Replacement for N36L Proliant

Wcool

It's about time to replace my Proliant N36L homeserver with something better.

I mainly use it as a file server to a XBMC frontend but I am running out of space for disks. It has to be extremely low cost and low power use but have space for 8+ disks.

1. What is your budget?
€300-

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
NAS, low-power fileserver

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Yes, old disks, power supply

5. Do you need a monitor?
No.

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.]
Headless, no need for monitor

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]
No.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]
Yes but not really required it seems

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]
Anything

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]
No rush

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.]
Don't need help building it.


Currently I use the N36L as my main file server (5 disks + 1 SSD) and whenever I run our of disk space I move the old disk to a very old tower computer running an extremely old VIA C7 board with 7 disks attached to it. This as a backup.
The tower, psu and motherboard are 8 years and older and the idea was to make the N36L the backup server and create a new server replacing the old tower. Because I recycle old disks, I have a lot of different sized disks and RAID 5 doesn't really work well for me.
That's why I have 2 different servers, 1 only running once per month to make a backup.

Ideally, this would be the best server:

Homeserver/NAS build but I don't have that kind of money to spend nor do I need that amount of processing power for my server.

I was thinking about buying the cheapest and smallest tower case available with space for at least 8 disks, preferably without space for any 5.25" disks (who uses those anyway??), 4+ SATA connectors on board + 4 on an PCI-E expansion board but I couldn't really find a cheap case without having a lot of redundant space for 5.25" disks?
If someone has a recommendation, please let me know, a case where I can unscrew the cage for the 5.25" disks and add more cage(s) for 3.5" is fine too! And of course, small is beautiful as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

On the motherboard: I can buy a cheap ASROCK AMD FM+ board + soldered cpu for < 50 euro but it contains an inbuilt graphics card that I don't really need. It seems best is a Haswell Celeron processor (better TDP than AMD) but i couldn't find an board with more than 3 SATA connectors on the motherboard and they are relatively pricy compared to AMD.

Or should I wait and hope Intel will release a Core M processor for home servers? That chip seems ideal with a TDP of only 5 watt and I could be even less if the builtin graphics is removed.
Or is there some cheap Atom board with low power and 4+ sata connectors for a decent price?

Any suggestions very welcome.

Serephucus

Denverton is next in line. It'll be similar to the C2750 based stuff, but with more cores, and lower TDP.

I actually have bits from my old server I'm looking to get rid of, if they're of interest to you.

i3 3220 (3.0 dual core with HT, I think)
ASRock H61 board (4x SATA)
2x PCI-E 2-port SATA cards
PCI-E Intel gigabit ethernet card
Fractal Design Arc Mini (6x 3.5, 2x 5.25)

Sound pretty damn close to what you're looking for. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. Other than that, I'd say have a scour on Adverts for some cheap stuff. There doesn't tend to be a lot of low-end CPUs and the like, but you'd easily find SATA cards and NICs there for cheap.

Wcool

I guess that is not low power enough, the case looks interesting though.

Do you know when Denverton will be released? It seems Intels server boards are priced out of my league though, it will have to be consumer grade.

Serephucus

Why do you need it to be so little power? i3s barely pull anything, and you usually pay through the nose for the really low power stuff.

I don't, unfortunately, but I'd guesstimate around the middle of next year, and they probably won't be too cheap.

Edit: Also, have a look at Plex as well. Doesn't have some of the customisability of XBMC, but it's really handy for streaming to mobile devices if that's something of interest.

Also something worth looking at that I'll be checking out when I get my board back from RMA (after a bloody month) is OwnCloud. Think self-hosted Google Docs.

Wcool

I guess it's my energy bill, which keep on hovering around 100 euro a month. Also, I realise that since about 5 years ago any CPU did more or less everything I wanted it to do, I am not interested anymore in faster, just more efficient.
It's the same as leaving a lightbulb on day and night, if you do, it better be a low watt bulb.

The I3 is efficient but from what I read, even the newest generation of CPUs is shockingly better at energy efficiency, the same performance as the previous generation but going from 20 watt to 5 watt TDP ...

The N36L does in between 55 and 70 watt including disks. But my Ouya which I use for XBMC uses less than 5 watt and would theoretically be more than enough for serving some files. I have already plex installed and that is more or less the only thing it can't handle at the moment (but I am sure that almost any CPU would be faster than the AMD CPU in the Proliant. I also have Owncloud and it is not a problem at all.

Anyway, anyone opinions on these boards?

Asrock AM1

AMD C70

Best to me looks this:

Celeron J1800

This is faster and more efficient than the AMD motherboards but it has only 2 SATA connections. I couldn't find a board with 4+ SATA connectors

Serephucus

A good chunk of that €100 will be the standing charge. Going from around a 70W server to a 10W one will only save you about €6 a month, based on ESB's calculator, and it'll take you quite a while to pay that back based on what you're looking at.

Given your budget, you have three options:

Low power, low TDP components, like the Celeron you listed. 10W TDP, probably idling about 20W for a server built around it, but won't be able to do much of anything.

Higher power, low-ish TDP stuff. Probably 65W Pentiums, maybe a 35W model if you get lucky. They'll be able to do more (though probably only 1-2 Plex transcodes) and should mean an idle power draw of around 30-40W from the wall.

Second hand things. You won't get high-end hardware, but you could probably get more power for the same power draw, like an i3 or something similar, with the idle draw being the same as the Pentium above.


This is only going on my personal experience, but I'd tend towards an i3/Pentium, or at least something with a socket. At least then you can upgrade the CPU down the line. With that integrated junk if you ever decide you want to do something more with the server, you'll have to upgrade the whole thing. I'm mainly thinking Plex transcoding here, as that's about the only thing that'll tax it. Any other server duties will be very light.

Wcool

Yeah, even with a low powered CPU, the motherboard and disks will still draw power (more than the CPU generally).

If the integrated board is cheap enough it doesn't matter, I could replace the whole board down the line. Sigh, I dunno, time to think again.