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I'm looking to build a basic server that will only be used for CCTV recording (2 cameras using the UniFi docker) and file backup using the CrashPlan docker. This is a bit different to my previous builds which were all geared towards SFF and Plex streaming. This time the case will be a standard ATX tower with no need for hot swap.There will be only 4 drives to start with (1 SSD + 3 HDD) with the possibility of adding a few additional drives in the future. I'm looking for a CPU/Mobo/Ram combo that will meet the above criteria at a low price. Something with 6-8 SATA ports will do fine. Things like ECC memory are unnecessary. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the fan control! I can now run a parity check without worrying about temperatures.

ASRock - E3C226D2I

Any update on being able to control fans from the plugin?

My old server was five years old and started getting hard drive warnings, rather than replace the drives I figured I'd go for a completely new build. I wanted to keep the new build small as the old one fits in my IKEA unit under the TV. After looking at a couple of cases I went for the Silverstone DS380 as I liked the hot swap bays and it would fit. I was aware of a design flaw inherent in the case but there is an easy work around as you'll see below. I've written this up all in one go so the issues I mention in the updates have already been resolved. Here are the specs: OS at time of building: 6.3.1 CPU: Intel® Xeon® CPU E3-1231 v3 @ 3.40GHz Motherboard: ASRock - E3C226D2I RAM: 16GB (2x 8GB) Crucial Server Memory, DDR3 PC3-12800 ECC Case: Silverstone DS380 Drive Cage(s): Built in 8 bay hot swap Power Supply: 300W Silverstone ST30SF Strider SFX SATA Expansion Card(s): None Cables: 15cm Akasa Super Slim SATA III, Akasa PWM fan splitter Fans: 120mm Noctua NF-S12B REDUX PWM x 3 Parity Drive: 4TB WD Red Data Drives: 4TB WD Red x 3 Cache Drive: 120GB Kingston SSD Now V300 Total Drive Capacity: 8 x 3.5", 4 x 2.5" Primary Use: Plex Media Server, backup storage Likes: Very quiet, cool, low power usage Dislikes: Cooling design flaw Add Ons Used: Plex Media Server, pre_clear plugin, unassigned devices Future Plans: More dockers, Time Machine backup Boot (peak): 98W Idle (avg): 30W Active (avg): 47W Light use (avg): 35W Update 1 The build went smoothly, although the case is tricky to work with. It's very small and there is no room for any cable management. If you ever use the same case be sure to read the manual as it well tell you the best order to install components in. I'm using a SanDisk Fit USB plugged into a front usb port, its small enough to allow the door to be closed. I ordered short (15cm) thin SATA cables hoping to cut down on excessive cables however they were just a bit too short and I was only able to connect 4/6 ports, 25cm cables would have been perfect. The PSU is great as the fan only spins up when its under heavy load which so far is never. The motherboard does not have enough fan headers for all three fans but the hard drive caddy has two headers on it. Unfortunately this means the fans run at full speed all the time. The USB3 cables from the front header are annoyingly inflexible and long, curling them up was the best way to deal with them. The Design Flaw There is a known problem with this case; due to the design of the hard drive bay the to fans adjacent two it provide insufficient cooling. Idle temperatures for drives hover around 32C and during parity check one reached 46C! The issue is that there is little space for air to flow through to the drives (you can see the slots in the third picture), this only gets worse the more drives you use. To fix this you need to prevent the air from flowing anywhere but through the slots. I cut a piece of cardboard and slotted it between the two fans and the metal that raises the motherboard. Doing this results in over a 10C drop in temperatures. Checking parity again maxed out at 33C, a huge improvement. Update 2 Ordered three Noctua fans, another hard drive, and a fan splitter. Now all the fans are hooked up to the motherboard the case is almost inaudible.

Thanks for the help! I'll get a second RAM stick and keep the SSD as its been adequate for my needs.

