Mini-ITX server build - Zotac H67-ITX or Asus P8H67-I

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
11
0
1
Hello everyone,

I am embarking on my first server build and about to place orders for various pieces of kit.
I have been thinking so much I am going a bit nuts and so decided on help from the community.

The kit I am almost certain on are
4 x 2Tb Samsung EcoGreen hard drives for the storage area
1 x i3-2100T 35W processor
2 x 2Gb HyperX ram

Help is needed with regards to the most important part, the motherboard. I have done a bit of research and cannot decide on which board to opt for:

Zotac H67-ITX - 6 x Sata - 1 x eSata - Wireless

Asus P8H67-I - not the Deluxe model - 6 x Sata

I cannot decide between the 2. Asus is a quality known brand and I have used many of their boards before. Zotac I have heard of especially their exploits in the mini-itx field, but maybe questionable support.

QUESTION 1. Which board would you go for?

My second need for advice is regarding the PSU.

QUESTION 2. Tell me I am in dreamland expecting to run the above hardware (+2 hard drives extra for OS) with a PicoPSU-160-XT

After this hurdle is crossed I shall contemplate what OS to run and the raid setup of disks.

Many thanks for listening, hope it makes sense and thanks in advance for your replies.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
5,792
113
I personally have bought both Zotac and ASUS Atom based motherboards which are quite a bit different. Generally I prefer ASUS over Zotac with one big caveat, if one needs WiFi, Zotac is great in an mITX form factor since there are limited numbers of slots. That being said if you are OK with SODIMMs the P8H67-I Deluxe also has WiFi built-in, but lacks the extra SATA ports.

On the PicoPSU 160, my sense is it will be close. At startup, six drives an the CPU plus motherboard will be very close and 2-3 quiet 120mm fans may be too much. I really like my PicoPSUs, but would strongly suggest looking at a non-PicoPSU from a cost/ capability perspective if using six rotating drives, especially without staggered spin-up. The 160XT may work, but I do not think it will be a sure-thing.
 

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
11
0
1
Ahh Patrick, what a pleasure, enjoyed reading many of your informative posts and articles.

I have opted for the Asus board, the bonus is that is a cheaper board and I think I can do without wireless and the eSata port.

What I really need to understand is the raid functions of these boards. The 6 sata ports are on 2 separate controllers.

Would anyone know if I will be able to run Raid 5 on 4 disks on controller 1 and at the same time run a Raid 1 across 2 disks on the second controller?

If not then surely I would be better off with less sata ports and more "extras" on the motherboard and add a raid card for extra sata ports?

Where do you stand on hardware vs software Raid? Isn't using on board raid known as "fake" raid?

Hope I am making sense!

Also decided on WHS2011 for my operating system, since
I have MS clients at home
Use W2K3 server at work
Own a Xbox360
Got a Windows 7 Phone

Thanks
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
5,792
113
The H67 basically has four SATA II 3.0gbps ports on one set of ports and the two SATA III 6.0gbps ports on another set. One can create RAID arrays on each set of ports but not span ports to cover all six (so 4 and 6 works.)

I think hardware RAID is going to be come an increasingly niche play. Software RAID ends up being more scalable over time, but it is not perfect. The Intel ICH "fake" RAID I think is generally OK for RAID 0/1, but for RAID 5 it is far from my favorite solution.

WHS 2011 is a good solution! Given your environment, it makes quite a bit of sense.
 

PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
3,184
1,545
113
Regarding the PicoPSU 160: I don't think it works for exactly the reasons Patrick mentions. Spinup loads will kill it. Steady state it probably survives.

Don't lose sight of two things with the PicoPSU: Mini-Box lists "peak" loads, not steady state. The PicoPSU 160 can only sustain 160 watts for a very short time. Read their spec sheet carefully.

Second, getting a power-brick that runs at that power level is tricky. It doesn't matter what the PicoPSU can deliver if you max out the AC-DC converter in the external brick. Mini-Box will sell you a 150W brick - I have one and can tell you from experience it gets pretty darn hot even at more nominal loads than 160W. You can get an HP 200W brick and mod the connecters, or there are pretty well published weblogs about how to mod an xbox brick, but you've got some work to do...

There is another approach that could make this work. If you get a high-power brick, there is a mod approach where you wire the 12V leads feeding your peripherals and fans directly from the power brick and only feed the 5V leads off the PicoPSU. It takes some research and work...but if your building from scratch that probably doesn't bother you.
 

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
11
0
1
I think hardware RAID is going to be come an increasingly niche play. Software RAID ends up being more scalable over time, but it is not perfect. The Intel ICH "fake" RAID I think is generally OK for RAID 0/1, but for RAID 5 it is far from my favorite solution.
If I was to add a raid card (hardware raid) , would I be able to control arrays across all 6 ports on the motherboard or will it only control arrays that are physically on the raid card?

BTW I heard the Zotac board can only run one raid array at any one time.

Regarding the PicoPSU 160: I don't think it works for exactly the reasons Patrick mentions. Spinup loads will kill it. Steady state it probably survives.

Don't lose sight of two things with the PicoPSU: Mini-Box lists "peak" loads, not steady state. The PicoPSU 160 can only sustain 160 watts for a very short time. Read their spec sheet carefully.

Second, getting a power-brick that runs at that power level is tricky. It doesn't matter what the PicoPSU can deliver if you max out the AC-DC converter in the external brick. Mini-Box will sell you a 150W brick - I have one and can tell you from experience it gets pretty darn hot even at more nominal loads than 160W. You can get an HP 200W brick and mod the connecters, or there are pretty well published weblogs about how to mod an xbox brick, but you've got some work to do...

There is another approach that could make this work. If you get a high-power brick, there is a mod approach where you wire the 12V leads feeding your peripherals and fans directly from the power brick and only feed the 5V leads off the PicoPSU. It takes some research and work...but if your building from scratch that probably doesn't bother you.
This is what i thought, pushing it too far, so I think a FSP 300W SFX should do the trick.
 
Last edited:

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
5,792
113
If I was to add a raid card (hardware raid) , would I be able to control arrays across all 6 ports on the motherboard or will it only control arrays that are physically on the raid card?
A hardware controller is more or less a specialized computer so it does not control the onboard ports. With software RAID (including FlexRAID) you can use both expansion RAID card ports and onboard ports.
 

Supercat

New Member
May 17, 2011
11
0
1
Just an update.

I have ended up ordering a IBM Serveraid M1015 and a BR10i.
They were cheap and I couldn't resist!

Upshot is I dont need so many on board sata ports so I might opt for the cheaper H61 mini-itx over the H67 chipset. Is there much difference in your opinions?
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
12,511
5,792
113
For this type of application, less USB ports, no SATA 6.0gbps ports, no Intel RST seems to not be a big issue, nor would be fewer PCIe lanes.