MrLeek

Cost basically. I managed to get that mobo at £210 (was £440). The cheapest dual-Xeon server board I found was around £310-320. Its worth mentioning here (this may help others planning their own builds) that pcpartpicker.com assumes that you’re building a workstation and not a server. So it’s fine to pick out the right matching components - and I made good use of it - but it doesn’t show server component options (including cases).

Thanks both. I ended up with Cruical memory in the end - I just seemed to find it easier to find ram that the MB stated it supported - but Crucial are just as good. Also the Platinum PSU (it was £8 more expensive...and it was in stock!) Insert shiny picture of goodies (chassis turns up on Monday)...wish me luck!

I found this place: http://www.pcicase.co.uk which offers a good range of server cases. But there's no pricing - you have to register to get prices, and they want company name, address, website, etc., etc. So I've no idea if they'll sell to private customers. Plus I'm reminded of something my Mum constantly said when I was a kid: "if there's no price, we can't afford it - so don't break it!!"

no comments at all?

I'd keep an eye oh the CPU in the 'new' NAS - if the NAS is not going to do anything other that serve up the files (with all the work being done on the remote device) then it should work ok. But if the CPU has to do any serious work then it'll struggle. I take your point about not using Plex or VMs but it's something to keep in mind. You could look to see what other CPU upgrade would fit into that Gigabyte to future-proof yourself. Example: about 18 months ago I switched out the achingly slow Sempron 140, replacing it with a Phemon II 1055T. The result was a marked performance improvement, I could scrap the HTPC that was falling apart and put everything into a docker for Plex or Emby to do the work. Big gain for about £60. I'm only doing a complete upgrade now because the nearly 9-year old PSU in my build looks like it's about to pack in. Hope it goes well for you.

(This is a cross-post from another part of the forum, just to increase visibility to solicit feedback. I just want to avoid problems with the planned build. Apologies for the spam - this is quite a major upgrade for me) TLDR: I've stopped going around in circles and just about ready to commit to a major upgrade. Please do comment as you see fit! CPU1: E5-2630 v4 (the price for these is just too low to ignore) CPU2: empty (I'm going single CPU for now - if my VM needs prove to be significant then buy/install a second CPU then) CPU Cooler: Noctuna NH-9DL (I'm wary of the cooler overlapping the RAM sockets or getting in the way of the 2nd CPU/cooler at a future date. This cooler should remove that problem) RAM: 16GB ECC Registered (again, if the VM requirements take off then adding more RAM is easy) Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 WS (I've just picked this up with over 60% off retail, so a right bargain!!) Link: https://www.asus.com/uk/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/Z10PED16_WS/ Seasonic FOCUS Plus Gold 750W (this should handle almost anything I'll throw at it) Link: https://seasonic.com/focus-plus-gold Chassis: 4U 16-hotswap case (the hot swap backplate is an SFF-8087. I'm not spotting any major issues here(?). It's also allows for a standard ATX PSU) Link: https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/rackmount/4u-chassis/4u-server-case-w-16-x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-6gbs-minisas-+-2-x-525-bays-sc-4316/ Update: I've just changed this to a 4U 14 bay non-hot-swap. Sure, hot swap would be nice but I've never had it before - and I'm saving around 60% on the chassis Erm...that's about it! Assuming there no major gotchas in here then I'll be taking lots of pictures to try and pimp out my new baby!!

TLDR: I've stopped going around in circles and just about ready to commit to a major upgrade. Please do comment as you see fit! CPU1: E5-2630 v4 (the price for these is just too low to ignore) CPU2: empty (I'm going single CPU for now - if my VM needs prove to be significant then buy/install a second CPU then) CPU Cooler: Noctuna NH-9DL (I'm wary of the cooler overlapping the RAM sockets or getting in the way of the 2nd CPU/cooler at a future date. This cooler should remove that problem) RAM: 16GB ECC Registered (again, if the VM requirements take off then adding more RAM is easy) Motherboard: Asus Z10PE-D16 WS (I've just picked this up at just under half price, so a right bargain!!) Link: https://www.asus.com/uk/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/Z10PED16_WS/ Seasonic FOCUS Plus Gold 750W (this should handle almost anything I'll throw at it) Link: https://seasonic.com/focus-plus-gold Chassis: 4U 16-hotswap case (the hot swap backplate is an SFF-8087. I'm not spotting any major issues here(?). It's also allows for a standard ATX PSU) Link: https://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/server-cases/rackmount/4u-chassis/4u-server-case-w-16-x-35-hot-swappable-satasas-drive-bays-6gbs-minisas-+-2-x-525-bays-sc-4316/ Erm...that's about it! Assuming there no major gotchas in here then I'll be taking lots of pictures to try and pimp out my new baby!! Footnote: If you're wondering about the title then see here:

