Nas htpc

[Ostap]

Hi guys

I'd like to share my latest project ...well latest by build but it was planned for the last 5 years
I've spent numerous hours...days, weeks ... researching - to find the best configuration

The goal was to create LOW POWER NAS (Network Attached Storage) but a bit beyond that - one that could also play videos
So basically two in one ... NAS + HTPC (Home Theater PC)

My first attempts were to find some server type motherboard (assuming that it would not be one bloated with bunch of unneeded options)
first version was this :

Memory	Kingston ValueRAM ECC SODIMM DDR3L 1600 CL11 - 8 GB
Motherboard	Supermicro A1SAi-2750F
Disk	Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5" SATA3
Case	Lian Li PC-TU200, mITX, Zilver
PSU	picoPSU-160-XT + 192W Adapter Power Kit

Supermicro mobo - promised to have low power - while providing over 6 SATA connections ...
it had Atom CPU onboard ...i thought ...it should suffice ..
Then I bought new Kitchen computer that had this CPU ....and I was sorry
My electronic watch from 1985 - was faster than this CPU ... kidding ... anyway .it was VERY slow


So... the search went on .................................

At some point i've stumbled upon a blog ...where dude simply used "T" version of Intel CPUs and just standard mobo B85M) - his latest build clames to be 10Watt
I've sure never heard of it before - but after checking - it was desktop CPU with power usage close to the laptop - just 35Watt

so i've started digging - cpu, mobo , cooling , psu ....
And quickly came down with the price - that was just a bit too high at that moment - (over 2k)
...had to include new disks for replacement

Time passed ... new CPUs came out ... larger disks were introduced ..
and this year i've finally finished the project

Here is the current configuration :

CPU	Intel Core i5-8500T
Motherboard	ASRock H370M-ITX/ac
Memory	Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB
Disk (System)	Intel Solid-State Drive 660p - M.2 - 2TB
Cooler	Alpine 11 - Passive
PSU	picoPSU-160-XT + 192W Adapter Power Kit
Case	Fractal Design Node 304
Main Storage	WD Red 10TB
Sound (optional)	Creative Sound Blaster Z (optional)

That weird copper cooler - was nice idea ...but I got cheaper one ...and it does the job
CPU - is another story - originally I aimed at i3 ... (4 cores) but due to shortage of Intel CPUs in europe - bumped up to i5 (6 cores) to get (any kind of cpu) sooner ...and not sorry !!! CPU is marvelous !!! it finishes task twice as fast due to core count ....all within 35watt...then shuts it self down to 0.9Ghz ... of coz one would suggest i7 ....but thats x2 the price of i5 ... (T) version

so ...here is the build
Target power usage was 15Watt idle !!!!



The whole shebang (ignore the potatos)





White ...there were no other choice ... eventually it will end-up in the darkness of "under table" space







Have not paid much attention to it ...but there are 2 LAN adapters ..nice ...
It will be a server !!!







Huge MF ... and yep ...works ...CPU is @ 33C ..idle have not stress tested it yet







Case is surprisingly well made - they thought about everything
I still would prefer the one with handle ...but they were discontinued in 2019 .... could not find any



This is the whole PSU - specially designed to have maximal officiency (up to 95%) at lower power consumption
There are PSUs like Silver, Gold, Platinum ... but those are efficient when you draw over 200 watt ...
anything below - efficiency drops below 70-60%



Very tiny





My first NVMe ... - amazing !!! and its x4 times faster than any SATA2 SSD









Just standard ... screw the latency ....they all the same after all



Don't worry ... memory were eventually pressed deeper into the slot





Nice and officient PSU ...right ? But ...i couldn't use it.
New mobo has 2 power connectors (one standard ...plus 8p one like on some graphic cards)
I had no cable available ...
So - plan B - use normal PSU (for now)





Main storage ... I'm set for the next 5 years !!!













Plan B in action :/ .... for now



Internal connections support block power supply as well standart PSU ...nize !!!



Up to 6 disks ...well done !!!



Yea... spaghetti of cables ... - there will be more ...



Disks are flipped ...so are the cables ... no worry though ...



Who cares - all will be under the table ...i'll test the case with fan switched off later...
should do fine...(another 1-2watts off for single fan)



Once system went ON - power was .... 30 watt ... damn it ..



