Help choosing motherboard/cpu (replacement synology)

[zzgus]

Hi, I have been reading the forum for some days and I have decided to ask you guys your opinion...

 

Actually I have a Synology 4 bays to store music, pictures, content served to a nuc on my tv, computers, tablets, security camera record , download and no too much more.

 

I would like to replace it because I need a little extra power / space. The server is in a closet and not accessible, I explain this because I will not use it as a basic computer (no games, no editing software).

 

I would like to get info on what type of motherboard / processors for doing those "basic" tasks.

 

I don't really even know if I have to virtualize at least one copy of windows for running a program to capture my security cameras. I also have seen in some videos unraid running a copy of crashplan, how is this possible? is virtualized?

 

I will sure need a SAS card to expand the 4 sata ports a normal motherboard has if you guys don't force me to go for a server motherboard that usually have more satas.

 

As you see I'm a little lost and any help will be greatly appreciated.

I'm based in Spain I explain these because some hardware I see on the forum is not available here.

 

Thankyou

Gus

 

 

 

 

[dikkiedirk]

What do you wish to accomplish?

 

Running the server headless i.e. without monitor and keyboard attached.

Remote manageable?

Then I would invest in a server board with some sort of IPMI.

 

Perhaps:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29536.0

Has an onboard CPU. Also IPMI, bit pricey though.

 

What formfactor case?

Drives accessible without opening the case? How many drives?

Perhaps NAS case or tower plus drive cages.

 

 

 

 

 

[zzgus]

First of all thakyou for taking time to answer my questions.

 

What do you wish to accomplish?

Store music, pictures, content served to a nuc on my tv, computers, tablets, security camera record , download and no too much more. Perhaps one S.O virtualized.

 

Running the server headless i.e. without monitor and keyboard attached.

Remote manageable?

Then I would invest in a server board with some sort of IPMI.

The server is in a closet and not accessible, I explain this because I will not use it as a basic computer (no games, no editing software).

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29536.0

Has an onboard CPU. Also IPMI, bit pricey though.

It was one of the motherboards I had info, the C2750D4I and the C2550D4I, but perhaps for the price or a little more I can buy something better than this mb. As I have read perhaps is more orientated to file serving, I don't know how will perform with some a vm?

 

What formfactor case?

Drives accessible without opening the case? How many drives?

Perhaps NAS case or tower plus drive cages.

 

I have a simple rack

I was planning putting the mb on a shelf and the hds on a superior shelf with perhaps a ICY DOCK FlexCage MB975SP-B or a simple metallic guide to hold the hd's (if exist).

 

Thankyou

Gus

 

 

 

 

 

What do you wish to accomplish?

 

Running the server headless i.e. without monitor and keyboard attached.

Remote manageable?

Then I would invest in a server board with some sort of IPMI.

 

Perhaps:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29536.0

Has an onboard CPU. Also IPMI, bit pricey though.

 

What formfactor case?

Drives accessible without opening the case? How many drives?

Perhaps NAS case or tower plus drive cages.

[zzgus]

Well finally opted for a Supermicro X10SAE on platform 1150.

 

What about the processor? What will be the better choice on the xeon side?

 

I still need the way to put de motherboard inside the rack. Any ideas?

 

Thankyou

Gus

[dikkiedirk]

usually there is one right way to mount a motherboard. Isn't the case ment for an ATX motherboard?

 

Can you give more details of the rack?

[JonathanM]

Sounds to me like he doesn't have a case for the rack yet. What the OP needs is a 4U rackmount case of some flavor. Setting a motherboard on a rack shelf is not a good idea.

[zzgus]

usually there is one right way to mount a motherboard. Isn't the case ment for an ATX motherboard?

 

Can you give more details of the rack?

 

This kind of rack is not prepared to install a motherboard inside, usually is used to mount a patchpannel of lan conexions, a router, etc.

 

I'll have to take a shelf, drill some holes of the same dimensions of the motherboard and try to find some plastic pieces to attach to the motherboard.

 

Gus

[zzgus]

Well, after choosing motherboard is time to choose processor.

 

I'll go for the Xeon but when I was searching for the models I find there are 25 different models.

 

Is there anything I must  take care off?

Must I go to the L version (low power) of the processor in my case that will only be used as a file server, download, and perhaps 1 vm?

 

http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced/?s=t&FamilyText=Intel%C2%AE%20Xeon%C2%AE%20Processor%20E3%20v3%20Family

 

Thankyou

Gus

 

 

 

[zzgus]

After some search I was decided for the E3-1230L v3 or the E3-1240L v3 but are difficult to find here. They are ussually sold to big companys like HP, DELL...

 

Those processors have a TDP of 25W.

 

¿Can someone tell me the anual saving of a 25W respect a 80W processor?

 

If the saving is not considerable I'll have to go for a normal processor, easier to find.

 

¿Is worth to take a xeon processor only for some downloads, content served to TV (plex), and one VM?

¿Can I go to a simple i3 or i5?

 

 

 

Thankyou

Gus

 

[tdallen]

The reason to choose an "L" processor (or on the Core side, a "T" processor") has more to do with heat management than power management.  Those processors limit the top clock speed of the chip by limiting the power they draw, thereby limiting the amount of heat they generate.  In a laptop that makes sense but in a well cooled server chassis - not so much, in my opinion.

 

At idle an E3-1240L v3 will draw the same power as an E3-1240 v3.  As you ramp up the work the server is doing the "L" will draw less power - but it will fall behind the regular processor because the power limitation means it is capable of doing less work.  The same is true of most modern Intel processors - Haswell, Broadwell, Sandy Bridge, Skylake - I think they all draw around 3 watts at idle.

