DaringOne

Also of note, the system's disk access seems to be MUCH faster now. Not sure how that's possible. But now when I'm rendering videos from iMovie right to the disk, the performance is near the same as if I was writing locally.

Well, new RAM arrived, and just as when I bought the machine, if I put both sticks in, it won't boot. Just kicks on for a couple seconds and turns itself off repeatedly. Using one stick though, everything boots fine. I'd love to have all 4GB of the memory I bought, but if I can't get that, I'll settle for the 2GB. At least I can upgrade unRAID again!

Found their site for "Tested" memory. Ordered some Kingston Value RAM (Part # KVR1333D3N9/2G) to try to make this happen. RAM has shipped, but won't be here for a while. Thanks UPS Mail Innovations. 🙄 Will keep everyone posted.

Once upon a LONG time ago, I purchased a nice tower, SuperMicro C2SEA motherboard, 2x1GB G Skill DDR3-1333 8-8-8-21 1.5v memory, and a pair of hard disks, and started my UNRAID array. My first inkling of trouble was immediate, as the motherboard never would accept a 2nd stick of RAM no matter what I did. I thought nothing of it, because hey, I wanted my array up, and I didn't need the extra memory anyhow. So when I went to upgrade unRAID past the v6.1.8 I was running, and couldn't, it was clear I needed more memory. So I grabbed up basically the same RAM described above, but in the 2x2GB configuration. Installed it, and was greeted with continuous long beeps. Great, I thought, why isn't this working. The board literally has the specs of this RAM listed on the website. So I think BIOS upgrade next, maybe this will resolve some dumb compatibility issue. The beeping went away, but now no video on boot. Reinstalled my old stick, back to good. Anyone have any ideas on what the heck to do here, or did I just light ~$40 on fire for this RAM? I'm pretty sure I'm beyond return ability at this point, since I didn't get around to installing this and trying to troubleshoot for a couple months :-/

It was a dual channel kit, so they're both going back. It's just annoying to have to send anything back, so yeah, I'll run Memtest on it before they go back.

Unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere in the BIOS that allows me to set anything to do with the RAM. I went to turn it on the other day, and it did the same thing with only a single stick for a couple seconds before actually starting. I put the other stick in and have had no problems since so I'm starting to think I just have bad RAM. Gonna RMA :-(

So after much frustration, I'm finally up and running. Right now I can only use 1GB of my 2GB of memory. For some reason if I install both sticks, the machine powers on for about 1 second and then powers off. After a couple seconds it will try to power on again, then power back off. If I use either stick of RAM on it's own, it works perfectly. Frustration #2 was an easier one. It should be noted in the docs that when preparing your flash drive, if you're using Windows 7 (and I'm assuming Vista too) that you need to go to the properties for the executable and mark it to run as administrator. Otherwise it doesn't let you have access to the drive's MBR. Up and running now though, and the machine has been calcing parity for a while. Gonna let it do it's thing overnight and then check out how to use it in the morning.

Well, the rest of my kit arrived today! 5:00 cannot get here fast enough. I'll post pics on what $581.97 has purchased shortly. Last night I loaded my two hard disks and my PSU into the case, so I only have the mobo/processor/RAM left to do. Hope to be up and running by 7:00 tonight!

Yeah, she knew she was marrying a geek, and along with that came computers and video games. She grew up with it with her dad, so she should know what to expect. I'm just glad she puts up with it

DING DING DING! AND IT'S OVER! HE JUST COULDN'T RESIST IT ANY LONGER! COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC (N82E16811119152) - $69.99 SUPERMICRO MBD-C2SEA-O LGA 775 Intel G45 HDMI ATX Intel Motherboard (6 SATA Ports) (N82E16813182161)- $124.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS... etc (N82E16817139008) - $39.99 After MIR Intel Pentium E5300 Wolfdale 2.6GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core - Retail (N82E16819116074) - $61.99 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit (N82E16820231134) - $64.99 2 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10000CSRTL 1TB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Drives (N82E16822136236) - $189.98 Lexar JumpDrive FireFly 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (N82E16820191269) - $9.99 All Components Purchased Parts Cost - $566.92 Shipping Costs - $15.05 Total Cost - $581.97 I'm very happy with this machine at this price. I'm super stoked for it to get here. My PSU that I ordered Friday when there was a deal on it will be here today, but the rest will probably arrive Friday. I also managed $5.00 more off my processor on their St. Patrick's Day deal as well... so I saved a total of $20 in discounts total. Let's just say I have the world's best wife, who told me to go ahead and use the Newegg 12 months same as cash deal on their credit card. I'll be moving from talking hardware to talking config very soon!

Actually tried to do that earlier... site is down for maintenance though :-( WOW. Their prices are insanely good. I'll be buying a couple 30ft Cat6 cables from them. Way cheaper and more reliable than making them myself.

Actually tried to do that earlier... site is down for maintenance though :-(

VERY good to know. Will be much cheaper and I already have the equipment (still need the cable) to do that!

@Rajahal: Thanks a bunch! I'm contemplating using NewEgg's no interest credit option to buy the remainder of my machine... have to get said Wife's approval first before doing that though. Looks like I'll need some Cat6 as well to run my wires to my basement. Dunno if I want to know how much that will cost. I only need about 50 feet plus a package of ends, and I'll have to buy a new crimp tool for the Cat6 too. Dammit, I make things so complex! @jdmlight: That's sort of how I justified buying the Mini (that I haven't bought yet) was that it would be used for "all things media", which Apple just seems to handle so seemlessly with their bundled software.

Well, I do have one other motivation for the Mac Mini... Wife and I are expecting in May, and from what I've seen of iMovie (or is it iDVD now? I can't remember) it's pretty much the simplest movie editor ever. I'd like an easy way to store and edit home movies for our use, but that won't be the main function of the box for sure. I realize that this too, probably isn't worth the premium, but I'm an Apple honk, so what can I say?