Thought I'd have some fun and build a new server rather than upgrade my old one. My needs are to store blu-ray rips, stream Plex to 1-2 devices (3 max), accessible from anywhere, sleep after inactivity, wake-on-lan, low power consumption. It's been five years since my last build and I would like this one to be as future proof. Build CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 Motherboard: AsRock E3C226D2I mini-ITX Xeon Socket 1150 RAM: 8GB (1x 8GB) Crucial Server Memory, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), ECC, Unbuffered Case: Silverstone SST-DS380B Power Supply: 300W Silverstone ST30SF Strider SFX Parity Drive: Western Digital 4TB Red x1 Data Drives: Western Digital 4TB Red x2 Cache Drive: Crucial 64GB Real SSD C300 (from an old build) USB: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 Questions Everything look ok? Is the CPU overpowered for my needs, can I get away with a cheaper one? Is one RAM stick ok or is it better to have two? Is it worth buying a new SSD for use as a cache drive? Will there be a noticeable performance improvement? Thanks for the help!

The slot is empty so I could get a SATA controller. I completely forgot to mention that I would buy new HDDs to replace the failing one(s) which ever option I go for. I appreciate your suggestion, I had almost completely ruled out 1 but now I'm having second thoughts. The case is fine except that it has no room for expansion and the airflow is not great. If I were to go for a new build what CPU/MB/RAM is recommended given my usage?

My build is getting on five years old now and its time for an upgrade. My parity drive is throwing a bunch of SMART warnings and rather than just replace the drive I figured I'd build a new system while trying to use as many parts from the old as I could. It primarily acts as a Plex Server with one client (three at the most). This is the current system: Case: Lian Li PC-Q08B Motherboard: Zotac H55ITX-A-E CPU: Intel Core i3 530 Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 unRAID Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB Cache: SSD Crucial C300 64GB Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB (WD15EADS) x 3 (1 Parity) Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB (WD15EARS) x 2 The case has been great but I'm looking to upgrade to one with more room for drives, I'm thinking the Fractal Design Node 804. This would also give me the ability to use a micro-ATX board. These are the options I see: 1. Keep the CPU/MB/RAM the same, get a card to provide more SATA ports 2. Keep the CPU but upgrade the MB (and RAM?) to provide more SATA ports 3. New CPU/MB/RAM If my CPU is still adequate I'd like to go for option two in which case what MB should I go for? Additionally if I could make my system more energy efficient with option three what CPU/MB/RAM combo should I go for? Many thanks

Could I request a PlexConnect plugin? Thanks for all the other plugins! https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect Currently using this version http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29193.0

I hope this isn't against the rules but I have an unused GD04 that I could sell you at a bargain price (hopefully you live in the UK). Great design btw.

Sorry I hadn't checked the syslog. I just looked at the speed at the start of the sync before letting it run over night.

Board Info Manufacturer: Zotac Form factor: mini-ITX Chipset: Intel H55 SATA Ports: 6 CPU Socket: LGA 1156 Memory Type: DDR3 1066/1333 Onboard LAN: 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Express x16: 1 My setup Motherboard: Zotac H55ITX-A-E CPU: Intel Core i3 530 Memory: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 unRAID Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB unRAID Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB (WD15EADS) x 3 Notes Setting a flash drive as the boot device: Go to the 'Boot' screen in the bios. Select 'Hard Disk Drives' (3rd Option). Reorder the drives so that the 1st drive is your flash drive. Return to the previous screen and select 'Boot Device Priority'. The 1st boot device will now be the flash drive. If you had not completed the first steps this screen would have shown another drive and you are unable to select a boot device other than the first drive chosen on the 'Hard Disk Drives' screen. Results Data Transfer Speed (Gigabit): 20-30MB/s Parity Check Speed: 72MB/s I have just ran a parity check on this board, the syslog is attached. For those checking it I started the parity check around 22:40. syslog.txt

Thanks, it worked flawlessly. I'll see about adding the Zotac H55 to the list of working motherboards.