This is very much the problem i've got. The PSU on my existing server is beginning to die - so I could get a new ATX PSU, keep running whilst I continue scoping out a new build. But then I won't be able to use X-Case it seems. Server Case are on my shortlist, but I do note the feedback from @HellDiverUK. Granted, one bad experience doesn't paint the full picture about a company, but it is food for thought. Not tried Inter-Tech yet - let's see what they've got....

Someone else using a Cyberpower UPS - this one in fact: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BUJBDLK/ Cyberpower 1300VA/780W - it's worked just fine for me for nearly 2 years now. It's also kicked in once when we had a power cut. It beeped away for a bit, then Unraid did what i told it to do and carried out a controlled shutdown. Job done!

I'm drifting more and more towards something like this: E5-2630 v4 - I don't see the gain from a 2640 to justify around £250 more. Plus the 2630's are sub £600 at the moment, which is nearly a steal. Asus - Z10PE-D8 WS SSI EEB - I need to do more research into the 2 x LGA2011-3 boards, but I love Asus gear 16GB RAM - I take the point that more may be needed, but if I see the value in the 2nd CPU then adding another 16-32 RAM at the same time seems like a good shout Seasonic 750w PSU (as above) - good brand, great reviews Add a couple of new WD Red 4TB HDDs for good measure (the drives I've got have been in there for years) I'm currently digging through google results looking for a decent hot swap 3U case that doesn't cost the earth. Although I've just found this one from Server Case which is a bit pricy but will do. Does the case NEED to be SATA3 capable, or does it not really matter when it comes to UnRaid? (and I'm really not impressed with what I'm seeing on eBay - i've seen plenty of v3 processors selling for 10-15% more than the v4 model. The cases seem dire at the moment as well) Yeah, I had a go at setting up BootCamp for her a while ago - had to put drivers onto a USB stick and other stuff. She lost patience in the end Option b is Parallels - I was surprised when I used VirtualBox on my own iMac to set up Win7 (for Cisco Packet Tracer) as the performance was dire. A similar story on her MacBook and i'll be in trouble!!

Really appreciate the posts - thanks @ashman70 and @whipdancer . Few thoughts: You're both on the money regarding RAM. 16GB is prob the minimum for this - but in principle it's easy enough to drop more in. If the VM demands increase then it also makes it more sensible to get the 2nd Xeon. I've also had the half-idea (inspired by looking at ashman70's sig) to end up with two unRaid builds - one for media, the other for VMs. Sure, I'll probably experiment with VMs on the media-only build, then build the 2nd unRaid server and aim it at VMs only. It'll also mean I have clearer ideas about the spec needed to do the job. ISTR seeing a Lian-Li case that allowed two PCs to exist in a single case. Hmm....this could be worth considering. This is kinda what makes me wary of the eBay route. I'm half convinced that the UK second-hand market largely sucks compared to the US - and I've seen a few Xeon's from the US that looked promising....then I see the crazy postage. It feels like there's more pitfalls to be had - sure, there's lots of ways to gain taking this route, but also lots of ways to screw it up. it's some accounting software she's using for her course. Might be Sage(?) might be something else. But it's something she mentioned in the past...and if I get to deliver a WinVM that works well then a) I score points and b) get to justify spending more money!

