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Trying to source this Chinese ITX NAS Case (NSC-800)

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Khandof said:
I purchased my chassis the other night and now I'm meticulously picking my hardware. I plan to run FreeNas 8 as the OS. This is what I have so far. Let me know what you guys think....


Mobo/Processor Combo:
Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI and Intel Core i3-3225 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz - $235

Low Profile CPU Fan:
Silverstone NT07-775 - $20

Raid Card:
SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI-Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller - $110
or
HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL 8-Port PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SAS/SATA RAID Controller - $155
* I've seen these cheaper on ebay.

Power Supply:
Athena Power AP-U1ATX40P8 - $90
or
Seasonic SS-350M1U - $65
*I'm leaning toward the Seasonic


I'm not to worried nor have I decided on memory. Eventually I plan to purchase 16gbs. I'm also waiting to find a ridiculous discounted price on the 3TB WD Red Drives before I purchase any.

Do you guys think any of this is overkill? Have I forgot anything? Whatcha think?
Click to expand...


So this is about on par with what I'm using. I'm trying to figure out if you took some of these parts from my anticipated parts list on page 7 of this thread.

You might be paying too much some of those parts.
I feel like your processor is a little too powerful for what you will need it for, just double check the mobo and processor on Amazon to make sure that you aren't paying too much. I got the Gigabyte H61N for $76.99 (current price) and the i3 I will get for ~ $120.

Be careful with the CPU Cooler. The one you liked is for a 775 socket. Any i3 goes in LGA1155 socket. I would reccomend the NT07-1156.

I purchased the SuperMicro RAID card that you linked, but Newegg had it at 15% off at that time.

For the power supply, I plan to purchase the 400W by Athena Power. Several weeks ago Newegg had it on sale for $65, now it is $90 and I feel that is too expensive. I contacted Athena and they said to expect a price drop in this month of May on Newegg.

Get a 64gb SSD for the OS, (I have ADATA 64GB SSD from Newegg when it was on sale for $55) and WD Red 3TB drives go on sale for $135. Get the Reds from Amazon because the quality control is sketchy and Amazon will pre-pay for return shipping of a dead-on-arrival unit while Newegg might make you pay return shipping.
 
raykholo said:
So this is about on par with what I'm using. I'm trying to figure out if you took some of these parts from my anticipated parts list on page 7 of this thread.

You might be paying too much some of those parts.
I feel like your processor is a little too powerful for what you will need it for, just double check the mobo and processor on Amazon to make sure that you aren't paying too much. I got the Gigabyte H61N for $76.99 (current price) and the i3 I will get for ~ $120.

Be careful with the CPU Cooler. The one you liked is for a 775 socket. Any i3 goes in LGA1155 socket. I would reccomend the NT07-1156.

I purchased the SuperMicro RAID card that you linked, but Newegg had it at 15% off at that time.

For the power supply, I plan to purchase the 400W by Athena Power. Several weeks ago Newegg had it on sale for $65, now it is $90 and I feel that is too expensive. I contacted Athena and they said to expect a price drop in this month of May on Newegg.

Get a 64gb SSD for the OS, (I have ADATA 64GB SSD from Newegg when it was on sale for $55) and WD Red 3TB drives go on sale for $135. Get the Reds from Amazon because the quality control is sketchy and Amazon will pre-pay for return shipping of a dead-on-arrival unit while Newegg might make you pay return shipping.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the input. I didn't notice I posted a 775 socket cpu fan, good catch. I did see your post on page 7. I'm having a hard time deciding between my choice of power supply/raid card and yours (sorry I didn't give you credit in my initial post).

I like the GA-H77N-WIFI mobo because not only is it a BEAST, but it has dual NICS to support teaming. I also already have a 120gb samsung 840 ssd for the OS (I only paid $50 for it on craigslist) and I'm waiting to find the Red Drives for around $100. The price on the Red Drives may not drop next week or next month but I think we'll see the price drop soon. I'm in no hurry.
 
Khandof said:
Thanks for the input. I didn't notice I posted a 775 socket cpu fan, good catch. I did see your post on page 7. I'm having a hard time deciding between my choice of power supply/raid card and yours (sorry I didn't give you credit in my initial post).

I like the GA-H77N-WIFI mobo because not only is it a BEAST, but it has dual NICS to support teaming. I also already have a 120gb samsung 840 ssd for the OS (I only paid $50 for it on craigslist) and I'm waiting to find the Red Drives for around $100. The price on the Red Drives may not drop next week or next month but I think we'll see the price drop soon. I'm in no hurry.
Click to expand...

I wasn't even thinking about giving me credit (but thanks for the consideration anyways). I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

On second thought, I love the motherboard that you have linked, but I do think it's overkill (for me at least). If I ever build an ITX form-factor rig for gaming or graphics work, that's the motherboard I'll want. If I end up selling 4 bay versions of this system, I'll want one of those with a 5th (and consequently 6th) sata port in there, while keeping the PCI open for a graphics card. Once you get dual HDMI ports going, yeah, it's a bit much for strictly file serving for me. On a side note, it seems to be kinda hard to find a mini-ITX mobo with more than 4 sata ports, let me know if you do.

If ever, I think it's reasonable for the 3TB Reds to hit the $100 - $120 range around next Black Friday, and I hope WD will release a 4TB Red around then as well (but I will stick with 3TB). I saw an external Seagate desktop 3tb drive for $99 this past Black Friday, I expect more (and hopefully the Reds) at that price point as well next one.



