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Post your setup!
Well as the first official thread in the new section, thought we could kick it off with a nice simple one.........post your setup
I'll post my new one that is just finished, since my old one isn't worth mentioning.
CoolerMaster Centurian case
750W ThermalTake modular PSU
Asus P5K Pro MOBO
Intel E8500 Dual core processor
4GB 1066Ghz Kingston Hyper-X DDR2 5-5-5-15@2.2v stock timing
Asus 1GB 8800GT Graphics card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Card
Leadtek DVR3200H HD TV Tuner card, including remote
Seagate 750GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA HDD
Seagate 250GB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA HDD
Seagate 1.5TB Barracuda 7200.10 SATA HDD
Pioneer 20x SATA DVD burner
Sony 3.5" All in one card reader
LG L2252TQ 22" Widescreen LCD
Logitech X530 5.1 surround speakers
Logitech MX Revolution mouse
Logitech Dinovo Edge keyboard
Windows Vista home premium SP1
Intel Pentium 4 B 2.4Ghz @ 2.65 Ghz (147mhzx18)
Asus P4P800E-Deluxe
512MB DDR266 RAM at 147mhz @ 2.5,4,4,8
1x 120GB Maxtor IDE HDD
1x 80GB Seagate IDE HDD
Leadtek 6600GT AGP 300/450(900)
Pioneer DVR-110D
Pioneer DVR-111D
Some random case
Antec Neo HE 380W
Diamond View 17" CRT
Keyboard and mouse
Closed On Monday
she's a bit oldOriginally Posted by arrow224
O.k. Guys Here are Mine
My Machine
Coolermaster Centurion case
Core 2 Duo 6600 (overclocked to 2.8 GHZ)
MSI 975X Power Up MB
3GB RAM
250GB HDD
8800GT Vid Card
21 inc Dell (Sony trinitron CRT) Monitor
Basic Keyboard and laser mouse
LG DL burner
Windows XP
Wifes Machine
Basic Cheap Case
3000XP AMD
80GB HDD
Gigabyte MB
1.5 GB RAM
Nvidia 4600 TI vid card
Basic Keyboard and Mouse
BenQ 17 inch LCD monitor
Windows XP
Sons Machine (he is 5)
Basic Aopen Case
Gigabyte MB
500MB RAM
Nvidia 7600GS vid card
80 GB HDD
17 inch CRT
Basic keyboard and mouse
Windows XP
I also have 2 servers sitting in my airconditioned laundry sitting in a Compaq server rack
They are as follows
Server 1
Generic Case
AMD 3000
500 MB RAM
Gigabyte MB
1 80 GB HDD and 2 300GB HDD's on a software mirror
Server 2
Generic Case
My old P3 666
500 MB Ram
Gigabyte MB
6GB HDD for system and roughly 300 GB of mixed sized drivers put together to make one partition (divx streams of this server to my media centre)
Which leads too my Media Centre
PVR Case
3000XP
Gigabyte MB
20 GB Laptop drive with ide converter (much quiter)
Quite Fans
Plugged into TV via Svideo
Sound is via Logitech 5500 5.1 surround sound
HDTV via Leadteck TV Tuner (not happy with this so far)
Media Centre software is Media PC
Windows XP
On top of this I have a 802.b wirless setup for my wifes laptop. All this is connected via Cat5e on 100MB PS, but hope to go gigabit soon
Closed On Monday
amd x2 4200 skt 939
gigabyte skt 939 motherboard
4gb ddr ram
ati radeon x1800 gto
250gb sata hdd
foxconn case with antec 500w psu
lg dvdrw
dual 17" monitors
logitech lx710 keyboard and mouse
its a couple years old but still going strong... i think all the streetligts dim in the neighbourhood when i switch it on tho, the old 939 draws a lot of power.
Yes, well, it does everything I need it to do. Don't play too many games (still playing GTA:SA...), mainly internet and uni work.
Closed On Monday
mine aint much better..
NZXT Lexa Classic Case
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 550w
Pentium 4 3.0ghz
Asus P5GZ-MX Mobo
2.0gb Kingston ddr2
Leadtek 256mb N-Vidia 6600gt
Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 Pci
Seagate Sata2 320gb HDD
Liteon Dvd-RW 16x
Liteon Dvd Drive
Logitech X530 5.1 surround speakers
Logitech G5 Mouse
Logitech LX-310 Wireless Keyboard (use to have A Wolfclaw)
Ecotech Power
My 3 year old System.
