Cheap Server Build

The Golden Teapot

Hey guys! I'm interested in building a server for my house. Would be looking to run a small minecraft server for me and my friends as well as for streaming/storage. I have a spare merc alpha, z77pro3 and heaps of hard drives lying around. Have around ~150 to put into the rest of the build. Have no idea about the requirements for a server so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Serephucus

As long as you're not looking into RAID (other than 1, 0, or 10), whatever's cheap. I have mine in a H61/G550 box, with a couple of PCIE SATA cards.

The Golden Teapot

Have no need for RAID really. A server is just something i've wanted for ages and while i have the spare parts i might as well! That's awesome i didn't know the specs were so low for servers. Ram wise how many Gbs would you recommend for it?

Serephucus

What you have to understand is that if all you're doing is going to be using the hard drives in it to share across the network, then it's essentially going to be idling all the time, meaning you could get by with 2GB.

Now, if you're running MC servers, then you'll need a bit more, but not by a lot. I chucked 8GB in mine, just because it was €20 at the time. Depending on if you're going with Linux or Windows, I'd go with a minimum of 2/4GB, respectively.

The Golden Teapot

Ohh ok, thanks i didn't know that.

So all i need then is a cheap psu(Corsair vs350), cpu(g550 or g2020) and 8GB RAM and i'm grand then? Thanks for the help! Should just come in around €100!!

Serephucus

Pretty much. You're just planning a bunch of drives, not in RAID, and an MC server or two, correct?

The Golden Teapot

Exactly. A couple of Hdds and 2 MC servers (Vanilla and FTB). And thats it!!

Serephucus

Then you should be fine. I run three vanilla servers, an FTP, backups, and uTorrent, and I've never seen the CPU get above around 60%. It spikes to 100% when the servers first launch, but that's it.

The Golden Teapot

Sweet!! Thanks!

How many people are you able to fit on the servers? I'm sure my 2 won't get near the capacity of yours just wondering the overall space.

And if the amount of hard drives gets to the near ridiculous side(up to 7 in the merc alpha) do you think it'll be ok with 350w?

Serephucus

I have six running on a 400W unit. You'd have to be using thirty or more before I'd begin to question whether the PSU would be enough.

I don't actually have that many people on at all, it's only myself and a few friends. The most that've been on across the three was seven (I don't have many tech friends. ) and the load barely increased at all.

The Golden Teapot

Alright then this should keep me going for a little while then!!

Haha same as me!! I don't think I'll ever have more than 5 of the guys on it. Can't wait!! Sounds perfect though thanks for all the help!!

Little off topic here but it's something I've been thinking about for a while now and have no idea about! I would really like a Fan controller (preferably LCD) with 5/6 fans. You could hardly recommend one to me by any chance? Have no experience with them at all.

Serephucus

Mounted in your case, touchscreen, knobs/dials, sitting on your desk, software controlled... ?

The Golden Teapot

I'm thinking mounted in the case/touchscreen. Saw the Bitfenix recon a little while ago and fell in love!! Nearly changed all my fans and leds. But i read quite a few complaints about it!!

Serephucus

Well, there's these:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Fan+controller/35867/NZXT+Sentry+2+TouchScreen+Fan-Controller.article
http://www.hardwareversand.de/Fan+controller/35868/NZXT+SENTRY+LX+-+Multipanel.article

I haven't heard anything particularly bad about the Recon, but I haven't looked at it much either.

The Golden Teapot

The Sentry LX was the one i was looking at alright. Looks good. And will definitely look a treat in the front of my case. Think I'm sold!! Thanks again for all the help!!