And after adding 4 Hard Disks - it of coz jumped to 50+...




This is of coz not the end ...I've found all the necessary cables ..(where to get them) ...
And will replace 700Watt ...PSU with the one I intended to use...hopping to drop power usage down to at least 20 watt (no disks) idle
As well - onboard Bluetooth, onboard WiFi, onboard sound (replaced by external - I needed IN and OUT for SPDIF - glass cable to connect second computer) - all those could be disabled ... (or ...even more crazy idea - physically cut off from power ...( ..I'm considering this option)


I'll let you know about progress


Talking about progress
My old comp ... Phenom II 1100t (6 disks + SSD)... pulls 250Watt idle (benchmark - 5,709) ..yep ..its over 8 years old
This one - pulls 53Watt (4 disks + NVMe) - (benchmark - 10,006)


By Dutch prices for electricity : 0.25euro / KWatt
Old one (24/7 ON) - eats ((250Watt * 24) * 30)) * 0.25e/KWatt = 45euro /month
New one (24/7 ON) - will eat ((53Watt * 24) * 30)) * 0.25e/KWatt = 9.5euro / month

I'm saving about 2 crates of beer every month !!! Prost !

[Petar]

Nice project! Indeed! Its look's compact, but where is slot for graphic card, or this motherboard have integrated. I saw HDMI output. 4 HDD, and 1 SSD. It is server, or your litlle PC?

[Ostap]

Nice project! Indeed! Its look's compact, but where is slot for graphic card, or this motherboard have integrated. I saw HDMI output. 4 HDD, and 1 SSD. It is server, or your litlle PC?

its integrated ...just for videos - enough ...not designed to play games on it..
though sam would run fine on it ....

[Ostap]

Last part

I've finally got all the missing cables and had the time to re-build the NAS
As i said before - the goal was to lower power consumption ...as low as possible ...

In the previous build - I had to use 750Watt PSU ... to connect all required power points on mobo ..

Today - I will replace it with intended one ...PicoPSU ... with max output of 192 watt ...



Back on the building table





Those are the cables I've were missing P8..as the marking said...
(right...)



Thats all of them ...



and in connected state ...as i were expecting to use it ...



Before starting to rebuild ... I took the measurements
~50watt (with 4 disks connected)



never forgetting the beer though



And about 28-30 watt ...without disks...



thats the power block ...~200watt



Aaaaand ...
Thanx to my neighbour - He designed and printed it for me at his company https://www.reflowfilament.com
an enclosure for that little block

there were no way to secure the block inside ... so he proposed to make one on 3D printer...
Absolutely fabulous !!! ... this is what i call 2019 year !!!







It fitted right in ...!!! few screws ..and done...





Reconnect the PicoPSU ...



Well... here we got a problem ...
Cables that I ordered - were NO GOOD at all ...
wrong markings ...could not fit in... DAMN .!!!!!



And another one ...
Designed box ... - two lugnuts at the back ...were reverted ...if i would use them - i'll pull them out
Power block were a bit loose inside
To firmly secure it - USE THE TAPE ...
As everyone knows ...if something cannot be fixed with tape - it cannot be fixed at all

here we go ...(for russian readers...i've run out of blue tape ...had to use red one)



With few layers - I increased thickness up to 0.15mm on each side ...



Now it fits in ..and will stay there





Those wrong cables... I played (risky..) with different configurations of them i had....
none would work ...

Then ...for fucks sake ... on PicoPSU there was an additional output for graphic card - P4 format
it is half the required size that needed to connect to motherboard...i just tried it ...
AND IT WORKED !!!! HALLELUJAH ...!!!!!



So ..it all works ... after that i just went finalizing the build ...
with some minor cable management ...- last one was very messy







As noted before - disks are flipped ...
now that i use colored cable - it is visible ..
This is the only one minus of this PC case ...all existing cables are JUST long enough to connect...







And final power up ...
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - WE GOT'M !!!..

power is down to 15watt ...no 20watt...no 35watt...no ...8watt...no ...30watt ..no ...4watt
With new power supply ... it is no longer static 53watt... it fluctuates as PC uses it ... very nice ...
i guess thats the officiency ...

lowest meausured (no disks) were 4 watt ... highest (idle) 35 short bursts
... average ... 15 watt ..


