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    Intel Mini-ITX Atom 8-core Hardware Build Recipe Available Here

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • R
      redpine
      last edited by

      Got all the parts, but the SSD and fans.  Got IPMI up and running and PXE boot (once I have the SSD I can actually finish the install).  Going to do a PXE boot install of Centos and then install Xen and the PFSense in it's own VM.

      Looking at IPMI it showed the CPU running at 50C, and that's just sitting their idle.  Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.  Is this normal my other fan cooled boxes show 32 C at idle

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      • D
        dopey
        last edited by

        @redpine:

        Looking at IPMI it showed the CPU running at 50C, and that's just sitting their idle.  Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.  Is this normal my other fan cooled boxes show 32 C at idle

        That's a little bit high.  It's still in the safe range for that cpu, but mine was running in the 30s fanless and in the 20s with a few 40mm fans.

        What's yoru ambient temperature?  What does the system temp read?

        The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

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        • R
          redpine
          last edited by

          The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

          Brrrrrr.  Mine is 74f.

          Fans aren't here yet, but that's ok.  It'll take me a while to figure it all out, before I throw it in the garage and hook it up to the internet.

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          • ?
            Guest
            last edited by

            Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.

            Thats pointed to the VM I think. With a native install it would be like the others here
            told around and much less hot.

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            • MikeV7896M
              MikeV7896
              last edited by

              @redpine:

              The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

              Brrrrrr.  Mine is 74f.

              Fans aren't here yet, but that's ok.  It'll take me a while to figure it all out, before I throw it in the garage and hook it up to the internet.

              I keep my place at 76-78 during the day, and fanless at near idle, my 2558 board would run ~35-40. Adding one of those 40x40x15 fans has brought it into the mid-20's.

              These numbers are based on pfSense's reading (from the CPU itself via coretemp). The IPMI sensor always reports warmer than the CPU's own sensor on my board. Right now, pfSense (coretemp) is reporting 25 degrees, while IPMI is reporting 30 for the CPU.

              The S in IOT stands for Security

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              • ?
                Guest
                last edited by

                is reporting 25 degrees, while IPMI is reporting 30 for the CPU.

                I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
                point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
                runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

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                • D
                  dopey
                  last edited by

                  @BlueKobold:

                  I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
                  point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
                  runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

                  The supermicro c2758 does not come with an active cpu cooling fan.  It's a fanless board.

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                  • R
                    robi
                    last edited by

                    @dopey:

                    @BlueKobold:

                    I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
                    point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
                    runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

                    The supermicro c2758 does not come with an active cpu cooling fan.  It's a fanless board.

                    Yes, indeed.

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                    • R
                      redpine
                      last edited by

                      Found these 4 pin 40x40x10 fans.  But they didn't come with mounting screws.  Anyone know which mounting screws would fit these?

                      Thanks

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                      • R
                        redpine
                        last edited by

                        @BlueKobold:

                        Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.

                        Thats pointed to the VM I think. With a native install it would be like the others here
                        told around and much less hot.

                        VM wasn't installed yet.  That was just boot up with no OS, 50f, which seems high for doing nothing.

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                        • D
                          dopey
                          last edited by

                          I just got around to ordering the parts for a third NAS (using an Atom D2550 - i don't need performance, just need it to be cheap and work fairly well) and it occurred to me that the supermicro also has an internal usb port.

                          I notice most people doing this build, seem to be using an SSD, and it never occurred to me to just use a flash key and pfsense embedded.  Is there a reason why most people on here have been going hte SSD router and not the usb flash route + embedded route?

                          @redpine:

                          Found these 4 pin 40x40x10 fans.  But they didn't come with mounting screws.  Anyone know which mounting screws would fit these?

                          Thanks

                          Standard 10mm long fan screws should work.  They're the "fat" looking screws:
                          Something like this should work:
                          http://www.amazon.com/Black-Computer-Case-Screws-Pack/dp/B00785I5ZM

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                          • P
                            pfcode
                            last edited by

                            Question about installing the fan,  Should I install and let it push air in or pull the heat air out?  There is a arrow (out/in) indicator on the fan made me confused.

                            Release: pfSense 2.4.3(amd64)
                            M/B: Supermicro A1SRi-2558F
                            HDD: Intel X25-M 160G
                            RAM: 2x8Gb Kingston ECC ValueRAM
                            AP: Netgear R7000 (XWRT), Unifi AC Pro

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                            • D
                              dopey
                              last edited by

                              I'm sure someone with a ME degree and a working knowldge of thermal and fluid dynamics could probably tell us exactly the best way to arrange vans, but my rule of thumb has always been, something to pull in cool air, and something to push out warm air.

