Update 9/2/2011: Unfortunately, despite its continuing popularity, the Chenbro ES34069 has been discontinued by the manufacturer. We are currently in the process of bringing in a replacement product, and expect to see it next month.
Update 5/27/2011: It’s been quite a while since this article was originally posted, but it’s still one of our most popular. Because of the ongoing interest, we’ve decided to bring the ES34069 back in stock, with the 180W power option as standard.
Additionally, we’ll be adding several updated systems based on this case over the next few weeks. We should have an Atom D525/ICH9R system up next week, with a Core i5/i7/P4500 and AMD Fusion options to follow soon. All will have 5-6 SATA (and mSATA PCIe Mini Card SSD support on the Fusion board) ports with onboard RAID to take full advantage of this case’s storage options.
When we first brought in the Chenbro ES34069 NAS case, we were a little unsure as to how popular it would be with our customers. After all, it is extremely large for a Mini-ITX chassis, and rather power hungry (for a small form factor platform) and is a little more highly priced than some of our core cases. However, we were pleasantly surprised. The Chenbro ES34069 has been selling regularly and steadily for several months due to its unique feature set and excellent design.
The Case
Kristina initially reviewed the Chenbro ES34069 back in March of this year, outlining its (considerable) feature set and impressive build quality. She also designed a basic NAS system using the IEI KINO-690S1 mainboard. However, since the KINO-690S1 was our only AMD board with a socketed processor, and because demand for it was unfortunately rather low, we no longer carry the board or the processor. Thus, it became necessary to find an alternative mainboard, and hopefully one that could truly take advantage of the massive storage capabilities and extended functionality of the Chenbro chassis.
Unfortunately, with the KINO-690S1 gone, our board choices were limited. The VIA EPIA SN series had the requisite 4 SATA ports; but its USB headers were in an awkward location, preventing use of the Chenbro’s 4-in-1 Card Reader. Also, the SN has a PCI-express x16 slot instead of the standard PCI, thus preventing the use of the Chenbro PCI riser card.
And, while the SN18000 is VIA’s fastest mainboard in terms of processing power, many customers have preferred the horsepower provided by an Intel dual-core solution for intensive applications like HD playback and content streaming. Overall, the SN is a fine low-power solution for this application, but it simply cannot take advantage of the full list of features this chassis has to offer. None of our other currently available boards have the requisite 4 SATA ports needed to really take advantage of the four hot-swappable SATA drive bays.
The Board
Enter the Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH. I had seen pictures of a prototype of this board at Computex earlier this year, and was intrigued by the board’s wide range of connectivity, its quality components, and Gigabyte’s solid brand name. Now that the 6KIEH has entered full production, we are working with Gigabyte’s embedded division to carry them on our Web site. It is based on the Intel GME965 chipset, which supports Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile Socket P processors from the Santa Rosa refresh and uses the Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics solution. Thus, it should have plenty of horsepower for HD video playback and content streaming/backup.
The GA-6KIEH-RH mainboard is one of the most full-featured Mini-ITX mainboards I have ever seen. It has a heretofore unheard of five SATA ports, four of which can be linked in a variety of RAID configurations, including RAID 0,1,5, and 10 with the onboard Silicon Image 3114 RAID controller. This RAID controller, typically included in outboard hardware RAID card solutions, is an excellent feature for an NAS system.
The board also has the requisite PCI slot, in addition to a Mini PCI and a PCIe Mini card slot with a unique tool-less locking bracket. Both USB headers are well within reach of the short card reader cable, and there is an IDE channel available for a slimline optical drive as well as any additional storage you might need. On the bottom edge of the board below the IDE port lies an extremely low-profile CF card slot, thoughtfully designed so that the card is accessible even after the board is installed. Thankfully, this bottom-mounted component is quite slim and does not seem to cause as many compatibility headaches as most bottom-mounted CF and Mini PCI slots typically cause with our cases.