Though - i would notice that right at the boot time .. power spikes up to 120watt ...(4 disks connected)
just for 1-2 seconds ...
So if you are planning to build one - keep in mind that "idle" or "at full power" ... is not yet the max what system can pull out of your PSU




After all - Pico PSU proved to be a complete one..(no extra cables required)
Working with latest mobos that for some reason added an additional power plug ... why?..

(2019-08-07 - update on that - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhAXPnm8BP0 here is why)



Well ...that be all i guess - project is complete - I've achieved what i wanted - NAS with low power.

[Ostap]

that feeling ..when project is complete ...but there is still some beer in the fridge

[Ostap]

if anyone doing some win7 installs
here is some help .... https://sdi-tool.org/download/
this tool has over 15gb library of drivers (and updating)



The tool is brilliant - it found and installed all the drivers for new mobo ...
(what took me couple of days manually...test and try)

except the 3.1USB ...(intel has not released one for win7)
still looking for a modified driver ....

[red3ninja]

This is the only package that leaves no trace of cleaning. From 2017 I use it.

[Ostap]

How to install Windows 7 on new motherboards on NVMe disk

As everyone who tried it already know -
installing old but still very reliable Windows 7 on newer motherboards could be pain in the ass
Drivers are no longer available as easy as before to download - ALL motherboard manufactures simply removed them from their websites
Well - there are still lot of people who would prefer to use it over Windows 10.

I've spent few weeks trying it - there are sure many ways (like for example injecting drivers into windows installation)
But you'll need some experience to do that - and its not always 100% guarantee it will work - just because you might have found the wrong driver or because some other reasons i'm not going to cover in this tutorial) - and each rebuild of install iso - takes precious time !!!
I will though explain a bit cumbersome but working method how to that.

First of all - NOT ALL mobos - will allow you to complete the task.
One i've encountered - is the mobo with H370 chipset - the one i've in my NAS - there are simply NO drivers at the moment that would work
Intel limited support for 3.x USB support time ago ..and this specific mobo has a device that would not accept ANYTHING
(Device ID: A36D)

While X370 chipset does !!!
The H270 chipset mobo - will be tested in couple of weeks (waiting for it to arrive - along with 7th generation CPU)



Before you start - you'll need a few things:

1. USB keyboard - to use in BIOS (just connect it ...and leave it there)
2. USB mouse - same - for BIOS only (keep connected)
3. PS2 keyboard - old one (all mobos have just 1 connection for PS2 - we'll use that very extensively )
4. PS2 mouse - same old mouse with old connection (will be switching keyboard and mouse after installation)
5. SSD/HD - a secondary disk to be connected via SATA - could be anything (an old disk you have laying around)

On that separate disk - upload the Driver installer i've mentioned before - its huge (15gb+) and it comes with lots of drivers to use ...
You'll need them after installation - coz there will be no way to connect anything to the computer ...NO USB ....!!

Step 1 - Prepare the disks

• Burn your windows ISO into some flash drive (if you dont have anything - use Rufus tool for that)
• Copy NVMe drivers onto your freshly created ISO on flash drive - (i've compiled set of drivers you can use - archive contains Intel 6xx NVMe drivers and Samsung EVO 960-970 drivers) ..if none would work - you still have to find one your self
• Make an additional copy of drivers on that second disk ...
  Thing is - windows installations are different ...some will show you your USB root dir - some wont. So in case you wont see copied drivers on USB during installation - connect the second disk
  In case still nothing - check your BIOS ...and set everything in boot section - to Legacy ..not UEFI
  (might need to scroll way down ....to find those settings)
  
  Here are couple of screenshots from Asus and AssRock mobos
  
  
  
  
  

Step 2 - Prepare for Installation

• Connect (USB keyboard, USB mouse, PS2 Keyboard)
• Insert your Flash drive into any available USB slots
• Boot into bios and use (actually any at this point) keyboard to select to boot from flash - i've selected non UEFI ..
  works fine...even though every NVMe manufacturer claims drivers work only when booted in UEFI mode ...lol
• Save and boot into windows installation

