Frank Steinmetzger wrote: > Am Mon, Sep 18, 2023 at 02:20:56PM -0500 schrieb Dale: > >>>> […] >>>> The downside, only micro ATX and >>>> mini ITX mobo. This is a serious down vote here. >>> Why is that bad? µATX comes with up to four PCIe slots. Even for ten >>> drives, >>> you only need one SATA expander (with four or six on-board). Perhaps a fast >>> network card if one is needed, that makes two slots. You don’t get more RAM >>> slots with ATX, either. And, if not anything else, a smaller board means >>> (or can mean) lower power consumption and thus less heat. >>> >>> Speaking of RAM; might I interest you in server-grade hardware? The reason >>> being that you can then use ECC memory, which is a nice perk for storage.¹ >>> Also, the chance is higher to get sufficient SATA connectors on-board >>> (maybe >>> in the form of an SFF connector, which is actually good, since it means >>> reduced “cable salad”). >>> AFAIK if you have a Ryzen PRO, then you can also use a consumer-grade >>> board, >>> because they too support ECC. And DDR5 has basic (meaning 1 bit and >>> transparent to the OS) ECC built-in from the start. >> I tend to need quite a few PCIe slots. I like to have my own video >> card. I never liked the built in ones. > You’re just asking to be asked. ;-) Why don’t you like them? (I fear I may > have asked that before). > > I get it when you wanna do it your way because it always worked™ (which is > not wrong — don’t misunderstand me) and perhaps you had some bad experience > in the past. OTOH it’s a pricey component usually only needed by gamers and > number crunchers. On-board graphics are just fine for Desktop and even > (very) light gaming and they lower power draw considerably. Give it a swirl, > maybe you like it. :) Both Intel and AMD work just fine with the kernel > drivers.
Well, for one, I usually upgrade the video card several times before I upgrade the mobo. When it is built in, not a option. I think I'm on my third in this rig. I also need multiple outputs, two at least. One for monitor and one for TV. My little NAS box I'm currently using is a Dell something. The video works but it has no GUI. At times during the boot up process, things don't scroll up the screen. I may be missing a setting somewhere but when it blanks out, it comes back with a different resolution and font size. I figure it is blanking during the switch. My Gentoo box doesn't do that. I can see the screen from BIOS all the way to when it finishes booting and the GUI comes up. I'm one of those who watches. ;-) >> I also have never had a good built in network port to work right either. >> Every one of them always had problems if they worked at all. > I faintly remember a thread about that from long ago. But the same thought > applies: in case you buy a new board, give it a try. Keep away from Intel > I225-V though, that 2.5 GbE chip has a design flaw but manufacturers still > use int. > >> I also need PCIe slots for SATA expander cards. > That’s the use case I mostly thought of. Irritatingly, I just looked at my > price comparison site for SATA expansion cards and all 8×SATA cards are PCIe > 2.0 with either two or even just one lane. -_- So not even PCIe 3.0×1, which > is the same speed as 2.0×2 but would fit in a ×1 slot which many boards > have in abundance. > > 2.0×2 is about 1 GB/s. Divided by 8 drives gives you 125 MB/s/drive. There's always going to be a bottle neck somewhere, I just try to minimize it, if I can. Plus, two cards, if one fails, at least I have a 2nd to play with. I may can get one VG at a time up and running. >> If I use >> the Define case, I'd like to spread that across at least two cards, >> maybe three. So, network, video and at least a couple SATA cards, >> adding up fast. Sometimes, I wouldn't mind having the larger ATX with >> extra PCIe slots. Thought about having SAS cards and cables that >> convert to SATA. I think they do that. That may make it just one >> card. I dunno. I haven't dug deep into that yet. > After the disappointment with the SATA expanders I looked at SAS cards. > They are well connected on the PCIe side (2.0×8 or 3.0×8) and they are > compatible with SATA drives. I found an Intel SAS card with four SFF > connectors (meaning 16 drives!) for a little over 100 €. It’s called > RMSP3JD160J. I don’t know why it is so cheap, though. Because the > second-cheapest competitor is already at 190 €. I did a quick search, only one found and it is listed as parts or not working. Still, could lead me to more options tho. It would likely be a good idea to use SAS. Plus, if I start buying SAS drives, I'm ready. I sometimes find a good deal on a SAS drive. >> Figure the case is a >> good place to start. Mobo, CPU and such next. Figure mobo will pick >> memory for me since usually only one or two will work anyway. > One or two what? One or two types of memory. Usually, plain or ECC. Mobos usually are usually pretty picky on their memory. > >>> I was going to upgrade my 9 years old Haswell system at some point to a new >>> Ryzen build. Have been looking around for parts and configs for perhaps two >>> years now but I can’t decide (perhaps some remember previous ramblings >>> about >>> that). Now I actually consider buing a tiny Deskmini X300 after I found out >>> that it does support ACPI S3, but only with a specific UEFI version. No >>> 10-gig USB and only 1-gig ethernet though. But it’s cute and small. :) >> I thought about using a Raspberry Pi for a NAS box. Just build more >> than one of them. Thing is, finding the parts for it is almost >> impossible right now. They kinda went away a couple years ago when >> things got crazy. > I was talking main PC use case, not NAS. :) > The minimalist form factor doesn’t really impede me. I don’t have any HDDs > in my PC anymore (too noisy), so why keep space for it. And while I do like > to game a little bit, I find a full GPU too expensive and hungry, because it > will be bored most of the time. > > The rest can be done with USB, which is the only thing a compact case often > lacks in numbers. > >> Since no one mentioned a better case, that Define thing may end up being >> it. That Gamemax is cheaper but a lot less drive capacity. Heck, when >> I bought my current case, which has space for five 3.5" and six 5 1/4" >> drives, I thought I'd never fill up just the 3.5" ones. Now, the 3.5" >> ones have been full for a while and the 5 1/4" are about full too. > Full with ODDs? Or drive cages? You can get 3×3.5″ cages which install into > three 5¼″ slots. > I've been looking into those. I need to take the side off my case and make some measurements to see if one or more of them will fit. Right now, I just got some 5 1/4" to 3.5" adapters to put in HDDs. I do have two ODDs installed tho. One DVD burner and one Blu-ray burner. I was long ago thinking of backing up to Blu-ray. Then I figured out how many discs it would take, and time too. That one failed after thinking about it. Still, I found a good deal and bought a blu-ray burner anyway. I've made a few discs for neighbors with stuff on it. Most of this will likely be hammered out in future threads. As it is, going to save up for the case. That's a chunk of change. I think it will be a nice case tho. Dale :-) :-)