Gigabyte Motherboard
Pentium 3.4gHz CPU
1GB DDR2 Ram (2 X 512mb)
320 Gb Hard drive
Pioneer DVD-Writer, that can burn DVD-Ram what ever that is lol.
nVidia GeForce 6600 GT 128mb Graphics
ThermalTake Golden orb II CPU FAN
Thermaltake Case Fan
550W Silent Power Supply, just a cheap one, my good one blew up at a crucial time.
Large cheap case with fairly decent airflow.
Acer 19in 8ms Monitor (free)
Microsoft web/media keyboard and mouse pack.
For sound, I have it running through an old Marantz Amp, pumping a 12inch 1500 watt Subwoofer in custom made box to specs, and 2 pioneer stereo speakers.
Cooler Master Case
Gigabyte Motherboard
Core 2 E6600 Duo 2.4ghz
2GB DDR3 memony
300gb SATA 2 harddrive
Pioneer DVD R/RW drive
LG DVD RW/DVD+R DL
Nvidia Geforce 8800 768mb graphics card
Creative Soundblaster Audiy 2 sound card
550W PSU
Logitech G15 gamers keyboard
Logitech 2.1 THX speakers+120 watt rated subwoofer
Samsung 21 inch HD LCD monitor
Fileserver
AM2 X2 4600+
8GB DDR2 667mhz
Asus M2N32 SLI Deluxe
2 X Matrox PCIe1x Video cards
WD 500GB System Drive
2 X Highpoint 2320 PCIe Raid cards
8 X 320GB, 8 X 500GB
Stacker 810
Toughpower 750w
3 X 19" LCDs (8bit screen)
Logitech G15, Z5500, G5
Total Space, 6TB. In about 2 weeks ill be upgrading to 16 X 750GB to give me around 10TB formatted space.
Laptop
Dell XPS M1710, C2D 2ghz, 3GB ram, 320GB HDD, 7900GTX, 17" 1920x1280 etc
Ecotech Power
Why such a fast file server, and 3 monitors? Is it used for something else, I take its in an industry and not a home file server?
Na, just a home file server.
At the moment im using it to watch top gear, monitor torrents and post online (hence 3 screens
Annoying part is ive only got about 120GB left, which will be gone in about 2 weeks. Hence the upgrade
Ecotech Power
Oh god, I'd love to have that at home.Na, just a home file server.
At the moment im using it to watch top gear, monitor torrents and post online (hence 3 screens
Annoying part is ive only got about 120GB left, which will be gone in about 2 weeks. Hence the upgrade
What virtual OS's do you use... Im new to virtual operating systems, and learning how to use server 03 and networking all through virtual.
How do you keep it cool? air conditioning?
And dare I ask how much do you think just the system will cost onceyou upgrade to 10tb.
Ive been playing around with Server 2008 and Vista, as well as linux and Mac OS's. Also been experimenting with running torrents from inside a Virtual OS (protects against viruses, helps with stability etc)
At the moment its in the garage, with the cables running through a small hole in the wall. This is brilliant as right now there is ABSOLUTELY ZERO noise or heat in my room. Its actually quiet errie at first, its even quieter than a laptop. Heat isnt really an issue, CPU is currently at 21 degrees, all HDDs are below 25 (which is good when there is 17 of em in a single case).
When i originally purchased the 320GB drives (25 months ago) they were $210 each, i paid $190 for the 500GB drives about 12 months ago and will be paying $150 for the 750GB drives.
Since building the fileserver in June 06, ive spent roughly $14k on it, plus $100/month for internet.
I normally spend about $1500 or so when upgrading the HDDs, which is about what it'll cost me this upgrade. Ill sell the 320/500s off for about $50/$70 each hopefully.
Its really nice as windows only sees 2 "drives", currently 2.2TB and 3.5TB. So file management is really easy. Plus ive got redundancy so if a drive fails i dont lose any data. Plus ive got a commercial UPS which lasts about 4-5 hours during power failures. I am considering upgrading to 1TB drives, as they are only $215 each... not sure yet
Ecotech Power
Oh god, 14K, but that is a neat setup.
The 1tb drive will work out more costly for the same amount of room, but you can have more room for less space.
What type of system is it, Is it just a standard computer case with an external hard drive rack? or is it all a server? Pics?
