I’ve been working on selecting the components for an always on file server that will, hopefully, be run by solar power. If you keep up with this topic, you’ll know that it’s something like ten times cheaper to pick low power components than build large sources of power. Last night, I made my choice and place the order for the motherboard and power supply.
The most important aspect is the motherboard. It’s the single largest consumer of electricity. This component determines the power saving features like Wake on Lan and Sleep modes. All the devices plug into this one. It will stay on as long as one hard drive or network connection remains open.
A lot of PATA and SATA connectors with at least on expansion card are needed to be a file server. Many USB ports are nice, but not necessary. USB can be chained and any USB device probably means power wasted in an external brick. The minimum I settled on is 4 PATA hard drives, to support the existing set. And some SATA connectors, again, to support an existing pair. The expansion card will probably be used to provide an additional set of hard drive connections. Though, the way my onboard NICs fail it might serve as a backup NIC.
The goal was the lowest power usage that can support a lot of connected devices. There are three types of motherboards that can do this. The first is made of Via components. For years, they’ve been making motherboards that can fit easily into a high school biology textbook. I built a computer for Grandma off a 5000 board 2 years ago and am quite satisfied with it. Intel began making boards in this space a few years ago. Their performance is quite a bit better than Via, but the power needs are 5-15 Watts more too. Lately, AMD has begun making boards. These are by far the most efficient. The AMD Geode uses 5 Watts.
The Intel boards were out, because both AMD and Via scored better on power and processing power isn’t something I care about. The AMD boards were very tempting, but they didn’t support all the hard drive necessary connections. AMD and Intel have a limited selection of boards compared to Via.
I chose the lowest power Via board I could find, the Via CN10000EG. It’s related to the better performing LN10000. Idle is <10 Watts and Load is ~16 Watts. The LN was just a 1-2 Watts more. It supports 4 PATA, 2 SATA, 2 PCI cards (with riser), built in NIC, 4 USB, and six more USB internally. Of course, video and audio are built in.
The board and power supply should come in this week. Or not. Thanksgiving is Thursday.