I recently built an unRAID server (write up is here) using a Zotac 9300 motherboard. I want to change that to a Zotac H55 board and want to know whether I can just switch the boards, plug in the drives, boot, assign them how they were before and have everything run ok. Is this possible? Thanks for your help.

Here are some temperature results. The results apply for all the discs (they were in a degree of one another). Ambient 26°C Parity Check 35°C (@ 50%) Streaming 32°C (4 simultaneous DVD streams for 20 minutes) I would expect with the drives spread out i.e. drive gap drive gap ect.. there would be a 1-2°C drop in the inactive drives. Likewise with 6 drives there would be at least a 1-2°C increase.

Thanks, knew I forgot something.

Update: The H55 build is even cheaper than shown. Out of laziness I just grabbed all the prices from OCUK. If you shop at Scan you can save £10 on the PSU, £5 on each of the two fans, £7 on the motherboard and £12 on the hard drives. This gives a total price of £530. As mentioned previously Scan does not stock the case. Here is a price list for those interested. Note that some of the components were bought almost a year ago so prices should have gone down. I've also included a Zotac H55/i3 build at current prices: My build Purchased 29/08/09 £99.12 x 1 - Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi Mini-ITX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £45.21 x 1 - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB) - Retail £43.47 x 1 - OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2G8004GK) Purchased 17/09/09 £75.64 x 3 - Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD15EADS) Purchased 09/07/10 £7.97 x 1 - 140mm Fractal Design 600 RPM Silent Fan £6.89 x 1 - 120mm Fractal Design 1000 RPM Silent Fan £68.31 x 1 - Adaptec 1430SA x4 Port SATA II (300 £29.40 x 1 - 400W Corsair CMPSU-400CXUK Power Supply £81.69 x 1 - Lian Li PC-Q08B USB3.0 Mini-ITX Case - Black TOTAL COST: £608.98 Zotac H55 + Core i3 £108.99 x 1 - Zotac H55-ITX WiFi Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini-ITX Motherboard £95.99 x 1 - Lian Li PC-Q08B USB3.0 Mini-ITX Case - Black £91.64 x 1 - Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz (Clarkdale) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail £70.49 x 3 - Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM (WD15EARS) £39.99 x 1 - Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £11.99 x 1 - Fractal Design 140mm Silent Cooling Fan £9.99 x 1 - Fractal Design 120mm Silent Cooling Fan £50-100 - 2-4GB of DDR3 RAM TOTAL COST: £570.04 £580 - £630 Now i'm thinking I should have bought an i3 build and sold off the other components... Anyone wanna buy my server?

No problem, I'll add a price list tomorrow.

Yes there is room for a 2.5" drive. At the moment I'm using the retail unit. I've yet to put the CPU under any real strain so I can't give a completely honest answer. When the system is idling you would have to listen out very hard to hear any of the fans. I'm in the process of transferring data over to the array now and will update the post with more information regarding noise and temperatures. If you wanted to replace the stock cooler you may find yourself limited for choice as there isn't much clearance between the board and the PSU. I think one possibility maybe a Scythe Shuriken BIG but it is quite tricky to fit.

I forgot to mention for the price of the parts and my labour I have only just put it all together. Hopefully over the weekend I will copy all my data back and perform a parity check and let you know the temps. I wouldn't be surprised if the parity drive got hotter than the rest. If thats the case I could just switch it into a lower slot. Is there some utility I can use to log drive temperatures over time? Most of the parts were from a previous unRAID build and HTPC. Back when I built them I was only using OCUK to supply me with parts. Recently I have found Scan to offer more selection so I have switched to using them. Having said that only the SATA card and the power supply came from Scan. The case was from OCUK (Scan does not stock it, at least for now) and everything else was from the previous builds. I'll make a list and add it to my original post.

