Dual Xeon Media & Backup Server Build

[Awakening]

(a bit more legible if you view the list on PCPP)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon X5670 ($65.00)

CPU: Intel Xeon X5670 ($65.00)

CPU: Potential CPU Choices: Xeon X3470 | *Xeon X5687 | *X5670 | 2500K 

CPU Cooler: Scythe FUMA 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($45.95 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Scythe FUMA 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($45.95 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: Tyan S7012 SSI-EEB Motherboard Dual LGA1366 DDR3 18 DIMM Slots ($59.98)
Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) Registered DDR3-1333 Memory  ($39.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: PNY CS1311 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: RAID 6 or 0, ReFS File System, 10^15 URE > 10^14, CrashPlan for Online Backup + Acronis Backup for OS, Maybe SSD Cache Drive 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($32.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Video Card: PCIe 8X to 16X Slot Riser Flexible Extension Cable ($7.72)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($95.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1201.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-05 12:22 EDT-0400

 

The SSD is for the OS and the hard drives will most likely go in either RAID 0 or 6. I'm still doing research on RAID solutions.

 

What are your thoughts on this build list I put together? I'll be using it mostly as a Plex streaming (reason for processing power) and backup server for home.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id suggest you get something like a dell r710 or c2100. There cheaper(about 250 on ebay w/o drives), can hold more ram, have impi and dual psu's

 

What OS were you going to run?

 

Id get more ram, think around 64gb.

[Awakening]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id suggest you get something like a dell r710 or c2100. There cheaper(about 250 on ebay w/o drives), can hold more ram, have impi and dual psu's

 

What OS were you going to run?

 

Id get more ram, think around 64gb.

 

 

 

I'll look into those, but I can't imagine they have even close to the same compute power for transcoding with a few users. My setup is $500 without the drives though.

 

Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB or a RAID OS if I end up going with that solution.

 

Why so much RAM? That'd be $160 just for RAM. I was told about 1GB per TB of storage.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Awakening said:

I'll look into those, but I can't imagine they have even close to the same compute power for transcoding with a few users.

 

Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB or a RAID OS if I end up going with that solution.

 

Why so much RAM? That'd be crazy expensive. I was told about 1GB per TB of storage.

Id get one of these, its fasteror the same speed. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-FS12-TY-C2100-2X-QC-E5506-2-13GHz-NO-HDD-12xTRAYS-16GB-4x4GB-/252041596944?hash=item3aaed99010:g:S9wAAOSw~gRVr9yF

 

For the os, Id probably run centos, and hardware raid on a h700(buy one, there about 70 on ebay). Windows server would be about 500 dollars and wouldn't give you much. You can then run plex and other programs in a vm.

 

You can then put 6 cores in if its needed, but it will probably not be.

 

Id put a dell h700 or h200 or lsi 9211 8i if you want to use drives bigger than 2tb.

 

You can get cheaper ram than that, about 10-15 dollar per stick on ebay, more ram the better

 

The 1GB per TB is only for ZFS, and more of a suggestion, depending on use.

[hogfather]

On will have 7 drives but the mb only has six so u might need a pcie expansion card. cool build by the way!

[Awakening]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id get one of these, its fasteror the same speed. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-FS12-TY-C2100-2X-QC-E5506-2-13GHz-NO-HDD-12xTRAYS-16GB-4x4GB-/252041596944?hash=item3aaed99010:g:S9wAAOSw~gRVr9yF

 

For the os, Id probably run centos, and hardware raid on a h700(buy one, there about 70 on ebay). Windows server would be about 500 dollars and wouldn't give you much. You can then run plex and other programs in a vm.

 

You can then put 6 cores in if its needed, but it will probably not be.

 

Id put a dell h700 or h200 or lsi 9211 8i if you want to use drives bigger than 2tb.

 

You can get cheaper ram than that, about 10-15 dollar per stick on ebay, more ram the better

 

The 1GB per TB is only for ZFS, and more of a suggestion, depending on use.