                              The M350 has alot of ventillation, so that' sprobalby not critical but what I ended up doing was putting two fans on the fan bracket blowing down at the cpu/ram/motherboard and one fan on the front blowing outwards.

                              My case is mounted on the wall so that if you're looking directly at it, the backplate is on your left and the front face is facing to the right.

                              This allows the top fans to pull in cooler air from the room, and the font fan to vent out.

                              It probably would have been better to mount it so that the front face was facing upwards, but I didn't want to worry about weight on the power cord unplugging it over time since that would be on the bottom.

                              I probably overthought it :)

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                              • R
                                robi
                                last edited by

                                @dopey:

                                I notice most people doing this build, seem to be using an SSD, and it never occurred to me to just use a flash key and pfsense embedded.  Is there a reason why most people on here have been going hte SSD router and not the usb flash route + embedded route?

                                I'm using two of the c2758 boards with CF-to-SATA adapters running from 4GB CF cards the NanoBSD version.
                                Much better than the SSD, imho.

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                                • P
                                  pfcode
                                  last edited by

                                  @robi:

                                  Much better than the SSD, imho.

                                  in terms of ?

                                  Release: pfSense 2.4.3(amd64)
                                  M/B: Supermicro A1SRi-2558F
                                  HDD: Intel X25-M 160G
                                  RAM: 2x8Gb Kingston ECC ValueRAM
                                  AP: Netgear R7000 (XWRT), Unifi AC Pro

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                                  • D
                                    dopey
                                    last edited by

                                    @robi:

                                    I'm using two of the c2758 boards with CF-to-SATA adapters running from 4GB CF cards the NanoBSD version.
                                    Much better than the SSD, imho.

                                    Why CF to sata?    why not just get a decent USB key and plug it directly into the internal USB port.

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                                    • R
                                      redpine
                                      last edited by

                                      @dopey:

                                      The M350 has alot of ventillation, so that' sprobalby not critical but what I ended up doing was putting two fans on the fan bracket blowing down at the cpu/ram/motherboard and one fan on the front blowing outwards.

                                      It's an open air case, so it's best to have all fans blowing inward.  Closed air boxes have a design for how air moves, so usually you blow air from one side and suck it out the other side.  Open air have no path for moving air since air can come and go anywhere.  Best to have them all blowing inward.  Outward facing fans will suck air from the side and not move much from inside.

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                                      • ?
                                        Guest
                                        last edited by

                                        Why CF to sata?    why not just get a decent USB key and plug it directly into the internal USB port.

                                        There are so many options for storage devices out at these days that everybody could be lucky to go
                                        with his favorite one.

                                        • SD card, CF card, CFast card
                                        • SATA-DOM
                                        • SSD-DOM
                                        • mSATA
                                        • M.2 SSD
                                        • SSD/HDD
                                        • USB 3.0 pen drive

                                        several adapters types
                                        CF & Cfast card adapters
                                        CF card closed SSD enclosure
                                        2,5" SSD CF card dummy adapter
                                        SD Card to CF card RAID adapters
                                        Addonics CFast to SATA Adapter Bracket - To Suit PCI Slot

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                                        • R
                                          robi
                                          last edited by

                                          @pfcode:

                                          @robi:

                                          Much better than the SSD, imho.

                                          in terms of ?

                                          In terms of all what NanoBSD gives you compared to the full install. Upgrades done much more securely and with less downtime.

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                                          • R
                                            robi
                                            last edited by

                                            @dopey:

                                            @robi:

                                            I'm using two of the c2758 boards with CF-to-SATA adapters running from 4GB CF cards the NanoBSD version.
                                            Much better than the SSD, imho.

                                            Why CF to sata?    why not just get a decent USB key and plug it directly into the internal USB port.

                                            Define "decent"  ;)

                                            CF technology is used by far more often in professional environments, it proved during the years to be a reliable choice in many industrial areas.
                                            USB sticks are more for home use. I don't really trust them. At least, I couldn't find any reference of any USB stick to be "industrial grade" used as bootable device (booting USB stick is often a "hack", rather than an officially supported mechanism, it's heavily dependent on motherboard BIOS implementation, while booding from PATA/SATA is a standard)

                                            Also, I installed a special CF-to-SATA adapter which has an opening on the case, thus allows me to replace the CF card if needed, without having to remove the device from the rack and open it.

                                            But, nevertheless, imaging a 4GB USB stick with the NanoBSD image, and booting from it, works with this motherboard (I tested it successfully with a Verbatim USB stick. Installing packages was slower on the same machine than when using with CF-to-SATA and a CF card).

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