TLDR: I'm going round in circles trying to spec out what will be a major upgrade. Normally I'll be digging into the forums and getting this straight in my head, but the PSU in my existing server is beginning to fail - so I need to make some decisions sooner rather than later. Any thoughts to help clarify my thinking/links to good resources will be appreciated. Budget: I'm quite content that this will break £1000-1200. Real world usage (towards 'max requirements'): Able to stream at least an HD movie whilst working on 2-4 VMs (I want to do a lot of practicing setting up Domain Controllers and configuring server/client setups in a local lab environment). My easy get out would be to just focus on streaming media, particularly 4K (with some more 'lightweight' plugins such as Home Automation, Calibre, etc.) and keep the lab environment on a separate machine/laptop. I would also look to provide a VM for MrsLeek, such as a Windows VM that she would connect into from her MacBook Air (performance = general browsing, not gaming). Build options: I've got three rough configurations at the moment TR1920X, 16GB RAM: plenty of cores/overhead to handle most things. But the problems that people have been having with TR makes me nervous E5-2620 v4, 16GB RAM, dual-slot MoBo: The idea here is that it's enough processing power to do most thing, and if the VM/Lab environment becomes serious then adding a 2nd Xeon provides the extra cores that are needed. Do nothing: Buy the power supply (the Seasonic SSR-750FX seems to cover almost every permutation of build I can think of), fit it....and take the time to research my wider requirement. You can guarantee if I did then then something else would break in a couple of weeks time! Things to solve: Can I add a 1050 gfx card to offload the 4K content work? Would I need to with a TR/8-10 core Xeon? Have most/all of the TR problems been solved? What's left to fix? What haven't I thought of yet?!? Footnote: You'll see by my signature that any serious upgrade will blow the socks off my current build!

Thanks for the response Steven. Clearly my Google-fu was failing earlier since I couldn't find any mention of the subject - but my Google-fu is fixed now (adding caffeine fixes many things!) and what I found confirms what you said: https://www.servethehome.com/answered-cpu-dual-processor-motherboard/ One thing worth flagging (in case someone else's Google search brings them here); it's possible to put the single CPU into the 'wrong' slot. Some boards will tie the LAN connection through some PCI-E lines into CPU slot 1, but if you've plugged your new CPU into slot 2....then the Ethernet won't work. By all accounts MoBo manuals will document which slot to use first. Anyone know if there's unRaid specific issues with doing this? Probably not, but better to check first...

My steadily ageing server is getting to EOL - the power supply is making some interesting noises, so I'm currently powered down whilst I order/fit a new PSU. But since the CPU/MoBo/RAM will also need an upgrade soon I obviously need to think ahead. There's a few things to think about (and get thoughts of from this community): Can I get a single Xeon CPU now, fit a dual-CPU board and then add a matching Xeon later? Obviously it'll need to be the same make/model(?) but I'm not convinced I need 16+ cores of goodness. Sure, I WANT 16+ cores of goodness, but this needs to pass a sanity check (not to mention the partner test!! ). I seem to have read various mentions of 'matching pairs of Xeon's' - which makes sense if buying used, but is that a thing for buying new? Speaking of used/new - obviously it's cheaper going used. But I'm guessing that you can go too cheap/too used (the craze for E5-2670s makes sense when they are £50-60 each, but they do draw a fair bit of power) and there's a fair number of pitfalls to avoid. Am I over-emphasising the downsides of used? 750w PSU should be more than enough - right?: Since one option is to just upgrade the PSU now (and do the rest later) I need to slightly guess future config - but I'm going some way to trip online calculators into suggesting an 850w PSU. I'm talking TR1920X, 32GB RAM, 8-10 HDDs, 2x1050s (which is a million miles ahead of my current setup) and I'm still in 750w territory. Or do I cover my bases with an 850w? Does it really matter if the PSU is way over the top for the final build (and a 450w would have beed ample)? There's a lot of other questions - for instance there's a lot around VMs I need to bottom out - I want to essentially deploy small test labs as VMs within Unraid (including pfSense VMs acting as routers). But I'm not convinced if this is just me trying to justify a pair of good Xeon's at this stage!

Thanks ezhik - I only had chance to skim the CVE so appreciate you creating the separate thread.

