20 replies to this topic

[cjhusband]

Hello,
This is my first post, sorry if I don't follow any expected etiquette.

My current system has finally given me one head ache too many, and it's time to move on. What I was working with was an HP Media Smart EX 490 (stock hd) with (2) additional hard drives (WD Caviar Green 2.0Tb). It worked well for quite a while, but over the last 6 months has become slow, unresponsive at times, and now, has konked out and won't allow re installation of the S/W on any drive placed in the main bay.

So, it's time for something new. After trying to deal with the HP MS, I don't want a headless system. I want to see what's happening. So building a WHS seems like the right idea.

I'm a student, and have a tight budget. Considering that I have the drives, I'd like to spend no more than $450.

What I need from you guys, the experts, it advice on a build plan. What CPU, what mobo, ect. I'm not so concerned with the case, it can be small and sexy, or big and ugly, it's going to be hidden away.

I'd like to have room to expand the hd space as needed.

Please let me know if you need any more details. I've tried searching components, but keep getting muddled in the options.

Many thanks,
Cheers,
Chris.

P.s. Located in Washington D.C.

[cjhusband]

Update:

I've started making some component decisions.

Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower $54.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D Green 430W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $59.99
Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-Z68M-D2H LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $114.99
Proccessor: Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32120 $119.99
OS: Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011 64-bit OEM System Builder - OEM $52.99

Total Cost: $402.99

Assuming there will be additional cables required, this should ring in below my $450 budget.

Any ideas? Do all these components mesh? Should I choose something different? Will WHS 2011 install on this system without issue?

The performance of my old HP EX 490 was fine for my needs. Will this be inline to be a comparable replacement?

Cheers,
Chris.

[Michael Brown]

I'm using the same case for my server. It's nothing fancy, not the quietest, but it works fine. The only thing I notice is that it doesn't look like your motherboard has USB3 (maybe I missed it). If you plan to do server backups to an external drive, you'll find USB gets it done much quicker.

On the brighter side, at least WHS 2011 is now around 50 bucks. Much less than the $100.00+ I paid the first day it became available.

Good luck with your build.

[cjhusband]

Good catch, I'd have missed it entirely. I've selected a new mobo with USB3.0:GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Also, I hadn't selected any memory. Will 2 gig be alright? Or would 4 be advisable?

Cheers,
Chris

[jmwills]

Love the case as I have used three of them. The only difference I would make is in the Power Supply as you can get a 550 or 600 watt modular unit for the same price after rebates and then re-purpose the unit as needed down the road.

Definitely go with 4 gigs. 2 will run but the performance will be better with two. Shop the deals.....TechBargains.com

Build for the future and not the present.

[ImTheTypeOfGuy]

You definitely want to go for at leat 4 GB of memory. Do not cut it short or that i3 will be hungry.

[pcdoc]

I really like the recommendations above except for the case. For the money you can do better. I have been disappointed with Antec cases in terms of price/value, noise, and build construction. Here is a couple of alternates.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811352010
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112235
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112237

or my personal favorite: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112154

[ikon]

Recently threw out an Antec just because of those reasons. I'm a convert to Lian-Li too.

[texasPI]

Not to hijack the thread but I figured I'd ask a couple of questions here rather than starting a new thread. My question: is an i3 a good choice or should I spring for an i5?

[pcdoc]

Not to hijack the thread but I figured I'd ask a couple of questions here rather than starting a new thread. My question: is an i3 a good choice or should I spring for an i5?

Typical WHS application is fine with an I3 as well as things like small applications (file syncing etc.). As you add things you might appreciate the I5 for things like transcoding but only if you do allot of it. The price difference is about $100 (for the 2500 vs 2100). I ran my existing server with the I3-2100 for the first 4-5 months and had no issues at all. The CPU was typically below 20% and went to 90% when transcoding blue-ray movies. I was experimenting with various transcoding packages so I opted to upgrade it to the I5-2500. I did not see any improvement in everyday use except format conversions/transcoding. Unless you plan to expand the use of your server, you will not be disappointed withe the 2100/2120.

[ikon]

Not to hijack the thread but I figured I'd ask a couple of questions here rather than starting a new thread. My question: is an i3 a good choice or should I spring for an i5?

I agree with pcdoc. I only went with an i5 for my HTPC because I knew I would be doing some transcoding (which I did just yesterday). My WHS2011 is actually running on an old Intel Core 2 Duo and it does just fine.

[texasPI]

Typical WHS application is fine with an I3 as well as things like small applications (file syncing etc.). As you add things you might appreciate the I5 for things like transcoding but only if you do allot of it. The price difference is about $100 (for the 2500 vs 2100). I ran my existing server with the I3-2100 for the first 4-5 months and had no issues at all. The CPU was typically below 20% and went to 90% when transcoding blue-ray movies. I was experimenting with various transcoding packages so I opted to upgrade it to the I5-2500. I did not see any improvement in everyday use except format conversions/transcoding. Unless you plan to expand the use of your server, you will not be disappointed withe the 2100/2120.

I agree with pcdoc. I only went with an i5 for my HTPC because I knew I would be doing some transcoding (which I did just yesterday). My WHS2011 is actually running on an old Intel Core 2 Duo and it does just fine.

