Build’s Name:………………………………....…….....MediaserverX01
Operating System/ Storage Platform:…WHS v1
CPU:……………………………………....…………….......Intel i3-2100T (Sandy Bridge)
CPU Cooling:……………………...………….....….…Intel OEM
Motherboard: ……………………...…….....……….Tyan S5512WGM2NR
Chassis:………………………………………….......…...Norco RC4220 Server Chassis
Chassis Fan Wall:……………………………......….Norco 120mm
Drives (O.S.):…………………………………......…..Hitachi 7K500 - 250GB @ 7500RPM (2x @ RAID 1)
Drives (Data):………………………………............Hitachi 5K3000 – 2T @5400RPM (16 of 20)
RAM:……………………………………………............….Actica ACT2GHU72D8G1333S (PC3-10600 DDR 1333MHz ECC Unbuffered CL9-9-9)
Add-in Cards:………………………………..…........IBM M1015 (2x)
Power Supply:…………………......……….…..…..Seasonic SS-650KM (X-Series 650w 80+ Gold)
Case Exhaust Fans:..…………....…………….….Nosieblocker M8-S3HS (80mm x 25 x 2200rpm)
Drive Exhaust Fans:………………………......…..Noiseblocker M12-S2 (120 x 25 x 1250rpm)
SAS Cables:……………………………………...........Molex 79576-2103 (Avnet)
Usage Profile: Media Server
Other information…
Thanks to all who came before me…and and all of the posters here at ServeTheHome, and over at AVS Forum and [H].
The purpose of the build was to serve media to an existing HTPC and to laptop clients. I’ve outgrown so many other solutions: numerous portable USB drives (aka the new sneakernet); Infrant Ready NAS NV+ (1TB); Netgear Ready NAS NV+ (2TB); Acer H340 (8TB). And before that (don’t ask me why, in a moment of weakness) a SNAP server (it’s still in the attic…I think).
This build has been an ongoing accumulation of parts, when things went on sale. For example, the Norco case was purchased last (a year ago) Thanksgiving; and I have patiently waited while Intel rolled out Sandy Bridge and watched to see what M$ was going to do with WHS 2011.
I had already done a HTPC build with limited airflow, so cable management was in central as part of the build. The power supply cables to the backplanes and to the fans were hand-built (a first on this build) and to help some of the cable mess, some were sleeved (another first for me).
Thanks to Patrick’s review of this motherboard (and perhaps only review), helped create some answers about how I was going to transfer data with the number of ports that I wanted and still stay with Sandy Bridge.
I know I paid painfully for the memory. But I also know that SuperMicro is VERY specific to it choice of memory. So with the Tyan, not knowing, I stayed on the approved listed to avoid complications.
As far as the IBM M1015: I choose two, because, well…it was just cheaper than anything else (thanks eBay); and stupidly before I had fully understood the differences between RAID Cards and SAS Expander Cards. While I choose to run WHS v1; the cards would future-proof the build for a pseudo-WHS duplication with RAID 1 if I every decided to go to WHS 2011. The cards were re-flashed to the latest IBM firmware; running the latest LSI drivers. The cards are running passthrough.
Again, with a HTPC build under my belt, I spent a long time researching fans solutions. Yes, I know the Noiseblockers are not the cheapest solution. But they seemed to have good reviews and specifications for static pressure (which is an issue once the case is closed up). I’m not going to use the case rails, so all extra openings were sealed with silicon. Because the fans are in a server case, so I saw no point to control these through the MB, so they are directly powered from the power supply (running at 100%). The 120’s I can’t hear at all; the 80’s are quieter than the single 140 mm Noctua NF-P14 FLX 14 fan that I retrofitted into the Acer H340 (also running at 100%). The Norco will stay in my heated, unfinished basement with the rest of the household networking gear where the current temperature is 70F (21C). The cold server HDD’ start up (with Hard Disk Sentinel with no calibration) at 80F (27C), and after 24 hours at idle, they are in the 88 – 90F (31 – 32C) range.
16 of the 20 drive bays are currently populated. At idle, I see 136 watts (Kill a Watt EZ) and during the boot it maxs out at 257 watts. S3 Sleep: 4.3 watts; Powered-down: 3.4 watts
I have not checked any data transfer rates at this point.
In case anyone asks: in the photo, the thumb drive in the zip-lock bag has my WHS install disk with slipstreamed drivers in it for both the RAID and SAS. Yea, I had to figure that out too.
Open issues:
I have one backplane with a bad green drive LED; I’m waiting for drives to go sale (good luck with this, since the last of the 16 drives had been purchased a few weeks before the flooding) and I’ll populate the last 4 trays to see if there are any more before I decide what to do. I’m not relishing the idea of tearing it back down for 1 LED.
One of the things I was not expecting: the extensive boot time. I have an Acer H340 running WHS v1. Pretty close to instant-on with the boot (IMHO). From the point of pressing the On button to Logging-in and seeing the network identified in the System Tray: 06:47 (mm:ss).
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the months (yea, I read all 228 pages / 6816 posts of Guide To Build A Storage Server over at AVS Forum [but I’ll probably pay for it in my future blindness], among other threads) of research and perhaps 6 weeks of build-time on this and I’m now disappointed that it is over.
Time to start migrating data…and finish ripping disks.
