Build a large HTPC / NAS based on Ivy Bridge
Good day.
The ATX-systemist has been sneaking off serious loads lately, mostly limited to showing films and sharing file storage, and winter is coming to an end - which means it’s time for a long-awaited transition from Core 2 Duo to something cooler and more economical.
The initial contender was a Mini-ITX motherboard with integrated Intel Atom or AMD Brazos. But judging by the tests, the power of such systems is not always enough for comfortable viewing FullHD video. Despite the absence of such rips in my collection, common sense prompts to take something more powerful. In terms of power consumption, systems with Sandy Bridge / Ivy Bridge processors follow - what you need.
In HTPC, it is planned to cram 2 x 3.5 HDD for a RAID array and 2.5 SSD for an OS. The option of buying a case with one external 5.25 and one internal 3.5 compartment, which is popular in many articles, did not suit me due to concerns about poor internal convection of the air and strong heating of the hard drives. There is a lot of space for the future system specialist, but not so much finance, so I chose the budget IN WIN BL641 . If you do not need an optical drive and a card reader, you can put as many as 4 full-sized HDD and 1 SSD for the system into the case. In the reviews complain about short wires, in particular, power. In my case, everything is in order.
I note that the second common problem, the annoying noise of the power supply, is also absent. But the latter has only 2 SATA power connectors - one cannot do without an additional adapter. In addition to the fan in the power supply, another blower cooler is installed in the removable cinnamon, standard sizes 80x80x25. At medium speeds, it works relatively quietly, but produces a weak air flow. This is due to the petals - they are almost not curved and rather short. I replaced the cooler with the Zalman ZM-F1 plus , with the same current strength, it produces more noise, but has higher revolutions, “advanced” petals and blows much stronger.
')
From the motherboard I needed a tolerable audio codec of the Realtek ALC889 / 892 level and the presence of a “dying” PCI connector. My criteria was satisfied with the capabilities of ASRock B75 Pro3-M . Special thanks to the manufacturer for adding the controller and implementing three SATA-III connectors instead of one embedded in the budget chipset.
It was originally planned to take a Celeron G4XX with a TDP of 35 watts, but the fact of acquiring a stone with one physical core in 2013 scared me away. Pentium's 6XXT were out of stock, and where they were, a high price prevented the purchase. Down the popular 65-watt Celeron G530 I could not because of the limitations of the chipset. The Pentium G2020 on the fresh Iny Bridge (TPD 55 Watt) paired up with the low-profile Cooler Master DP6-8E5SB-PL-GP served as a compromise.
An interesting fact is that the reduction of the technical process from 32 to 22 nm has a positive effect on the power of the integrated graphics, but if in the i3 / i5 / i7 lines this can be seen from the name (HD Graphics 2000/3000 was replaced with HD 2500/4000), then in the case of Celeron / Pentium HD Graphics remained HD Graphics. Testing confirms that in the second case we are dealing with a more productive solution. IMHO, this is a marketing policy to attract customers to more expensive lines.
I had no special requirements for the RAM, so I bought a QUMO QUM3U-4G1600K11 bar with my hands. As a hard drive for a RAID array, it was decided to take a pair of WD20EFRX . According to the manufacturer, the Red series is specifically designed for use in NAS, given a 3-year warranty. In my opinion, the HTPC does not interfere with the presence of a DVD writer and, in the appendage, a card reader with Bluetooth, the benefit is the place for this. The Kingston SVP200S3 / 120G solid-state drive, which I took from an old computer, is located directly behind the Samsung SH-224BB drive . 120 Gb in this case is redundant, so with the next scholarship, I’m most likely to buy a smaller SSD, and I’ll put this one in a laptop.
At home, a satellite dish with one extra output on the converter is installed - then it is worth adding the possibility of receiving channels to our HTPC. It was not by chance that I took a PCI motherboard, the SkyStar 2 TechniSat PCI bought at the flea market serves as a tuner. Of course, you can buy a smaller PCI-Express card that is smaller, cooler, with a remote and support for DVB-S2, but I rarely watch TV and do not want to buy it at the price of my motherboard. The low profile profile for SkyStar2 does not exist in nature, however, judging by the thickness of the case, if you remove the bar, the card should stand up just right. In practice, it turned out even too well, and I had to slightly disfigure the retainer with pliers, otherwise it would not close.
