Replacing my server

[Haggis Veteran]

So i am replacing my HP Microserver N54L (Will be re purposing it for backups etc)

 

So i wanted something nice and powerful that would take a lot of drives as this will be my storage/plex/docker/VM server

 

 

The case has 8 3.5" drive slots with extra room i the 5.25" bays for a few more

 

Motherboard has 8 Sata Ports so well covered before i need expansion cards

 

CPU cooler, Fans and Case selected to be as quiet as possible too.

 

Decent Powered PSU as may add a GPU later for hardware transcoding in Plex

 

would welcome any comments or suggestions  this will be first Computer i have built in 20 years lol

 

 

 

I have a 500Gb Samsing SSD and Spinning Drives already for Storage

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Fractal has good fans out of the box. I used several of them and never had an issue when I set the fan controller to low.

 

You don't want to AIO water cool that CPU? IMO, it will cool better.

 

Personally, I would do 4x 8GB RAM. It allows for data to run faster between the 4 chips versus the 2. Just my 2 cents.

 

Anyone else want to say more?

[Haggis Veteran]

so 4 * 8gb will be faster?

 

So looking at coolers, i dont water to go water, been looking at the Noctua NH-D9L and the Noctua NH-D15

 

Not sure if the D15 is overkill or not

 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

how much are you going to be pushing this server? I'd almost recommend getting a mobo that supports multiple CPUs; that way you can add more CPUs going forward if you need more horsepower

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=dual processor motherboard&Submit=ENE

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Also, if this is for a server, I'd rather you go for Xeon CPU's and ECC RAM...

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Your original memory configuration is fine. Z390 (and the other various "mainstream" chipsets) are *only* dual channel. You do not need to populate all 4 slots at this time (plus your original config will leave room to add more if needed in the future).

 

Just a quick drive by suggestion (on the phone)

[shockz]

  On 30/04/2019 at 19:39, Mindovermaster said:

Also, if this is for a server, I'd rather you go for Xeon CPU's and ECC RAM...

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Plex and file servers don't need a Xeon lol. Especially if it's for home use. If you're building code, that'd be one thing. Otherwise, in a home environment... no.

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

  On 30/04/2019 at 19:58, shockz said:

Plex and file servers don't need a Xeon lol. Especially if it's for home use. If you're building code, that'd be one thing. Otherwise, in a home environment... no.

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Though VM's do... unless he isn't doing it too hard.

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:02, Mindovermaster said:

Though VM's do... unless he isn't doing it too hard.

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What on earth are you talking about? You dont need Xeons to run VM's.... This is a home unit, not something being deployed in an enterprise environment.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:06, Circaflex said:

What on earth are you talking about? You dont need Xeons to run VM's....

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no but it can help if running multiple VMs at once. That's part of why I asked above how much OP will be taxing the server as well

[Haggis Veteran]

  On 30/04/2019 at 19:58, shockz said:

Plex and file servers don't need a Xeon lol. Especially if it's for home use. If you're building code, that'd be one thing. Otherwise, in a home environment... no.

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This was my thoughts  the Dockers and vm are just for me playing about. The main use of this is for storage and plex

 

I play around with aws and ansible which is not taxing really. Play with new linux distros 

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:07, Brandon H said:

no but it can help if running multiple at once. That's part of why I asked above how much OP will be taxing the server as well

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Fee Dockers running all the time. Vm for me to play with but just turned on when i am playing. Anything I can do with docker rsther than a full on vm will be done in docker

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:07, Brandon H said:

no but it can help if running multiple at once. That's part of why I asked above how much OP will be taxing the server as well

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I agree to an extent, but maybe if he was looking to run in the double digit amounts of VMs, but it doesnt sound like it.

 

I guess, the better question would be, what type of work will be done in the VM's.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:07, Haggis said:

This was my thoughts  the Dockers and vm are just for me playing about. The main use of this is for storage and plex

 

I play around with aws and ansible which is not taxing really. Play with new linux distros 

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ok then yeah you shouldn't need too much 'True Server' hardware wise. Your proposed setup should work well for those tasks

[Haggis Veteran]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:10, Brandon H said:

ok then yeah you shouldn't need too much 'True Server' hardware wise. Your proposed setup should work well for those tasks

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Yeah its more of just a decent powered desktop that I use as a server lol.

.

Donyou think the d15 is overkill

[Brandon H Supervisor]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:16, Haggis said:

Yeah its more of just a decent powered desktop that I use as a server lol.

.