QUESTION: The H77N Mobo I have has 1 SYS_FAN header and 1 CPU_FAN Header. The case has 2 fans in the back. Do you know how to approach that? Are they Y-connected together? Is there a Y connector for this purpose? etc...

Thanks
 
raykholo said:
I feel like your processor is a little too powerful for what you will need it for, just double check the mobo and processor on Amazon to make sure that you aren't paying too much.
Click to expand...

For an always-on NAS, which I assume is the target market for this chassis, I would consider maybe a slightly less overkill CPU, but instead focus on low-power.

I have been considering the Intel i3-3220T (2C/4T @ 35W).
 
dsumike said:
For an always-on NAS, which I assume is the target market for this chassis, I would consider maybe a slightly less overkill CPU, but instead focus on low-power.

I have been considering the Intel i3-3220T (2C/4T @ 35W).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. The i3 3220T is a much better option all the way around.
 
vincel said:
How about this board/cpu combo with free 8gb ram for $90?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138368
Click to expand...

It's a pretty good deal, especially with the inclusion of RAM, CPU, and Onboard fan.

My concerns are the fact that Celeron is too slow for my taste, and there doesn't seem to be a "friendly" way to upgrade that later. Also make sure that the CPU fan which is already mounted on there isn't taller than 30mm, otherwise it might interfere with the case (clearance).

90 bucks is a great deal considering I paid 80 for my motherboard, just ordered an i3 for 120, a slimline cpu cooler for 25 (minus $5 mail-in-rebate) and I still have to get ram at hopefully no more than 40 bucks or so.

So 90, as opposed to 260, is a phenomenal deal if you're ok with the speed compromise. I need an i3 for my full windows 7 installation, remote desktop in 1080p, and video transcoding, but if you're just planning to run FreeNAS or the like, you'll be fine. It seems that reviewers are happy with its abilities to do higher-level tasks like 1080p playback in an HTPC situation, so I may stand corrected after all.
 
The offer with free 8GB of ram is gone, but it may come back later as usual.
Just the motherboard/cpu for $90 is normal price, not a hot deal. Anyway I was running Freenas 8.0 on my old desktop pc, an AMD 960T unlocked (6cores) way overkill. I was thinking another solution was a Supermicro 933T ($300 from ebay) chassis with 15hotswap trays, but that thing is noisy and bulky. Right now I have 4x1TB WD RE, 2x2TB Samsung F4, 2x3TB Seagate.
 
Guys I need some advice. SO the 400w Athena supply is down from 90 to 69.99 on Newegg, and this is the "current discounted price" for the month of May according to the Athena Power sales dept.

While this is as close as we'll get to the all-time-low of 65, I still don't feel right putting down that much money unless I have to. Do you guys think I can get away with a 300w supply?

I certainly hope I can. It seems that hard drives take up minimal power, 3tb WD Reds seem to run at under 5 watts when active, and my i3 should only take 55-65 watts or so.

Add in an SSD of minimal power consumption,
am I missing anything here?
 
I think Athena PSUs MEH at best in the first place and wouldnt buy one personally. But not sure. JG reviewed a 400W model in a server form factor and it was MEH at best too.. there are better quality choices around.

You are missing the mobo and case fans, but that wont add much.. 20-40W perhaps. I assume no discrete GPU correct?

Also, the 400W Athena unit I see is $21. No way in hell I would buy a $21 PSU.

Seasonic 360W PSU - $37
 
Correcto, the PCI slot is taken up by a RAID Card.

The case that this entire thread is about requires a 1U power supply.
This is the 400w one that's been discussed: Link
while I'm trying to get by with this 300w one: Link
 
Ooof, that is what I get jumping into 171 post thread at the end. :p

You mean PCIe?

That said, I want to say you should be fine. It has 16A on the 12v rail. 16*12= 192W.
 
EarthDog said:
Ooof, that is what I get jumping into 171 post thread at the end. :p

You mean PCIe?

That said, I want to say you should be fine. It has 16A on the 12v rail. 16*12= 192W.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed, I mean PCIe, thanks for correcting my carelessness.
Ok, so I will get the $42 300w which is a more reasonable price considering how much money I've already spent on this build.
If you're interested in this topic of conversation, halfway down page 1 you will find great pictures about the case, and on page 7 we (aka I) start discussing different components going into our builds. You'll be able to see my list of parts so far if you're interested.

Thanks for your help and I'll be happy to answer any questions about this product (mine should be shipping today (its release this past Friday evening coincided with the Chinese Labor Holiday of Mon - Wed) and arriving in a week or so).
 
Agree with you vince... there is most of its output on the 12v where modern PC's need it. Nice find up there.
 
Welp, SeaSonic it is!!! I thought the Athena would be a better PSU as it has a higher wattage.
 
Wattage doesnt matter in and of itself. Its where the wattage is located that does really.. ;). As mentioned, modern PSU's draw most of its juice from the 12v rail(s), so modern PSU's place most of their wattage on that rail.
 
EarthDog is right. I've seen 850W PSU could not run stable a 4P system, while another 750W PSU had not problem. All you care is efficiency and quality capacitors inside that PSU.
 
FYI...

I think U-Nas has began shipping out chassis'. I just received an email from them asking to provide a phone number so FedEx can ship to my location.
 
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