Build help requested - Time to upgrade


RokleM

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Current setup:

  • Old tower case with 2x 4-in-3 Norco cages (aftermarket fans) (SS-400 I think ???)
  • Supermicro X8SIL-F
  • i5 750  @ 2.67GHz
  • 4g RAM
  • 5x 3-4TB drives that should be slowly replaced
  • Old 2TB junk cache disk
  • sy-pex40039 (2 port SATA card)
  • Corsair CX430

 

Goal:

  • Get the current one off the floor.  It does a GREAT job at collecting dust, getting kicked, and everything else.  I'm a network engineer by hobby and profession (40 years old with 25y in the field, do the math), and have a wall mounted 19" short depth cabinet next to my desk, which also has a Thermaltake wall mounted PC next to it.  Cabinet is only 13" deep, but know this will NOT hold any decent 19" case what so ever.  I can / will replace with an adjustable frame rack (star tech RK812WALLOA, 20" depth MAX).
  • I have QNAP's for DVR (HDHomeRun), so the primary use is backup of computers, movie storage, etc.  VM / Docker / KVM would be nice, some unix distro's for logging, perl scripts, testing, etc.  It is however not a KEY factor, a nice to have, and if run would not likely be incredibly intensive.  I would like to host some internal games for the kids via Steam client, however that currently is most 32 bit supported in Unix, which makes it quite difficult on this platform.  So point here is: Storage primary, VM's nice to have.
  • Price, not looking to spend a fortune.  As flexible as unraid is, and I love it, if price gets out of hand there is no reason not to go buy a QNAP instead.  Keep the suggestions within reason guys.
  • 10g network (eventually) would be nice, or at least an option (already have PCI-E N-Base 1g/2.5g/5g/10g card)
  • Headless / KVMless is NEARLY a must.  If I HAVE to absolutely plug something in I will, but this honestly is pretty stupid with any modern computer to even require a monitor and keyboard anymore in a USB world.  Manufactures that do this need to be beaten.  BONUS POINTS:  KVM / ILO / OOB / IDRAC / EIEIO / etc over IP.
  • I do have some spare M.2 chips that could be used (for example, possible great replacement for cache disk), so if supported that would be cool.

 

Hardware so far:

  • Cases, this has been the biggest PAIN so far.  Remember sort depth wall mounted rack...
    • Norco RPC-4308 -

      • Good: Cool little case, 8 drives, plenty of motherboard space

      • Bad: Price, and ZERO drive cooling (of all vendors to not understand importance of drive cooling)

      • Verdict:  Probably pass

    • Chenbro rm42300-f
      • Good: Price is excellent.  Layout looks really good, ability for me to (maybe) re-use my Norco units
      • Bad: I really don't think I can get my current board, or another good sized full board, into this case with the 8.5" deep Norco units.  Reviews with this combination, I have not been able to find
      • Verdict:  Think this is the one, but maybe limits me to Micro or Mini boards instead of full sized
  • Board?  Intel preferred, m.2 capabilities a bonus
  • CPU?  Intel preferred
  • RAM?  You tell me.  Need probably at lest a couple of gig for UnRaid, if VM/KVM/Docker, sounds like 16+ would be nice, but with RAM prices being stupid, again the build has to support something cost effective
  • Drives, import old for now.  Possibly looking at a few new 6-10TB drives.  Support for at least the 8 bays I have would be ideal, 12 better (there are internal areas for drives in the above case too)
  • 4-in-3 Norco cages (aftermarket fans) (SS-400 I think ???).  I'm pretty fond of these, so wouldn't mind re-using if possible unless there is a compelling reason to replace.  For example if a shorter depth cage would allow a full sized board that is absolutely critical for the build and worth the change, I would consider.
  • Power Supply - Reuse Corsair CX-430 if possible, if not, replace with ???

 

 

 

Edited by RokleM
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Some possibilities?  Not knowing what I want to do processor / VM / Docker / etc wise, hard to tell which would be logical.  Price jump is pretty huge.  Also 1x8g, can add another 1x8g later if I determine it's needed.  Board is smaller and will fit well, has m.2, 6 ports for initial support, relatively lower power usage, etc.

 

Use current SATA card, use different?  Compatible?

 

 

 

 

 

image.thumb.png.d835ab863a10b520e8f98f4e79284255.pngimage.thumb.png.92610578bf8945f690be25c6a8590d1a.png

 

Edited by RokleM
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Another alternative... I'm probably going to replace my gaming rig, which while older, is quite a bit of beast and actually has more umph than the i5-7500 I posted (and that's without the healthy stable 4.4 GHz overclock it typically runs)...

 

I guess much of this going back to the case and, if things can be sandwiched in, if I should replace the Norco, and what to do about add-on SATA ports.  I wish there were more good reviews of the case.

 

image.png.599190f8913f68dfd2d5b63509173039.png

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