Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)
BACKGROUND:
Inspired by <URL:http://www.finnie.org/terabyte/>, a few months
ago I started a thread
(<URL:http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage/msg/3dfb362bbf8e94d2>)
to discuss the idea of building my own 1.5TB storage array using
software RAID50 to hold video files.
The main hitch keeping me from going ahead was that I had trouble
finding eight 250GB drives at the price I wanted. Clearly, I wasn't
thinking big enough; just before Christmas, I lucked out and bought
nine Seagate *400GB* drives at $230 each (plus a $30 rebate on the
first one) from CompUSA. I now have 3.6TB of raw storage sitting in a
shipping carton in my apartment. Even with RAID 5 and keeping a drive
as a spare, I'll have 400GB*8-400GB=2.8TB of space.
PURPOSE:
Video files (episodes of TV shows I already watch and enjoy,
plus rips of TV shows on DVD sets I own). I'd like to build a MythTV
system too, but the storage array comes first. No games.
PRIORITIES, in order:
* Stability. I'm very much in favor of build-right-and-leave-it-be as
opposed to constant hardware tinkering.
* Minize heat/noise. I have a studio apartment.
* Price. I've already spent a fortune on the drives; I don't want to
spend more on the rest than I need to.
* Performance. Not that I'm against a fast machine, but I know that a
storage server doesn't need the latest-and-greatest in terms of
horsepower.
PARTS:
Advice is always appreciated. All prices are from ZipZoomFly.com
unless otherwise specified.
* Case: Antec SX1040BII, $92. I almost went with an Antec
PlusView1000AMG ($72), but decided that a) the SX1040BII's 430W
power supply might be enough for my purposes and b) if it isn't, a
quality Antec supply for $20 that I can use someplace else is hard
to pass up.
* Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 Rev 2, $98. I'm building a
system with *massive* amounts of PCI traffic, and I'm hoping a
Nvidia-chipset board will prove more stable than the hordes of
Via-based models out there.
* CPU: AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, $89 at Newegg. The 2200+ is $10
cheaper but they're both rated at 35W. If there's a sub-35W
processor that supports a 266-MHz FSB I'd like to hear about it.
* CPU heat sink: I'm lost here. I've had a good experience with a
Thermalright SLK-800 I installed three years ago, but current
Thermalright heat sinks all seem to specify Athlon 2500+ and
up. What gives?
* CPU fan: A leftover Vantec 80mm fan. Loud but effective.
* Memory: One 512MB DDR PC3200 DIMM. $80 at Crucial. My leftover 256MB
PC133 168-pin DIMMs aren't going to work with the motherboard,
right?
* Power supply: Thermaltake PurePower 560W, $102. In case the Antec
430W supply mentioned above proves insufficient.
* Drives: Eight Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB ATA drives plus one
cold spare, $230 each at CompUSA without rebate; currently $230 each
after $70 rebate. Lite-On DVD+-RW drive, $60-100. Leftover Maxtor
13GB ATA drive for booting.
* ATA controller: Two Highpoint RocketRAID 454, $87 each at
Newegg. Unlike Ryan Finnie I am *not* planning on doing hardware
RAID features; rather, I'm simply looking for high-quality ATA
controller cards. If anyone can recommend high-quality non-RAID
controller cards with four channels (or more) on each, I'd like to
hear about it. For that matter, if four two-channel ATA controller
cards are doable with my motherboard setup, I'd like to hear about
that too.
So, what do y'all think?
--
Read my Deep Thoughts @ <URL:http://www.ylee.org/blog/> PERTH ----> *
Cpu(s): 48.2% us, 2.2% sy, 49.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.2% si
Mem: 515800k total, 500204k used, 15596k free, 11996k buffers
Swap: 2101032k total, 493512k used, 1607520k free, 37164k cached
BACKGROUND:
Inspired by <URL:http://www.finnie.org/terabyte/>, a few months
ago I started a thread
(<URL:http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage/msg/3dfb362bbf8e94d2>)
to discuss the idea of building my own 1.5TB storage array using
software RAID50 to hold video files.
The main hitch keeping me from going ahead was that I had trouble
finding eight 250GB drives at the price I wanted. Clearly, I wasn't
thinking big enough; just before Christmas, I lucked out and bought
nine Seagate *400GB* drives at $230 each (plus a $30 rebate on the
first one) from CompUSA. I now have 3.6TB of raw storage sitting in a
shipping carton in my apartment. Even with RAID 5 and keeping a drive
as a spare, I'll have 400GB*8-400GB=2.8TB of space.
PURPOSE:
Video files (episodes of TV shows I already watch and enjoy,
plus rips of TV shows on DVD sets I own). I'd like to build a MythTV
system too, but the storage array comes first. No games.
PRIORITIES, in order:
* Stability. I'm very much in favor of build-right-and-leave-it-be as
opposed to constant hardware tinkering.
* Minize heat/noise. I have a studio apartment.
* Price. I've already spent a fortune on the drives; I don't want to
spend more on the rest than I need to.
* Performance. Not that I'm against a fast machine, but I know that a
storage server doesn't need the latest-and-greatest in terms of
horsepower.
PARTS:
Advice is always appreciated. All prices are from ZipZoomFly.com
unless otherwise specified.
* Case: Antec SX1040BII, $92. I almost went with an Antec
PlusView1000AMG ($72), but decided that a) the SX1040BII's 430W
power supply might be enough for my purposes and b) if it isn't, a
quality Antec supply for $20 that I can use someplace else is hard
to pass up.
* Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 Rev 2, $98. I'm building a
system with *massive* amounts of PCI traffic, and I'm hoping a
Nvidia-chipset board will prove more stable than the hordes of
Via-based models out there.
* CPU: AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, $89 at Newegg. The 2200+ is $10
cheaper but they're both rated at 35W. If there's a sub-35W
processor that supports a 266-MHz FSB I'd like to hear about it.
* CPU heat sink: I'm lost here. I've had a good experience with a
Thermalright SLK-800 I installed three years ago, but current
Thermalright heat sinks all seem to specify Athlon 2500+ and
up. What gives?
* CPU fan: A leftover Vantec 80mm fan. Loud but effective.
* Memory: One 512MB DDR PC3200 DIMM. $80 at Crucial. My leftover 256MB
PC133 168-pin DIMMs aren't going to work with the motherboard,
right?
* Power supply: Thermaltake PurePower 560W, $102. In case the Antec
430W supply mentioned above proves insufficient.
* Drives: Eight Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB ATA drives plus one
cold spare, $230 each at CompUSA without rebate; currently $230 each
after $70 rebate. Lite-On DVD+-RW drive, $60-100. Leftover Maxtor
13GB ATA drive for booting.
* ATA controller: Two Highpoint RocketRAID 454, $87 each at
Newegg. Unlike Ryan Finnie I am *not* planning on doing hardware
RAID features; rather, I'm simply looking for high-quality ATA
controller cards. If anyone can recommend high-quality non-RAID
controller cards with four channels (or more) on each, I'd like to
hear about it. For that matter, if four two-channel ATA controller
cards are doable with my motherboard setup, I'd like to hear about
that too.
So, what do y'all think?
--
Read my Deep Thoughts @ <URL:http://www.ylee.org/blog/> PERTH ----> *
Cpu(s): 48.2% us, 2.2% sy, 49.0% ni, 0.0% id, 0.0% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.2% si
Mem: 515800k total, 500204k used, 15596k free, 11996k buffers
Swap: 2101032k total, 493512k used, 1607520k free, 37164k cached
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