Building the 2012 AnandTech SMB / SOHO NAS Testbed
by Ganesh T S on September 5, 2012 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
- Storage
- NAS
Concluding Remarks
The preceding two sections presented the results from the newly added test components using the new testbed. Standalone, they only tell a minor part of the story. In future reviews, we will plot results from multiple NAS units on a single graph (obviously, we won’t be putting the ARM/PowerPC based units against the Atom based ones) so as to get an idea of the efficiency and effectiveness of each NAS and its operating system.
Green computing was one of our main goals when building the testbed. The table below presents the power consumption numbers for the machine under various conditions.
| 2012 AnandTech NAS Testbed Power Consumption | |
| Idle | 118.9 W |
| 32GB RAM Disk + 12 VMs Idle | 122.3 W |
| IOMeter 100% Seq 100% Reads [ 12 VMs ] | 146.7 W |
| IOMeter 60% Random 65% Reads [ 12 VMs ] | 128 W |
| IOMeter 100% Seq 50% Reads [ 12 VMs ] | 142.8 W |
| IOMeter 100% Random 8K 70% Reads [ 12 VMs ] | 131.2 W |
Note that we were able to subject the NAS to access from twelve different clients running Windows for less than 13W per client. This sort of power efficiency is simply not attainable in a non-virtualized environment. We conclude the piece with a table summarizing the build.
| 2012 AnandTech NAS Testbed Configuration | |
| Motherboard | Asus Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA2011 SSI-EEB |
| CPU | 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630L |
| Coolers | 2 x Dynatron R17 |
| Memory | G.Skill RipjawsZ F3-12800CL10Q2-64GBZL (8x8GB) CAS 10-10-10-30 |
| OS Drive | OCZ Technology Vertex 4 128GB |
| Secondary Drive | OCZ Technology Vertex 4 128GB |
| Other Drives | 12 x OCZ Technology Vertex 4 64GB (Offline in the Host OS) |
| Network Cards | 3 x Intel ESA I-340 Quad-GbE Port Network Adapter |
| Chassis | SilverStoneTek Raven RV03 |
| PSU | SilverStoneTek Strider Plus Gold Evoluion 850W |
| OS | Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Thank You!
We thank the following companies for making our NAS testbed build a reality:
- Thanks to Intel for the Xeon E5-2630L CPUs and the ESA I-340 quad port network adapters
- Thanks to Asus for the Z9PE-D8 WS dual LGA 2011 workstation motherboard
- Thanks to Dynatron for the R17 coolers
- Thanks to G.Skill for the RipjawsZ 64GB DDR3 DRAM kit
- Thanks to OCZ Technology for the two 128GB Vertex 4 SSDs and twelve 64GB Vertex 4 SSDs
- Thanks to SilverStone for the Raven RV03 chassis and the 850W Strider Gold Evolution PSU
What are readers looking for in terms of multi-client scenario testing in NAS reviews? We are open to feedback as we look to expand our coverage in this rapidly growing market segment.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
74 Comments
View All Comments
webmastir - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link
How much did this build cost you guys to test?garuda1 - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - link
Ganesh, Thank you for this article. You mentioned that ASUS recommended the Dynatron r-17 for the Z9PE-D8 WS. I have this board and its manual, but found no recommendation.My question is: where did you find this recommendation by ASUS?garuda1 - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
ganeshts,Jeff at Dynatron recommends mounting my two R-17s on my ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS board with the airflow blowing toward the rear of the chassis case – which is 90-degrees clockwise from your orientation. However, it appears from your photo that maybe the R-17 will only fit using your orientation which allows the indentation notch in the heatsink fins to straddle and clear the mobo’s chipset heatsink. Is your orientation the ONLY way you could get it to fit between the memory sticks and both heatsinks? Thanks.
garuda1 - Saturday, March 30, 2013 - link
ganeshts,Jeff at Dynatron recommends mounting my two R-17s on my ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS board with the airflow blowing toward the rear of the chassis case – which is 90-degrees clockwise from your orientation. However, it appears from your photo that maybe the R-17 will only fit using your orientation which allows the indentation notch in the heatsink fins to straddle and clear the mobo’s chipset heatsink. Is your orientation the ONLY way you could get it to fit between the memory sticks? Thanks.