Ancient nV 6150+430 based motherboard, does it cut it as an awesome NAS?

[jalyst]

This is the motherboard (damn google, can't find an actual review for the socket 939 version!)
http://www.nforcershq.com/albatron-...-with-geforce-6150-gpu-pure-video-technology/

This is the core architecture...
http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo.html

It's got one 16x PCI-E, so I could add a top-notch RAID controller card, w00t!
The only area I'm worried about is the fact that it only has 100Mbit Ethernet.

I mean how does that manifest itself in reality, is it really such a big loss?
The core function of this device would be to store content, often there'd be streaming but mainly it'd be used for back-up/archival purposes.

I mean, aside from the anaemic Ethernet, this would wipe the floor with most "pre-made" NAS devices on the market atm wouldn't it?*
Aside from the very top tier ones, which are beyond most normal humans budget.

cheers,
J
*assuming the choice of RAID card was decent

 

[jalyst]

Hmm...

As far as I can tell, the nForce 430 MCP only used PCI Express version 1.0a.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=6&id=1869

And according to Wikipedia this version is only 250MB per lane...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

So putting a "2.X+ compatible" Gigabit card in this slot aint gunna get me true Gigabit...

Feel free to correct me ya'll....
Maybe there were revisions of the 430 MCP which supported PCI-E v2.X?

But even if there were & my mobo uses that revision, v2.X is still only 500MB/s /lane
It needs to have a 4x slot, then it wouldn't matter if it was version 1 or 2.X...

 

[MadKing]

So putting a "2.X+ compatible" Gigabit card in this slot aint gunna get me true Gigabit...

250 MB = 2000 MBits so there not limitation for a PCIe gigabits card via a 1x PCIe slot.

 

[jalyst]

You sure they're talking in terms of MegaBytes per Sec in that article?

I mean I had considered MB/s = MegaBytes...
But I was thinking maybe it was a typo, as 2000 Mb/s per lane sounds kinda high...

 

[00Roush]

With a good PCIe based network card you should see very good performance. I recommend getting a Intel PRO/1000 PT card. PCIe version should not affect the performance of network cards.

For reference I used to use a Nforce 4 based computer as my server here at home. Had a Athlon 64 3000+ CPU. (939 pin) Using the onboard Nvidia network card I averaged 70-90 MB/sec for file transfers. My current server uses a Asus A8R32-MVP motherboard with a Opteron 165 (939 pin) CPU. This setup usually averages between 80-100 MB/sec. So I am fairly sure with that chipset, a decent cpu, and a good network card you could see similar results. Especially with a Intel network card.

00Roush

 

[MadKing]

Read this article for more pratical number for PCI vs PCIe card:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30555/229/1/2/

 

[jalyst]

Oh sweet so this old mobo's back in the running!

How do ya'll reckon it'd compare to some of the best "appliance NAS's" about atm? e.g. Qnap TS-809Pro etc
In order to get the same sort of RAID capabilities, I guess I'll have to pick out a decent controller card too.

Bedtime, night...

 

[MadKing]

This board support SATA RAID 0,1,5 & 0+1

I agree there is no need to buy a raid controller. Just get a decent PCI or PCIe NIC card.