Low power hardware for home server/media center
 

Hi, I have a home server/media center that at the moment consumes 50W while idle.
This box runs :

• mail server (postfix/dovecot + spamassassin)
• web server (owncloud, squirrelmail)
• acts as main internet gateway ( radvd, firewall, dnsmasq, router, fail2ban)
• serves as an ipsec endpoint (to create a VPN with friends)
• has connected an array of disks to serve as a NAS
• has DVB-T/S tuners to stream TV into network
• connected to a display to serve as multimedia center.
• planned installation of fhem as smart home controller.

I'm wondering whether there exists an energy efficient platform that combines :

• accelerated h264, x265 (potentially AV1 encoding/decoding
• SATA ports with port multiplier support (I already have 6 drives connected)
• at least two pci-e ports (provided wifi & bluetooth is in minipcie)
• preferrably in microATX/miniITX format.
• Something like AVX instructions for good disk/ipsec encryption support.
• Preferrably with OSS driver support. (had NVidia ION, now it's mainly annoying to get drivers installed)

I found an AMD R-Series board that could fit the bill, but will certainly wait for a new Zen based product.
I'm also thinking about a swarm of low(ish) power boards like the raspberryPi, but that would IMO be hell to maintain...

Anyone has any other tips/ideas?

Thanks!

PS : For those wondering about security : this is heavily compartmentalized using CGroup features and systemd hardening options.

There are now several distros that run on a Pi - Debian & SuSE, just to name 2, both are solid systems. :)

Edit: I haven't taken the plunge yet, but may do with a Pi 3 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/ThePiHut-Ra...rb_top?ie=UTF8

It's never a good thing to have a server that runs THAT many services. An inherent security risk. Regardless of what hardware you pick, I suggest that you take the e-mail service and web service and put them on any separate machine besides your gateway. There is a reason why port forwarding exists.

I personally run my gateway with a DD-WRT enabled router that hosts OpenVPN for external connections and dnsmasq to resolve domain names in the LAN. I use a second DD-WRT enabled router as a print server.

The rest of my services are isolated on two raspberry pis. One is a Raspberry Pi B+ 2 and the other is a Raspberry Pi 3. Both are running Slackware. The B+ is a web server hosting my custom made ruby web applications, built with Sinatra. It also hosts a Slackware software repository that is accessible through http. The Pi 3 is a NFS server. I also stream media from it to my LAN. The pi 3 comes with bluetooth and a wifi card built into it.

If you are worried about maintenance taking up too much time, it's not. All of my devices are managed over SSH with (password less) public key authentication. I have bash scripts on my work laptop that log out to each device and take care of various tasks, such as updates. I suppose I could make these scripts run via cron to further automate maintenance, but I like to run things manually. I might be able to also simplify things if I used Nagios to monitor each device too, but meh... ;)

A few Raspberry Pis is all you need, and you will save a lot on power consumption and on hardware costs.

Two pci slots are your limits to using any of the Pi stuff as far as I know. You are limited to a desktop system or home entertainment type that will also support cards. It may be possible to go embedded for some of the tasks and sleep a larger system running the pci cards.

Going with energy star and efficient SSD's may help. https://jet.com/product/Lenovo-Think...ea9f23d935a7ac something like this might prove less standby power even. Without full tests I could only guess as to any ways to get less power usage. There are lots of smaller NUC type systems that use less power but almost none have pci.

Did you obtain this number with a power meter (e.g. Kill-a-Watt)?
What is the measured maximum power draw?
What is the existing PSU, a 1000W capacity?

Is your goal a new system, or are you just looking to improve power efficiency (of the existing system)?
If you have an over-capacity PSU, then replacing it with a right-sized one will produce immediate improvement.
Likewise, you can make the same (over-capacity ATX PSU) mistake (again) with a new "efficient" system, and see little/no improvement in power consumption at idle.

