Hardware recommendation needed (Mainboard)

[Chaosphere64]

Hi folks,

I am currently in the planing stage for a new FreeNAS system and need a hardware recommendation mainly for the motherboard. I have already built a Mini-ITX system based upon the ASRock E3C226D2I that I am pretty happy with. But the new system will be located at a spot where noise is not acceptable and CPU power is not the main focus so I was looking for a passively cooled system like the ASRock C2550D4I. But during my research I found that the Intel Atom C2000 family has a design flaw so that I have to look in another direction it seems.

My requirements for a new FreeNAS system mainboard are as follows:

- Form factor Mini-ITX
- Passively cooled
- Support for 32 GB ECC RAM
- Two Ethernet Ports
- Remote Management Port (IPMI, BMC or alike)

Do you have a recommendation for this setup?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad English (not a native speaker)!

 

[Ericloewe]

You're never going to be able to have a silent server. Unless you go with SSDs instead of HDDs, the most noisy part of the server is going to be the hard drive cooling.

 

[danb35]

A completely silent server is pretty unlikely, though you can get them pretty quiet. A couple of hard disks won't make much noise, but if that is tolerable, there are some pretty quiet CPU coolers out there too (heck, even the stock Intel cooler isn't bad). But I thought the C2000 issue had been resolved with a firmware change?

 

[Chaosphere64]

You're never going to be able to have a silent server. Unless you go with SSDs instead of HDDs, the most noisy part of the server is going to be the hard drive cooling.

You are right and that's exactly what I am going to do. Just did not mention it in my initial posting. The system is not aimed to be completely silent, just to be "living-room-friendly".

 

[Chaosphere64]

A completely silent server is pretty unlikely, though you can get them pretty quiet. A couple of hard disks won't make much noise, but if that is tolerable, there are some pretty quiet CPU coolers out there too (heck, even the stock Intel cooler isn't bad). But I thought the C2000 issue had been resolved with a firmware change?

Oh, ok. I didn't know that, and both ASRock Rack Mainboards I checked did not get a firmware update since. Is there an alternative mainboard available, e.g. from Supermicro or some other vendor?

 

[danb35]

Sure, the A1SAi-2750F and the A1SAi-2550F.

 

[Ericloewe]

A completely silent server is pretty unlikely, though you can get them pretty quiet. A couple of hard disks won't make much noise, but if that is tolerable, there are some pretty quiet CPU coolers out there too (heck, even the stock Intel cooler isn't bad). But I thought the C2000 issue had been resolved with a firmware change?

No it's not a firmware fix, but it has been fixed. The firmware fix was for the BMC bug that destroyed the BMC flash.

 

[Chaosphere64]

Sure, the A1SAi-2750F and the A1SAi-2550F.

Great, thanks a lot, I will take a look at them!