Aug
24
WHS: Final Hardware List
Filed Under Computers, Home Server, Projects
I have now been out of hard drive space at home for a few weeks, and after way to long of deliberation, the time has come to final dive in and make the Windows Home Server purchase. I have been going over parts and doing entirely to much research, but I think I am finally prepared to make a purchase.
Ultimately, I know the requirements for the server are much less than what I am purchasing, but I am also trying to make sure I have a server that will be capable of handling the amount of drives I am going to shove in it, which means upgrading to something either PCIe or PCI-X slots.
In the end, here is what I ended up going with:
- Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 $64.99
- Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II SS-500GM 500W $99.99
- SATA Backplane: Athena Power BP-SATA3051B $109.99
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P LGA 775 (8 SATA)
- FREE - old motherboard from HTPC
- CPU: Intel C2D E7200 2.53GHz/3MB 65W $119.99
- RAM: G.SKILL (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 $49.99
- HDD (Initial):
- 1×1TB - SEAGATE ST31000340AS 1TB SATA - $138.99
- 2×250GB - Existing HDD - (FREE)
- 2×500GB - Existing HDD - (FREE)
I am debating adding a second 1TB hard drive right away, just to make sure I have plenty of space. Plus, this will help make the transitioning of data off existing drives and getting them added into the WHS drive pool easier.
Total Build Price: $583.94
Realistically, I could have built this for even cheaper had I recycled a bit more. However, I had a few odd-ball requirements that I wanted to satisfy. If I was recommending to someone else, a few things you could do to quickly cut down the cost would be to consider the following:
- Case/Enclosure - If you have an old case, use it!
- SATA Backplane - Completely unnecessary, for me it was just for easy-access/more drives.
- CPU/Processor - A 35W single-core Celeron should be plenty. $40
- RAM/Memory - Start with 1GB, should be plenty for WHS
- HDD - Bigger is better. In the long run, having 2×1TB drives eats up less power than 8×250gb
Now, I get the joy of waiting for parts to arrive!