Im looking at building a simple file server on a budget (not near 14k lol), what would you recommend for an OS. Pretty much all I want it to do, is sit in a room, and act as a 1-2 TB storage drive, and hopefully appear on both computers (xp and vista) as a drive letter. But i want it to be done as simple as possible.
Also if those drives arnt SCSI then I would be interested if you choose to sell.
Hey mate, Its been a while since ive taken any pics. There is a thread on whilpool from a few years back...
Eman's Silent PC and Cooling Mod... - Cases - PC Hardware - Whirlpool Broadband Forums
The system is housed in a Coolermaster Stacker 810. They retail for about $200 but are hard to find these days. They have been replaced with the 830 which is terrible as a server case (good for gaming machines). The drives are standard SATAII Western Digitals.
As the system is left on 24/7 the drives will last forever :P. Raid5 is a "write once, read lots" type setup. Meaning the drives basically get some data written to them, and the just read it occasiaonally. Whereas an OS drive is constantly reading/write which wears them out.
Also, its much better to leave a HDD on 24/7 than turning it on and off. That way the bearing is at the same temperature. So although my drives are 2 years old and have been on for over 15,000 hours. They have actually had less wear/use than most 3 month old system drives.
As for a file server solution...
Well, you can buy external NAS devices which basically have a network plug, and a couple of internal HDDs. They'll act as a server... The downside is they can be quite expensive and you cant easily upgrade them.
As for a file server... Well...
AM2 LE-1200 $38.
1GB Ram $25
G-B M61SME-S2 $54
Case + PSU $50
OS HDD? $20??
3 X 750GB Samsung Drives $300
So for $487 you can have 2.25TB of usable storage space. In order to have the 750GB drives appear as one, you'll either need to use onboard raid0 (no redundancy) or software raid. If using software raid your better off sticking to Linux, as windows software raid can be painfull.
The other option would be to purhcase a raid card as you get redundancy, speed and ability to have all drives show as one. However this will add $400 to the cost and you'll lose 1 HDD worth of space (as raid 5 is n-1 capacity).
But simply, you can build a file server PC (CPU, Mobo, Ram, Case, Onboard Video) for about $200. Then just add drives as you need them.
My server uses around 250w continuously, which is about 3.6c per hour (based on 14.4c/1kwh). That equates to about $300 a year of power usage. On a smaller setup (as suggested above) i would expect power draw to be about 80w or so. that should only cost about 1.15c per hour (27c a day to run).
If you wanted an intel setup, go for the Celeron 430D, as its a "35w version" which keeps power draw down. I was actually using a AM2 X2 3600+ 35w version for a long time, but ended up selling it for more than twice what i paid. Never got around to importing another one (35w versions are sought after due to the lower power consumption, makes them ideal for servers).
Banned
Caribbean Stud Poker Champion!
meh im not running much,
intel core 2 quad overclocked to 2.8ghz
msi p35 neo m/b
thermaltake silver soprano case
msi 8800gt
4 gigg of geil ram
top silent 600 psu
logitech 5.1 surround sound
dvd burner
and 160gig h/d
Moderator
BAHAHAHAHAHA. No idea what the specs are, but I was just emailed a .pps of some random pics and this was in the show.
Would you sleep in this bed?
Ecotech Power
Oh man, I just read your whole thread on whirlpool. That is insane. Im stunned at such a setup, its better then excellent. Bugger those who criticised it, its a hobby you get an enjoyment out of it, plus the knowledge you have gained would be priceless.
Now i feel stupid, but my budget for a server is around 500 bux minus hard drives. I dont like NAS' and would prefer to build one, more to gain knowledge aswell. I think i should be right building a basic system, but I never thought about power consumption, ill look into it and keep asking questions. Especially about RAID, is on board the easiest?
I have a spare version of XP pro, Server 03, and I did try using Kubuntu but my test computer couldnt run it lol. What do you think would be the best and easiest to set up, im in no rush, just want something effective, and not to hard to setup.
Banned
Caribbean Stud Poker Champion!
haha imaging humping away and that thing takes ya out to the back of ya head, nastyBAHAHAHAHAHA. No idea what the specs are, but I was just emailed a .pps of some random pics and this was in the show.
Would you sleep in this bed?
Ecotech Power
Haha, I dont think someone with that setup is going to be getting any in a hurry.