Donyou think the d15 is overkill

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don't have too much experience with Noctua coolers myself but if you plan to have the tower running 24/7 then it couldn't hurt going overboard on the cooler

 

edit: what's your reason for not wanting to water/liquid cool though? most closed circuit coolers you never have to touch once installed and work great and quiet

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:16, Haggis said:

Yeah its more of just a decent powered desktop that I use as a server lol.

.

Donyou think the d15 is overkill

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I personally wouldnt think so. Having the cooling capacity is never a bad thing, you can usually adjust the speeds which would be nice rather than having to run something less than adequate at full speed. Just my 2 cents.

[Haggis Veteran]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:18, Brandon H said:

don't have too much experience with Noctua coolers myself but if you plan to have the tower running 24/7 then it couldn't hurt going overboard on the cooler

 

edit: what's your reason for not wanting to water/liquid cool though? most closed circuit coolers you never have to touch once installed and work great and quiet

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  On 30/04/2019 at 20:20, Circaflex said:

I personally wouldnt think so. Having the cooling capacity is never a bad thing, you can usually adjust the speeds which would be nice rather than having to run something less than adequate at full speed. Just my 2 cents.

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I thought the cooler the better. The noctua seemed to get better temps than the water aio stuff. Do you have any recommendations Brandon 

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:21, Haggis said:

 

I thought the cooler the better. The noctua seemed to get better temps than the water aio stuff. Do you have any recommendations Brandon 

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Which AIOs have you looked at? Corsair makes nice AIO units. Do you have a budget if you did look into water?

 

And yes, cooler is always better. What I meant was spending the extra money on it, even if it is overkill, can benefit you in the noise department. You might not even need to run the unit at full speed compared to a cheaper unit and still have cool temps. I am having a hard time explaining it, but hope this helps a little.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:23, Circaflex said:

Which AIOs have you looked at? Corsair makes nice AIO units. Do you have a budget if you did look into water?

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yes I always recommend Corsair liquid coolers; they have some of the best ones from my experience

 

I always hear from people that Noctua is best for air cooling and Corsair is best for water/liquid

 

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Liquid-Cooling/c/Cor_Products_Cooling

[Haggis Veteran]

I had looked at this one but i know nothing about water cooling lol

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B079NXZQBC/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:30, Haggis said:

I had looked at this one but i know nothing about water cooling lol

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B079NXZQBC/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

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Corsair makes good units. Is noise a concern for you at all? While something like the d15 could possibly provide better temps, I would be curious what speeds you have to run the fan at. With watercooling, the nice thing is you generally dont need to run the fans at full blast to keep the unit nice and cool.

[Haggis Veteran]

I would like to keep it as quiet as possible

[Circaflex]

  On 30/04/2019 at 20:34, Haggis said:

I would like to keep it as quiet as possible

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In that case, you'd benefit more from one of the AIO watercooling units. While the D15, and those similar, provide cool temps it generally comes at the cost of running the fan at high speeds. I'd have to look into it a bit more for that specific cooler, but generally speaking water will be quieter.

 

Since you mentioned you do not know much about water cooling here are some pieces of info:

 

All-in-one units require no maintenance, you dont have to fill or refill the liquid

You can swap the fans if you want, IE quieter fans or more powerful if you feel the need

If you want cooler temps though, go for additional radiator space, rather than throwing "faster" fans on them, IE go from a single to dual rad

They are easy to install, about as easy as some of the air coolers

The units come preassembled, except for the CPU mounting to an extent. You dont fiddle with the hoses and only install the fans to the radiator (from my experience)

Corsair has great world-wide support if you do run into an issue.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Just going out there with the cooler discussion.  The original cooler in the OP is a fine cooler ... even under load ... and very quiet.  In might not keep the CPU as cool as an AIO (depending on brand/model) ... but it certainly isn't going to be a cause of concern for CPU temps.  One could also argue that a traditional CPU cooler helps cool the surrounding motherboard components better.

 

The main reason, IMO, in choosing an AIO is for overclocking plus ease to work around (like accessing the RAM slots).  However, I believe the NH-D9L is fairly memory slot friendly.  Noise, between the Noctua NH-D9L and an AIO is going to be minimal ... with the Noctua probably being even quieter under normal loads.  You'll also have less things to fail ... not saying that your AIO will fail ... but with a traditional cooler you just have to worry about the fan.  Whereas with an AIO you have the fans, pump and coolant.

 

I have two HTPC's with traditional coolers ... only my gaming desktop has an AIO.

 

Anyway, just my opinion.   

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]