BUILD Questions on my atom C2558 build with Fanless PSU

[Ricky]

Hi all,

I'm building the following FreeNAS box:

• Motherboard + CPU: Supermicro MicroATX A1SRM-2558F, $266.67
• Memory: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3L 1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM 240-Pin Server Memory, $161.10
• PSU: SeaSonic SS-460 460W Fanless Platinum series $129 [Updated July 20, 2014] Seasonic G450W, $74.99
• Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-NODE-804-BL Black, $109

I have two questions:
1. Atom C2558 provides 4 core, max TDP 15W. I'm not sure if this little guy can do a heavy lifting like video transcoding on the fly.

2. I have not used Fanless PSU since my old Apple II. According to SeaSonic page, it has up to 92% efficiency. It will be great to save my electrify bill. But is it reliable to run in 24X7 case?

Any comments are appreciated.

[Updated July 20, 2014] After looking up online, it turns out that at low power load such as 20W and 50W in my NAS case, the efficiency of pricey fanless is no better than G450W.

[Updated July 21, 2014] Thanks for all your comments. Regarding to PSU, I'd choose Seasonic G450W. Neither Seasonic Fanless version nor Pico PSU can beat G450W significantly in efficiency at low load.

Here are candidate setup in Google Drive Spreadsheet. Xeon and C2758 are overkill in my usage. I'd go for solution 3 and 5.

 

[Rand]

1.) No idea;) Take a look at the other Avoton threads, most use the 27XX version but at large (+-20%) they should be comparable, not sure what the CPU Frequency diff is if any (i only know 4:8 cores and the X8 models have some extra stuff where i am still not sure whether it can be used with regular OS's)
2.)
92% efficiency is a peak value at load between 50% and 80% more or less - thats 230 Watt load for your version - what do you think will create 230 Watt load in your setup?;)

Ppl need to stop looking at Peak efficiency and take a closer look at the curves. Get a smaller (gold) PSU, there are lower wattage ones - if your worried about fanless then get one with a fan, but usually unless its hot, you have no cooling and heavy load it should be fine.
The 804 should have ample space to set up cooling.

 

[Nindustries]

I have a C2750D4I with a Seasonic 400W Gold PSU and the fan of the PSU basically never needs to turn on. (5 drives atm)

Pick a good Gold PSU, platinum will never win your money back.

 

[Ricky]

@Rand thanks for your comment.

1. The extra stuff called Quickassit acceleration seems to related to cryptography acceleration. I'm not sure if FreeNAS can use it, either. But both of them enable AES-NI instruction set, which FreeBSD does support in encryption. This atom series CPU has no GPU. So I doubt it can support video transcoding very well. I looked it up the forum. There are threads on C2*58 build. But it is all about data transfer speed. Personally, I believe home NAS doesn't need more than 4 cores CPU. Unless running virtualization, it would be an overkill.

2. Thanks for point to it out. I did not know efficiency is related to the load. I will do my research deeper on this PSU. I still believe that fewer fan would be better.

15W (CPU) + 5W (WD red 3TB) *4 =35 W /0.9 (efficiency) = 38.8 W. I still can beat Synology DS415+ (https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/spec/DS415play)

 

[Ricky]

@Nindustries That's a good point on PSU if fan never run there is no need to buy a fanless one. I can't find Seasonic with 400W. The closet one I can find is G450W. But there is no specs on efficiency. In any case, I will think about changing PSU.

My last concern is media transcoding. If you install Plex, do you experience problem when do video transcoding on the fly with this atom cpu?

 

[indy]

I have the Platinum Fanless with 400W in the server and with 520W in my desktop.
Things I like about them: fanless, efficient at low loads, modular, clean power output
Highly recommended :)

 

[Nindustries]

@Nindustries That's a good point on PSU if fan never run there is no need to buy a fanless one. I can't find Seasonic with 400W. The closet one I can find is G450W. But there is no specs on efficiency. In any case, I will think about changing PSU.

My last concern is media transcoding. If you install Plex, do you experience problem when do video transcoding on the fly with this atom cpu?