Member response
 

Hi,

You might find this article useful; First 64-Bit and Enterprise OS Comes to Raspberry Pi 3

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!
:hattip:

Hi,

Thanks for all the answers!
When I designed the first version of this system (about 10 years ago), low power boards like the Pi weren't available, and the goal was to go under the (cummulated) idle consumption of various set top boxes and DVRs in the house.
Yes,
89W,
100W rated integrated PSU in a mini-itx case ( takes 19V input from a laptop power supply )
A completely new system is planned within 2 years (HEVC and whatnot).


That is one of the ways I'm thinking about going, but the thing is that if I have an overpowered PC for multimedia use idling 80% of the time, I'd rather get some more use out of it...

Not sure about the sleep. The PCI devices would be tuners, which, because it gives DVB-T/2 to non-capable TVs (or TVs where there is no aerial), are used throughout the day. (I did some monitoring).

The board you linked to uses fairly old APU models: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...12.2C_32_nm.29
The graphics core(s) do not support HEVC decoding, much less VP9.
About the only current AMD APU's that even comes close to your requirements are chips based on the "Stoney Ridge" platform: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...16.2C_28_nm.29

So you're better off waiting for Zen-based products on the AMD side.

For Intel side, Kaby Lake chips sound ideal for your requirements. They don't do AV1, but even the latest products from AMD and Nvidia don't support it yet. *shrug*

>> SATA ports with port multiplier support (I already have 6 drives connected)
>> at least two pci-e ports (provided wifi & bluetooth is in minipcie)
>> The PCI devices would be tuners, which, because it gives DVB-T/2 to non-capable TVs

This eliminates Raspberry Pi as they don't have any SATA ports or pci-e slots. You would need a real MB for such a project.


>>What is the existing PSU, a 1000W capacity?

Are you trying to be sarcastic or hyperbolic for effect ? Actual 1000W power supplies are rare these days even in gaming builds. Since the OP responded that they have a mini 100 W supply you appear to be making up problems in your head.

>>preferably in microATX/miniITX format.
>> at least two pci-e ports

I forgot to mention this in my first post but miniITX only has one pci-e slot. You will need microATX.

Also how is 50 W idle considered a large power draw ? What do you pay per kW/h in the Czech republic ?

You seem to have your own definition for "rare".
The online retailers have dozens and dozens of ATX (and other form factors) large-power-capacity PSUs available.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p...nid=6525659011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...99%20600479300

The salient word is "responded".
I did not have that information when I made that guess.
The OP only mentioned "50W while idle", but apparently he's using a different definition of "idle" (maybe "nominal load"?) than I would.
I have an 500W 80Plus PSU that consumes 30W at idle (doing nothing), and extrapolated.
With the known facts, IMO that was a reasonable question/guess.


Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

As of now, about 3 crowns (per google $0.118). Prices fluctuate. This is more of an optimization exercise than an attempt at savings. I'm aware that the investment into low power hardware might actually not pay off.

Yeah, I linked it as an example what kind of thing I think might work. I will certainly wait for zen-based stuff.
Anyone has an idea about the state of AV1 (when hw acceleration might be supported)?

>>>The online retailers have dozens and dozens of ATX (and other form factors) large-power-capacity PSUs available.

New egg had 84 power supplies of 1000 W or more out of over 1000 models in total so less than 8.5%. But that doesn't mean gamers need such large supplies for recent builds.

Yes you can still buy 1000W + power supplies but they were more necessary five or more years ago when most of those models were introduced. The latest generation or two of video cards are much more power efficient. Nvidia's new top line GTX1080 with 2560 CUDA cores uses only 180 W with one 8-pin pci-e connector and needs only a 500 W recommended power supply. Also newer Intel quad-core CPUs use less than half the power of older models.

In the past for example the GTX480 only had 480 CUDA cores (less than 1/5th of the 1080) but needed both an eight-pin and a six-pin pci-e connector. The GTX 580 had only 512 CUDA cores (exactly 1/5th of the 1080) but used 244W of power an also needed both an eight-pin and a six-pin pci-e connector. The GTX590 had 1024 CUDA cores (1080 has 2.5X more) but used 365W of power more than double the new 1080 and needed two 8-pin pci-e connectors. Gamers often had builds with two or more 590 or similar cards which needed a 1000W or 1200W power supply but these days a single 1080 will have double the performance. With OCing you may need a 1000W + power supply with only a single GTX590 and an older Intel quad-code CPU.