On the back panel, we have a full suite of video connections: VGA, DVI-D, YPbPr (up to 1080i), and HDMI (up to 1080p) as well as an S/PDIF coaxial audio connector. This means that a Chenbro solution using this board could make an excellent HTPC or multimedia server. The dual Gigabit LAN ports support this, allowing high-definition media streaming, and the four USB ports (plus four more through headers) provide plenty of peripheral connectivity. Gigabyte even thoughtfully provides a punch-out hole on the backplate for a wireless antenna or a TV Tuner card.
The Build
Armed with this strong base, in an effort to build a full-featured NAS/media server system I gathered the following components:
Case: Chenbro ES34069
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz processor
Memory: 2x 2 GB Emphase Industrial DDR2 667 DIMMs for a total of 4 GB (3.25 GB recognizable)
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster EPN-41CSS-01 Core 2 Duo Mobile CPU Cooler
Optical Disc Drive: Panasonic CW-8124-B Slot-Load Slimline CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
System Drive: Seagate 80GB 2.5” SATA HDD (7200 RPM)
Storage Drives: 4x Seagate 3.5” 80GB SATA HDD (feel free to invest in larger sizes as needed)
Accessories: Chenbro 4-in-1 Card Reader; Qcom 802.11g Mini PCIe Wireless Card, Antenna + Pigtail Cable
Building a system in the ES34069 is a complex task. The case has been described by some of our build team as “over-engineered” for a reason. Certainly, it is durable and well-constructed, and every component is secured to the case by a plethora of screws, clips, and connectors. Components are often locked into place behind other components, and connectors can be hidden underneath or behind brackets. This means that any components installed out of order will result in you assembling and disassembling parts of the case multiple times during the system build… as I discovered during my initial compatibility test!
Thus, planning and thinking everything through is even more important with a Chenbro build than with many of the other systems we sell here at Logic Supply. If you really want to spare yourself the trouble (and it can be a lot of trouble) we do offer a “Build and Test” service where we will assemble your system ourselves, as well as run a full CPU burn and memory test. Check our FAQ for more information about the “Build and Test.”
After removing the case side panel and sliding the motherboard tray out a few inches, the most important and delicate step is removing the front panel. After removing the four hot-swap hard drive trays, it is necessary to pop loose the five plastic clips that hold the front panel in place. With some units of this case, this is relatively simple; with others, I have found that it can be necessary to loosen the clips from the back.
Unfortunately, loosening them from the back requires a lot of work; you have to remove the mainboard tray entirely (which includes threading all of the cables through the cable management holes,) remove the DC board, then pop out the lower pair of SATA backplane boards in order to reach the clips from behind. If you are not careful when removing the front panel, you will break the clips that attach it to the case, preventing it from locking in place properly ever again.
Regardless, once the front panel is off, installing the 4-in-1 card reader requires removing both brackets that hold the optical drive in place. Once that is completed, it is a simple matter to attach the card reader to the appropriate slot with a pair of screws, then plug in the data cable that connects it to a USB port on the mainboard.
Next, I recommend installing the 2.5” system drive while the optical drive brackets are still detached and out of the way. It mounts by popping it into place so that the screw holes on the drive line up with a pair of extrusions on the inside of the front panel. The drive is then secured with a pair of small screws.
Once this system drive is in place, the optical drive bracket can then be screwed back into place. Then, the optical drive itself can be snapped into place in its removable tray (it locks in with no screws!) and slid into position. The IDE adapter board screws to the back of the drive with a pair of included screws, and then it’s a simple matter to run an IDE cable from the adapter board to the mainboard. I used a round cable to ease cable management woes.
Mounting the mainboard to the mainboard tray is thankfully quite simple, and connecting all of the various cables to the onboard headers is made easy thanks to Gigabyte’s thoughtful labeling and color scheme. Unfortunately, the ES34069 has a lot of extra LEDs to monitor LAN activity and HDD usage for each individual drive, but there are no headers for most of these LEDs so I just connected the primary HDD and Power LED connectors to the appropriately labeled pin headers on the board and routed the other connectors out of the way.