While collecting the case, another miscalculation flared up - the front panel and the card reader have only 2 USB 2.0 sockets on the motherboard. Initially, I was hoping to bring USB 3.0 forward, but I did not know that the connector had more pins and the case should have an appropriate one. I don’t intend to refuse to support memory cards, and two ports will suffice for me in front.
It looks a bit messy, but in general, such a jumble does not interfere with air convection - there is a lot of free space near the radiator of the south bridge and under the hard drives.
The tuner almost rested against the side cover.
A total of components were spent:
Total: 14761 rubles.
If you wish, you can save 500-600 rubles and take the Celeron g1610 as a processor - it has 2 instead of 3 MB of cache and the frequency is 300 MHz lower. In my situation, I did not want to wait a few more days and therefore I took the pentium available.
The long-awaited first launch and ... I notice that the HTPC is not very quiet. That's because coolers' revolutions are at the maximum - we go into the UEFI BIOS to fix it.
I liked the menu - not too tricky, everything in its place. In the settings for the 4-pin CPU Fan 1 and the 3-pin CPU Fan 2, where I have the lower cooler connected, you can set 3 cooling options - for the whole coil, from 1 to 9, or by conventional units from 1 to 255. If in the system more than one cooler is planned - stock up on resistors, because Power Fan Speed ​​current is not regulated at all, and Chasis Fan Speed ​​that at 1, that at level 9 produces the same speed. At the first level, the processor and the additional cooler already give out 1500 and 1100 RPM - on the whole it is quiet, but I would like to have even less. By experiments selected 64.e.
I photographed "from the cold", within 15 minutes the temperature of the processor and motherboard will rise to 34 and 31, and the speed to 1000 and 630, respectively. As you can see, Target Temperature is still set from 45 to 65 degrees, but looking ahead, I’ll say that the temperature never reached the bottom mark.
It is time to start the operating system and take a look at the performance of the new hardware with one eye. On the SSD, Windows 7 still remained from the previous computer, which deigned to make money, though not without pre-loading in safe mode. The previous configuration was [Core 2 Duo E8500, overclocked to 4 GHz; ATI HD6790 1 Gb DDR5; 4 x 2Gb Hynix Hyper-X 842 Mhz, 5-5-5-15, SATAII] and here is its assessment by means of Windows 7:
Let's try to evaluate for a new iron:
It is necessary to put the driver for the video card and for the chipset in the appendage, and at the same time to update the UEFI. As a result, the fields “graphics” and “graphics for games” were estimated at 4.4 and 6.1 points, respectively.
Of course, all assessments are very subjective, but on the basis of them we can draw general conclusions:
It's time to check how the cooling of our HTPC works. A half-hour stress test showed that the temperature of the processor and motherboard does not rise above 43 degrees for both. Of course, the dusty air and heat can make an additional contribution, but it is already clear that the speed of the coolers can be safely left at this level, or maybe slightly reduced. Hard drives in idle heated up to 31 and 33 degrees, respectively. While there was no time for their tests under load, but I predict that the temperature will not rise above 40.
This concludes the review of the build process, in the next week I will be engaged in installing Xubuntu, mdadm, XBMC and other software on my freshly assembled HTPC / NAS and write another article about it. Thank you for reading.
The ATX-systemist has been sneaking off serious loads lately, mostly limited to showing films and sharing file storage, and winter is coming to an end - which means it’s time for a long-awaited transition from Core 2 Duo to something cooler and more economical.
The initial contender was a Mini-ITX motherboard with integrated Intel Atom or AMD Brazos. But judging by the tests, the power of such systems is not always enough for comfortable viewing FullHD video. Despite the absence of such rips in my collection, common sense prompts to take something more powerful. In terms of power consumption, systems with Sandy Bridge / Ivy Bridge processors follow - what you need.
