Proposal for a NAT start up home server

[Ref]

a proposal for a NAT start up home server

Your input is appreciated

*** CPU
AMD Phenom™ X4 9850 Black Edition Quad-Core 2.5GHz w/ 4MB Cache (Retail Box) ~$200

*** Motherboard
Asus M3A w/ DualDDR2 1066, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, PCI-E 2.0 ~$100

*** RAM to start
OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 Vista Performance Platinum Dual Channel DDR2 Kit (2 x 2GB) ~$90 (on sale for ~$60)

*** Hard Drives to start
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda 7200.11 SATA II w/ NCQ, 32MB Cache (~ $225 for 2 drives)

*** Case
ANTEC Atlas Server Case w/ TruePower 2.0 550W Power Supply (~ $160)

*** Other Drives

* Scythe YD-8V08 Floppy + 18-in1 Card Reader Combo Drive (~ $35)

* LG Super Multi Security DVD Writer 20x20x10 w/ Lightscribe, Black (OEM) (~$35)

 

[jdabbs]

I was happy until I realized you meant NAS instead of NAT.

 

[Ref]

I was happy until I realized you meant NAS instead of NAT.

thus it is an over blown machine?

[sorry I mainly meant NAS not NAT]

If it is about the money, I world rather spend more and have a stable product that will work for say ~ 2 years

if it is about the setup/ choice/ or mistake in the parts please let me know

 

[Mandros]

How about powerconsumption ?
And do you need a 4 core cpu for a what you want ?

Home servers usually don't run much multithreaded applications.
Unless you are planning to run very cpu hungry services i'd reccomend a more energy saving cpu.

AMD: Brisbane core, Athlon X2 BE-2300 eg; TDP 45 watts.
(AM2, 1.9GHz, HT 1000MHz, 2x 512KB)

 

[Tamarin]

I agree, this is way overkill for a NAS box. Mine is overbuilt, but I also run VMs and other services on it.


I think you need to first pick your OS for your NAS.
Then settle on if you're going to use any form of raid.
Then, you need to choose a raid card (or mb w/raid) that is supported by your OS.

Then start building the rest of the machine. Most likely a low powered CPU like was mentioned above, will serve just fine. 2 gigs of ram is probably plenty.

Your goal here is to build a NAS, not a high-powered server, right?

Maybe you need to clairify what your expectations for the NAS are.

Best of luck,
Tam

 

[Ref]

First of all thank you guys for the responses [you run the same idea in your head until you have no answer]

I will go with Tamarin said

as usual I would like the server to serve the pics and the songs to all FIVE of our family. As you can believe there is a BIG mess :]

I like photography as a hobby, I paid some unreal prices for some cameras and their lenses [my wife tells me about - every day] However the pictures that I take are huge in computer space. Thus I would like to store them in that NAS AND eventually access them over the net [that is not necessary]

Believing or not we have eight printers in our family all up and running, thus a print server would be nice.

Between the five of us there is a huge collection of DVD an VHS movies that as you would imagine there are nowhere to find if you need THAT movie.
would be nice if we would centralize them in the NAS

 

[Ref]

as for RAID question, I assumed that the mother board had the RAID included

see bellow



Features

* AMD® AM2+ Quad-Core CPU/AM2 CPU Support
* AMD 770 / SB600 chipset
* HyperTransport 3.0 and PCIe 2.0 Ready
* Dual Channel DDR2 1066
* ASUS Q-Shield
* 4+1 Phase Power Design
* AMD Cool ´n´ Quiet! Technology

Specifications
Processor Support AMD® Socket AM2+ Phenom™ FX / Phenom X4 / Phenom X2 / Athlon™ X2 / Sempron™
AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 / Sempron
AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ Technology
Chipset AMD 770 Chipset / SB600
System Bus Up to 5200 MT/s; HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface for AM2+ CPU 2000 / 1600 MT/s for AM2 CPU
Memory 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 1066 / 800 / 667 / 533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual channel memory architecture
* DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU only
* Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL (Qualify Vendor List)
Storage Southbridge
- 4 x SATA 3 Gb/s ports with RAID 0, 1, and 0+1support
- 1 x UltraDMA 133 / 100 / 66 for 2 PATA devices
LAN Atheros® PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET 2
Audio Realtek® ALC883 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Coaxial S/PDIF out port at back I/O
IEEE 1394 N/A
USB 10 x USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel)
Back Panel I/O Ports 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x Serial port
1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial)
1 x RJ45 port
4 x USB 2.0/1.1
8-Channel Audio I/O
Internal I/O Connectors 3 x USB connector for 6 ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
4 x SATA connectors
1 x CPU Fan connector
1 x Chassis Fan connector
1 x Power Fan connector
Front panel audio connector
1 x S/PDIF Out Header
Chassis Intrusion connector
CD audio in
24-pin ATX Power connector
4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
System Panel
BIOS 8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe x16
2 x PCIe x1
3 x PCI 2.2
Support PCIe 2.0 / 1.0 Architecture
Form Factor ATX Form Factor, 12"x 8.6" (30.5cm x 21.8cm)