With the system drive, mainboard, and 4-in-1 card reader in place, I could re-attach the mainboard tray. (Don’t forget to replace any brackets or SATA backplane boards you removed in order to get to the faceplate clips!) From there, it’s a simple matter of connecting the various onboard cables to the board connectors. Make sure that the case’s four red SATA cables (labeled 1 through 4) are plugged into the four purple SATA connectors on the mainboard, as those are the four ports connected to the Gigabyte board’s internal RAID controller. The SATA 2.5” system drive connects to the yellow SATA port on the board, and the included SATA power to Molex plug provides power to the system drive. The 4-in-1 card reader cable plugs into one of the yellow USB pin headers, and the front panel USB cable attaches to the other.
I installed a Qcom Wireless LAN 802.11b/g PCIe Mini network card and wireless antenna and pigtail at this point. Conveniently, Gigabyte has included an appropriately-sized antenna punch-out on the backplate for a standard SMA antenna connector… this will support everything from TV tuner inputs to wireless LAN. After all the onboard cabling is connected, it’s merely a matter of routing cables around the sides of the board and out of the way of the CPU cooling fans and venting holes, then snapping the front and side panels back into place.
The System
Voila! We now have an NAS (Network Attached Storage) or media server built. The HDMI and YPbPr outputs enable the system to interface with nearly any HDTV at up to 1080p resolution. The coaxial S/PDIF will send 6-channel audio to many home theater receivers. And, with 4 3.5” drives, you will have plenty of storage for media files… you can even use the optical drive to digitize your audio and video media collection so you don’t have to change DVDs or CDs.
If you are more interested in the business applications of a small NAS like this Chenbro/Gigabyte system, its small size, relatively low power use, and configurable RAID controller create a secure, power-efficient data server that can be placed in a corner and forgotten. You can even install a light OS such as Windows XP Embedded or Ubuntu Linux on a CompactFlash card, install it in the slot on the bottom of the mainboard, and leave the system to run as a backup appliance.
System Testing
Unfortunately, there is no current driver support for Windows Vista for the onboard Silicon Image 3114 RAID controller, so if you’re hoping to get a Vista Home Premium HTPC (Home Theater PC) set up, you’re out of luck till December, which is when Gigabyte has told me that they hope to have the appropriate drivers ready. This means that installing the RAID drivers can be bit of a headache if you don’t have a floppy drive handy as Windows XP requires that any third party RAID controllers be installed via a floppy drive prior to installing the operating system.
Since the ES34069 has no connector (or place) for a floppy drive and I have no USB floppy drive on my test bench, I was unable to get a RAID array running in time for this post. Thus, I have not been able to measure the real hard disk performance that such a setup can offer. However, I could test the basic functionality of the system, as well as it’s performance using JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks) instead of RAID.
I am not a big fan of system benchmarking, as it is a drawn-out and slightly bothersome process that can often offer inconclusive (or biased) results that just aren’t useful when evaluating a system for a specific purpose. So, I have put together a small set of more “real-world” tests to get a basic idea of how well this system might perform in the sort of situations and conditions it might be subjected to.
Finally, I was not really able to effectively put together a networking test for the system, as evaluating such a setup would depend on a myriad number of factors not necessarily based on the capabilities of this specific unit. The dual Gigabit LAN connectors featored on this mainboard should offer plenty of network capacity; indeed, it is extremely likely that other components of the system would cause a performance bottleneck before the LAN when faced with taxing file transfers.
Test 1: CPU Burn in a Sealed Box
Because storage or media systems such as this one are usually tossed into a corner, a cabinet, a closet, or a sealed entertainment center, it is worth determining whether or not the system can handle heavy-duty operations for an extended period of time in a small, closed environment with little airflow.
For this test, I used our own in-house testing software, which has a CPU burn functionality that stresses a CPU far beyond what is considered a normal operating load. This software is normally used to test all of our outgoing completed systems, and is designed to catch systems that could have thermal problems.
To simulate the sealed environment of a cabinet, I placed the system in a small, sealed enclosure, and left it overnight in a standard CPU burn. When I came back this morning to check on it, the onboard temperature reporting software reported an operating temperature of 62 degrees C on the CPU and a system temperature of 45 degrees C, which is within our operating temperature requirements for the system components. Since the CPU burn stresses the heat-producing parts of the system far more than almost any real-world application would, I would certainly say that the system has passed.
