[PC Genie]

I'm planning to build a NAS using an old computer case that is still very good and buying all other items like motherboard, cpu, hard drives, etc.; however, I want to plan the power supply to be efficient.  How do I tally all the power demands from each component in order to keep the power demand to an absolute minimum - preferably to that of a laptop.

 

I plan to use this NAS not only as storage, but also as a media server, a website server, an email server and a VPN.  If I need to use SSDs to keep the power demand down, I'll consider that too.  However, how do I find the power demand for each component in order to choose a power supply that is not an over kill?  I need to have power efficiency, because the NAS will be powered on continuously.

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Hello PC Genie,


Click here for a power supply calculator


I would say a 450W power supply would be plenty and may even allow for some scalability if you upgrade any parts.  Graphic cards are usually what constitutes needing a beefy power supply, and it looks like you won't really be needing a high end GPU.  However, I would not advise getting the "bare minimum" that will allow your PC to function... I like a small "cushion" just so it's not being maxxed out all the time.


Good luck! 

[Fusionbomb]

Hello PC Genie,


Click here for a power supply calculator


I would say a 450W power supply would be plenty and may even allow for some scalability if you upgrade any parts.  Graphic cards are usually what constitutes needing a beefy power supply, and it looks like you won't really be needing a high end GPU.  However, I would not advise getting the "bare minimum" that will allow your PC to function... I like a small "cushion" just so it's not being maxxed out all the time.


Good luck! 

[PC Genie]

Thanks for the link.  You're right that I will rarely be using the graphics card.  I've built my own computers before and this is the first storage server that I'm planning.  My computers are all gaming quality with the best motherboard, cpu and ram available at the time, but I'm not sure how powerful that I should build a NAS to be.  Do you have any recommendations?

 

Hello PC Genie,


Click here for a power supply calculator


I would say a 450W power supply would be plenty and may even allow for some scalability if you upgrade any parts.  Graphic cards are usually what constitutes needing a beefy power supply, and it looks like you won't really be needing a high end GPU.  However, I would not advise getting the "bare minimum" that will allow your PC to function... I like a small "cushion" just so it's not being maxxed out all the time.


Good luck! 

[Fusionbomb]

Any decent processor with at least 4 gigs of RAM should work pretty well.  The main thing I would suggest for your build would be to use a SSD, as that would be the most likely cause of a bottleneck. 

Depending on how much money you got to throw at it, and how important this it to you, I might even suggest having multiple SSDs (a RAID 0 or RAID 5 setup would improve speeds even more, but may be overkill).  At the very least, maybe have the OS and paging file running on a [separate] cheaper mechanical harddrive while your file server runs off the SSD for maximum efficiency.

Again, the important thing is to simply choose a SSD over a mechanical drive.  The next important thing would be to ensure a good air flow and keep dust out of the case.  lol


Edit:  Someone else may have some other good information, but that's my 2 cents~

Edited by Fusionbomb, 10 April 2015 - 02:32 PM.

[terry1966]

the bottle neck is probably going to be how you connect to the nas and not the hard drives.

 

for example the gigabit ethernet connection which is theoretically 125 MegaBytes is about the same speed as todays high storage mechanical drives and nowhere near an ssd speeds but don't expect to get that speed and even lower if the router only has 100Mb capabilities or your connecting to it using wifi.

 

so yes ssd's are going to be more power efficient but in the real world unless money is no option then for a nas more storage is usually better so your probably going to be better off with large mechanical or hybrid drives because of cost per gigabyte.

 

see if these links help you with ideas :-

http://apcmag.com/ho...wn-nas-box.htm/

http://blog.brianmos...15-edition.html

 

Edited by terry1966, 11 April 2015 - 01:36 AM.

[Fusionbomb]

I started to elaborate on the connection speed, but then I just assumed he was gonna be accessing the data locally with a hardwired connection.  I guess it also depends on how large some of the files are, etc...

Terry1966 has probably forgotten more about computers than I will ever know, so I would heed his advice over my own.


Edit:  If you have 500+ GB worth of stuff you want to store there, then a mechanical drive would definitely be the way to go.  As SSDs aren't quite cheap enough to be buying TB's worth.     I apologize for my misinformation, I was thinking more along the lines of speeds (accessing the data), not storage space and feasibility.

Edited by Fusionbomb, 11 April 2015 - 09:51 AM.

[PC Genie]

This is good information.  Earlier I mentioned that some of the uses that I'd like to make of this NAS is a web server and a multimedia server.  I may use Plex as my multimedia server, but I want to have an album of photos and videos for my friends to access without them needing to install Plex software.  How would I go about making a personal multimedia website of this type?  Currently I'm using PhotoBucket, but it's limited in free storage capacity and I want to have my own website of this type on my webserver where I have control of the content and the storage.