Jon
02-20-08, 08:32 AM
I've begun piecing together a 20TB home media server and pretty much have everything that I need except the PSU for the head unit. All drives will be external using 4x5-bay port multiplier cases (I'll be adding these over time...not at once, so the array will grow), so power requirements for the drives will be met by those units.
The head unit will only be responsible for motherboard (Intel BOXDG33FBC), E6600, Highpoint 2314 RAID PCIe adapter, initially 2GB DDR2-800 (2x1GB), a single 36GB Raptor OS drive, and a single DVD-R drive. I will be using the onboard video and LAN. An additional Intel Pro1000 PCIe may be added later and absolutely no overclocking will be done. I don't have a case picked out yet either, but I don't imagine using any more than the equivalent of 3x80mm fans (to include CPU fan). The room is temperature controlled, so the need for a lot of fans is not there. The head unit is will be a dedicated file server, so the only loads it will see are from CIFS.
As you can see, the power requirements are pretty meager. What I'm looking for is to keep the cost of the PSU as low as possible. I'm not going to be expanding beyond what is listed, so I honestly believe that anything beyond 500W is complete overkill. I'm considering going with another Blue Storm since I've had one running for 3 years without issue, but I'm wanting to hear if there is something available that is possibly equal to more reliable and even a little cheaper. I just have never been a PSU guy and am depending on you experts :)
The head unit will only be responsible for motherboard (Intel BOXDG33FBC), E6600, Highpoint 2314 RAID PCIe adapter, initially 2GB DDR2-800 (2x1GB), a single 36GB Raptor OS drive, and a single DVD-R drive. I will be using the onboard video and LAN. An additional Intel Pro1000 PCIe may be added later and absolutely no overclocking will be done. I don't have a case picked out yet either, but I don't imagine using any more than the equivalent of 3x80mm fans (to include CPU fan). The room is temperature controlled, so the need for a lot of fans is not there. The head unit is will be a dedicated file server, so the only loads it will see are from CIFS.
As you can see, the power requirements are pretty meager. What I'm looking for is to keep the cost of the PSU as low as possible. I'm not going to be expanding beyond what is listed, so I honestly believe that anything beyond 500W is complete overkill. I'm considering going with another Blue Storm since I've had one running for 3 years without issue, but I'm wanting to hear if there is something available that is possibly equal to more reliable and even a little cheaper. I just have never been a PSU guy and am depending on you experts :)