Test 2: Video Playback (HD and DVD)
Since one conceivable home use for this system is as a media server/HTPC, it is worth determining how strong video playback performance can be overall. During full-screen playback of a 720p .wmv video file, CPU usage maxed out at around 12% overall, and showed less than 50 MB of system memory in use throughout the file’s playback. Thus, although I wouldn’t use the onboard Intel GMA X3100 graphics to play high-end games, it appears to be more than sufficient for video playback.
Playing a standard DVD on the system was a similar story. Using VideoLan’s open source VLC player, CPU usage peaked at 15% and memory usage peaked at 60MB briefly. There were no skips or stutters. Unfortunately, I do not have a Blu-Ray drive handy to test true hi-definition streaming media; however, something tells me that this configuration should be able to handle even that taxing load.
Conclusions
After my (admittedly small) battery of real-world tests, I can conclude that this system really can make an excellent small form factor NAS, HTPC, or media server. The GME965 platform on the Gigabyte 6KIEH mainboard is more than capable of handling HD video and DVD playback, and the system kept within a reasonable operating temperature during its overnight CPU burn in an enclosed box.
Unfortunately, due to space constraints (this post is getting quite long already!), I was unable to detail the procedure for installing RAID on the system by “slipstreaming” the necessary drivers onto a Windows installation CD. This allows the installation of RAID drivers without using a floppy drive. I will cover this operation in a later post, when I can get into more of the details of setting up a RAID array in this system.
Bill and Jeremy: We’re currently testing a mini-ITX mainboard with the NVIDIA ION system that has (4) SATA and a full PCIe x16 slot. Branding hasn’t been established yet so I can’t release any details yet, but keep an eye on our blog for more information in the next week or so.
Also, Bill, If you need a C2D at 2.66GHz, I’d recommend calling our sales team on June 1st to see what they can do for you.
I was considering building a system using the Chenbro ES34069 case, the Jetway NC-81lf, and an AMD 45W chip to use as both NAS storage/backup and as a media server with an HDTV card in it. In this case, the tuner card is a pcHDTV hd5500 card (http://www.pchdtv.com/hd_5500_right_down.html).
So the question is, since the PCI riser doesn’t expose the back of the PCI card outside the case, is there enough space where the card does sit to route a coax cable from the card to a coax jack or f/f adapter mounted in/sitting in the coax punch-out? Same for potentially routing the audio/video I/O cable?
So i have had this case for about a year now, and love it. Running windows home server perfectly. Just recently it’s started to make a high pitched sound, even with hard disks pulled out. I think this is the PSU, the brick does not make the sound. Have anyone on here see \ got this issue?
Cheers
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I have a question which you guys probably know the answer for i just bought the 120 watt version from a local store and i was wondering if i could change the adapter to that 180watt you guys were selling on the same case….
i really hope so else im screwed!
Hi Jeffrey,
The Chenbro ES34069 comes with a 180 watt DC board and by default, a 120 watt AC adapter. We sell the 180 watt AC adapter on our site here: http://www.logicsupply.com/products/pw_19v9a5. You shouldn’t need to change out your DC board unless the place you purchased it from gets a different version of the case.
I hope this works for you!
Kristina
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Hi, I would like to purchase this great case, with Zotac geforce 9300-itx wifi motherboard. I have not seen any issues nor any existing config with both, can you tell me if it is ok or not? Thanks for your help! I would also order PCI-E 16x riser card and 180W power supply, do you think it’s possible to find PCI-E SATA card?
does anyone have any info on the connectivity of the IR sensor from this case? how does it relay to the mobo, via USB headers or what?
Philippe: The 9300-ITX is a great HTPC motherboard, but since we don’t do anything with desktop-based systems, I can’t tell you if it will work or not. If I had to guess, I’d say that it will probably fit just fine but you’ll have cooling issues. Check the guys over at http://www.avsforum.com – they have a dedicated 9300-ITX thread and someone there might be able to give you a better idea of whether or not this is an advisable build.
Sarith: The ES340069 does not come with an IR sensor. The item you’re referring to is actually just an IR LENS – you will need to add your own sensor. Depending on your use, it might be preferable to use an external IR receiver (Antec makes one that works well, and I’m sure there are others) rather than leaving the door open on the Chenbro case to use an internal sensor.
