Hi Everyone,
I just finished up the newest edition to my home network and I wanted to share some specs/photos, along with some advice for anyone thinking of doing their own.
First, the specs:
Case: In Win BL647 SFF mATX Slim
Mobo: ASRock QC5000M
Ram: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB
HDD: Samsung 320GB HDD
NICs: Intel Quad Port I350T4, Intel I210
Wifi: TP-Link TL-WDN4800
OS: pfSense
Ok, so I guess just a couple of quick thoughts before I dive into the build log photos for folks that are thinking of doing their own.
- Noctua fans are rad, use them :)
- pfSense has a ton of neat features: proxy, firewall, virus scan, traffic shaping (ie, prioritize games over torrents, etc)
- Save yourself some money and just get two one port NICs... I got a one port and a four, thinking I'd set up the box as a switch too. pfSense can bridge the connections (and I have), but you'll get an easier setup with better performance with a dedicated, unmanaged switch.
*also, the photos show an SSD installed, I later swapped it out for a HDD I had laying around as SSD's are not ideal for pfSense
**if you want to see the build log of the NAS go here (Ultra-Silent Server in New Lian-Li Q26 Case)
Ok, on to the build log:
The case:
The case open:
And, breaking it down:
Replaced the stock fan with a Noctua fan, added some sound dampening material on the top and bottom to make sure the plastic shroud that holds the fan doesn't rattle:
The motherboard installed:
Found a creative little spot to stick a 60mm Noctua fan for airflow directly across the CPU heat sink:
With NIC's installed, all ready to be closed up:
TV cabinet before (I like to call it my server case haha):
TV cabinet after:
The final setup with ARRIS SB6183 and Netgear GS308 Switch:
All closed up:
Lastly, I just wanted to share a current shot of my main rig/setup... I'll do a build log on this soon as I'm going to be doing a tower upgrade.
*one more.... received the Polk Monitor 60's from Newegg today (snached them for $99/ea)
