Low-power home server ideas?

Aloha,

So far, I'm running an ASRock E350M1 with an E-350 (dual core 1.6GHz), 8GB DDR3, 3 drives (ranging from 1.5 to 4TB), and the OS sits on an Intel SSD 120. It’s sluggish—and pulling about 55W while running. I’m using Windows Server 2016 with one VMware VM running Windows 10 32-bit. Everything works, sure, but man, it crawls. It’s not a total disaster, but it's annoying as hell.

I’ve been eye-balling the ASRock J4205-ITX which packs a Pentium J4205 (quad core up to 2.6GHz)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J4205-ITX/

What’s the verdict? People over here say power draw hits 17W at 100% CPU load. Even running just Linux with a single drive or maybe even just a USB stick, it still pins the CPU at 100%.

Most of my drives stay in sleep mode, but let's say all three are cranking away—that's maybe another 15W. Total would be around 32W. Still a solid 20W drop compared to my current setup.

The only thing missing on this new board is an M.2 slot for an extra drive (it has an M.2 slot, but only for a WiFi card, which I don't need)—not a dealbreaker, though...

Anything else I should be looking at?

What’s your CPU usage looking like most of the time?

Actually, does a server even need a beefy processor? If you grab a weak one and redline it at 100%, you're pulling maybe 20W... but you could just go with something like https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i5-13400-Processor/dp/B0B6T9S7ZJ

Then you'd be sitting at 50% capacity, drawing about 25-30W, while still having plenty of headroom if things get heavy... Plus, there are all these energy-saving tools to cap power consumption. Honestly, I'm not sure it even makes sense to look at those low-end chips anymore...

Since you’ve already got 8GB of DDR3 sitting there, you might as well grab a used motherboard with a Pentium or a Celeron. Anything with more kick than what you're running now or that low-power Celeron would be a win. Honestly, an extra 20W of power draw isn't going to matter in the grand scheme of things.

I’m running an AMD setup right now, but I’m eyeing a Pentium—specifically a quad-core up to 2.6GHz, not some weak Celeron. I definitely need more muscle for my server since this current rig is struggling to keep up with everything. Hard to say exactly how much more power I need—most of the time it's just idling or ripping through torrents—but when I actually remote in and fire up a VM, I want it to actually work. Nothing crazy, just not crawling like it does now. That G4560 mentioned above is beefier, sure, but it’s got a 54W TDP and pulls about 20W at idle, which is way higher than the J4205, which sits around 9W even under full load.

Those Pentiums you're eyeing? They're closer to old Intel Atom chips than anything resembling Haswell architecture. Honestly, they're pretty weak—mostly just meant for cheap netbooks and stuff.

Look, if you grab something like $133, you're getting a board and CPU combo that'll actually outperform that Quad Celeron in most real-world scenarios.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/motherboard-listing-example

That 11W difference is negligible. You'll end up paying way more for an ultra-low power setup than you would for a used motherboard paired with a beefier processor. And what are you actually saving on your electric bill? Maybe $17 a year.

That Celeron doesn't have any VT support whatsoever. Alright, let's break this down—look at the motherboard separately from the CPU. I need a low-power CPU that actually supports VT functions for VMWare, or maybe I'll just force myself to get some kind of ESXi setup running...

EDIT: looks like this CPU from the link actually does have basic VT support after all.

I don't know how you're planning to evaluate the CPU if those quad Celeron chips are soldered straight onto the board.

Processors and motherboards in that tier—think H81 paired with a Celeron G1820 or a Pentium—are all over eBay. You can find them easily under $167 just grab one and be done with it, whereas this other setup is way harder to come by.

Man, I thought it was a solid move—I'm totally writing off that Intel Celeron J4205 now since I thought it’d be a decent upgrade. But looking at what's actually out there—buying a motherboard and CPU separately—it still ends up pulling way too much power at idle.

Honestly, I think the Intel Pentium G4600 is the way to go—2 cores, 4 threads, 3.6GHz, plus VT-D support—paired with some LGA1150 board.

Check out this video I found:

With the motherboard, SSD, two drives, and RAM, we're looking at an idle around 16-17W once those disks spin down.

Think this could be killer.

Whether you grab a Pentium G4600 or a G4560, it’s basically the same thing.
It’s a solid pick for a Home Theater PC and fits your needs perfectly, but you’ll have to shell out for new RAM since I highly doubt you'll find a motherboard that still supports DDR3.

The LGA1150 socket is way cheaper on the used market, and you already own the RAM.

I was totally planning on just buying everything brand new, but honestly—maybe I'll take a look at some used gear instead.

David Parker93 said:I was leaning toward buying everything brand new, but maybe I'll take a look at the used market instead.

If you're set on going new, an Intel Pentium G3930 should be plenty. It ought to handle HEVC if you're planning on playing HEVC encoded movies and stuff like that.

The reason I suggested used gear is because you've already got 8GB of DDR3 RAM sitting there, and buying more of that stuff isn't cheap right now.

Nah, this machine is a home server, not a Home Theater PC. I care about virtualization, raw CPU muscle, and idle power draw. I checked out that Intel Pentium G3930 too, but it lacks Hyper-Threading—and honestly, I need that just for my own peace of mind, even if it’s more about performance than anything else. 🙂
As for an HTPC, I’ve already got an i5-2500k paired with an Nvidia GTX 1050 ready to handle UHD via HDMI 2.0.

I'll either sell the DDR3 or toss it into my HTPC, which I also use for gaming. Right now it's running 4x2GB DDR3, so I could probably swap to a 2x4GB + 2x2GB setup.

So you're telling me a Kaby Lake Pentium Best Buy is the move? Fine. That's actually a decent little chip. You aren't going to find that kind of processing power on those cheap quad-core Celerons or whatever else is out there.

Alright, thanks for the tips. It didn't cross my mind that these newer Celerons and Pentiums for standard sockets could pull such low idle power—though honestly, you really should've known that 🙂