In HTPC, it is planned to cram 2 x 3.5 HDD for a RAID array and 2.5 SSD for an OS. The option of buying a case with one external 5.25 and one internal 3.5 compartment, which is popular in many articles, did not suit me due to concerns about poor internal convection of the air and strong heating of the hard drives. There is a lot of space for the future system specialist, but not so much finance, so I chose the budget IN WIN BL641 . If you do not need an optical drive and a card reader, you can put as many as 4 full-sized HDD and 1 SSD for the system into the case. In the reviews complain about short wires, in particular, power. In my case, everything is in order.
I note that the second common problem, the annoying noise of the power supply, is also absent. But the latter has only 2 SATA power connectors - one cannot do without an additional adapter. In addition to the fan in the power supply, another blower cooler is installed in the removable cinnamon, standard sizes 80x80x25. At medium speeds, it works relatively quietly, but produces a weak air flow. This is due to the petals - they are almost not curved and rather short. I replaced the cooler with the Zalman ZM-F1 plus , with the same current strength, it produces more noise, but has higher revolutions, “advanced” petals and blows much stronger.
')
From the motherboard I needed a tolerable audio codec of the Realtek ALC889 / 892 level and the presence of a “dying” PCI connector. My criteria was satisfied with the capabilities of ASRock B75 Pro3-M . Special thanks to the manufacturer for adding the controller and implementing three SATA-III connectors instead of one embedded in the budget chipset.
It was originally planned to take a Celeron G4XX with a TDP of 35 watts, but the fact of acquiring a stone with one physical core in 2013 scared me away. Pentium's 6XXT were out of stock, and where they were, a high price prevented the purchase. Down the popular 65-watt Celeron G530 I could not because of the limitations of the chipset. The Pentium G2020 on the fresh Iny Bridge (TPD 55 Watt) paired up with the low-profile Cooler Master DP6-8E5SB-PL-GP served as a compromise.
An interesting fact is that the reduction of the technical process from 32 to 22 nm has a positive effect on the power of the integrated graphics, but if in the i3 / i5 / i7 lines this can be seen from the name (HD Graphics 2000/3000 was replaced with HD 2500/4000), then in the case of Celeron / Pentium HD Graphics remained HD Graphics. Testing confirms that in the second case we are dealing with a more productive solution. IMHO, this is a marketing policy to attract customers to more expensive lines.
I had no special requirements for the RAM, so I bought a QUMO QUM3U-4G1600K11 bar with my hands. As a hard drive for a RAID array, it was decided to take a pair of WD20EFRX . According to the manufacturer, the Red series is specifically designed for use in NAS, given a 3-year warranty. In my opinion, the HTPC does not interfere with the presence of a DVD writer and, in the appendage, a card reader with Bluetooth, the benefit is the place for this. The Kingston SVP200S3 / 120G solid-state drive, which I took from an old computer, is located directly behind the Samsung SH-224BB drive . 120 Gb in this case is redundant, so with the next scholarship, I’m most likely to buy a smaller SSD, and I’ll put this one in a laptop.
At home, a satellite dish with one extra output on the converter is installed - then it is worth adding the possibility of receiving channels to our HTPC. It was not by chance that I took a PCI motherboard, the SkyStar 2 TechniSat PCI bought at the flea market serves as a tuner. Of course, you can buy a smaller PCI-Express card that is smaller, cooler, with a remote and support for DVB-S2, but I rarely watch TV and do not want to buy it at the price of my motherboard. The low profile profile for SkyStar2 does not exist in nature, however, judging by the thickness of the case, if you remove the bar, the card should stand up just right. In practice, it turned out even too well, and I had to slightly disfigure the retainer with pliers, otherwise it would not close.
While collecting the case, another miscalculation flared up - the front panel and the card reader have only 2 USB 2.0 sockets on the motherboard. Initially, I was hoping to bring USB 3.0 forward, but I did not know that the connector had more pins and the case should have an appropriate one. I don’t intend to refuse to support memory cards, and two ports will suffice for me in front.