Hi,
I’m planning to buy the Chenbro case and had some discussion on the avsforum.com about the config I could put in it. Also, after reading this board, it seems everybody agree that the Intel DG45FC consumes too much power the 120W brick can handle. I had many discussion in avsforum and it seems the E7300 Core2Duo CPU (rated at 65W) consumes around 25W only. Also, no one here considering the DG45FC MB talked about the CPU he put in it! I know the MB can consume more (I can’t find any number though). Given that every configuration is for a given purpose, I’ll tell you my goal and configuration hoping to know what do you think of.
My goal is to have a Backup system without any RAID (don’t need always-online, just backup) with SMB/NFS sharing and UPnP streaming capabilities being able to serve files and services (web, photos, surveillence videos) over WAN as well as LAN. High performance isn’t my goal as long as HD streaming is supported.
In addition I want this system to be a basic HTPC i.e. HDMI sound/video, read smoothly HD contents (Blu-ray, 1080p) and record digital-only contents (no compression) via a USB TV tuner. Here is my conf:
- Core2Duo E7600, 3.06GHz, 1066MHz, 3MB, 65W or
- Core2Duo E7300, 2.66GHz, 1066MHz, 3MB, 65W
- Scythe Big Shuriken CPU fan
- Intel DG45FC motherboard
- SSD: Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2
- Corsair Twin2X 2 x 2 Go DDRII PC8500
- 2x WD Caviar Green S-ATA/II 1000 Go – 32 Mo 5400 rpm (to start)
Questions:
1/ Do you think the Scythe Big Shuriken CPU fan is possible in the Chenbro case ?
2/ No one talked about SSD and 5400rpm “green” HDD! what do you think of given that file server performance is not my goal – just low power and silence for backup and HTPC uses.
3/ I didn’t do the math but do you think 120W isn’t enough? How about 180W power brick?
Please note that I won’t use any PCI/PCIe card, no WiFi (maybe via USB but probably Ethernet to the router and then WiFi)
Many thanks for your answers
Nalooti
Nalooti:
We don’t test or sell any of the products you mentioned, so I really can’t tell you whether or not this will work. In my opinion, you would be much better off using a mobile or embedded CPU; I think you’ll find features comparable to the Fly Creek board on the Jetway NF93 or the Gigabyte board used in this article.
As for your HDD selection, I think this is a great choice – I would also choose to run an SSD for the OS and two low-power HDDs.
Regarding the power brick, if you go with a 65w CPU, I would think you would want the 180w brick. Of course, you can always try it with the 120 and buy the 180 later if needed.
I’m Dutch and my Englisch is not so good. So don’t be mad
Hi, I have a question.
In this review (part 2) the Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH is choses as mainboard.
This choise is over 1 year old. So my question is: Is there a newer mainboard witch is better than the GA-6KIEH-RH ??
Ihage: Despite being somewhat dated, the 6KIEH is still one of the only Mini-ITX mainboards with five SATA ports, meaning that it can take advantage of all four 3.5″ drives in a RAID configuration plus a 2.5″ drive (or CF+ODD) for the OS.
Other options would be the Jetway NF76 with RAID daughter card, or a GM45-based board with an internal half-height PCI card. The IPX7A would be another option for a low-power board with a PCIe x16 slot.
FYI: Your English is fine, but feel free to post in Dutch and we will make our CEO respond
@Tony F.
The mean reason of my message placed december 2009 is the lack of sata300 ports. The 6KIEH has sata150. (BY THE WAY: THE PRODUCT PAGE OF THE 6KIEH STIL GIVES WRONG INFORMATON.)
Today I saw that Zotac introduce a mini-itx H55 motherboard. The ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi. This board maybe is better than the 6KIEH. Because it has 6 sata300, E-Sata, Wifi, ddr3 and a pci-e x16-slot (Chenbro can deliver a pci-e x16-slot riser card).
This motherboard can be the base of a Lan(game) computer and also a htpc/home server (Only the power consumption is a little bit high I think??)
Maybe you can publish a review on your blog ?? I have some suggestions that need a answer.
