Old CPU New NAS

[fatbloke69]

I am thinking soon of performing a major update on my system soon (depending on when I can be bothered/have the cash) and it will pretty much be a complete upgrade), this will as usual leave me with many pieces of old hardware cluttering my desk and shelves so i was thinking about how I could reuse what I had.

 

I threw out the idea of a HTPC (My PC is linked to my TV already), most of the family members I would donate to either are already making use of my old hardware, or (for the younger members of the tribe) are console peasants,  and so am considering setting up a household NAS 

 

The CPU is an FX 8350 (I saw something suggesting underclocking down to 2.0Ghz to reduce temp/power usage)

 

The system currently has 32GB of RAM (oh for the good Old Days when that cost me less than £100)

 

Undecided on if I should dump the current full ATX MB and move to an ITX Build (50/50 on small space vs drive capacity in the case) either way I will am going to need a new case

 

Also  looking at the possibly completely passive cooling, or using v quiet fans(Depending on where I install the machine sound may be an issue)

 

Do peeps think this is a genius / meh / shallow end of the gene pool idea? or have any suggestions or other ideas?

[Uncle64]

Get rid of the stock cooler and get one better cooler for your CPU.

My self is using one Wrait Cooler for my 6350. It was worth the cash.

[Guest]

Do not use passive cooling.

Get some big fans that can turn slowly to reduce the noise.

 

For the CPU you still need an active thermal drain system.

But if you use it as NAS, then go as passive cooling, and max the CPU at 1GHz.

You will not need its power.

[flatliner10]

Well the FX series are great for Undervolting, you might even be able disable a few cores in your BIOS/UEFI.

I've seen some of them going as low as 1,25V while STILL being overclocked. 

Just put a silly huge cooler on it (does not even need to be a new one, an old Athlon XP cooler might fit) and run its Fan at at min speed.

The stock cooler is not totally bad, but noisy a.f.

 

I'm currently running my 6350 @ 4,2 GHz @1,35V and its not even the best one around.

Have a Be quiet Shadow Rock Top Blow on it, stays way below 60°C and is basically inaudible (just how i like it), my HDD is louder when spinning up.

With undervolting/underclocking/core disabling one can get away with a smaller cooler, just don't skimp on the coolers surface area or the Fan.
 

Going completely passive is risky, you will never know when your OS decides do do some update or heavy lifting.

You would need to test beforehand, if your passive solution is sufficient under sustained load.

You probably wont need all of your RAM either, might throw out half of it, for re purpose or selling it on ebay.

Can't really talk about NAS, for i never made a dedicated NAS, they always did other stuff in addition, like Hosting a local Website in LAN, providing a Gameserver,
streaming something, Capturing Video, or running Bittorrent.
But i guess one would hardly need much CPU power at all (unless you do virus scans on your NAS)

Come to think of it, been a while since a turned some old junk into a File/Videoserver for the living Room.
Is there any substitute for the old Windows Media Center Edition? Maybe on linux?

[wokking56]

On 8/8/2018 at 8:46 PM, fatbloke69 said:

I am thinking soon of performing a major update on my system soon (depending on when I can be bothered/have the cash) and it will pretty much be a complete upgrade), this will as usual leave me with many pieces of old hardware cluttering my desk and shelves so i was thinking about how I could reuse what I had.

If you are at all handy you could do what I did after my last (near total) upgrade. I built me an arcade machine with all the old parts, getting the emulators is still quite easy but some of the roms are getting hard to find.