OK, the problem is simple and very common it seems: - RAIDZ for data storage - low wattage motherboard and CPU, since it will be on 24/7. - mainstream components if possible, to keep costs in control
The motherboard should have at least 4 SATA connectors, preferably more, let's say 6 or 8 to keep it mainstream. For more disks, an extra sata controller (or more) can be added. Here is my understanding: About the motherboard and the CPU, which will almost always be idling: On the AMD side, 780G chipsets seem to be fairly efficient (though they do have a large heatsink, and it does get quite hot). Older processors are quite low power when idling (according to http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-penryn-4ghz-air-cooling,1712-13.html), but Cool'n'quiet is only supported in Opensolaris for later (10h) CPUs, which are more power-hungry when idling (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-phenom-9600-black-edition,1767-14.html). On the Intel side, idling CPU power usage seems rather higher, and mother boards have to do more as the CPUs lack AMD's integration, so the situation is a bit bleak as well. Among the general-public controllers, Maxwell and SIL-3224 -based ones seem to give the least headaches (but still no certainty) if I summarise the posts I have read correctly. Is my understanding correct? What would you recommend? Thanks. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
