The PSU was on sale and I know it's a good quality one. That's the main reason why i went for it.Originally Posted by TwoCables
That PSU is not only extreme overkill (extremely extreme), but it's a waste of money. Yes, it's a high-quality 650W PSU, but it only has 2 x 6+2-pin PCI-E connectors. The PSU that Corsair used to build this is the 650W SeaSonic G Series, and guess what: it has 4, not 2. So, what gives? lol
Anyway, you could spend like $40-50 less by getting a more appropriately-sized PSU for this.
Also, the M-Discs are extremely expensive. I hope you're prepared for that.![]()
You don't want that much overkill. It lowers the efficiency and it can lower the quality of the power output. It can also be hard on the PSU.Originally Posted by Timlander
The PSU was on sale and I know it's a good quality one. That's the main reason why i went for it.
And I already have 200 blue ray discs here and an external blue ray burner. This one is going to be mainly used as a reader and a backup to the one I already have.
EDIT: Oh, and with promo codes that PSU goes down to 89.99.
I want that mobo because of the features it provides me with. The dual band wireless N and bluetooth built in are really nice. Plus it gives me the 6x3GB sata ports I need.Originally Posted by TwoCables
You don't want that much overkill. It lowers the efficiency and it can lower the quality of the power output. It can also be hard on the PSU.
You don't have a video card in this, so the SS-400ET would be much more than enough and it's only about $50 after shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151076
LG M-Discs are much different... These are special DVDs that are only writable in this drive. They're readable by any drive, but M-Discs are extremely expensive.
I used Newegg's Power Search to sort by PSUs that have 8 or more SATA connectors, and the cheapest recommendable PSU in the list of search results is the 450W SeaSonic S12G for $74.30 after shipping:
Ugh, that's actually a decent deal if it had free shipping.Originally Posted by TwoCables
I used Newegg's Power Search to sort by PSUs that have 8 or more SATA connectors, and the cheapest recommendable PSU in the list of search results is the 450W SeaSonic S12G for $74.30 after shipping:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151139
Thanks for the info. I've been building PCs for quite a long time, and I pretty much knew the HX650 would be great for me, especially if I ever wanted to expand in the future.Originally Posted by mdocod
There's nothing wrong with using the HX650 for this build. You could use a 1.5KW power supply for this build and it would work just fine. This issue of "power quality" and "efficiency" varies by load from PSU to PSU and can't be judged with such a wide brush based on wattage rating. Sometimes a lower power PSU will offer better efficiency under low loads than a higher power unit, but that's not a guarantee. Sometimes a lower power PSU will have cleaner power than a higher power PSU at a low load, but that's not a guarantee either. Some of the finest efficiency and power quality comes from HUGE units at ALL SORTS of loads.
The 450W S12G and HX650 have efficiency characteristics in low-load conditions (~100W) that are so similar (within about 1%) that it doesn't matter. The HX650 has great power quality at low loads, high loads, and everywhere in between, and there is absolutely nothing about running a big PSU at low loads that is "hard" on it. That is a gross misunderstanding.
Furthermore, this is one of those cases where modular may be beneficial, as you could order additional SATA peripheral cables to make things easier to install. As I understand the layout of the HX650, you could technically put up to 4 x SATA power peripheral cables on it, as long as you didn't need any molex elsewhere. Sometimes using all of the connectors on a cable is almost impossible depending on how they line up.
So... Moving on.
Since this sort of build is more motherboard-centric than CPU/GPU (or PSU, lol) centric, I would offer that you may find better value on an FM2+ board. Many of them have 8 SATA III ports and Richland has very *reasonable* idle efficiency characteristics. Not quite as good as haswell however the difference would likely be a wash in this case since you're going to have so many HDs and wifi and stuff going anyway.
The Asus A88X-PLUS is a great quality board with 8x SATA ports. Add a Wifi card and you're set. The ~$80 MSI A88X-G43 is equally well suited. There are even some $60-70 FM2 and FM2+ boards that would work.