Thank you. My current WHS 2011 box was built in January of last year. It is AMD based with an Asus mobo. Unfortunately, I learned after the fact, that Asus mobos and WHS drivers don't get along. Right now I'm running generic drivers because the Asus ones would not install no matter what I did.

I'm weighing whether I should rebuild my box with an Intel or get a Gigabyte AMD mobo that'll better work with WHS. My main issue is the video driver. I can't use Lights Out or install the DVR software for my IP security cams because of the generic video driver I'm using with the Asus mobo.

Edited by texasPI, 30 December 2011 - 05:27 PM.

[ikon]

Thank you. My current WHS 2011 box was built in January of last year. It is AMD based with an Asus mobo. Unfortunately, I learned after the fact, that Asus mobos and WHS drivers don't get along. Right now I'm running generic drivers because the Asus ones would not install no matter what I did.

I'm weighing whether I should rebuild my box with an Intel or get a Gigabyte AMD mobo that'll better work with WHS. My main issue is the video driver. I can't use Lights Out or install the DVR software for my IP security cams because of the generic video driver I'm using with the Asus mobo.

Don't rule out the Zotac boards. I'm running Server 2008 R2 on an AMD Zotac to run VM's for SpinRite.

[pcdoc]

Thank you. My current WHS 2011 box was built in January of last year. It is AMD based with an Asus mobo. Unfortunately, I learned after the fact, that Asus mobos and WHS drivers don't get along. Right now I'm running generic drivers because the Asus ones would not install no matter what I did.

I'm weighing whether I should rebuild my box with an Intel or get a Gigabyte AMD mobo that'll better work with WHS. My main issue is the video driver. I can't use Lights Out or install the DVR software for my IP security cams because of the generic video driver I'm using with the Asus mobo.

Personally I would skip the AMD and get a low powered I3.

[ikon]

Personally I would skip the AMD and get a low powered I3.

True enough. I'm only running the AMD because I already had it; seemed cheaper to get a new mobo and it's doing the job fine.

[cjhusband]

Time for an update.

I bit the bullet, headed to the local micro-center, and scooped up all my bits.

Heres the break down:

OS: Windows: Home Server 2011 64-Bit, OEM $49.99
Case: Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower $49.99 - $15.00 rebate = $34.99
Mother Board: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX $114.99 - $15.00 rebate = $99.99
Processor: Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz $99.99
Power Supply: Corsair Builder Series 600 Watt ATX 12V $69.99 - $20.00 rebate = $49.99
RAM: PNY Optima Series 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 $21.99
Drives: 2x WD 2Tb Grean, 1x Generic 1Tb
Misc: Sata Cables, Anti-Static Strap
Total: $445.09 - $50.00 rebates = $395.09 inc Tax

The build went without issue, save for getting the network drivers installed. Turns out you have to kill the whs completion install to get the mobo drivers installed. Easy peasy. 1Tb drive sourced from the old HP EX490 is now the OS drive, and the WD 2Tb Geen have been set up as storage drives. No raid yet. One more drive and a decent deal on a card in the future.

Happy camper over here.
Thanks to all who have supplied advice, it was greatly appreciated.

Chris.

[ikon]

Glad to hear you figured out the bit about having to interrupt the install in order get the drivers installed.

[pcdoc]

Time for an update.

I bit the bullet, headed to the local micro-center, and scooped up all my bits.

Heres the break down:

OS: Windows: Home Server 2011 64-Bit, OEM $49.99
Case: Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower $49.99 - $15.00 rebate = $34.99
Mother Board: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX $114.99 - $15.00 rebate = $99.99
Processor: Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz $99.99
Power Supply: Corsair Builder Series 600 Watt ATX 12V $69.99 - $20.00 rebate = $49.99
RAM: PNY Optima Series 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 $21.99
Drives: 2x WD 2Tb Grean, 1x Generic 1Tb
Misc: Sata Cables, Anti-Static Strap
Total: $445.09 - $50.00 rebates = $395.09 inc Tax

The build went without issue, save for getting the network drivers installed. Turns out you have to kill the whs completion install to get the mobo drivers installed. Easy peasy. 1Tb drive sourced from the old HP EX490 is now the OS drive, and the WD 2Tb Geen have been set up as storage drives. No raid yet. One more drive and a decent deal on a card in the future.

Happy camper over here.
Thanks to all who have supplied advice, it was greatly appreciated.

Chris.

Glad to hear you got it going. Nice choice of hardware and good luck with it.

[cjhusband]

Just wanted to update everyone. Build has been fantastic. upped the HDDs. Now running a small boot drive, and then a trio of the WD 2tb EARS. Space goes so fast!

Only trouble has been with WHS itself. some how my back up service stopped running, and try as I might, it wouldn't come back. Ended up reinstalling. Huge pain in the ass, I had forgotten how to install the Lan driver, took me the better part of a sunday afternoon to work it out. All is well now, backups happing as they should, and my increasing media collection is being beamed around the house for all to enjoy!

[jmwills]

Depending on the type of board used, the drivers should always be on an accompanying CD. Microsoft hardly ever seems to provide built in drivers for Asus & Gigabyte boards but Intel boards seems to go without a hitch. Not a real deal breaker other than to remember where you put those CD'S!

thanks for the update.