A slightly alarmist headline, but seems relevant to current discussions? https://arstechnica.co.uk/security/2017/05/a-wormable-code-execution-bug-has-lurked-in-samba-for-7-years-patch-now/

While I can see the basis for that argument, the argument only holds true if and only if the parity disk is larger than all of the other disks. If its the same size as the largest data drive, then you are directly going to impact the ability to rebuild disks that are the same size as the parity. (Not to mention the fact that if say you have an 8tb parity drive (with HPA) with 4tb data disks, you will be unable to add to the system an 8tb data disk because it will be larger than the parity disk) My argument boils down to if you have HPA on your data disks, then don't worry going about trying to remove it. Keep it present (will you really miss the 32Meg in space lost?) and you won't get it on another data disk with some simple precautions. If you've got it on your parity disk, then you have no choice but to eliminate it. As a case study: the test server I've mentioned previously had a pair of 320Gb drives in it. HPA got dropped onto one of the drives, despite setting the Bios correct, and that drive would not become parity (as it's now smaller than the other). My point is that you can have a 4TB parity drive with HPA on it and it won't be an issue with 3Tb data drives installed. But drop a new 4TB data drive in and unraid will object about the size of the parity. Probably not that hard to deal with, but it's a hassle that can be avoided. Personally I like Gary's idea of using a single drive to hold the HPA save, then include the remaining drives as normal. If the bios setting works as intended then no worries, but if the mobo does something silly then you've caught it. Could that single drive be a cache drive incidentally? If you know you need to add a new cache drive then you end up adding a layer of work (add just that drive, making sure HPA goes where you expect it to, add the other drives) but then you don't add a new cache drive that often.....right?

It was dealing with an HPA partition being placed onto mobo attached hard drives in certain circumstances. Not a deal breaker unless it winds up on the parity drive. Either disable BIOS backup within the BIOS for the affected boards, or force an HPA partition to be placed onto one of your data drives by disconnecting all drives except the one you want the HPA on. Set the BIOS to boot from the hard drive. Reset. Connect all your drives back again and set the boot priority to be the flash drive with all other priorities disabled. With HPA on one of the data drives, the bios will not attempt to place it onto any other drive. And do not attempt to remove the HPA. Ideally though keep your parity drive on a separate HBA to not have to worry about this at all. Basically its a non-issue that's been overblown It's worth mentioning that I was experimenting with a 2nd unraid server using a Gigabyte mobo - and, despite setting the Bios correctly it still did a HDD backup. I can only conclude that I made a mistake somewhere, but it's worth flagging up as a possible issue. I also think the HPA issue is easy to handle - but if the HDD that has the backup gets disconnected then would the bios drop a new HPA backup somwhere else? That could be the parity drive...?

Thanks for the responses both. I ended up going for the AMD option as I just couldn't get the HPA issue resolved in a satisfactory manner. I did a test server rebuild using new USB trial software, pre cleared the drives (a pair of 320GB drives), made certain that the BIOS option to copy the BIOS to the HDD was switched off.....and I still ended up with one drive smaller than the other. There's something silly that I'm not getting right - just not worked out what it is (yet). But as a result I just can't trust it on a live server. Therefore the AMD option was chosen. Took my time to ensure I made no mistakes - the worst issues I ran into was getting the BIOS settings just right - for instance this processor can run VMs, provided a specific BIOS option is enabled. But it all runs, PLEX has been added (a new feature for me) and movies are streaming really well. It has meant that I've observed an interesting 'feature' for unRAID. The boot menu provides MemTest+ which is of course great for testing memory. But there's no similar option to test CPUs. Granted the main focus of such torture tests as Prime 95 is to test overclocked boxes to make sure they can handle the stress - but since there's a massive growth industry in reusing e5-2670s bought from eBay it seems this is a bit of a miss for unRAID? I'm sure wiser heads will tell me why it's not a good idea (for the record I used Ultimate Boot CD to access Prime95 from a USB boot stick. 6 hours later with no errors and temperates well under worrying levels gave me a lot of confidence in the CPU). But it seems like it's something to include along with MemTest - and I'd love to be involved in making it happen.

