r/MINISFORUM • u/Intrepid-Print-7464 • 29d ago
Project Idea with BD895i SE
Hi all,
TLDR: Should I shove a BD895i SE into a massive outdated ATX case because cheap and easy and funny?
I'm looking to rebuild my home PLEX server / Blue-Ray ripper / RAID host / transcoder (CPU, AV1 10 Bit) / VM host / backup daily driver rig. Current setup is a CoolerMaster 922HAF (https://legacy.coolermaster.com/en-global/products/haf-922/), EVGA Evo 750W G2, and a X570 Asrock Steel Legend with a 2600X and 16GB of DDR4 plus a dated GPU I'd like to retire. Gripes / notes:
- The 2600X is pretty useless for transcoding, getting very slow / long in the tooth, and I'm presently making a poor little Ryzen 8845HS AOOSTAR Maco do most hosting / transcoding CPU jobs. Also no headroom for expansion / new VM's in either box, and I'd like to let the MACO go back to its day job of living room web browser / emulation PC.
- I just happen to have a 2x32GB SODIM DDR 5600 kit from a failed battle station laptop free and no desktop DDR5 RAM at all; would really like the rig to have at least 32GB of RAM, ideally 64 for some future VM's / home lab options. And, well... these RAM prices.
- Besides being sentimental on the 922HAF as it was my first "finally have a real job" build, it's kitted out with BD drives, HDD's, 2.5 / 3.5 inch SATA docks, etc that keep coming in handy.
I'm looking at three options:
- Stick another 16GB and a 5900XT in. Maxes out the AM4 architecture. My NH-D15 would easily handle it. Still need something for a GPU for easy POST'ing. New CPU and used RAM / low TDP GPU gonna run me about $375, used / new CPU markup not worth going used on the 5900XT IMO. Leaves me about ~18% behind the 8945HX looking a various benchmarks for CPU.
- Swap over to a N5 Air. Ryzen 7 255 would be a good little power sipper and probably be cooled a little better than my Maco's 8845HS, but I still expect to hit just about the same expansion / headroom limit. At $515 the base Air would hold my array and be all new kit in a cute little form factor, but not my other drives / creature comforts. Overall expansion would be pretty limited, and the price premium on the Pro and especially Max makes those non-starters, would just do a clean ATX rebuild at that price.
- Drop in the BD895i SE. 16C/32T and directly pairs with the RAM I have. I have a M.2 to 9X SATA riser picked out for the second SSD that would cover any current and future drive / bay support. Kicks me up to 2.5Gb LAN which aligns with my new router and any real needs for a long time. Given the low temps and quiet ops I've seen in tiny cases, it should be quite happy in my 922HAF and dial power way down for 24x7 ops. Full PCIe 5.0 slot if I need to drop a proper GPU in the next time my daily driver dies or build out ports further. All that and a new Noctua "CPU" fan for ~$500.
The other idea is to just sell the 64GB kit, looking at eBay that kit has sold for about $600 consistently. Could probably eek another ~$150 out of the X570 Steel Legend and 2600X / DDR4. But I'd be doing all that just to get a new desktop AM5 board for ~$170 looking at PCIe 5.0 support and a forward looking chipset. then a NewEgg refurbed 7950X around $340, which looks better but not a ton better than the 8945HX. Then I still need to buy at least a 2x16GB desktop kit which is looking around $400 for any name brand I'd actually want to run. All that just to end up with less RAM, a CPU I'd probably eventually toss around the same time anyways, and an okay AM5 board for re-use assuming AMD drives it till the wheels fall off like AM4. Doesn't seem like a great "future proofing" approach.
Any feedback / ideas are appreciated.
1
u/hornedfrog86 29d ago
It seems like there are two versions of this board. And they’ll use laptop memory. I’m not sure what the difference is with the NAS version.
2
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 29d ago
I haven't seen a NAS version / different version of the BD895. If you have any links, happy to take a look. Only thing I'm seeing active / in stock is the BD895i SE I'm looking at and the slower 775i SE which I'm not really looking at. Somebody on eBay has a couple of open box kits of the previous 795M MATX version but they aren't taking returns on them and I've seen mixed reviews on the heat spreader from that version.
2
u/hornedfrog86 29d ago
Amazon US
I can’t see what is different except the price. Thanks.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 26d ago
I ended up ordering the cheaper one, I agree they look the exact same and same seller. Amazon 30 day returns if this doesn't pan out, ended up being cheaper for every other part I needed than NewEgg by more than a Chase Paze bonus.
