This is my build so far, I plan to build two identical servers in the Jonsbo N3 cases. Im limited in space for these servers, and this is pretty much what I have room for currently (replacing 4 smaller 4-bay nas servers). So want to run 8x SATA HDD/SDD and have a GPU build in and have either 10G Base-t or 25G SFP28 NIC. With only 2x PCIe openings in the case, and the nature of this motherboard, with the SlimSAS 8i kind of getting in the way of the first opening, I have to be a little creative to get i all fitted inside.
I went with cheap used SFX PSU's, after testing be quit! 450w and another Chieftec 550W SFX PSU's (the fan on those was loud, especially the Cheiftec one), I ended up
trying this one from eBay, near silent, pretty effective (better than the two others I tried). Just around 25W idle in Unraid, that is with 4 case fans and 64GB RAM. 3-year warranty claim from the seller. So bought several of these, so I can swap them out should anything happened seller accepted 20 EUR each for 6 of these.
Bought the cheapest
4x SATA to 4x SATA and
MiniSAS to 4X SATA I could find on Aliexpress, and all cabling to the backplane fits nicely underneath the motherboard, so Pretty nice cable management in this case.
I/O Shield of curse from this thread, just makes it look so much nicer, and should also prevent some dust accumulation.
Noctua fans on top NF-A8 PWM, and in the HDD area I use Arctic
F9 PWM PST CO. The Noctua one I already had, and since I want to go for value in this build, the Arctic hopefully will work just fine, and cost roughly a third of the Noctua counterparts. The little 60mm fan is kind of loud, so have ordered some
AVC fans of Aliexperess, very cheap and hopefully they are original Hydraulic Bearing ones, but even if they are the Ball Bearing ones I am happy at that price.
To get the GPU and NIC fitted inside I made this franken-bracket of a Supermicro standard tall bracket from a 3U server, and a tall bracket for my NIC, so that I can mount the NIC upside-down, and this way have room for the SlimSAS 8i plug underneath the NIC (got a 90 degree angled plug SlimSAS cable), and route the riser cable from the m.2 adapter underneath the NIC as well. Think this will work quite well. Though the spacing between the GPU back PCB and the NIC back PCB is a little close to eachother, not contacting, but I am thinking about putting some thermal pads in between just to be 100% safe that they don't contact and shorten out something.
So am getting pretty close to a final build here, just the fan on the CPU, and maybe some thermally controllable fan adapters, since I cannot find a way to control the HDD/SSD fans according to the HDD temps, not in BMC, and so far not in Unraid, so maybe better to thermally control those fans. And maybe make a smaller/better adapter for the 4-pin plug on the motherboard. I have some new plugs, so could maybe mod the PSU, to make a dedicated cable to the motherboard instead of the 20-pin adapter, that takes up quite allot of space in the case.
Any recommendations are very welcome. And please share your build progress
.