A few months back I started this thread about using old DDR3 2GB RAM...which instead led to running a test unRAID server on an old gaming rig. And it worked! I managed to get PLEX running correctly, streaming media to a DLNA compatible TV set. I also managed to get a Win 7 VM running. It wouldn't update at all and it didn't have sound. But it worked (and the main goal was to experiment deploying VMs). Sadly the trial licence ran out (I didn't see the value in buying a 2nd licence for something that I only wanted to experiment on) and things died down. Meanwhile my file server continues to show it's age and PLEX is a non-option. So it's time to update things - and I've got two options (and I welcome input): - use the i7-920, 6GB RAM and GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard as the upgrade. Cost = $0 - these are the components from the previously mentioned test server. But there's a HUGE question mark over HPA. You see, despite me setting the BIOS to not backup an image of itself to a HDD.....it did. When I tried to add the two drives I was used in the test server to the array, unRAID refused to accept one of them as parity as it was smaller than the other. No prizes for pointing the finger at HPA. For a test server this is a non-issue as there's no production data to worry about. For my real server? A major concern..... - Use a 1090T in the existing motherboard I have (M4A78L-M) and bring in extra RAM for good measure. Cost = $90 or so. Not much money, prolongs the life of my server and no HPA issues. I had to flash the BIOS which went flawlessly. There's a question mark over the CPU itself - it's used and I've no way of knowing if it's been thrashed or not (it has a 30 day guarantee basically). But then the i7-920 was overclocked for years with a good quality air cooler. So provided I use a good CPU heatsink/fan (Noctua naturally) then this risk is minimised? If the HPA hadn't reared it's head during testing then I think this would be a fairly straightforward decision. I know what I'm getting from the i7 and the performance between the two CPUs is close enough. But add in the HPA (and the challenge of routing SATA cables around an ATX board versus the current micro-ATX board) and it becomes a more subtle decision. I can continue to experiment with VMs, learn how to deploy them accurately pending a more serious upgrade in 12 months or so. Questions/comments are encouraged....if only to help me make the best decision! Footnote: my existing server spend a considerable period (months if not years) switched off for reasons that would take too long to explain. It's just been taken off line after running flawlessly for near 6 months straight.....and I'd say that the existing components are near-new as a result. The 1090T CPU is going to be the oldest piece of kit in the box....

How are people getting on with their research into alternatives to e5-2670s? Prices seem to be rising, a problem not helped by the UKs exchange rate I fear... (I need to create a separate thread to properly scope out my needs. Short version: run 4 VMs at once (none partcularly powerful) and play a movie via Plex is the most demanding use case I can think of)

Possibly the tricky problem I'm having so far with this is narrowing down the range of options to the sensible (in terms of price/performance/longevity/ease to acquire). I can only speak for the UK but (for instance) E5-2670s tend to pop up fairly regularly on eBay. You have to watch for the specifics in the advert (AIUI SR0H8 is NOT the preferred option - it should be SR0KX) but otherwise there are sellers with solid reputation votes. But, as others have pointed out, it's an old processor now. Other processors? Well, there's a massive range out there....and working through that is a real challenge. Going to have a wrestle with the servethehome thread that chip linked and see if that helps narrow things down for me.

Really interesting thread and perfectly timed as I start looking at my upgrade. I also have to keep this somewhat sensible (both in spec and in price) - the original idea of a pair of e5-2670s at the heart of an upgrade pushed the price over £1000. At first glance e5-2683 v3 will pull together around £750 or so. Sorry - I've got nothing useful to add (yet). But you've got at least one active reader on this topic.

Thank you! It may be that my example is clear(?) enough to use to explain this - even if I did gloss over the fact that changing the format of the drive = nuking all the data on it. But I appreciate you confirming my thinking.

So to make sure I understand the concept that I'm going to do: I have an empty 1TB drive (with xfs) and a 2TB drive (reiserfs) with a small amount of data on it. Therefore copying data from 2TB drive to the 1TB drive. Format the 2TB drive just used. That gives me a 2TB drive with xfs. That drive will then be able to be the receiver for the data stored on the other 2TB drive I have Then format the other 2TB drive. Job done...? Is that fundamentally what's going on here? This is obviously an action that takes some planning - Google brought me here after I noticed that the two 1TB drives I added were in a different format (my upgrade path was 4.7 -> 6.1.9). Screenshot attached for ease of reference.