- Power consumption (with and without an additional video card and with several different CPU’s)
- The performance with codec’s and video formats 1080 (blue ray playback)
@Ihage: Thank you for the correction on the speed of the SATA ports – the product page was created based on Gigabyte’s spec sheet, which, at the time was somewhat vague about this spec. Ports 1-4 are controlled by the Silicon Image 3114 chip, which, as you pointed out, only supports 1.5Gbps – we will have the product page corrected by the end of the day. Port 5, however, is controlled by the ICH8M, and does support 3.0Gbps transfer speeds, which is where our incomplete spec information came from.
We won’t be carrying or reviewing the Zotac board because it uses a desktop processor, and, frankly, I would not recommend it in this case. Currently, the lowest TDP CPUs in the Clarkdale family are rated at 73W – more than twice the mobile Core 2 Duo CPUs that we’ve tested. On the plus side, the H55 chipset is only 5.2W but that’s still about 30W more than a mobile setup.
You can get a pretty good idea of the total power draw simply by adding up the max wattage of the CPU, chipset, hard drives, and optical drive. Newer HDDs and slim ODDs don’t draw much power, so you could probably just barely get away with the 180W version of the Chenbro case.
I don’t think any of the new Clarkdale CPUs will have trouble with HD content, including Blu-ray discs. I’m sure Anandtech, Tom’s Hardware, and the other usual suspects will have benchmarks for you pretty soon.
Dear Tony F.
Thanks for your fast reaction.
I didn’t know that the 6KIEH has 1 sata300 port.
This 1 sata300 port can be used for the system harddisk.
One of the reasons I would buy the 6KIEH is the Silicon Image 3114 chip. Normaly this chip is embedded on raid-cards and can offer great functionality. For only storage the sata150 ports a more then enough.
You can forget the hole ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi story. I don’t wanna use the zotac if it cann’t fit in the chenbro case for power reasons.
The marked for mini-itx is booming big.
What about the recently announced Zotac NM10-DTX? It’s supposed to be a DTX form factor and the Chenbro ES34069 I think can support DTX. Does anyone know if this board will work in this case?
The board has the following attractive specs:
-Intel Atom D510 processor (dual-core, 1.66 GHz)
-2 RAM slots for up to 4 GB
-1x Gig Lan
-1x 802.11n
-1x VGA
-HDMI (720p)
-2x 3Gb SATA
-4x 3Gb SATA (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5)
-1x 3Gb eSATA
-Sound: Analog-5.1 HD Audio; Digital-Optical & Coaxial S / PDIF outputs
-10x USB (6 on back panel, 4 via pin header)
-Cooler: Zero-noise cooling passive
@ Paul
The Chenbro case doesn’t support DTX.
Beacause the Zotac NM10-DTX has 720p I can’t use it for a HTPC.
@ihage
I made a mistake in my post the board is a mini-DTX and according to Chenbro’s website it supports mini-DTX.
http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=79
Anyone have any experience with mini-DTX with this case or any comments about it?
Anybody?
Sorry, Paul, I can’t help you with the Mini-DTX, though if I had to guess I would say it would probably fit.
On a related not, I think we have an excellent replacement for the 6KIEH, the Jetway NC64. The spec sheet says it has 4x SATA + 1x eSATA, but the picture on the spec sheet (and the engineering sample I just received) has 5 SATA ports, plus the eSATA port. This board uses an NVIDIA chip (MCP79MH w/ GeForce 9100M GPU) similar to the one on ION boards, but is paired with a Penryn Core 2 Duo instead of an Atom. I/O is very media oriented. I think this might be the perfect media server/player setup.
@tony f.
That Jetway NC64 sure looks interesting. Any idea when it will be available?
Called the Jetway office in CA to ask about the 5th SATA connector on the NC64, they said it is eSATA. Hmmmm… never seen an on-board eSATA connector like that. I’m guessing it simply a SATA connector that shares the channel with the rear panel eSATA port.
Any idea when you guys will start selling the NC64? Does this boards support Win7 x64?
We’ll be selling it as soon as it’s available from Jetway
Hopefully that will be by early March.