It looks a bit messy, but in general, such a jumble does not interfere with air convection - there is a lot of free space near the radiator of the south bridge and under the hard drives.
The tuner almost rested against the side cover.
A total of components were spent:
- building - 1862 p.,
- motherboard - 2050 p.,
- processor - 1890 p.,
- hard drives (2 pcs.) - 7026 p.,
- cooling - 313 p.,
- DVD-drive and card reader - 870 p.,
- RAM (b / y) - 400 p.,
- DVB-card (b / y) - 350 p.,
- SSD, SATA-wires and power adapter were already available.
Total: 14761 rubles.
If you wish, you can save 500-600 rubles and take the Celeron g1610 as a processor - it has 2 instead of 3 MB of cache and the frequency is 300 MHz lower. In my situation, I did not want to wait a few more days and therefore I took the pentium available.
The long-awaited first launch and ... I notice that the HTPC is not very quiet. That's because coolers' revolutions are at the maximum - we go into the UEFI BIOS to fix it.
I liked the menu - not too tricky, everything in its place. In the settings for the 4-pin CPU Fan 1 and the 3-pin CPU Fan 2, where I have the lower cooler connected, you can set 3 cooling options - for the whole coil, from 1 to 9, or by conventional units from 1 to 255. If in the system more than one cooler is planned - stock up on resistors, because Power Fan Speed ​​current is not regulated at all, and Chasis Fan Speed ​​that at 1, that at level 9 produces the same speed. At the first level, the processor and the additional cooler already give out 1500 and 1100 RPM - on the whole it is quiet, but I would like to have even less. By experiments selected 64.e.
I photographed "from the cold", within 15 minutes the temperature of the processor and motherboard will rise to 34 and 31, and the speed to 1000 and 630, respectively. As you can see, Target Temperature is still set from 45 to 65 degrees, but looking ahead, I’ll say that the temperature never reached the bottom mark.
It is time to start the operating system and take a look at the performance of the new hardware with one eye. On the SSD, Windows 7 still remained from the previous computer, which deigned to make money, though not without pre-loading in safe mode. The previous configuration was [Core 2 Duo E8500, overclocked to 4 GHz; ATI HD6790 1 Gb DDR5; 4 x 2Gb Hynix Hyper-X 842 Mhz, 5-5-5-15, SATAII] and here is its assessment by means of Windows 7:
Let's try to evaluate for a new iron:
It is necessary to put the driver for the video card and for the chipset in the appendage, and at the same time to update the UEFI. As a result, the fields “graphics” and “graphics for games” were estimated at 4.4 and 6.1 points, respectively.
Of course, all assessments are very subjective, but on the basis of them we can draw general conclusions:
- The budget processor of a new generation with a smaller frequency and a smaller amount of cache memory is already on a par with the top solution from the old one. Here is a test where the G2020 is well ahead of the E8400. The Socket 755 processor upgrade has ceased to be economically viable in favor of buying a new kit for Socket 1155.
- The video core is more than suitable for FullHD video, 3D system effects and undemanding games, in the appendage, it can be overclocked using UEFI.
- It makes sense to put another bar for dual-channel operation, which again will improve graphics performance.
- The transition from SATA-II to SATA-III has a very positive effect on the speed of SSD - the boot time of the seven fell from about 9 to 5.5 seconds (the fireflies do not have time to form a rectangle).
It's time to check how the cooling of our HTPC works. A half-hour stress test showed that the temperature of the processor and motherboard does not rise above 43 degrees for both. Of course, the dusty air and heat can make an additional contribution, but it is already clear that the speed of the coolers can be safely left at this level, or maybe slightly reduced. Hard drives in idle heated up to 31 and 33 degrees, respectively. While there was no time for their tests under load, but I predict that the temperature will not rise above 40.
This concludes the review of the build process, in the next week I will be engaged in installing Xubuntu, mdadm, XBMC and other software on my freshly assembled HTPC / NAS and write another article about it. Thank you for reading.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/170369/
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