Silent-Slim-Server (SSS) - Silent PC to house the Slimserver

[tamanaco]

I just wanted to start a thread with information related to the building of an aesthetically appealing (stereo-component-like) silent (fanless) PC to house the Slimserver. Given the horse power restrictions and fan noise issues that I found with most of the NAS solutions (Not to mention the "looks" that would not get the WAF) I have been looking for components to build a silent HTPC on a box that would live in my AV system cabinet. I *think* I settled on a fanless case (still under construction) from the folks of A-Tech Fabrication called the Mini-server similar to their NAS4X http://www.atechfabrication.com/prod...rage_NAS4X.htm I'm looking to build my Slimserver on this A-Tech case using a LV-677DC Mini-ITX motherboard from Commell http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-677.HTM with a Intel Core Duo processor and a 4 Port RAID PCI Express adapter from High Point Technologies http://www.highpoint-tech.com/USA/rr2310.htm I will probably use four Seagate or Western Digital drives of 400+GB in a RAID or JBOD configuration and use Windows XP Media Center Edition as my OS. You can read the posts towards the end of this thread in the AVS forum http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=176655 on how I came to select these components.

Given the enthusiasm and positive feedback that I found in the Slim Devices Community Forum, I felt that this would be a great place to share my experience and that of other Squeezebox/Transporter owners on how to build a silent box to house the Slimserver. Btw, I'm not married to any components that I have selected so far. (I got the money, but have not bought them yet) I think we can use the components I selected as an starting reference point. I know this box is going to be a little expensive, but that's a price I'm willing to pay for a component that is going to store my FLAC music library for many years. I don't want to have to rip a large number of CDs ever again. I can justify the cost of this box to my wife, but not the cost of a Transporter.

I welcome any suggestions on hardware and also *software* to build a Silent-Slim-Server (SSS)

To finish, I'd like to say that I'm in no way related to any of the companies mentioned above. I hope that this 3rd Party Hardware room is the right place to discuss a silent HTPC to house the Slimserver. If not, I apologize.

Fire away!

[tommypeters]

I think you should go for Samsung drives instead, less noisy and cooler.

[Bamsefar]

The last generation of Western Digital hard drives have been reviewed by SPCR and been found to be very quiet and cool. Better than Samsung SpinPoints, and at least as good as old Baracudas 4.

I would go for the 500 GB WD disk(s)

[Mark Lanctot]

I've been fussing over something like this in this thread:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25892

It has me pretty excited. It's all on paper as there's no way I can justify it right now, particularly not for power savings.

There are several suggestions and conclusions I came to:

1. No way do you need that processor power! A fanless VIA processor in a Mini-ITX board ought to do and will dissipate far less heat - 7.5 W as opposed to ~60 W. Keep in mind most NAS boxes use processors clocked at less than 400 MHz.

2. Any particular reason you need RAID? If it's for storage capacity, understandable, but a USB external backup beats any sort of redundancy requirements you may have. 'Course it requires manual intervention but most of the work you'll do with it will be at the beginning as you build your library. After that, you'll only require it when you add an album or two.

3. The hard drives will need cooling or at least some airflow in the case. Particularly with 4 of them!

4. Once you add a hard drive, it's no longer silent. ;-)

5. That's really still software RAID. A true hardware RAID card from 3Ware or Adaptec is big, big bucks though, at least as much as the processor, maybe twice as much!

[notanatheist]

I've been fussing over something like this in this thread:

2. Any particular reason you need RAID? If it's for storage capacity, understandable, but a USB external backup beats any sort of redundancy requirements you may have. 'Course it requires manual intervention but most of the work you'll do with it will be at the beginning as you build your library. After that, you'll only require it when you add an album or two.


5. That's really still software RAID. A true hardware RAID card from 3Ware or Adaptec is big, big bucks though, at least as much as the processor, maybe twice as much!

2. A USB enclosure requires it be connected to a box hosting slimserver and always be on. A dedicated server is that box with the drive internal where it'll offer better performance.

5. Amen.

6. My solution. Hardware RAID 5, 2.6Ghz P4, 1GB RAM, 0% lag. Is it quiet? Yeah, as long as you're not out in the garage with it. :-)

[DevilsAdvocate]

I have:
Fanless Mini-itx - MII 6000
Samsung Spinpoint disk (250GB) (very quiet)
Windows XP
Silverstone LC09 Case

runs Slimserver and Netgear software (to support MP101)

Quiet and runs like a dream

Back up as stated above by attaching external USB once initial backup performed occassional incrementals.

[Mark Lanctot]

2. A USB enclosure requires it be connected to a box hosting slimserver and always be on. A dedicated server is that box with the drive internal where it'll offer better performance.

I just plug the enclosure in when I rip a couple of discs. Once a week, maybe less, for 5 minutes at a time. Sure it's slower than an internal disc but I do have 5 minutes to spare once a week. :-)

When the enclosure is not in use, I unplug it and keep it on another floor of the house. Really I should keep it in another part of town, but I'm not that paranoid. However this does offer protection from the server's power supply - if it was to go it may take all the discs with it.