As for the eSATA, I think Arjen has assessed the situation correctly – it simply shares the eSATA channel. Whether or not you can use both at the same time (port multiplication) is currently unknown, but I’ll be sure to test it.
You guys have an impressive selection of mini-ITX boards!
I have the Chenbro 34069 case, but perhaps you can help me pick a suitable board for my needs? This PC will be used as a home file server, and it will also run a lightweight Windows based PBX from 3CX. It will not need to do any heavy lifting for e.g. media apps or games.
I’ll need a board with 4x 3GB SATA ports for the drives in the Chenbro case. I was also hoping to use a spare 2.5″ SATA laptop drive for the OS, but since boards with 5 SATA ports are hard to find, I suppose I can opt for an IDE drive for the OS.
I am contemplating using Windows Home Server as the OS, but I’m leaning more towards Windows 7 64 bit. 4GB of RAM will do nicely.
And my final requirement: I’ll need this PC to run very quiet, so it will need to stay relatively cool at lower fan speeds (with a room temp of 75F-80F). That will probably need a low power CPU, I don’t care if that is Intel/AMD/VIA or mobile/desktop. Price is not a primary concern.
The Gigabyte board is nice…but the 1.5GB SATA ports bug me. And I don’t really want to wait for the Jetway board (don’t have the patience for patience).
Based on those requirements and your experience, would you recommend a certain board/CPU combo?
Arjen,
I’d recommend the NF76-1G6 with the ADP4S RAID daughtercard. You’ll only get support for 2GB RAM, but it will handle a 64bit OS.
Otherwise, your best bet will be a Core 2 Duo mobile board with an add-on RAID card.
I’m going to read up on the VIA Nano a bit. Thanks for the reply!
Looks like a good option. Can’t find much info on that Jetway add-on RAID card. I’m wondering if it would allow me to set up 2 separate arrays of 2 mirrored disks, instead of having to combine all 4? Also, would the fanless version of that board with the 1GHz CPU suffice you think? The less power/heat/noise the better.
Never mind. Found some more info on that card and it lokos like it would let me create 2 separate RAID-1 arrays. But it says clearly on your product info page for the SATA daughter board that it is not compatible with the NF76-N1GL-LF. Bummer.
If I have to go for a board with a fan, I’m debating waiting for the new NC64 Jetway board with a 25W Penryn. My concern is power consumption and heat, since it will be running 24×7. Any guess as to how much more power the NC64/Penryn combo would consume over the NF76-N1G6-LF?
I think I have found the perfect MB for a NAS in this case, a Supermicro X7SPA-H/HF
Nothing fancy like sound, it’s their “Value Server Platform”.
Intel® Atom™ D510 processor
6 x SATA – Intel ICH9R SATA 3.0Gbps Controller
RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support (Windows Only)
HF model has IPMI 2.0
They sell it in a Mini 1U Chassis with:
Power LED
Hard drive activity LED
2x Network activity LEDs
System Overheat LED
So it might even be possible to make use of all the LEDs on the Chenbro ES34069!
It would be awesome if Logic Supply could look in to this board!
Oki I have consulted the manual for the Supermicro X7SPA-H/HF and it does indeed support all the LEDs on the ES34069, and it has lots of stuff that makes it the the perfect combo for a powerful NAS.
But it has a 24-Pin ATX Power Connector (+ 4-Pin) and the ES34069 only has a 20-Pin if I am correct? It probably works anyway (?), but does anyone know if its possible to upgrade the PSU in the future?
Whoa…how did you find that little gem. Great find! Decent price too around $175, $200 for the version with Matrox video. I think I am going to give this a try!
Arjen: Pleas report back if you do!
I purchased the H version since I don’t need the additional BMC hardware for system monitoring/management, and I’m guessing that the Matrox VGA chip would make it more difficult to find good drivers.
The board installed without a hitch, fits perfectly. The Chenbro ES34069 has the extra 4-pin plug to support both 20-pin and 24-pin power headers, so no issues there. The Supermicro board has all the headers for the front LEDs in the case, these work nicely. The only thing it does not have is a header for the “MUTE” switch on the front. Not sure what the use of that is anyway.
