The STORAGE MONSTER build (water cooled)

[MaFi0s0]

Budget is around 4-5k.
Surplus up to 4k will be spent on HDDs that will fit in a seperate tower in a nice raid configuration, for media storage and system backups.

I have been meaning to build a watercooled PC for a long time now, I actually got parts ages ago but never put them together and then lost them.

I wanted my last build to be SSD but could not afford it at the time.
I am still using that build which I had posted about in another thread, it is a compact tower which in hindsight was not a good idea, big slow fans > small fast fans in a cramped space.

I am going to be using 2 towers 1 upright and 1 side ways for the HDDs.

Build highlights:

A Lian Li or antec big tower for plenty of quiet airflow and a seperate tower for many HDDs.
Best Watercooling parts for minimal noise and maximum OCing.
SSDs in Raid 0
12GB RAM for future-proofing of ram-drive usage for gaming such as MMOs. (Its 2second load time vs 15-30second load time for RAMDRIVE vs SSD apparently)
Some type of remote access for turning the computer on and off if possible from across the room and controlling fans by remote.
Sound deadening inside towers.

CPU, GPU will not be the top models although latest architecture, both watercooled, with an external radiator.

Aiming for build to be completed Mid June.

Priorities are quality HDDs and SSDs and quietest water pump possible.

Not sure where I will start right now. Any input, suggestions, constructive criticism are welcome.

[Scubar]

How many HDDs are we talking here and what on earth do you need it all for ?

[MaFi0s0]

I got about 2TB in use at the moment.

I thought 1 TB would be enough years ago, and I would of imagined we would be up to about 5 TB HDDs by now possibly even 10TB (HDDs are really lagging behind optical storage in growth). (boo no layers for magnetic discs)

I constantly have to uninstall old games, the 2TB is just all media that has built up over the years.

I have started storing stuff exclusively in HD and FLAC rather than SD material and MP3. I am not a fan of optical discs to carry around and also the slow read speeds.

My current raid 0 config which is about 6 years old now makes noises on cold mornings :/ So I would like atleast 1 Raid 10 configuration for peace of mind, preferebly all in raid 10 just so I can xfer over from build to build without worrying about the HDDs age.

I have my windows drive backed up on an external 1TB(so 3 TBs total) HDD I bought one day which I hate as it needs its own power supply, is noisy and an inconvenient due to it being external.

I am imaging about 8-10 HDDs total or atleast having the room to upgrade space easily down the track.

[SuperPossession]

Might I suggest http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811152212 (72!!! 2.5" Drive bays )
Or for a more budget friendly choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811219033
20 3.5" HDD bays

[ORL]

Well first and foremost you need to decide on the total physical count of HDDs to fit your needs. This is important as your PSU is going to have a major part in choosing components. Having a large number of disks can require a substantial amount of overhead output due to spin up load on the PSU.

From here you need to decide on what this system is going to do on the level of multi tasking(most people with this level of storage use their PC as a server to the home). If you are anything like me your PC/Home server will be feeding video to a TV, Running a Game, Playing Music, Housing multiple virtual OSs as well as several other programs and tasks. This will determine your needs in the CPU and Memory. If you plan on using a Ramdisk for games purchasing even more than 12Gigs would be advisable as many games are now leading in excess of 10Gb installed. This causes other issues to with powering off your PC etc but we can discuss this later.

Generally speaking in terms of multitasking physical cores trumps virtual cores on the CPU but its a bit more detailed than that which we can also cover once you answer these items.


So how about we start here then!

What kind of true worst case scenario tasks will this perform at the same time? Please list all your software.

How many physical disks will you settle on?

Do you plan on Water cooling the HDDs? (This matters with a large number as you will need additional power for additional fans/pumps)

What do you really want from your RamDisk and SSDs?

[Scubar]

8-10 HDDs is pretty easy amount.

I previously have been using a Lian Li 343B as i needed it for a storage server using 500GB drives at the time. easily holds 16 HDDs with 6x 5.25" slots left over for other things.

Of course now i have all of that compacted into a MicroATX case with 6x 2TB drives providing me plenty of storage for the moment.

[MaFi0s0]

8-12 HDDs not cramped.

Worst case scenario for me would be, running a game, watching a movie while downloading and uploading, I find the HDD i/o is a massive bottleneck on my current build for me.

I dont run any virtual OSes or do any big proccessing.

I do do programming though with a couple programs at the moment and I just want everything to be very snappy, even with lots of I/O from the system going on in the background. I have had to stop downloads in the past while working.

Water cooling the HDDs is something I cant really decide for myself, I would want to do it if it will make the system more quiet overall and if the plumbing can be modified to allow additional HDDs, I imagine this might be a decision I will come to regret somehow.


The Lian Li 343B is nice, I would need to have it on top of my desk though as I dont have room to just put it on the floor, I have attached a drawing of what I have to work with, I just took measurements and it should be okay with a few inches of overhang on the right side of the desk and with the 32" monitor on an extendable wall mount.

Ideally though I would want one with a lower center of gravity or something only as high as a normal tower is wide as this could be placed in the middle of my desk and not block the TV.

Originally I was thinking of a large tower where my small tower is now (disadvantage is sound reverberating in that small enclosure)
and the HDD tower undernearth the 32" screen laying flat.

The 32" screen is at an angle to the larger screen.

[MaFi0s0]

Is it possible to have a normal tower, watercool it and rest it sideways with the radiator on the side (what would otherwise be top of the tower). So I can put my 32" monitor on top of that.
I think thats my best bet, and have a medium tower full of HDDs where my tower is now.

[Jahova]

I think your bottleneck will be the network speed. Maybe installing a second ethernet card and an additional wireless card will provide the serving speed you want to do the LAN/DMZ work and Internet work simultaneously.

I know, they claim 100Mbs and 1Gbs stuff, but I have yet to see a network card hit those speeds, even with CAT6 STP cable.