I'm guessing since it's just a simple server, a basic CPU w/iGPU is all that is required. The A4-6300 would work nicely for this IMO. Only ~$55.
Richland is well supported from Kernel version 3.10 and up, and the VLIW4 based iGPU is also well supported in linux using either the AMD binary driver or of course, works fine for non-3D accelerated stuff with open source video drivers (I think that's gallium project but I'm a little rusty on that as I always use the binaries from AMD/NV for linux because I like to play games once and awhile, yea I know, bad linux user, BAD)
\Originally Posted by TwoCables
I still don't like that the HX650 only has 2 x 6+2-pin PCI-E cables when other HX650s (including the 650W SeaSonic G Series, which the HX650 is based on) have 4 instead of 2. If you want two video cards that require 4 x PCI-E connectors in total, then you'll be forced to use those ugly Molex to PCI-E adapters.
Then you'll never need anything 'bigger' than a good quality-made 450W PSU.
That's your opinion. I've already said this isn't a budget build. If I wanted to get a GTX780 and pop it in here, I could with the HX650, could not with a 450. It's as simple as that. I wanted this build to support future expansion.
I'm not stating opinions, I'm stating facts.
It's hard to find lower wattage PSUs with the connectivity needs you're after at competitive pricing.
9/10 builds are better off with Intel. I'm *usually* in a position of trying to make that point here on OCN. Your server system is one of the unusual cases where an AMD build has validity due to the feature rich high value nature of their inexpensive motherboards. Given the lax budget I can appreciate sticking to Intel if that's what you likeAnd i'm an Intel guy myself. Ever since I made the switch from AMD to Intel about 4 years ago I've just loved Intel. Superb performance and great power efficiency. And with this being a media server, power efficiency was a main concern for me hence the WD green drives and 90 Plus Gold psu. I know I could save money by going to AMD, but I just prefer Intel. And this was never a really tight budget build to begin with so I don't really mind spending the extra $$ for the Intel board and cpu.
Sounds like fun. You can even install the windows version of Steam with a few minor tweaks to wine settings. Quite a few windows games work on Linux with Wine.But yea, the server will be pretty simple. Its going to run Ubuntu, and I'm going to run Plex on it for all my Movies, TV and Music. That's about all It's going to do. I did want it to be capable of streaming 2-3 HD movies at once since I had roommates who will also be using it, but that should be no problem with this setup IMO. And who knows, I may even install steam and a few linux games on there just for kicks since this will be hooked up to my big screen. That's partially why I wanted an overkill PSU, future expansion. I could add a $250 gpu into this thing no problem.
This chip I got was this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116945Originally Posted by mdocod
It's hard to find lower wattage PSUs with the connectivity needs you're after at competitive pricing.
Alternatives that would actually offer some improved efficiency on the low end would be XFX XTR Series P1-550B-BEFX 550W, which might offer about 2% better efficiency than the HX650 at low loads.
Or.. The Rosewill Fortress 450W and 550W, which would offer about 4% better efficiency than the HX650 at low loads. This would require the use of Molex to SATA power adapters.
If maximizing efficiency *for the sake of it* is a goal these similarly priced alternatives may offer a way to do it. As pointed out, even the little 450W fortress would technically be large enough to power regular 80W haswell, GTX780, 6HDs and all system fans/bridges/controllers etc.
9/10 builds are better off with Intel. I'm *usually* in a position of trying to make that point here on OCN. Your server system is one of the unusual cases where an AMD build has validity due to the feature rich high value nature of their inexpensive motherboards. Given the lax budget I can appreciate sticking to Intel if that's what you like... If you don't mind me asking, I didn't see which CPU specifically you had in mind (sorry if I missed it). I'm mostly curious. Thinking a T or S model CORE or E3-12X5V3 series might be fun.![]()
Sounds like fun. You can even install the windows version of Steam with a few minor tweaks to wine settings. Quite a few windows games work on Linux with Wine.
Best of luck with the build and thank you for the consideration.