This Supermicro board “feels” like a high quality, industrial board. Given that it is fanless, and after changing the voltage on the rear two 70mm fans from 12V to 7V, this case/board combo is pretty much noiseless.
I like it…I think this board is a great match for the Chenbro ES34069.
Would you mind taking a photo of the motherboard I/O Back Plate? A picture with it installed in the case would be perfect!
I would like to try to fit in a DWA-556 wireless network adapter over the ethernet ports… it probobly wont work, but it would be nice if it did!
The Supermicro X7SPA-H/HF is a nice board.
And when this board has had a mobile CPU and HDMI it was the Perfect mainboard
@Pär
http://tinyurl.com/y89mgve
http://tinyurl.com/yz3my4k
http://tinyurl.com/ygrpnnz
Note that this Supermicro board does NOT have on-board audio. For your wireless adapter, you could also consider using a short wireless USB stick and plug it in the on-board USB socket. There is about 45mm clearance between the PCB and the case, about 38mm between the top of the USB socket and the case.
@Arjen
Thank you for the excellent pictures and info! Don’t know how my NIC plans will pan out, but this case + mobo looks like they where made for each other!
I agree, at least for many purposes. For an HTPC the Gigabyte or the upcoming Jetway or Zotac boards will obviously be the better choice. But I am using it for a home file/backup server running Windows 7 64-bit. It also hosts my home office PBX (3CX). Performs flawlessly for that purpose. I’m very satisfied with this Chenbro case + Supermicro board combination. Quiet, low power, plenty fast for my purposes. Looks great too!
@Arjen,
for the X7SPA: do you happen to have tested it @Raid5? i haven’t found any review yet of the ich9 performance *with* detailed CPU load (which should be high for write mode)
@Arjen, for the X7SPA-H is there room to fit a slim CD-ROM drive? It looks like those SATA connectors would be in the way.
No…sorry..I’m not quite comfortable with the notion that RAID5 drives do not necessarily transfer to a different chipset. I went for full redundancy and portability with two 2TB drives in RAID1 mode. And that seems to perform nicely. Haven’t benchmarked it, but file transfers feel plenty zippy to me.
@Arjen, how about fitting a slim CD-ROM in there?
@Scott: Yes that should work. I didn’t put one in there because I used an external USB CD-ROM drive. But the case has a space reserved for a drive. It’ll be a tight fit above the SATA connectors on the board though, you may have to go with right-angle connectors.
2 questions
1-
Does someone know what the power efficiency is ??
Is it comparable with pico power supply’s.
Because pico’s are the most efficiency power supply’s
2-
Does Logic Supply also deliver in the netherlands ?? And what are the extra costs ??
@Arjen,
I’m reading the manual of the X7SPA-H board, and it states the 4-pin power connector is dedicated to supplying CPU power. But if I look at your pictures, it doesn’t seem to match with the one in the manual. How did you connect the power headers?
20-pin supply -> 24-pin header
4-pin supply -> 4-pin header
(this is what I thought it should be)
or
20-pin supply -> 24-pin header
4-pin supply -> 24-pin header
(this is what it looks like from you picture)
Hi
has someone ever tried to use the CF slot on the Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH as boot device.
Does one of you know where to get the board quickly. Takes 4-6 weeks to get it in Germany.
Getting to the the front panel clips from the back does not require removing the DC board or SATA backplane. Just take a long flat-head screwdriver and reach in through the drive bays. You still have to remove the mobo tray, however.
@Lieven,
The power supply in this case has a 20-pin connector, plus two different 4-pin connectors. One of those 4-pin connectors combines with the 20-pin connector to plug into the 24 pin header on the motherboard. The other 4-pin connector is unused on the X7SPA-H, despite what the motherboard manual says. There are solder pads on the board where that header would go, but the header is unpopulated.
In Arjen’s first photo, you can see the unused 4-pin connector in the top left corner. The unpopulated motherboard socket is hidden underneath the wires from the 20-pin connector.
Because this motherboard has no fan, and the case has no fan in the motherboard compartment, I went ahead and installed the slowest, quietest fan I could find (SilenX IXP-34-08). So far I really like this case + mobo combo.