SlimServer on Micro-ITX

[max.spicer]

I'm thinking of building a Micro-ITX system to replace my current, noisy and power-hungry PIII-500 Linux server. I'm currently looking at the VIA EPIA SP 8000E board (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=444#p1627) and just wondered if anyone had any experience of running SlimServer on similar class hardware. Given the low spec of my current machine, I'm hoping things will be fine, but it would be nice to get some corroboration.

Thanks,

Max

[audiofi]

I'm running it on an M1000 which works fine, the computer also doubles up as a PVR and even then I haven't noticed any massive lag.

Library isn't huge though, about 1500-2000 tracks

[SadGamerGeek]

I'm running on an M1000 (1Ghz C3 CPU) with no problems. I'm running Linux - Fedora FC5 with no gui stuff to keep the load as light as possible though. I have around 6,000 tracks.

I did have some initial performance issues related to the version of Perl that FC5 comes with, but Triode (Adrian) was extremely helpful and put in some mods which have completely sorted that out.

[Mark Lanctot]

BTW a very nice power calculator here:

http://www.epiacenter.com/powersim/p...mulator_v2.htm

Watch out for the 3.5" HDD calculation though, use one at http://www.storagereview.com/ instead.

[max.spicer]

Would people mind if I ask a few purely Micro-ITX questions here? I'm looking to run a board like the VIA EPIA SP 8000E inside a case like the Morex Venus 669. My main goal is low power and near silence, hence the fanless CPU. I was a bit dismayed to find that nearly all the cases include case fans and power supplies with fans. I was rather hoping (naively?) to be able to run a fanless motherboard inside a fanless case, with a fanless power supply with an external power brick. Is this just unrealistic (for under £400)? Do you need to connect the case fans on these cases?

For info, I'd be putting a single 3.5" disk in the case, memory and not much else.

Any information that anyone can supply on this sort of thing would be gratefully received!

Max

[audiofi]

A couple of options really.

The Silverstone LC12 is a fanless case with fanless power supply:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc12.htm

Otherwise, get something like a Morex Venus, use a fanless power brick:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10#picoPSU

Remove the built in power supply, remove the two tiny 40mm fans (which are useless anyway) and slap on a 120mm fan on the back (externally) via an adaptor. Then turn it down and you'll be pretty close to silent
It might work without a fan altogether though as you won't have the power supply making all of the heat.

I have a 120mm fan on the back of my Venus case so can take a photo to show you what it looks like if you want.

For under £400 (with or without HDD?) it should definitely be possible though. I did some calculations a few months ago and they were coming in around the £400-£450 mark with HDD, XP license etc.

I can help you price something up if you want, I still have most of my calculations from when I was looking into it

[mherger]

My main goal is low power and near silence, hence the fanless CPU. I was a bit dismayed to find that nearly all the cases include case fans and power supplies with fans. I was rather hoping (naively?) to be able to run a fanless motherboard inside a fanless case, with a fanless power supply with an external power brick. Is this just unrealistic (for under £400)? Do you need to connect the case fans on these cases?

A while back (more than a year...) I described my system together with the goals I tried to achieve:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpo...90&postcount=5

I simply did not connect the case's fan. No noise, very cool :-).

Maybe you want to monitor the CPU temperature in the beginning. Run some full scans with the fans turned off and compare the temperature to the specs. At <1GHz it should IMHO be fine.

[max.spicer]

My £400 does include the hard disk, but it's running Linux so forget licence fees! I'd be very interested in pictures and any other details you have.

Thanks for all the advice!

Max

A couple of options really.

The Silverstone LC12 is a fanless case with fanless power supply:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc12.htm

Otherwise, get something like a Morex Venus, use a fanless power brick:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10#picoPSU

Remove the built in power supply, remove the two tiny 40mm fans (which are useless anyway) and slap on a 120mm fan on the back (externally) via an adaptor. Then turn it down and you'll be pretty close to silent
It might work without a fan altogether though as you won't have the power supply making all of the heat.

I have a 120mm fan on the back of my Venus case so can take a photo to show you what it looks like if you want.

For under £400 (with or without HDD?) it should definitely be possible though. I did some calculations a few months ago and they were coming in around the £400-£450 mark with HDD, XP license etc.

I can help you price something up if you want, I still have most of my calculations from when I was looking into it

[bert1e]

I am running an MEII-6000(I think) board its a 600Mhz fanless processor with 512Mb and a 250Gb samsung disk in a Silverstone case. Its silent. I dont have a CD drive or monitor connected its just plugged into my router. Its running clarkconnect 3.2, mysql and just recently slimserver 6.3.1. I also use it as a remote syslog server and a file server. Its proved very reliable is on 24/7 and I am only using a 60W power supply. I serve up 9,500 songs and it seems fine to me The web interface can be a bit slow but I using the squeezebox is fine.

The only real problem I have with it is that I cant get my USB ports to work at USB 2 speeds. I think its probably down to drivers and the kernel. I only mention that as it means I have to backup over my LAN. I had thought I was going to do an rsync to an external drive every once in a while.

[audiofi]

I'll get some pics of it for you in about 30 mins-1 hour

Need to double check the prices I got as I'm sure the HDD will have dropped in price, but will post back here with them all asap

Andrew