Step 3 - Install Windows

• Using PS2 connected keyboard - navigate using TAB ...to select different options
• Since there are no drives available - you will eventually end up at the empty list ...with an option to install additional drivers - Here is the time to use those you've copied ...if you had many - try each one until it successfully installs and you will get your NVMe driver listed for installation
• Rest of the procedure is as usual - let windows complete install ..and wait till it boots into first working screen - you still need to use TAB to enter username , password (if any) during installation

Step 4 - Install Drivers

• Once you're first time booted into windows - shut it down (Windows Key => Right Arrow => Enter)
• Change PS2 Keyboard to PS2 Mouse - much easier to navigate !!! and you wont need the keyboard
• Connect second driver if its not yet connected
• Start - and run the driver installation program from the second disk - it might take few reboots to install all drivers
  (i had to reboot twice) - and don't bother installing the PS2 driver ... ...it will be always listed as "newer available"
  but after all is done - both USB mouse and keyboard worked just fine !!!
• Check your device manager - there should be almost no yellow marks on anything.
  In case there are few ...and driver description says "Cannot verify driver signature" or something like that
  Disable the "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement":
  
  • Reboot windows and use F8 to get into boot menu ...
  • Scroll down to the "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" option - and boot with it - after that all those drivers should be accepted.

This might not be very sophisticated method with drivers injection into boot.wim file
But it works!!! ... you only need some old hardware laying around

Good luck !

[Ostap]

Update on NAS - here is a picture of temps and power consumption after 9 days UP ...)



CPU is usually at 38C...but today (25th July) - we have 37C outside ....

All 4 disks are connected and turning - but idle (power save is disabled)...
total consumption jumps between 4 and 8 (when not doing anything)
and about 10watt when copying To/From the HD disk

That huge passive cooling block - holds temperature pretty well even on hot days !!!

Here is one while playing HD video



Temperature about the same ...power consumption jumps just 2-3Watts up


And this one when compressing with 7z (it can use all your cores



Freaking great !!!!

[Tiho]

love the nas stuff , keep posting

[Ostap]

there will be

I'm upgrading my kitchen PC as well ... waiting for the parts to come

[Ostap]

Final test on NAS

Today with Anton we stressed the system to the max

Anton was unsure about the cooling block - that it would hold up:
(system has only one fan at the back ... rotating at 700+ rpm)





here is the block in question:



Well ... today is the day to see if it can !!! -

I started with this "Prime95" ...and it quickly got me up to 73C



I continued the test for just 3-5 minutes - with max temp @ 77-78C..


Then i was advised to use more common tool such as "AIDA64"
No problem ...

Run again:
This one were more sophisticated and offered time graph
After about 40 minutes - temperature flattened at 70-72...: (minor offset on HW monitor soft)



But that's not enough - first test went above that ...
So I resumed test with "Prime95" (the CPU torture test)

after the "AIDA64" - starting temp was 70C..it kept climbing slow

then came the "Test 2" : (82C)



To see better - i've combined all threads into single window that use all CPU cores ...(option in menu)
and it gave the max 88C result.




The Prime95 test is circular ....it will run same set of tests over and over again
but the max temperature i could get is 88C ..that's the absolute torture of your CPU ...something you will probably never achieve with any software at hand - even zipping with 7z that utilize all your cores - CPU would never go over 65C


So i guess - this cooling block totally passed the test !!!
It was rated "max 45Watt" CPU

[Tiho]

cooking ,lol

[Supersniper98]

Meanwhile I get 70 C easily on a bit more demanding game or task (i have dual core)... I just need to fix the cooling a bit but I am kind of lazy since I will change this PC soon)

(Also I don't trust temperature sensor... I think it's broken... it switches from 100 C to -27 C at times)

[Ostap]

Minor update

After installing HD temperature monitoring software
I've found out how damn warm the NVMe gets

when copying large files ...or doing some heavy conversion work
disk temperature jumps up to 78C !!!!

So after cheking some - i've found that there is a cooler specially made for the m2 drives
Wonder why are they sold without it in the first place if they get that hot ?


Here is the process of installing the cooler :



this is the one - you can find it on ebay for 6$
There are some with ventilators - but i would not advice those ...its an extra noise source and vents are Chinese - will break in couple of months ...









Cooler comes with various size termo pads









Once installed - temp is very reasonable at high load