Banned
Caribbean Stud Poker Champion!
haha havent u scored off the net? just block them when your bored of them/it
Unfortunately my hobbies mostly consist of computers and cars, both are expensive and i dont really earn that much.
Im currently still living at home, so living expenses are down. I worked hard for about 8 months saving every penny to build that server. I did cop a lot of crap from people saying its a waste etc etc, but the way i see it... I gained a lot of experience and knowledge building/working with PCs, as a result i currently work in IT in the city
So for the $15-20k ive spent on computers in the previous few years, its allowed me to start building a career, which is going to be worth a lot more than that in the future.
Nothing wrong with that, you have to sort priorities and computers shouldnt really be number 1.
Anyway, if you just want a server for $500 you'll actually get a lot of performance. As i mentioned above, you can build a decent server (good for torrents and file sharing) for about 200 or so. It wont need a monitor (just remote desktop from another PC).
Power consumption is something to take into consideration... A Quadcore setup with 9800GTX SLI can draw upto ~750w, which would cost you 11c/hour, which is almost $1000 a year...
I personally would stick to AMDs, they offer the best power consumption OVERALL. (Intel CPUs are about the same these days, but the Intel mobos use a lot more power due to their design, so including the mobo AMD are still a long way ahead).
So yeah, as a headless fileserver/torrent box a AM2 LE1200 ($38) will be more than enough, if your going to use the PC then its probably worth picking up a AM2 X2 4600+ ($71).
1GB of ram again is enough for torrents and fileservering, if your going to use it boost it up to 2GB.
Remember, you dont want to have your OS on your storage drives, or save torrent files to it (as this causes excessive read/writes which wears the drive. Get yourself a "thrash" drive, basically something crappy to download to. When the file completes, copy it to the storage disk/array)
Onboard raid (which is software raid) is ok, but is limited to Raid 0 and 1. RAID It also uses the CPU for Xor calculations if you use software raid 5 (meaning the CPU has to do a lot of work, this can slow down a system a lot, especially during rebuilds).
The other downside to onboard raid, is if your mobo dies you'll need to source the EXACT same motherboard to recover your array. So there are a few downsides.
With a hardware card, you simply plug it in and away you go. It does the Xor calcs and is not motherboard specific.
Well i guess its personal choice... Dont use Vista. Just dont. XP is probably my choice, as it can be stable if setup correctly and probably the easiest to get working with other PCs/media devices.
Not sure what your using the fileserver before, but if you download TV shows/movies (only legal ones of course) its worth investing in a network player... EG Mediagate Prices
Basically you plug them into your TV and they'll play media from your PC/Fileserver over network lan or wireless. Ive got 3 of em in my house, so family members can each watch their own TV shows simultaneously. (legal downloaded ones of course) Its 1000 times better than foxtel, as you choose what show you wanna watch, when and completely commercial free. Give it 5-10 years, and foxtel will be out of business.
If i was in your position id probably buy the following...
Am2 LE1200
1GB ram
Gigabyte S2 motherboard (onboard video)
Coolermaster elite 330
OS HDD ($40-50), something cheap second hand.
3 X 750GB Samsung SATAII Drives.
TOTAL cost, $533.
Format with XP, setup remote desktop and away you go. Basically then the server can sit somewhere out of the way (Garage etc). If you need to access it use remote desktop. Share the drives out with write permissions then map the drives on your local PCs. If your running gigabit at home its worth changing the motherboard to something with a gigabit network card.
Data transfer over 100mb/s will be about 7-9MB/s, over gigabit you should see upto 40MB/S. Honestly when i originally built my PC (although it was a gaming machine as well) i had to spend a fortune to get 2TB of storage ($1600 for drives, $400 for raid card). Now you can get 2TB of online storage INCLUDING the server itself for $500. Pretty impressive really.
If you spend $700 you could get 3.5TB of space, although you'd probably want to upgrade the case to something bigger/better.
Still, thats a hell of a lot of storage for very little cost.
When you get around to building it, drop me a PM. Ill help you out...
Cheers, Errol.
supercharged intercooled
toshiba laptop:
model number: psaf6a-06s01n
dual core processor
harman/kardon sound
hd dvd player
fingerprint scanner
2 touch mouse (has original pointer mover + click a button and it changes to audio control and shortcut board)
love everything about it except battery life. i get about 100 minutes on a full battery on power saver management.
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