Mini-ITX Build (for a file server/SSH/telnet/what have you) - Hardware & Software

I've been thinking about building a little server to run this and that off of, and I want it to be tiny. (It's a bit of a gimmick, but I love it.) My budget is fairly flexible, considering I can always buy over a few weeks, with a few hundred each week being safe, but even upwards of $600 one week and less the next being fine as well. I'm in the Midwest US. Newegg is my place of choice. All I've got that I could reuse is some RAM: DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 2GBx2 to be precise, some G.SKILL sticks. I've got a GTS 250 as well, but I really don't need to use it. My focus, more or less, is on aesthetics. Lian Li looks to be pretty good, been checking out [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112227]this one[/url] for a day or so. But, if I want to go for something small, I really love the way [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154090]this one by APEX[/url] looks. My only real preference is for ASUS, Intel, and I'm thinking about having a small SSD/large HDD combo, if the size allows. Working some kind of controller panel to the front, for fan speed or other information, would be great as well, or perhaps a card-reader to give me some freedom in retrieving data. I'll probably go with some server/console Linux distribution, considering I won't need anything Windows really offers, and I won't even need anything graphics-wise. And yes, I know this is fairly odd, but sometimes... you just want to do something different for the hell of it. [SUB][SUB]P.S. I haven't kept up with any computer hardware and am fairly lost when it comes to current terminology, sadly.[/SUB][/SUB]

How much overall are you looking to spend to?

Well, like I put in the OP, I'm good with spending upwards of $600 at one time on parts. That could be all I need to spend, but if there's more, then I'll probably be fine with it. [editline]19th January 2013[/editline] I have a decent paying job, so money isn't much of a worry for me.

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for: [URL]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=22124966[/URL] Give or take some of the ram or hd. The case is slightly larger than the OP's Lian to accommodate the amount of hd.

Well, I don't really have plans to store too much, and if I do hit that point, I'd be fine with just getting a larger drive and moving the, then old, one to my desktop. One thing is that I don't like having bright LEDs on, and it seems the case and fan controller have both been said to have rather obnoxious lights. Everything else looks good to me, however. [editline]19th January 2013[/editline] I may want to go with a modular power supply, however. Less cables, the better. [editline]19th January 2013[/editline] Though, maybe there aren't any modular ones for Mini-ITX.

If that's the case then haft at it with the PC-Q07. And my mistake with the list of I posted up here. The ASUS I posted doesn't support a Xeon CPU so here's some worthy runner up: [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130673[/URL] [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121694[/URL] Unless you would rather go with an i7/i5 with that ASUS. Here's another fan controller but it's more expensive for the same thing: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811995075[/url], could go with a card reader for the external 5.25 slot.

The MSi board looks good, and the reviews seem fair as well. Just need to find a case to fit this stuff into. Just going to go with the SSD and a 2TB WD Black, instead of multiple HDDs.

Would something like this work? It allows an ATX PSU, which means you can get a PSU that is modular. [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119261[/URL]

I think I'll survive without a modular PSU, so this case might be good for me. [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339[/url] Of course, I can't tell if it'll allow mounting the SSD, or if I need to get some conversion to fit it in there. No real experience with SSDs up to this point, to be honest. [editline]19th January 2013[/editline] Would there be much of a perfomance issue if I went from a server motherboard/CPU to just a desktop one? I can't inherently tell the difference, except that they're each made for a certain use.

[QUOTE=Seiteki;39284176]I think I'll survive without a modular PSU, so this case might be good for me. [URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339[/URL] Of course, I can't tell if it'll allow mounting the SSD, or if I need to get some conversion to fit it in there. No real experience with SSDs up to this point, to be honest.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure it can mount a SSD in there. It as space for 2.5 (same size SSD I linked you) and 3.5 (Regular SATA drives). [QUOTE=Seiteki;39284176]Would there be much of a perfomance issue if I went from a server motherboard/CPU to just a desktop one? I can't inherently tell the difference, except that they're each made for a certain use.[/QUOTE] There shouldn't be much (if any) of a performance hit (with CPUs with the same amount of power) at all unless you're planning on running a game server or such on it all day. Here's a small discussion on it: [URL]http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/325678-28-xeon[/URL] I just listed parts as to comply to a server specifically, some small servers actually use i5/i7 depending on their needs/affordability.

I suppose I can go for broke and get the server-related parts now. The list comes down to this so far. [url]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=21435845[/url] Of course, this is more than I was expecting, because of the server parts. I don't expect to be running a game server anytime soon, and if I do, I could easily just upgrade by then, considering I'd be most likely clearing out everything else in the process.

Well there is no [B]real[/B] point to getting server parts for a small file server. You can easily replace the Xeon with this i5 ([URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115089[/URL]) with this pair of ram ([URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161452[/URL]).

And, if I'm going off a desktop motherboard, I've got the RAM I can reuse. It was only in my current desktop for 6 months at max, and I've kept it in a plastic case that my new RAM came in since the swap.

[QUOTE=Seiteki;39284517]And, if I'm going off a desktop motherboard, I've got the RAM I can reuse. It was only in my current desktop for 6 months at max, and I've kept it in a plastic case that my new RAM came in since the swap.[/QUOTE] Yes you can definitely reuse that ram. 4 GB is more than enough to handle a file server. Main reason for a Xeon is for ECC memory support, very useful if you're going to run scientific processes all week. Updated my list if you went with regular desktop parts (no ram): [URL]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=22124966[/URL]

I think I'm going to try going without an SSD for now, just see how things work. Like I said, it's going to be doing very basic tasks, I don't think I need to worry about TOP SPEEDS or anything. [editline]19th January 2013[/editline] I just remembered the $400 deposit I'm going to get back from Verizon sometime this month, or early February. I should wait and put that all towards a build, on top of what I'd want to spend.

[QUOTE=Seiteki;39284854]I think I'm going to try going without an SSD for now, just see how things work. Like I said, it's going to be doing very basic tasks, I don't think I need to worry about TOP SPEEDS or anything.[/QUOTE] Hope I've been a help for you and hope things turn out well. :)

Yeah, I'll come back to this thread once I've gotten that rebate in the coming weeks. Should help out quite a bit in the "I'm not sure if I want to spend that much" category.