ASUS AI Lifestyle Features ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution:
- ASUS AI Gear 2
- ASUS AI Nap
- ASUS Q-Fan 2
ASUS Crystal Sound:
- ASUS Noise Filter
ASUS EZ DIY:
- ASUS Q-Shield
- ASUS Q-Connector
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
Special Features ASUS MyLogo 2
Overclocking Features Intelligent overclocking tools:
- AI Overclocking (Intelligent CPU Frequency Tuner)
Precision Tweaker:
- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.025V increment
- vDIMM: 8-step DRAM voltage control
- vChipset: 4-step Chipset voltage control
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 600MHz at 1MHz increment
- Memory tuning from 533MHz up to 1066MHz
- PCIe frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection:
- ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall)

Accessories UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
FDD cable
SATA cables
SATA power cables
ASUS Q-Shield
User's manual
2 in 1 Q-connector

 

[00Roush]

Were you planning on using this computer for more than just file, media, and print serving? If not you could pick up a dual core for much cheaper and also consume much less power at idle than the quad.

You might check out the Asus M3A78 board instead of the M3A as I am not sure the M3A will support the CPU you had chosen. It also has a newer chipset and can be found on newegg for under $100. For the latest and greatest you could look at the Asus M3A78-T. It has the latest chipset with support for RAID 5. No video card needed as the intergrated graphics work fairly well. Looks like it is about $150 at a few places online.

As was mentioned you don't really need a whole lot of cpu horsepower in a NAS. A dual core chip, 2 GB Ram, and a solid motherboard should work just fine.

00Roush

 

[Ref]

Thank you 00Roush for your suggestions

That Asus M3A78-T motherboard looks nice and have good reviews. I will consider it thanks to you.

However, I do not see what is the big deal of having an over-sized CPU on a fancy motherboard? Is the initial price [see bellow] or the energy that will consume in the next while [say 10 bucks a month]

I normally change the oil on the cars in my family. Not because I like to get dirty but because I love machines and I like to keep a close eye on them. :] However last month I could not get a shield down from one of my kids cars because my impact driver was lent to a friend.

Long story short the removal of two screws was over 100 bucks at the local repair shop, lots of beer, and the promise from my son that he will pay for the processor of my dream :]

 

[Ref]

Sorry to be such a pest with questions, but I will build the system by the end of the year and if you like I'll post feed back

Now what OS would you propose for hardware [I think I will go with 00Roush's proposal and buy the Asus M3A78-T motherboard. [We are still debating on processor :]

Now for the OS free is fantastic, however my free time is limited ... So, do you know a [something] that will fit ... [I have some ideas on my own but I would like to see what other fellows think

 

[thatguy435]

Given how rediculously overpowered that machine is for what you've said you wanted to do, I'd reccomend Ubuntu. Setting up the vast majority of services is entirely painless, the community is large and there are a lot of good articles on how to do whatever you want to do with it.

It also happens to be free, and the desktop edition has a GUI that you can use to manage things (Server edition is all command line).

 

[00Roush]

Thank you 00Roush for your suggestions

That Asus M3A78-T motherboard looks nice and have good reviews. I will consider it thanks to you.

However, I do not see what is the big deal of having an over-sized CPU on a fancy motherboard? Is the initial price [see bellow] or the energy that will consume in the next while [say 10 bucks a month]

I think the hang up most would have is that the setup you had listed would be more what you see for a desktop machine. As a desktop machine it would make sense as the computing power could be better utilized. (gaming, video editing, video encoding, etc) In a home server/NAS setup it would probably not provide any better performance than a mid range dual core. My thought is that the money saved on the cpu could go toward another hard drive or possibly faster hard drives as this could provide better performance.

The other is about power consumption. In my mind most who are looking to build a NAS for home use are looking to consume the least amount of power while getting the best performance. As a home server a quad core usually would consume more power but not offer better performance over a dual core. I think the difference between the two would probably be equivalent to leaving a 100w light or about $5-$10 a month.

Just wanted to give you an idea of where people might be coming from.

00Roush

 

[00Roush]

Sorry to be such a pest with questions, but I will build the system by the end of the year and if you like I'll post feed back

Now what OS would you propose for hardware [I think I will go with 00Roush's proposal and buy the Asus M3A78-T motherboard. [We are still debating on processor :]

Now for the OS free is fantastic, however my free time is limited ... So, do you know a [something] that will fit ... [I have some ideas on my own but I would like to see what other fellows think

You never mentioned if you planned on sharing all 8 printers from this one server. That might have some influence on the OS you choose. As far as printers go my thought is that Windows would be the easiest to setup. Same goes for file sharing. For a free OS my vote would be Ubuntu Server. If you set it up using the instructions here---> http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30573/77/ it works great. Using the web interface via Webmin to manage the server is awesome. I have not tried sharing printers but I am sure it would work just fine.

Hope that helps a little.
00Roush