 

So, I don't see the point of putting an "L" or "T" processor in an unRAID server.  All modern Intel chips have pretty equally low power usage at idle.  If you are doing a lot of Plex transcoding you don't want your CPU artificially limited by a constrained power draw.  The power savings will be very small (taking years to pay back) and the tradeoff is that you're getting a slower chip.  I'd recommend getting the higher TDP chip and sizing it appropriately to do the work you're planning for your server.  If you have a well cooled chassis you'll be fine, and you'll have the horsepower to draw on when you need it.

 

The reasons to get a Xeon are that they are great multi-taskers that support things like VT-d and ECC RAM.  If you aren't going to use those features then by all means get an appropriately sized Core i3 or i5.  For Plex transcoding look for at least 2,000 Passmarks per 1080p stream.  If you have high bit-rate material like native BD Rips that aren't encoded by Handbrake then you could need even more - 3,000-4,000 per stream.  On the other hand if you are only serving video to a NUC then it probably won't need any transcoding at all... you have to consider both the format of your media and the capabilities of your players when selecting a CPU for Plex.  BTW, the  X10SAE is sort of overkill if you are only going to put an i3 on it...

[zzgus]

The reason to choose an "L" processor (or on the Core side, a "T" processor") has more to do with heat management than power management.  Those processors limit the top clock speed of the chip by limiting the power they draw, thereby limiting the amount of heat they generate.  In a laptop that makes sense but in a well cooled server chassis - not so much, in my opinion.

 

At idle an E3-1240L v3 will draw the same power as an E3-1240 v3.  As you ramp up the work the server is doing the "L" will draw less power - but it will fall behind the regular processor because the power limitation means it is capable of doing less work.  The same is true of most modern Intel processors - Haswell, Broadwell, Sandy Bridge, Skylake - I think they all draw around 3 watts at idle.

 

So, I don't see the point of putting an "L" or "T" processor in an unRAID server.  All modern Intel chips have pretty equally low power usage at idle.  If you are doing a lot of Plex transcoding you don't want your CPU artificially limited by a constrained power draw.  The power savings will be very small (taking years to pay back) and the tradeoff is that you're getting a slower chip.  I'd recommend getting the higher TDP chip and sizing it appropriately to do the work you're planning for your server.  If you have a well cooled chassis you'll be fine, and you'll have the horsepower to draw on when you need it.

 

The reasons to get a Xeon are that they are great multi-taskers that support things like VT-d and ECC RAM.  If you aren't going to use those features then by all means get an appropriately sized Core i3 or i5.  For Plex transcoding look for at least 2,000 Passmarks per 1080p stream.  If you have high bit-rate material like native BD Rips that aren't encoded by Handbrake then you could need even more - 3,000-4,000 per stream.  On the other hand if you are only serving video to a NUC then it probably won't need any transcoding at all... you have to consider both the format of your media and the capabilities of your players when selecting a CPU for Plex.  BTW, the  X10SAE is sort of overkill if you are only going to put an i3 on it...

 

@tdallen ALL CLEAR !!! very detailed answer.

 

Thankyou

Gus

[nightanole]

if you are going L you might as well think of saving some money and get a $50-75 pentium g3258 2 core that is like 54 watts and idles at half the power of a xeon.  They get like 4000 cpu marks so that is good for 2 1080p plex encode streams.  They support ecc and i can run mine fanless with a huge $35 heatsink.

[zzgus]

Only one last question.

 

Finally opted for a nomal (not L) version of the processor, but must I take the version with integrated gpu?

 

I know that for now is not supported but the difference is 16€. Perhaps in the future... Or better go for the version without GPU (compatibility problems with unraid) ?

 

E3-1241 v3 - 318€

E3-1246 v3 - 334€ (with Intel HD Graphics P4600)

 

Thankyou

Gus

[tdallen]

There's no need to get a CPU with an integrated GPU, but if you want to hook up a monitor and keyboard during the setup process or for any diagnostics later (or use IPMI, I believe) then you'll need graphics capability of some kind - integrated, on the motherboard, or add-in.  unRAID works fine with integrated GPUs, the issue is using VT-d to pass them through into a VM is only partly supported right now (but it sounds like you are unlikely to do that).  Since you keep your server in a closet I assume you will run headless most of the time, but it's pretty common to at least have some kind of GPU in your setup - in fact some motherboards won't start without one.  The X10SAE you mention doesn't have it's own graphics - it's onboard graphics capabilities would rely on a CPU with integrated graphics like the E3-1246v3.

[zzgus]

There's no need to get a CPU with an integrated GPU, but if you want to hook up a monitor and keyboard during the setup process or for any diagnostics later (or use IPMI, I believe) then you'll need graphics capability of some kind - integrated, on the motherboard, or add-in.  unRAID works fine with integrated GPUs, the issue is using VT-d to pass them through into a VM is only partly supported right now (but it sounds like you are unlikely to do that).  Since you keep your server in a closet I assume you will run headless most of the time, but it's pretty common to at least have some kind of GPU in your setup - in fact some motherboards won't start without one.  The X10SAE you mention doesn't have it's own graphics - it's onboard graphics capabilities would rely on a CPU with integrated graphics like the E3-1246v3.

 

For what I understood x10sae has ipmi then I don't need to hook any monitor for basic setup, It has some kind of graphic adaptor.

 

Gus

[tdallen]

My understanding is different - but I'm definitely not an expert!  As I understand it, IPMI is a different way to access your graphics device - but the system still needs a graphics device to write output to.  In other words, IPMI and your graphics chip/card would work together - IPMI wouldn't be a complete replacement.  Then again, my current system doesn't have IPMI so I haven't played around with this at all.  It may be worth researching a little more before you make your decision, though.