Unless someone has multiple video cards and extreme overclocking 1000W+ power supplies aren't necessary with a single top line card and newer CPU even with OC. I didn't say that 1000W+ power supplies were rare to buy just they are less necessary for recent builds. Even with OCing a 750W or so supply will suffice with a single card.

>>>I did not have that information when I made that guess.
>>>With the known facts, IMO that was a reasonable question/guess.

The OP did mention that they had

>>SATA ports with port multiplier support (I already have 6 drives connected)
>>The PCI devices would be tuners, which, because it gives DVB-T/2 to non-capable TVs.

A regular 7200 rpm HD uses about 4-6W when idle, and 10-12W when it is in use. So 6 standard 7200 rpm HDs using 5W at idle could account for 30W out of the 50W idle power. I don't know how much power the two tuner cards use at idle.

The OP described a fairly packed system with a lot of power draws. You ignored all of these given facts and assumed they were using a gigantic 1000W supply on an empty system. That was not a reasonable question/guess.

Obviously you've put a lot more time and thought into today's post than your previous one.
Large-wattage PSUs are readily available and easy to find, despite a minority position in the capacity lineup.
Your persistent references to gaming rigs are irrelevant.
We already know what you wrote/said; you can't change what you wrote, only try to explain what you meant.

The appellation of "server", and the penchant of using an over-capacity PSU (for "future expansion") made the use of a 1000W PSU a distinct possibility.
Okay, I overlooked the six HDDs; mea culpa!

I clearly stated the reasoning for those initial queries, which did elicit salient information.
The OP didn't seem to be offended by my post like you were.
Just admit your previous post was hasty and not constructive, and move on.

|>>>Obviously you've put a lot more time and thought into today's post than your previous one.

The same could be said for your first post. Also my first post had two points the first being that Raspberry Pi's don't have expansion pci-e slots or SATA ports so a real MB would be needed.

>>>Large-wattage PSUs are readily available and easy to find, despite a minority position in the capacity lineup.

I never said they couldn't be found to buy just that they are far less necessary than they were about five years ago. There are 1000W and 1200W supplies on the top shelf at my local computer store. At eye level are dozens of more modest 500W to 750/850W models.

>>>We already know what you wrote/said; you can't change what you wrote, only try to explain what you meant.

I'm not trying to change what I wrote only to explain it to you as you didn't seem to understand it. I said that "1000W power supplies are rare these days even in gaming builds." Regular computer users wouldn't need anything over 500W and even most high performance builds for gamers or engineering use can get by with less than 1000W these days due to more efficient hardware. You keep misinterpreting this as meaning you can't buy these large capacity supplies. Most of these 1000W+ models were introduced many years ago.

The odds of the OP having anything this large would be extremely low.

Instead of giving me links to new egg showing that you can buy these large supplies provide an example of a PC that requires 1000W or more. There are many websites that let you calculate how much power a system needs.

>>>Your persistent references to gaming rigs are irrelevant.

Actually it is not. Regular home computer users would never need anything approaching 1000W. Standard desktops come with 250-300W or less power supplies. Mass produced Dell desktops come with 250W or smaller power supplies while the smallest capacity you can buy in many computer component stores aimed predominantly at gamers is about 400W. Only large video cards, multiple video cards and overclocked CPUs and/or video cards require supplies over 500W for home users.

>>>The appellation of "server", and the penchant of using an over-capacity PSU (for "future expansion") made the use of a 1000W PSU a distinct possibility.

For an actual business server with Xeon or Opteron processors, 64GB ECC RAM and 10K SAS disks 1000W would be a distinct possibility. For a home user building a media server it would be extreme overkill. Even if a home media server had 8 full speed 7200 rpm SATA drives they would require only about 100W in use. Newer CPUs are far more power efficient as well.

Using an over-capacity PSU (for "future expansion") for home users usually refers to adding a large 3D accelerated video card.