Good Enough for a First Go?

[JaredG]

Here's my first ever server build. Tried to use parts either friends or I had laying around, good way to use things that were otherwise E-waste.  Planning to use it primarily as a storage server, and something to get my feet wet. Will be starting with the curated apps, Immich for photo backup, and getting a decent PLEX server running hence the P2000. Also hoping to get Tailscale installed in some fashion for VPN access as well. 

MOBO - GIGABYTE GA-Z97-D3H (friends old used pile)
CPU - Intel I7-4790K (friends old used pile)
CPU Cooler - Hyper 212 Evo 
RAM - 32GB Samsung DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 (used but was told it was literally pulled from a junkyard computer)
PSU - Cooler Master MWE 750 80+Gold
GPU - Quadro P2000 (taken from the work used pile)
Boot drive - Crucial M500 128gb 
Storage drives - 4x 2TB WD Red CMR
Case - Antec P182 (OLD case from first ever gaming PC)
Case fans - 3x Thermal Right TL-C12C 120mm
Drive Enclosure - Rack Choice 3x5.25in 5-Drive SATA Backplane

3D Printed parts
• 3.5in x 2.5in floppy bay drive sled 
• 5.25in Mounting Rails 
• Higher feet to keep things elevated in case of low standing water ever getting into my basement 

Future Upgrades
• 2.5Gb NIC/Networking

Let me know what you think! Any suggestions for improvement? Should I prioritize the network upgrade or will I even see that much of a real world difference? 
 

 

[Jack Kennedy West]

Looks awesome to be honest. Looks great and should serve you well

[ubergeek]

Yeah That will defiantly work, Thats what is great about this style of setup is you dont need the best of the best to keep data safe. The only pointer I would add is to get the case elevated off the ground because it looks like its near that sump point . 

[beardedbrewer]

That does looks great! I'm using a very similar specced system, just have less RAM. The idea of turning the 5.25 drive bays into a hot swappable 3.5 drive bay seems like something I should look into for my build. Do you have any resources for the backplane? 

[JaredG]

1 hour ago, ubergeek said:

Yeah That will defiantly work, Thats what is great about this style of setup is you dont need the best of the best to keep data safe. The only pointer I would add is to get the case elevated off the ground because it looks like its near that sump point . 

Thanks! That was the idea for printing higher feet, eventually setting up a shelf for even more seperation is probably a good idea though. I do also have a high level alarm in the sump for some more peace of mind. 

23 minutes ago, beardedbrewer said:

That does looks great! I'm using a very similar specced system, just have less RAM. The idea of turning the 5.25 drive bays into a hot swappable 3.5 drive bay seems like something I should look into for my build. Do you have any resources for the backplane? 

It definitely wasn't necessary and I could have saved some money without it, but I can't deny how legit it looks. I was originally planning on doing Two 2x5.25in 3-drive enclosures for 6-drives total, but I figured this 5-drive enclosure is good enough to get started. Here's the link. It's a bit plastic feeling but seems to get the job done. 

https://a.co/d/6eml2bJ

[Sonic]

I like your approach! Very creative!.

If you at some point want to run Plex/Jellyfin you'll with the iGPU, you want a newer CPU with h265 support on the iGPU. But if not then it's fine. But you are using the Quadro P2000, so that's OK. 

The only thing I can think of is that this is not the most energy efficient server. But it's a pretty cheap solution, so I guess you have some money left to pay your energy bill. 🙂

 

[beardedbrewer]

1 hour ago, Sonic said:

 

The only thing I can think of is that this is not the most energy efficient server. But it's a pretty cheap solution, so I guess you have some money left to pay your energy bill. 🙂

 

How would someone make it more energry efficient?

[MaLiXs]

2 hours ago, Sonic said:

 

The only thing I can think of is that this is not the most energy efficient server. But it's a pretty cheap solution, so I guess you have some money left to pay your energy bill. 🙂

 

haswell based cpu are not that bad ... I  have myself a i5 4690k... it not like running a fist gen icore (aka socket 1366). It will take several years (especially if the energy cost is low like in Quebec) for the cost of newer and more efficient equipment to be worthwhile.

and if the user dont need a lot of pawer it easy to downclock and undervolt this cpu (I'm planing to do it)  

 

Back to OP : I have a similar config myself : i5 4690k, asrock z97 anniversary, 16gb but no dedicated gpu (I dont need plex HW encode since I only use local stream)

as drive I got 128gb sata ssd and 5x2tb WD caviar black (old recycled drive that have more than 8year of uptime)  and it plenty of computer to serve home with few user. Even if i use all of the 6 sata slot on my board I dont plan use a pci-e card since I'm gonna start up fresh with bigger drive and extend the pool with more drive

[Sonic]

What I mentioned is that later generations processors use much less power when idle. For comparisson, I have a system with 4 bays and a AMD mobile processor. Without HDDs I tweaked it down to 5.2 Watt in idle. A system with a Intel I7-4790K could easy draw 100 watt in idle. For testing purposes is not really a problem, but 24/7 for several years is more expensive.

To be clear, I don’t say you have a problem. You really created a nice system. I like your creative approach. 
 
A quick win good be to use only the iGPU. And perhaps changing Some bios settings (underclocking).

[MaLiXs]

it impossible to compare a mobile chip to a desktop one ... 

[Sonic]

8 minutes ago, MaLiXs said:

haswell based cpu are not that bad ... I  have myself a i5 4690k... it not like running a fist gen icore (aka socket 1366). It will take several years (especially if the energy cost is low like in Quebec) for the cost of newer and more efficient equipment to be worthwhile.

and if the user dont need a lot of pawer it easy to downclock and undervolt this cpu (I'm planing to do it)  

 

Back to OP : I have a similar config myself : i5 4690k, asrock z97 anniversary, 16gb but no dedicated gpu (I dont need plex HW encode since I only use local stream)

as drive I got 128gb sata ssd and 5x2tb WD caviar black (old recycled drive that have more than 8year of uptime)  and it plenty of computer to serve home with few user. Even if i use all of the 6 sata slot on my board I dont plan use a pci-e card since I'm gonna start up fresh with bigger drive and extend the pool with more drive

Haswell based cpu’s are indeed not bad a all. In the past I didn’t pay attention to energy usage. But in Europe this energy prices increased dramaticly. So for me it has become relevant.

[MaLiXs]

here in quebec the electricity cost for a home is 6,704 ¢/kWh CAD (about 0.045 euro per kwh) for the first 40 kwh of the period and after is 10,342 ¢/kWh  (about 0,67 Euro per kwh) 

[JaredG]

I will definitely keep this updated with power usage. I realize I've loaded the case with tons of power draw items. In the future I might be interested in something like a E3-1270L if I can find a good deal on eBay. 2 RAM sticks instead of 4. No GPU. Less higher capacity drives vs more low capacity ones. Undervolting. Etc. 

At least this will let me start to get a hang of things. I'm fortunate enough to live in Alberta where power is cheap. But overtime it does all add up. 

Thanks for the feedback!

[MaLiXs]

in alberta just like in quebec the energy bill is pretty cheap (but the fuel price here in quebec is much higher than on your land 😅)

Edited February 4 by MaLiXs

[beardedbrewer]

I live in California where electricity is not so cheap... 😞