Supermicro X10 build questions

[calgarychris]

Hi,

Following on from a previous post, I've landed on some of the gear for my build but had a couple of questions:

I should say that the primary purpose is a media storage/streaming unit, with duties to backup my original FN box (unfortunately wirelessly) from upstairs. I use CIFS to stream to a Boxee Box and am looking at Plex. In addition, I run a couple of jails for owncloud, plex and some of Josh's plugins. There are only two users on the home network. Here's what I've contemplated so far and I've begun ordering some parts:

Proposed build:
Supermicro X10-SLM+- (purchased)
4 x 8GB ECC DDR3 Crucial (purchased)
Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
6 x 4TB Toshiba MC04ACA (7,200rpm)
Fractal Design Mini
Corsair RM450 or RM550

Questions:
1. What PSU would be recommended? Any idea of the power requirements? I input the values into Coolermaster's calculator and it suggested 300w, any thoughts? I really like the idea of the fanless Seasonic X series 400 (SS400FL2) but the cost isn't justified really…I chose the RM as it's modular and has a zero fan mode. My other Corsair psu (CX series) does have coil whine so I'm not sure what the build quality of this, admittedly more expensive, unit will be

2. My only other build was an ASUS AMD350 which had an heatsink on the CPU already. Am I correct in assuming this will require some sort of a CPU cooler? Any recommendations?

3. Is the above a reasonably capable system? I can't believe I'd need more (nor can the budget support much more!) given that my current FN build functions but is out of space but … you guys know more than I.

4. Anything else I should consider? I've only bought the motherboard and memory as they needed to come from the US. Other than that, I'm open and would appreciate recommendations

Thanks!
Chris

 

[Ericloewe]

Hi,

Following on from a previous post, I've landed on some of the gear for my build but had a couple of questions:

I should say that the primary purpose is a media storage/streaming unit, with duties to backup my original FN box (unfortunately wirelessly) from upstairs. I use CIFS to stream to a Boxee Box and am looking at Plex. In addition, I run a couple of jails for owncloud, plex and some of Josh's plugins. There are only two users on the home network. Here's what I've contemplated so far and I've begun ordering some parts:

Proposed build:
Supermicro X10-SLM+- (purchased)
4 x 8GB ECC DDR3 Crucial (purchased)
Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
6 x 4TB Toshiba MC04ACA (7,200rpm)
Fractal Design Mini
Corsair RM450 or RM550

Questions:
1. What PSU would be recommended? Any idea of the power requirements? I input the values into Coolermaster's calculator and it suggested 300w, any thoughts? I really like the idea of the fanless Seasonic X series 400 (SS400FL2) but the cost isn't justified really…I chose the RM as it's modular and has a zero fan mode. My other Corsair psu (CX series) does have coil whine so I'm not sure what the build quality of this, admittedly more expensive, unit will be

2. My only other build was an ASUS AMD350 which had an heatsink on the CPU already. Am I correct in assuming this will require some sort of a CPU cooler? Any recommendations?

3. Is the above a reasonably capable system? I can't believe I'd need more (nor can the budget support much more!) given that my current FN build functions but is out of space but … you guys know more than I.

4. Anything else I should consider? I've only bought the motherboard and memory as they needed to come from the US. Other than that, I'm open and would appreciate recommendations

Thanks!
Chris

1. Seasonic G-450, G-550 if you want to expand closer to 10 drives
2. The processor should include the stock cooler.
3. It should work very welll.

 

[DifferentStrokes]

4. Anything else I should consider? I've only bought the motherboard and memory as they needed to come from the US. Other than that, I'm open and would appreciate recommendations

Two more things to consider:
FreeNAS compatible UPS
2 USB Sticks for a mirror boot device

 

[calgarychris]

1. Seasonic G-450, G-550 if you want to expand closer to 10 drives
2. The processor should include the stock cooler.
3. It should work very welll.

Brilliant, thank you! I've been spending far too much time looking at psu's. While I'd love to go the fanless route, the reality is that once it's in the box I'm not going to hear it much. I think the G series will do the job, be at least semi modular and have the 6 sata cables I need. Given the system will be idle most of the time, I would assume that the 450 is the better choice (80w tdp + 6x7w drives would be 122, plus some fans etc etc. would barely have it at 30-40% when it's maxed out)...?

I'll stick to the stock cooler I guess

Thanks

 

[calgarychris]

Two more things to consider:
FreeNAS compatible UPS
2 USB Sticks for a mirror boot device

Fortunately I've got a UPS (unfortunately my second system will be moving off this but such is life) that works brilliantly :) I'll be going the sticks as I (probably foolishly) didn't allow myself a motherboard that has additional sata for sata DOMs or SSDs. I even spent a fair bit of time researching them before realising the board I bought only has 6 sata ports! Got caught up sizing the raidz array and didn't think of future needs. Doesn't matter, the budget won't allow for ssd's at the moment anyway.

I'd just planned to use some Sandisks. To be honest, I've had pretty good luck with them...

Thank for the tips!

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I'd just planned to use some Sandisks. To be honest, I've had pretty good luck with them...

They are the brand of choice in these forums.

 

[Fraoch]

Those 6 X 7200 RPM drives might put out a fair amount of heat. Make sure you populate both fan locations at the front of the Mini (I have both an R4 as a desktop and a Mini waiting for me to move my FreeNAS build into it, so I know these cases pretty well). You can move the fan at the rear into the front and add a replacement fan at the rear or replace them all. Make sure you do have a fan at the rear. Also this arrangement leads to positive pressure which keeps dust out, especially in combination with the Define's nice dust filters.

 

[marbus90]

6x 5400rpm will generate a bit of heat as well. My rule of thumb: per 1000rpm 1w heat to dissipate. that's 32.something vs. 42.something for 5.4k vs 7.2k. Little bit of cooling should be in there regardless the disk type. (even with SSDs, they do sometimes generate a bit of heat as well)

 

[calgarychris]

Those 6 X 7200 RPM drives might put out a fair amount of heat. Make sure you populate both fan locations at the front of the Mini (I have both an R4 as a desktop and a Mini waiting for me to move my FreeNAS build into it, so I know these cases pretty well). You can move the fan at the rear into the front and add a replacement fan at the rear or replace them all. Make sure you do have a fan at the rear. Also this arrangement leads to positive pressure which keeps dust out, especially in combination with the Define's nice dust filters.

Thanks for the tip - I figured I'd start with two fans up front and one in back and see how we go. I'm hoping that, while there are six drives, without a video card that's enough to keep it cool. Given the fans are only $16, I'll add more as required (more concerned about noise than anything else).

 

[Fraoch]

Thanks for the tip - I figured I'd start with two fans up front and one in back and see how we go. I'm hoping that, while there are six drives, without a video card that's enough to keep it cool. Given the fans are only $16, I'll add more as required (more concerned about noise than anything else).

The main source of heat is the drives, and all you can do is add a second fan to the front to cool the drives. With two fans at the front to cool the drives and one at the rear as exhaust, there's probably no need for additional fans - your CPU won't be running all that hot and the rear fan will remove any heat the CPU will put out (in addition to the heat removed from the drives).

Personally I have no problem connecting the fans to the Fractal fan controller. Some here would prefer connecting them to the fan headers on the motherboard, but if you're reusing the 3-pin Fractal fans they'd run at full speed constantly. I also find the Supermicro's fan speed control difficult to manage, though you do get reporting, logging and alarming via IPMI if you connect the fans to the motherboard headers.

 

[calgarychris]

Thanks for the fan tips. Ultimately am going to go with four fans, likely connected to the controller and one to the board.