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reddragdivaI want a PC to use as my household server, both internally and externally. I want something that is low-powered, preferably to the point it doesn't need a fan and hence runs silent, to be on 24 hours a day. I'm thinking one of them tiny boxes with a Via chip in it. I figure it'll pay for itself in saved power in a reasonably short time. I'll probably run FreeBSD or OpenBSD on it. Does anyone have experience and/or recommendations?
(I could easily use the G4 for the job, but it does make noise. The current internal household server, my Compaq FreeBSD desktop, is sturdy and stable enough to be a server and remarkably quiet, but just a bit thirsty.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 02:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 03:12 pm (UTC)Eg http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=12_45&products_id=1
Also very shiny cases are available from many suppliers, and shiny is important.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 05:18 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 05:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 06:00 pm (UTC)My adventures in Mini-ITX
Date: 2006-03-12 06:39 pm (UTC)Of course, that was last year, so this year's fanless Mini-ITX boards are probably quite a bit faster.
Re: My adventures in Mini-ITX
Date: 2006-03-12 08:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 08:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 08:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-12 08:57 pm (UTC)Re: My adventures in Mini-ITX
Date: 2006-03-12 09:04 pm (UTC)The internal hard drive (a 320Mb SATA drive) has one of those £10 hard disk coolers from Maplin attached to the bottom. (On my other machine, one of those reduced a drive's temperature from >50C to around 30; I haven't measured it on the server, as Linux didn't support SMART data from SATA drives at the time of setup.) For mirroring, I have an external drive in a USB2 enclosure and rsync run on a cron job.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 02:49 am (UTC)In practice of course it won't be the case that the old one maxed out its 200W PSU at all times while the new consumes not a single Joule in its lifetime.
For a machine that has to be quiet and on all the time, a big box is the way to go. It's easier to make quiet (those 12cm Zalman fans take up space) and you will want to put things in it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 07:32 am (UTC)fujitsu-siemens pcs are just as quiet due to the powersupply fan acting as the chip fan if you do need more power/space
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 09:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 10:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 12:38 pm (UTC)Now I have a regular server upstairs and a wireless Slim Devices Squeezebox in the lounge for playing MP3s/Oggs/radio streams.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-13 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-14 12:26 am (UTC)I'm all for quiet, but that can generally be achieved easily enough with newer power supplies and by attenuating case fan RPMs.
I'd be curious about how much I'm spending on power for running my systems, but I'd also wonder if it's really worth worrying too much about. How many cents does it take to run a system 24x7?
If necessary, contemporary ACPI systems can be suspended to near off and awoken on a schedule or on demand either with a touch of the keyboard or with a packet sent over the LAN when needed.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-14 12:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-14 01:00 am (UTC)E.g., I use my (Windows) workstation in the living room as my alarm clock. I have a scheduled task have media player endlessly play a wav file of a rooster crowing starting at 7am. Sometimes (when I remember), I will suspend the PC before going to sleep. It sleeps all night silently, with no fans and using just enough power to keep track of time, until 7am when it wakes up and play the rooster. If I need the system before then, I need only hit a key and it wakes up ready to go in a couple of seconds.
At any rate, if systems fans are noisy, you might try lowering their RPMs with a device like this:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=14&code=017
(I believe these can also be home made with typical electronics parts, although I wonder if it's much cheaper and worth the trouble.)
I have a server in my closet in a case that came with a 120mm exhaust fan and a 80mm drive bay cage fan that together sounded like a vacuum cleaner. I reduced the fan RPMs to around 900-1200RPM and the box is essentially silent. Newer SATA drives are also essentially silent when idle, and some even during access (like the Seagate 7200.7).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-14 07:54 am (UTC)Go for something pre-loved (if you can find one) and its drive space can be expanded through an external Firewire or USB drive if need be.