Regards,
Lippy
Operating System/ Storage Platform:…WHS v1
CPU:……………………………………....…………….......Intel i3-2100T (Sandy Bridge)
CPU Cooling:……………………...………….....….…Intel OEM
Motherboard: ……………………...…….....……….Tyan S5512WGM2NR
Chassis:………………………………………….......…...Norco RC4220 Server Chassis
Chassis Fan Wall:……………………………......….Norco 120mm
Drives (O.S.):…………………………………......…..Hitachi 7K500 - 250GB @ 7500RPM (2x @ RAID 1)
Drives (Data):………………………………............Hitachi 5K3000 – 2T @5400RPM (16 of 20)
RAM:……………………………………………............….Actica ACT2GHU72D8G1333S (PC3-10600 DDR 1333MHz ECC Unbuffered CL9-9-9)
Add-in Cards:………………………………..…........IBM M1015 (2x)
Power Supply:…………………......……….…..…..Seasonic SS-650KM (X-Series 650w 80+ Gold)
Case Exhaust Fans:..…………....…………….….Nosieblocker M8-S3HS (80mm x 25 x 2200rpm)
Drive Exhaust Fans:………………………......…..Noiseblocker M12-S2 (120 x 25 x 1250rpm)
SAS Cables:……………………………………...........Molex 79576-2103 (Avnet)
Usage Profile: Media Server
Other information…
Thanks to all who came before me…and and all of the posters here at ServeTheHome, and over at AVS Forum and [H].
The purpose of the build was to serve media to an existing HTPC and to laptop clients. I’ve outgrown so many other solutions: numerous portable USB drives (aka the new sneakernet); Infrant Ready NAS NV+ (1TB); Netgear Ready NAS NV+ (2TB); Acer H340 (8TB). And before that (don’t ask me why, in a moment of weakness) a SNAP server (it’s still in the attic…I think).
This build has been an ongoing accumulation of parts, when things went on sale. For example, the Norco case was purchased last (a year ago) Thanksgiving; and I have patiently waited while Intel rolled out Sandy Bridge and watched to see what M$ was going to do with WHS 2011.
I had already done a HTPC build with limited airflow, so cable management was in central as part of the build. The power supply cables to the backplanes and to the fans were hand-built (a first on this build) and to help some of the cable mess, some were sleeved (another first for me).
Thanks to Patrick’s review of this motherboard (and perhaps only review), helped create some answers about how I was going to transfer data with the number of ports that I wanted and still stay with Sandy Bridge.
I know I paid painfully for the memory. But I also know that SuperMicro is VERY specific to it choice of memory. So with the Tyan, not knowing, I stayed on the approved listed to avoid complications.
As far as the IBM M1015: I choose two, because, well…it was just cheaper than anything else (thanks eBay); and stupidly before I had fully understood the differences between RAID Cards and SAS Expander Cards. While I choose to run WHS v1; the cards would future-proof the build for a pseudo-WHS duplication with RAID 1 if I every decided to go to WHS 2011. The cards were re-flashed to the latest IBM firmware; running the latest LSI drivers. The cards are running passthrough.
Again, with a HTPC build under my belt, I spent a long time researching fans solutions. Yes, I know the Noiseblockers are not the cheapest solution. But they seemed to have good reviews and specifications for static pressure (which is an issue once the case is closed up). I’m not going to use the case rails, so all extra openings were sealed with silicon. Because the fans are in a server case, so I saw no point to control these through the MB, so they are directly powered from the power supply (running at 100%). The 120’s I can’t hear at all; the 80’s are quieter than the single 140 mm Noctua NF-P14 FLX 14 fan that I retrofitted into the Acer H340 (also running at 100%). The Norco will stay in my heated, unfinished basement with the rest of the household networking gear where the current temperature is 70F (21C). The cold server HDD’ start up (with Hard Disk Sentinel with no calibration) at 80F (27C), and after 24 hours at idle, they are in the 88 – 90F (31 – 32C) range.
16 of the 20 drive bays are currently populated. At idle, I see 136 watts (Kill a Watt EZ) and during the boot it maxs out at 257 watts. S3 Sleep: 4.3 watts; Powered-down: 3.4 watts
I have not checked any data transfer rates at this point.
In case anyone asks: in the photo, the thumb drive in the zip-lock bag has my WHS install disk with slipstreamed drivers in it for both the RAID and SAS. Yea, I had to figure that out too.
Open issues:
I have one backplane with a bad green drive LED; I’m waiting for drives to go sale (good luck with this, since the last of the 16 drives had been purchased a few weeks before the flooding) and I’ll populate the last 4 trays to see if there are any more before I decide what to do. I’m not relishing the idea of tearing it back down for 1 LED.
One of the things I was not expecting: the extensive boot time. I have an Acer H340 running WHS v1. Pretty close to instant-on with the boot (IMHO). From the point of pressing the On button to Logging-in and seeing the network identified in the System Tray: 06:47 (mm:ss).
In conclusion, I really enjoyed the months (yea, I read all 228 pages / 6816 posts of Guide To Build A Storage Server over at AVS Forum [but I’ll probably pay for it in my future blindness], among other threads) of research and perhaps 6 weeks of build-time on this and I’m now disappointed that it is over.
Time to start migrating data…and finish ripping disks.
Regards,
Lippy
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