I have my server in a Fractal Define R4 which is great, but it has a huge footprint considering it’s right next to my main PC.
I want to reduce the footprint but still have drive expandability to an extent. A couple reqs:
Must be able to accommodate ATX motherboard, full size PSU and a PCIe gfx card.
Space for 4 rusty disk drives.
Tall enough for the air cooler on my FX-6300…which is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 at 25mm. I suppose if I had to get a lower profile cooler, it’s not the end of the world.
I like the look of the cube style cases, but I’d have to do a substantial hardware overhaul for many of them.
Quiet operation isn’t a high priority, so if it doesn’t have acoustic panels it’s not a big deal.
For ATX support + drives, well, there really isn’t that much more to do with the form factor. The Jonsbo C5 Black / Silver could be something, clocking in at ~35 cubic decimeters (liters) and a cost of ~$95:
Also, the Sliger Cerberus X at 24 liters could work, if you order it with two extra 3.5" brackets, though do double check it will work, first. Cost is $285 with drives though, but, I would say that is as small as you can make it:
If you are willing to move down to mATX, there is also the $140 Fractal Design Node 804 for which should tick all your boxes, and do also have a look at the mITX Node 304, as well as quite a few Jonsbo cases if mATX / mITX is an option.
Ok, still not sure how low a low-wattage machine is, but if you are fine with something that idles at ~20W and goes between that and ~50W, then, here is the el-cheapo combo:
This does not come with a case or PSU, but Jonsbo has some pretty good mATX cases, and the Fractal Design Node 804 is still a really nice NAS case. You also might want to go with a less stock option cooler. One final thing to note is the lack of ECC support.
I would go for an mITX build though and squeeze that size down further to a Node 304. YMMV.
For ECC support I would instead go AM5 today, this is just about the cheapest build for that:
Note: The above memory is NOT ECC, but PC Part Picker does not show any ECC memory for DDR5 at the moment. In other stores I have seen 32 GB kits go for ~90 dollars so the above kit is an approximation of that. If ECC memory is truly important to you, only buy that MoBo and CPU.
There is also the Supermicro H13SAE-MF which has a ton of nice to have server features, but I have not been able to find a good pricing quote for that. if you can get it for below $200 I would recommend that over Asus, as Asus is kind of a crappy brand lately.
Both of these should be sub-100W, at the very least. The Ryzen I think is more efficient but also more expensive, as always, YMMV.
