My server build is not working out. Suggestions, please?

[Donny Bahama]

I started building my server with the following goals:

1. Quiet - it will live in a cabinet in my living room, so it should be as quiet as possible
2. Low power consumption - not just to keep the heat (ergo cooling demands, ergo noise) down, but also to save money since it will be on 24/7
3. High reliability
4. Support for 8 IDE and 2 SATA drives. (Toward this end, I have two 2-port IDE PCI controller cards and one 2-port SATA IDE controller card.)
5. Spend as little as possible. (Money is VERY tight for me right now.)

I started with a mini-itx board I had lying around. It's fanless, with a Via Epia 700MHz CPU in it. A little anemic, but it draws very little power and is dead silent. The problem with this board is that it has 2 IDE ports on board, no SATA ports, and only one PCI slot, so I have to choose between my SATA card and my IDE card. I need - but can't have - both. I tried buying a 2-slot PCI riser card, but apparently it's incompatible (or DOA) - none of my PCI cards work when connected via this riser card.

I've looked for PCI cards that have 2 x IDE + 2 x SATA ports, but anything that fits that bill is very expensive.

Now I'm thinking new motherboard & CPU - preferably something older that can be had cheaply on ebay. If it uses DDR memory (rather than DDR2), I can use the RAM I have, which saves me $25. A newer Atom-based board would be OK, but they all seem to have one PCI slot -- and not enough IDE/SATA ports to get the job done with just one PCI slot.

If you can recommend a motherboard that meets all the criteria above, please post it. (Or, if you have any other ideas for handling this very cheaply, let's hear it!)

Thanks for your time and consideration!

[jrssystemsnet]

Not what you want to hear, but these:

# Low power consumption
# High reliability
# Support for 8 IDE and 2 SATA drives.

just don't go together. You also REALLY don't want to have a ton of IDE hard drives operating Master/Slave on the same channels; that causes both performance AND reliability problems in the long run.

Maybe instead you should tell us why you need 10 drives connected to this thing, and we could see if we could find a cheap way around THAT.

[Dayofswords]

yes, tell us your needs


also, cabinet, unless there is a hole, your going to need ventilation

[tgalati4]

Agreed. Create a USB or Live CD boot disk, put in the largest IDE drives you can find. Get a 4-port SATA pci card and populate with "green" drives. Check your power supply-it's probably 60 watts max.

[spynappels]

In previous threads the OP said he wanted to use drives he already had to build his server hence the mixture of IDE and SATA.

I have to agree though that 2 or 4 decent sized SATA drives on a SATA PCI card would be better, especially if you want to RAID them as per the other thread.

Couple this with a USB boot device on an internal MOBO header and you'd have a decent fileserver, which I think you were trying to build? Might get away with a relatively low power box too then.

[sv87411]

I doesn't keep the cost down, but to satisfy the drive mix and single PCI slot you could always use IDE to SATA converters.

I've struggled trying to build servers from old kit that I have, but ultimately you have to compromise somewhere - especially with old IDE drives. It is annoying to have to shelve large capacity IDEs that still have some life in them.

I tend to agree with jrssystemsnet though that your requirements are contradictory - low power/cost plus 10 drives just doesn't add up.

Edit: And 10 drives won't be very quiet or cool either.

[jrssystemsnet]

In previous threads the OP said he wanted to use drives he already had to build his server hence the mixture of IDE and SATA.

Yeah, I pretty much figured that, I just wanted to hear it for sure from the OP.

The thing is, to meet the stated goals - low power consumption, reliability, and low cost - it almost certainly makes more sense to chuck the random collection of aging drives and just go get one or two 2TB Western Digital green drives.

At newegg right now 1TB WD drives go for $80, 1.5 TB WD drives for $110, and 2TB WD drives for $160. While he hasn't explicitly stated the total capacity of the drives, I'd bet that his 8 IDE drives put together don't add up to 2TB... and they might very well not even add up to 1TB.

OP's already said he's willing to buy a new motherboard, which certainly puts him in the same price range as a 1TB drive... and once you realize he's almost certainly going to need $70 or more for a beefy enough power supply to reliably power all those drives, you're firmly into "buy a 2TB drive" territory without spending a single dime more.

There's just no way that the motley collection of ancient drives is a good idea, even with the understanding that budget is limited.

[Donny Bahama]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I'll respond to your comments and suggestions in a moment, but first let me clarify a few things...

1. PSU is a 550W ThermalTake, purchased with reliability and number of drive connectors (8 x IDE and 4 x SATA) in mind
2. Case is a rack-mount server case with 3 fans and excellent flow-through ventilation. Case fans aren't loud at all. Even with all 3 fans running, the drives are louder than the fans (with the top panel off).
3. Drive racks all use vibration isolators. With the top on, it's extremely quiet. When it's in my cabinet with the doors closed (cabinet is open-backed) it's nearly inaudible.

[Donny Bahama]

I should also clarify that when I say, "low power consumption", I mean "as much as possible for a computer with 10 drives!"

[bpalone]

Do you really need all the capacity of the ten HDs?

As for you MB delima, how about checking the local goodwills, etc. to find an old computer for a few sheckles? If it works, it could very well serve your needs and be cheap. Just a thought.

The ten HDs makes it tough for figuring a cheap solution.

Good luck.