's worth the expense ...

 

(1)  Using a smaller PSU with a high 80+ rating would slightly improve your power efficiency at low power draws.  Note that 80+ ratings are at 20%, 50%, and 100% of the rated load.    With newer power-efficient chipsets it's very likely that you're running below the 20% point, where the efficiency of your power supply can drop fairly rapidly.  For example, with your 650w PSU, any time you're using less than 130w you're below the 20% point.  It's hard to find high-efficiency, low-output power supplies, but Seasonic makes a nice 400w unit that's 80+ Platinum certified:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151097

 

But as I noted, the difference in power draw isn't likely to be more than a few watts, so it's not likely to be worth the expense if your current unit is working fine.

 

(2)  Switching to a more power-efficient chipset/CPU ... i.e. a Haswell system (or even better, SkyLake ... although you'd have to wait for a few of the lower-end chips to be released unless you want to use an i7).

 

[pras1011]

Everything is going very well with my server. However I want to make it smaller case size wise and maybe get an itx motherboard with 8 sata ports. I have 8 x seagate 8tb hdds which gives me about 56tb of space. I think this amount of space is more than enough unless 4K picks up and this may use 200gb per film and that could be trouble!!

 

I want a:

 

smaller case

smaller motherboard

smaller psu

 

Any ideas?

[garycase]

For 8 drives in a mini-ITX case I'd use a Silverstone DS380, which provides support for 8 hot-swap drives.

 

You can fit 8 drives in a Lian Li PC-Q25B by using the 5 hot-swap bays, two drives across the bottom plate [which gets to the 7 it's designed for]; and one additional drive mounted above one of the two on the bottom using either spacers or a 2-drive mounting plate like the one designed for the M25-B (which apparently fits in the Q25].    However, as much as I like the Q25B, if I wanted the 8th drive I'd use the DS380.

 

As for a mini-ITX motherboard with 8 drive support, I'll have to look around a bit.  Last time I checked 6 was easy, there was one with 7 (I don't recall the specific board), but I don't recall seeing 8 => you'd likely have to use the expansion port for a 2-drive SATA card to get to 8 drives.

 

For the power supply, you'll want to use a Silverstone SFX unit -- depending on the motherboard/CPU demands their 300w unit may be enough, or you may want to use the 450w unit to ensure you have a bit of extra headroom.

 

 

[pras1011]

The itx motherboard I have seen has 6 x sata and 2 x sata express. Can you use sata express to run hdd?

 

I was thinking of getting that silverstone case and PSU.

 

I will also get a pentium g4400.

 

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[Smackover]

Here's an 8x SATA mini ITX: http://asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C236%20WSI#Specifications

[pras1011]

Thanks. But it's so expensive in the UK

 

 

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[garycase]

It's only $200 in the US ... is it a lot more in the UK?

 

It indeed seems like a nearly perfect board for what you want => mini-ITX, 8 SATA, etc.    Supports unbuffered ECC memory and the Pentium you want to use.

 

[pras1011]

Its about £200 ($289) in the uk! I only want to spend about £130.

[tdallen]

Mini-ITX with 8 SATA connectors is kind of a "premium" product, so therefore a little expensive.  I imagine you could find a mATX, uATX, or ATX board with 8 connectors for somewhat less.

 

The Micro-ATX form factor is something you might want to look at if you can't find exactly what you want with mini-ITX.  You could build a smaller server, though not as small as mini-ITX.

[garycase]

I'd bite the bullet and spend the extra £70

 

... You're not going to find as "perfect" a mini-ITX board for less; and changing to a micro-ATX form factor will give you an appreciably larger case, expect perhaps if you can find a Lian-Li M25-B, which is a VERY nice and compact micro-ATX case.  However, it's also a premium case with a premium price (and VERY hard to find ... at least in the US).

 

[pras1011]

Can I use a sata express port to run a hdd?

 

 

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[garycase]

Can I use a sata express port to run a hdd?

 

 

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Yes ... HOWEVER --> check the specs of the board you're considering.  On many (if not most) boards use of an Express port will disable one (or two) of the SATA ports ... so you can't simply add up the # of SATA ports plus Express ports.  [same is true with M.2 slots]

 

[pras1011]

Have you found any other itx mobos with 8 sata ports? I have been looking into the ds380 and some say that the cooling is not very good. Any other alternatives?

 

 

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[garycase]

Actually the DS380 works very well with a simple "skirt" mod that danioj outlined in the DS380 thread.    Basically he just cut some cardboard to block the airflow that bypasses the hard drive cage ... and it made a BIG difference in the drive cooling.      The initial implementation of this was outlined in this post:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31967.msg364791#msg364791    A later post in the same thread shows how well it worked at reducing the drive temps.  [Although his original idea was to prototype it in cardboard; then have the "skirts" machined in aluminum, I believe he has simply left the cardboard in place, since it works so well.    Several other folks have done the same thing since Daniel described it.]