BUILD Should I go with a 430W or 550W?

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

Hey everyone. Just found out about building your own NAS and the FreeNAS OS this weekend (Actually, it's the only thing I did this weekend ). Prior to that, last week, I was looking at buying a QNAP TS-870 Pro, but after all that reading, I'll get way more bang for my buck if I build myself. Anyway, I also put a build together this weekend along with all the reading. I'd like this to be as low-power as possible, but I'm not sure which power supply I should go with to achieve that while not choking the system of power. The main reason for this build is I want a system that can transcode 1080p and 5.1 using Plex. My build is listed below:

Case: Silverstone GD08
Board: SuperMicro X10SL7-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E3 1230V3
CPU Fan: Noctua NH-L12
RAM: Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240 DDR3 1600 ECC
Boot Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB
HDDs: I haven't decided on which drives I want yet. I'm going to start with 4 x 4TB drives and then eventually expand to 8 drives or so if needed.
Case Fans: 4 x 120mm and 2 x 80mm
PSU: Either Enermax Revolution X't 430W or XFX XTR 550W

So based off that information, I'm trying to decide between the two. Both are rated at 80 Plus Gold. Like I said, I want to keep it as low energy as possible, but not starve the system at boot-up.

What are your opinions on the matter? Thanks everyone!

 

[jyavenard]

Will you ever plan of adding cards and/or drives in the future? And what type of drives: 5K rpm or more?

At boot, a disk like the WD Red, can suck 1.75A +/- 10% @ 12V: so 8 disks that's 184.8W max assuming your CPU is 100% then (80W), 10W for the fans; another 20W for the motherboard and RAM.

430W will do just fine. It will also be more efficient than the 550W at the typical load (will be < 50W most of the time)

 

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

Thank you! At max, I think the limit will be 10 drives. They'll probably be Reds, so yeah, 5k drives.

It looks like I'll be going with the 430W. I can't see two drives going over that.

 

[Richman]

Yeh, well a lot of people on this forum uses a Seasonic that was 360w also.

You said you just learned of FreeNAS this weekend. How did you get the parts in hand 2 days later? I am sure you didn't have them already.

 

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

I'll probably just stay around 430W just to play it safe.

When I said I put a build together, I meant a wishlist. Didn't actually order them yet. lol Just wanted to put the power pass you all first.

 

[Richman]

I'll probably just stay around 430W just to play it safe.

When I said I put a build together, I meant a wishlist. Didn't actually order them yet. lol Just wanted to put the power pass you all first.

Actually the Seasonic 360 80 Gold is a favorite here because of the efficiency and price. Some use it with 10-11 disks. From the charts that have been posted I think you loose some efficiency when you shoot too high in wattage. I'll post the threads if I run across them real quick and easy.

 

[Richman]

Here's one
http://forums.freenas.org/threads/how-to-choose-psu-compatible-to-your-system.17603/

 

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

Only four SATA connectors? I'm assuming people are using power splitters then?

 

[Richman]

Only four SATA connectors? I'm assuming people are using power splitters then?

I asked that same question in one forum and I think I remember someone saying they were splitting them.

 

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

Hmm. Okay. I'll look more into this and see what I can find. Thank you!

 

[Tr32n0sC0d3]

I think I found the post with the splitter: http://forums.freenas.org/threads/haswell-c226-itx-build.16641/#post-86167

 

[Richman]

Then there is http://forums.freenas.org/threads/h...atible-to-your-system.17603/page-2#post-96191
Where they are talking about nothing but PSU's