I checked my order receipt, and the PSU is listed as:
Seasonic OEM 400W SS-400L2U 80+ Gold (SS-400L2U)

Regarding transcoding, you might want to check this topic.

 

[Ericloewe]

Heads-up: You're buying full-sized DIMMs, but that board only takes SO-DIMMs.

As for the PSU: Seasonic's G-Series is very highly regarded. Not as good as their high-end stuff, but it puts everything else to shame (except Delta) at these capacities. I'm running a G-550 in my server right now, but the G-450 is plenty for up to ~13 HDDs. The G-360 would be even better for a small server that'll never have more than 10 drives, but it's not semi-modular, all cables are fixed.

 

[Ricky]

@Ericloewe It is different from that mini ITX which is used by many enthusiasts in forum. It requires 240 pin UDIMM. (see specs here).

@indy and @Ericloewe , I did some research on what 80 plus grade means. It turns out that efficiency really depends on the load. (See wikipage).

If I buy a 400w PSU, maximum load is around 10% in my NAS (given 15W CPU + 20W = 4*5W WD red 3TB). However, there is no specs on efficiency for 10% load except 80 Plus Titanium. I did a simple extrapolation for them. When 10% load, gold may be 84% while platinum may be 88%. That is around 2W difference = 35W/0.84 - 35W/0.88. Assuming NAS full load 24X7, it will consume 17.52kWH per year = 2W * 365 *24 /1000. Given $0.15/kWH in NC, it can save me an ice coffee per year. My conclusion is to go for PSU gold low power one, given that fanless platinum high price.

But is Seasonic gold 400W reliable in the 24X7 long run?

 

[Ericloewe]

@Ericloewe It is different from that mini ITX which is used by many enthusiasts in forum. It requires 240 pin UDIMM. (see specs here).

Oh. Is that a new model, or was I just completely oblivious to that model's existence? In any case, I should've seen it was different, since it said microATX.

But is Seasonic gold 400W reliable in the 24X7 long run?

Seasonic is as reliable as it gets. I'm not sure that specific model fits in your case, though... I'd stick with an ATX PSU.

 

[Ricky]

I checked my order receipt, and the PSU is listed as:
Seasonic OEM 400W SS-400L2U 80+ Gold (SS-400L2U)

If your setup is the same as the link in your signature, you are using server chassis. That PSU is for server. I don't think it fits for my case.

 

[Ricky]

I found an interesting post about how PSU perform in low load ( see link here )

When load is at 22 W, the best efficiency is top at 77%. Seasonic 400 fanless can reach 72%.
When 50W, the best efficiency is top at 87%. Seasonic fan 82%.

Even at full load, my setup with 4 WD RED won't consume higher than 50W. While most of the time will be lower than 20W. Ironically, while intel is pushing TDP to 15W, the PSU simply screws up everything it tries to achieve.

I have a second thought on building NAS now. Basically, there is no differences to buy a 15W C2578 or 20W C2758 in terms of energy consumption.

 

[Rand]

There are other PSU options - Go to http://www.silentpcreview.com ;) and check the PSU section

 

[Nindustries]

If your setup is the same as the link in your signature, you are using server chassis. That PSU is for server. I don't think it fits for my case.

Ah right! Sorry, didn't see that.

 

[Ricky]

There are other PSU options - Go to http://www.silentpcreview.com ;) and check the PSU section

Thanks for your link. At low load such as 20W and 50W, Seasonic Fanless 460FL2 is no better than Seasonic G450W. See chart here

 

[Rand]

I was refereing to Pico PSUs;)

 

[Ricky]

I was refereing to Pico PSUs;)

I can't find Pico PSU provides enough SATA power connectors.

 

[cyberjock]

No, you have to use a power splitter. Do be warned that the starting current from disks, if you have enough of them, can overpower a PicoPSU and burn it out. So be careful how big of a system you plan to go.

 

[Rand]

Right.
Though if you plan to stay at 4 drives then it shouldnt be too much stress i assume

 

[cyberjock]

There is no numerical value for "too much". If you buy one of those PicoPSUs thats 60w, 4 drives will blow it up. 4 drives on the 160w might be okay.