Ongoing Server rebuild 4x 1TB in Raid5 (1 Viewer)

[ThaClown]

After a crash of one of my HDD's I decided to go for it an build a better server...

I got:
2nd hand HighPoint RocketRAID 2320
4x SAMSUNG HDD 1000GB 32MB SATAII (for Data in RAID 5)

Going to put this with what I already have:
MSI K9AGM2
Athlon XP 3200+
512MB DDR2
Samsung 500GB HDD (OS+Timeshift)
AC CPU Freezer 64 lp
CM Silent Case Fan
240W PSU
Floppy DTV-C + Alphacrypt CAM (Ziggo Digital TV, Holland)
Midi case with room for 6 HDD's (will go for a 8 drive hotswappable case some day...)

OS:
Windows XP Pro
MediaPortal / TV-Server 1.0 RC2
FFDShow
Haali
CoreAVC
Quicktime Alternative
Real Alternative

Anybody got suggestions?
Should I go for a SVN build of other OS?
Different (less watt) PSU?
Anything else I forgot?

 

[Kingfisher]

Personally I would look at a bigger PSU. If memory serves me right, the Athlon XP 3200+ recommended a minimum 300W PSU. Add four HDD's to that and I think you'll be stressing your 240W.

I would look at something around the 350W+ mark, 300W absolute minimum.

 

[ThaClown]

mmm, I should have known that... the CPU is from my old HTPC..
Maybe it is more economical to go for a 45w CPU and then use a less powerfull PSU...

Or would the cost of changing be alot more?

 

[Kingfisher]

Depends on wether you buy a cheap PSU or not.

For example, based on UK prices, a 4850e is around £40-45. This is around the same price as a quality, name brand (Tagan, Silverstone etc.) 400W PSU. However, you could get a cheap "no-name" 400W PSU from around £10-15.

The easiest way to check if your PSU is up to the job is here.

 

[ThaClown]

Thanks for the advice... ill stick with an old 350W PSU that I have for now and will measure the watt usage.
Maybe later a 4850e.

 

[nettronic]

A newer PSU will use less electricity then an older one for 2 reasons

A) It will most likely have a higher efficency rating (an 80% a PSU putting out 240W DC is pulling 300W from the wall).

B) Capacitor aging leads to a decrease in efficiency.


45w is nice AMD is great at making low power chipsets too unlike intel. Do not know why, maybe because they are still stuck in the 90's with a FSB? AMD chipsets comparitively use about 10-25W less then an equivalant intel chipset. It must have to do with the IMC.

Not positive about about the TB drives you mentioned but HDDs can use up to about 30W a piece also... so thats 150W right there...for your 5 drives.. Might be less, but you should always geta PSU based on total max, I like geting one 50-60% of what I expect I need. This gives me headroom for upgrades as well as the off chance I make a bad choice on a psu

EDIT A great site for information about power supplies is jonnyguru.com jonny has retired but oklahoma wolf has a lot of good info, as well as access to the testing machine that jonny uses so he can actually test full load. His writing style is a little for laizefair but still accurate.

 

[eetaylog]

good choice on choosing RAID5. i set up a RAID0 system a year or so ago and am regretting it as i think one of my drives might be on its way out, and ive got 1.5Tb of data i could potentially lose!

 

[ryan20021982]

Raid 0 is fine as long as you have a complete backup

doing 2 raid 0 arrays myself 1 as a complete backup

 

[revs]

i'll just echo the standard "RAID is not a backup" line

 

[deebo]

Build your own multi-terabyte file server with OpenSolaris and ZFS : Mark Koch's Weblog