This is all fine and good because I only have 68 GB of music. If it was too big for a single drive though, yeah, you'd need a RAID arrangement with some sort of redundancy.

[tamanaco]

1. No way do you need that processor power! A fanless VIA processor in a Mini-ITX board ought to do and will dissipate far less heat - 7.5 W as opposed to ~60 W. Keep in mind most NAS boxes use processors clocked at less than 400 MHz.

The main reason I picked the Commell motherboard with next generation Intel Core Duo processor is because I don't want to build another hardware media server in a long, long time. I want room for growth just in case the Slimserver requires more horse power in the future or if I decide to switch to another software media server that'd require more power. I also wanted to house the media server in a silent case that is going to live in my AV cabinet in the living room. I live in a one bedroom apartment, so there is no other place to put it. There also advantages to having more horse power, specially when searching a large music library. Post #7 in this tread outlines my reasons for not using an underpowered computer or NAS http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=24428

For its form factor the Commell LV677 motherboard packs a bunch of build-in features such as Giagabit Ethernet, 5.1-CH Audio (SPDIF), One PCI-Express 16x slot, two Mini-PCI sockets, TV-Out (S-Video and "optional" DVI), 2 SATA ports, one IDE interface that supports two ATAPI Devices and other features. Initially I will use this media server as a SlimServer, to store and view my photos via my LCD TV and as storage/backup for my two laptops. Btw, my understanding is that the maximun power consumption of the T2300 and T2500 Core Duos is ~31 W.

2. Any particular reason you need RAID? If it's for storage capacity, understandable, but a USB external backup beats any sort of redundancy requirements you may have. 'Course it requires manual intervention but most of the work you'll do with it will be at the beginning as you build your library. After that, you'll only require it when you add an album or two.

Yes, for storage capacity. I plan to rip a large number of CDs to FLAC... But the main reason is to have a single large and expandable volume to store my music library. I'm either going to configure the server for RAID 5 with/without a hot spare depending on how many ports (4,6 or 8) are in the PCIe RAID adapter that I finally pick. RAID 5 would result in less storage per drive, but would provide the most protection in case of a "single" drive failure. A hot spare would add the convenience factor and a shorter down time while the failed drive is rebuild on the spare. I'm also considering a JBOD configuration to save money, but it would not provide the same protection as RAID. Currently, as some one mentioned above, I'm leaning to the newer WD hard drives which run a bit cooler and a little less noisy. The other two reasons for single large volume ->Btw, I understand that the Slimserver supports symbolic links and shortcuts<- are: 1.- I won't have to reconfigure my ripping tools to store the ripped music in different volumes/folders. I have already configure the ripping tools in my two laptops and my current server to save my music in a specific folder/file structure so that I can rip 3 CDs at a time. Again, I only want to configure the tools in these computers to use the local and networked folders where my library resides once. I want to cut the steps required for ripping CDs to the minimum. 2.- I want to try and keep the music from specific genre/artists in a single folder. If I run out storage in a volume, I won't have to move part or whole folders for specific genre/artists to the new or additonal volume to keep folder naming consistency. To me is a matter of convenience.

3. The hard drives will need cooling or at least some airflow in the case. Particularly with 4 of them!

Take a look at the A-Tech fabrication site for details on their silent cases and cooling system.

4. Once you add a hard drive, it's no longer silent. ;-)

See 3. above. I think I can drastically reduce the noise using a sealed case with copper pipes for cooling.

5. That's really still software RAID. A true hardware RAID card from 3Ware or Adaptec is big, big bucks though, at least as much as the processor, maybe twice as much!

The four port SATA II Hight Point RocketRAID adapter that I mentioned above and that I'm still considering is only $150 at newegg

[Mark Lanctot]

Seems that you've really thought this out! It would certainly be nice to do something like this if I had the money and if the products were available here. I stand corrected on the Core Duo power consumption - I know they had improved, I didn't realize how much.

The four port SATA II Hight Point RocketRAID adapter that I mentioned above and that I'm still considering is only $150 at newegg

It's not true hardware RAID if that's what you want. It's the same as RAID that's onboard many motherboards, except that there can be more ports.

Not that there's a problem with software RAID, but you may not be getting what you think you're getting.

It's pretty easy to spot the split - there's suddenly a huge jump in price. You go from $100-$200 to $400-$600.

[Mark Lanctot]

The main reason I picked the Commell motherboard with next generation Intel Core Duo processor is because I don't want to build another hardware media server in a long, long time. I want room for growth

BTW I know what you mean about this. In 2003, when I bought the PC I'm still using right now, I did extensive research and got the very-new 2.8 GHz P4C, the first 800 MHz FSB processor with HyperThreading and dual-channel RAM. It was pretty leading-edge back then and fairly expensive, but it's still fast and capable today.