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Processor: (3.40 GHz) 4-Core Intel Core i7-6700 Processor
Memory (RAM): 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4 U Memory (for i-series/Core Processors)
Graphics Card: Integrated Graphics (with i series processors only) +$0.00
Drive 1: 3TB HDD SATA 7.2k 3.5" Hard Drive
Drive 2: 3TB HDD SATA 7.2k 3.5" Hard Drive
M.2 Storage: 512GB M.2 SSD NVMe Drive
Price: $291.95
My main concern with this option is energy usage. The CPU’s TDP is 65W, the CPU in my current server’s TDP is 35W.
It does have a few advantages over my current setup:
- More RAM 8 → 32
- Better CPU, passmark score 4766 → 8091, threads 4 → 8
- Ability to use RAID, current setup only has the capacity for 1 drive.
Is this a good option or is there a better option? I’ve also been considering using an external drive enclosure with software RAID, but I heard that could be unreliable.
EDIT: Is the price good? Shipping is quite expensive (about $100), so I’m only planning on buying it if the deal is good.
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I built the server I’m using now over a decade ago, with much worse specs, for way more money.
This will last you a long while depending on your requirements.
What are the use cases? More RAM is nice but could be overkill if you’re bottlenecked by CPU, and if this is for running a few simple VMs or as storage then you may not need much of this.
RAID is generally a good thing but don’t get complacent, follow the 3-2-1 method. I.e. you might be better off saving the cash and using a backup script to push stuff you really care about to the cloud, and pay for cloud fees vice hw.
Use case is a few simple VMs, Nextcloud, storage, maybe a minecraft server and probably something like Jellyfin later on.
A more modern processor probably has better power efficiency. But this one should support features like turning off some of the cores or throttling down when not needed.
You could also see if you can get one with lower power consumption, like even the 6700T.
Used processors are quite reasonable on eBay. I got one with a lower TDP and it actually benchmarked higher than my previous CPU (came with my used Dell workstation).
The lowest option is the i3-6100 which brings it down to $236.95 in total.
Unless you have specific needs for compute, I’d go with that.
You really ought to look into idle power though. At $0.1/kWh, 1W is about $1/year. You can extrapolate from there.
TDP doesn’t matter here but the i3 is likely more efficient under load.The shipping cost is quite extreme though. Not sure I’d pay that.
I’m gettin some mixed messages between you and [email protected]’s comment.
Well, unlike us, they’re obviously living in a country which massively subsidises energy cost. But it seems they either haven’t done the math properly or their measuring device is broken because even they shouldn’t be paying pennies per month.
You can do the calculation for yearly cost yourself; it’s not too hard. The two variables you need are energy pice and power.
Let’s say you’ve got 30W idle power draw at 0.4€/kWh. That comes out to ~105€/year if you ran it 24/7.
You can plug in arbitrary values yourself: https://numbat.dev/?q=1+year+*+30W+*+(0.4€%2FkWh)⏎
Thanks. I haven’t measured the amount of watts yet (I will soon) but online people mention the i5-6500T using 8W at idle. That would be about €30/y and is indeed a lot higher than a couple pennies.
Get a 10th/12th Gen processor so that you can transcode powerfully if you’re intending to use jellyfin.
I didn’t see anyone else say this, but 7200 rpm disks are way louder than 5400. Where my server is it would be annoying, but if it’s in a closed room somewhere you’ll be fine.
Also, these drives are probably not made to run 24/7/365. First 1 or 2 years or so it will probably be fine, but after you can expect some sudden dead drives.
I have never known RPM of a drive to affect its noise level. The fan(s) will be far more significant in noise level. Most drives run pretty quietly, though some can get noisy during I/O, like my HGST Ultrastar He6 drives.
Also, without knowing the model, I wouldn’t say they’re not made to run 24/7. But even on desktop drives, it’s rarely run time that kills them, it’s start-stop cycles. Everything will be fine, but one day you’ll shut it down and some drives won’t spin up. That’s why power outages can be deadly to an old server.
Depends on what you’ll be using it for. If your use case is a simple NAS with shares , torrents and whatnot it is probably overkill and will waste way more power than required. If you plan to transcode video then it might not be .
Seems decent but depends on your usage. Memory could be a bit excessive unless you’ll actually have a lot of simultaneous users. I’d also look into the features of the integrated graphics card. If you’re doing some streaming a low cost GPU might give you better options for hardware decoding/encoding.
If RAID is what you’re after, don’t mind the premium for SSD storage and have available 5.25" bays, I highly recommend 5.25" mobile racks. The one I’m using is a a cheap 4 drive one, but if you want something more premium there is always ICY DOCK.
I doubt a 5.25” rack will fit in my closet but thanks for the suggestion 😄
Mobile rack is just what these things seem to be called. Basically it’s just a cage that fits multiple 2.5" drives into a CD/DVD drive bay.
Oh okay, I thought it was a lot bigger. It’s still not going to fit in my Lenovo SFF PC I use as home server though.
i got a Fujitsu D556/2 (SFF as well) exactly because it seemed to have an optical drive bay. Turned out it does not have one, but some double sided tape and ugly cable management solved the issue for me :D.
Interesting solution. How did you connect it? PCIe?
My model, and I believe all other, have a 4pin molex connector for the power and as many sata ports as the rack can handle (in my case 4). My “mobile rack” came with 4 rather long sata cables (about 30cm) so it was easy to fit them through an empty pcie bracket slot and I just had to buy a somewhat long 4pin molex adapter.
The drives are practically internal, they are just located outside of the case in said “mobile rack”.
I always dissuade anyone from buying Intel for any purpose. A backdoored CPU undermines your security and privacy to an unacceptable degree.
Why would PSP be better than IME?
PSP allegedly does not have internet acces so it can’t call home while IME does.
A backdoored what? As if AMD is any more or less secure.