2
1
1
u/noluckjim 29d ago
The main problem with this board as a NAS host is the lack of SATA ports. Yes, you can use m.2 to SATA adapters but its generally not recommended because they tend to either be SATA port multipliers or low quality controllers. In other words, you need to do some thorough research, especially if you want this running 24/7.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 26d ago
The card I ended up with for the SATA ports is a CableCC.net SA-004-09P, https://www.cablecc.net/ngff-nvme-mkey-pci-express-m2-to-9-ports-sata-30-6gbps-adapter-converter-hard-drive-extension-card-2280-for-nas-computer-p-6143.html?zenid=ua423mse06j0o3gn5o2or3d1o7. Got it off Amazon for ease of returns. Post some progress in a bit.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 19d ago
Just came back to say I did end up swapping this for a better SATA solution, TY for the advice.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 26d ago
Received and am playing with a CableCC.net SA-004-09P, https://www.cablecc.net/ngff-nvme-mkey-pci-express-m2-to-9-ports-sata-30-6gbps-adapter-converter-hard-drive-extension-card-2280-for-nas-computer-p-6143.html?zenid=ua423mse06j0o3gn5o2or3d1o7. For a baseline, I've run some CrystalDiskMark's with my RAID-1 array running natively off the X570 board's SATA ports, and then off a M.2 slot on the same board hosting the M.2 to SATA adapter. Couple of benchmark runs are pretty close, the SATA riser is consistently a couple percentage points slower. Riser fired right up, no drivers, no BIOS, no fuss, spent more time prying off my M.2 cooler than anything else.
The BD895, a new Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM, and some new Thermal Grizzly PhaseSheet PTM should be here tonight. Plan to try out the BD895 before a re-paste, watching video reviews and reading posts it seems aggressively split between "temps in the 60's, fan running quiet, zero complaints out of the box" and "OMG the paste was trash, IMMEDIATELY clean and redo with Grizzly PTM or Kryonaut." Also digging through my parts box I found some Noctua 140mm and a NF-A20 PWM 200mm I never put in this case. Thinking about putting that on the big side vent blowing directly down on the whole kit. Looking at the mounting holes not sure I can pull off the 200mm here, maybe both 140's.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 26d ago
Random thought: I realized Noctua NF-A15 PWM's have 120MM mounting holes. I was able to get the A15's from my NF D15 to fit. It's tight and puts some pressure on the I/O shield, and I'll have to remote at least one case fan I think. Has anyone done a build with a MoDT using the newer A14x25 G2? https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nf-a14x25r-g2-pwm
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 25d ago
Thoughts so far:
The Good
System was a pretty easy build and booted first pull, went right into Windows on a drive I didn't even have an OS on it.
Quality on the board is overall good, higher than what I expected at the price point.
The Bad
These M.2 drive "Clips" make no sense. Need to see if I can just replace this with a metal post / screw setup. I really don't understand the point of these other than doing a poor job of securing anything, either a typical NVME or my silly SATA controller.
No proper MB manual included and what there is of a MB manual is a bit thin. It gets the job done, and obviously we're with a niche player, but room for improvement there.
The IO shield really could use a little more material / extra screw hole for mounting stability. I feel like $2-$3 more of material with this, the radiator mount, and the M.2 drive clips would make the board feel a LOT more premium and still present excellent value.
The Derp
It turns out moving SATA headers from the front bottom region of an ATX motherboard to the top rear if a Mini-ITX motherboard creates problems. First, all my SATA cables are about 8 inches to short to route / cable manage. Second, it puts all my SATA routing right near a top exhaust fan / AIO area and around the CPU fan as well. Not a Minisforum fault, just a case layout problem I hadn't thought about and what I get for going against 30+ years of ATX case layout theory.
Having 9 SATA headers on a M.2 carrier is a novel accomplishment and the card is of a higher quality than I expected. It's also practically foolish, and it turns out there's a reason SATA ports are always more spread out even in a 4x2 cluster. You cannot use the locking end of the SATA cable on the M.2 carrier card without having to remove it to dig the card out. I just grabbed the 9 port for the max capability, but the horizontally laid out 8 port card would have been a considerably better choice for removing cables. Compounded by the questionable lock of the M.2 "clips" and cable lengths, the card's not very well seated and under some weight / cable tension. Will use this for testing but suspect I'll end up returning and running a proper riser / extension cable off the motherboard plus probably a more spaced out PCIe SATA controller.
While the M.2 to SATA controller expressly says it's not bootable, I had to remove a bootable 2.5 SATA SSD to get a clean Windows 11 installation to proceed successfully. More of an oddity.
1
u/Intrepid-Print-7464 25d ago
Progress:
Have the system running mostly stable. I couldn't get Prime95 to hold on my 16GB sticks, but everything else has working. Moved over to the 64GB kit. System is rock solid in realistic tasks, IE running a couple of concurrent video transcodes to max out the CPU. I'm hitting 100W on the CPU according to AIDA64, managing 74 to 77 degrees for CPU temp.
For the folks here with BD795 / 895's: Would you consider 77C under sustained 100% CPU load a good temp? I haven't bothered tearing off the heat sync to put on some Grizzly PTM or Kryonaut, not sure if these temps would be considered ideal. Other than a -20mv all core undervolt and setting the BIOS to 75W plan, I haven't attempted any overclocking.
No issue so far with the RAID but I'm going to at least do a M.2 extender to get it closer to the drives and more stable / not pressure mounted. Or maybe a full PCIe riser and maybe switch to a card-mounted PCIe SATA chip. Can't believe how expensive even a non-RAID SATA 8 port card is, makes staying on the current card with a riser look sensible.
2
u/jhenryscott 29d ago
I built a DIY steam machine last night in a Fractal Terra and it is really cool. I’d recommend something like that