UPDATE: Price list can be found here UPDATE 2: The system is louder than I previously indicated. Either the CPU cooler or the 120mm is to blame I'll try and figure out which. Most likely its the 120mm fan which is connected directly to the power supply. At the moment I'm building the parity drive. I'm going to take note of the temperatures then remove the 120mm fan and build the parity again to see whether the fan is necessary. UPDATE 3: Some temperature results can be found here Hi I'm a first time poster and I thought I'd share my unRAID mini-ITX build with the community for those interested in building something similar. My unRAID server is mainly used to serve media to XBMC (bluray rips, dvd rips ect) and backing up a few important folders. My media collection is relatively small (less than 2 TB) so for now a small server fits my needs. I could have built a larger server but I much prefer a small case than a full tower. What follows is a list of the hardware I used and a mini review of the result: Hardware Lian Li PC-Q08 More info Zotac 9300 mini-ITX motherboard 4GB OCZ (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Series Intel E5200 3x Western Digital Caviar Green (1.5TB) Adaptec 1430SA x4 Port SATA II PCI-E x4 Card Corsair 400W CX Power Supply 1x 140mm Fractal Design Fan 1x 120mm Fractal Design Fan SanDisk Cruzer Micro Hardware Review Motherboard/CPU/RAM - This is overpowered for unRAID's needs and was chosen because it was leftover from a HTPC build. The motherboard only has 2 SATA ports (at least on revision 01, later revisions have more) so the Adaptec card was needed to provide further ports. Had I bought new parts I would have gone with the mini-ITX Supermicro board with 6 SATA ports. Hard Drives - I'm running the free version of unRAID so I'm limited to 3 drives. These drives are cool and quiet. Power Supply - This is a non modular power supply. There is limited room in the case and the modular version is an extra 10mm long which probably could fit but is not worth the hassle nor the extra cost. Importantly there are 6 SATA power connectors which is perfect for the limits of 6 hard drives in the case. The 6 connectors are split into 2 sets of 3. Additionally there are 2 cables with 3 molex + 1 FDD connectors, the standard 20+4 pin power cable and the 4 pin 12V CPU cable. The power supply has a quiet 120mm fan and only one 12V rail which, from reading the unRAID wiki, is more efficient. SATA card - This was needed to give the extra 4 SATA ports and I think is used in the official unRAID servers. Fans - The case comes with 2 Lian Li branded fans (120mm + 140mm). I want the server to be as quiet as possible so I purchased the Fractal Design fans to replace the default ones. The Lian Li 140mm fan has blue LEDs which made the case not very discrete. Case Review The short version is that this case is almost perfect for my needs. Positive Fits 6 3.5" drives with thumbscrews and antivibration mounts. The 5.25" bay could be used for a fan controller/temp monitor or converted into a 3.5" hot swap bay. The hard drives sit directly behind the 140mm fan providing them with plenty of cooling. The front fan is mounted on antivibration grommets The case fits a standard ATX power supply. The side panel has ventilation holes for the power supply. Even with a double height expansion card there is room to store unused power cables. The case is silent when the fans are set to a low speed. The build quality is very high with all exterior panels being brushed aluminium Negative The included 140mm fan has blue LEDs. The power button glows bright blue when the case is on. Annoying if you want your case to be discrete but you can simply not connect the power LED header to the board. The front panel I/O consist of 2x USB 3.0 and 2 front audio ports. The internal cable is unnecessarily long and for some reason has 2 USB connectors instead of a USB header. The case includes an adaptor (2 female USB to 1 USB header). For the sake of cable management I removed the front ports (connected by screws) and covered the opening with black tape (this looks neater than it sounds). The bundled fans are not quiet. First time builders will find the case quite tight to work with. Here are some pictures of the build: The removable 4 bay drive enclosure. Internal Front shot with phone for size comparison Any comments or questions are welcome. Also (apologizes if this is not allowed) but if anyone living in the UK would like me to assemble a similar build and ship it to them I would be more than happy to.