 

I really don't know about those server racks. They look really awkward to have in a home environment without buying a dedicated server rack for it and I don't have the space for something like that. I have no idea where I'd even put something with those dimensions and a tower case just makes a whole lot more sense in that regard. I'd imagine they're pretty loud as well. Also, my CPU solution scored a 12500 on PassMark with stock frequencies (I'll be overclocking for significantly more performance) and the one you just linked only scored 5000.

 

I definitely might look into RAID controllers, but there's just so many options available for RAID solutions that I have no idea what to go for right now. I've even been thinking about using Storage Spaces within Windows just to simplify things and use the ReFS file system with it.

 

I'm sure I can. I'll most likely buy it there, but I doubt I'll buy that much of it.

 

Yep. That's where I read it. I haven't done a whole lot of research on how RAM is utilized with RAID/servers.

 

8 minutes ago, hogfather said:

On will have 7 drives but the mb only has six so u might need a pcie expansion card. cool build by the way!

 

Thanks for letting me know. The SSD adding on to the SATA ports slipped my mind.

 

And thanks again for the compliment! I spent a while researching old CPUs/motherboards/sockets for the best I could get at $200 for a motherboard/CPU combo. I knew as soon as I found LGA1366 that nothing else would come close for the price (:

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Awakening said:

Also, my CPU solution scored a 12500 on PassMark with stock frequencies (I'll be overclocking for significantly more performance) and the one you just linked only scored 5000.

There running the same sockets, so you can put the faster cpu's in if you want. You dont need that much cpu power(and if you do just put faster cpu's in_

 

If you want a tower, you can get this server 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T610-PowerEdge-Server-Xeon-E5520-Quad-Core-w-HT-2-27GHz-6GB-No-HDD-OS-/272434482057?hash=item3f6e5c4b89:g:3w4AAOSwA3dYGNYT

 

 

[Awakening]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

There running the same sockets, so you can put the faster cpu's in if you want. You dont need that much cpu power(and if you do just put faster cpu's in_

 

If you want a tower, you can get this server 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T610-PowerEdge-Server-Xeon-E5520-Quad-Core-w-HT-2-27GHz-6GB-No-HDD-OS-/272434482057?hash=item3f6e5c4b89:g:3w4AAOSwA3dYGNYT

 

 

 

I'm looking more for CPU/motherboard suggestions rather than prebuilt systems, but I appreciate the system suggestions nonetheless.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Awakening said:

I'm looking more for CPU/motherboard suggestions rather than prebuilt systems, but I appreciate the system suggestions nonetheless.

If  your going to do diy, id go with something like a core i5/xeon e3.

 

Your going to be using extra power for that system, and its much bigger.

[Awakening]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If  your going to do diy, id go with something like a core i5/xeon e3.

 

Your going to be using extra power for that system, and its much bigger.

 

 

 

I looked into a lot of processors, but most are too expensive especially once you start looking at over 4 cores. My previous list had a 2500k in it which doesn't even come close to my current CPU solution. I don't want to spend more than $250 for a motherboard+CPU. Do you think any other LGA1366 chip would be a better value than the X5670?

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, Awakening said:

I looked into a lot of processors, but most are too expensive especially once you start looking at over 4 cores. My previous list had a 2500k in it which doesn't even come close to my current CPU solution. I don't want to spend more than $250 for a motherboard+CPU. Do you think any LGA1366 chips would be a better value than the X5670?

X5670 is probably the best bet then. I don't think you will use that much CPU power but it's there if you want it. 

 

A i5 would be about the same price and use less power if you care about your power bill. 

[Awakening]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

X5670 is probably the best bet then. I don't think you will use that much CPU power but it's there if you want it. 

 

A i5 would be about the same price and use less power if you care about your power bill. 

 

Yep, that's what I was thinking. There are faster chips for the socket, but they're also more expensive.

 

Meh, I can just make them idle at low voltage and it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference at the end of the day. The CPU honestly shouldn't need to work out too often, it's mostly a case of wanting everything to work in a worst case.

[Electronics Wizardy]

35 minutes ago, Awakening said:

Meh, I can just make them idle at low voltage and it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference at the end of the day.

Your thinking about 130w idle for dual 1366 vs aobut 40-50 idle for a xeon e3 or i5.

 

If you don't care about your power bill it won't make a huge difference. It only going to cost about 5-10 extra a month in power.