Hi Guys,
I recently decided I'll be going with Unraid for my new NAS build. However, i'm trying to keep my budget on hardware as low as possible while still being able to use ECC Ram and server-grade components, so I'm leaning towards buying a refurbished server instead of building my own, as much as I would like to.
I've pretty much narrowed down my search to a refurbished Dell Poweredge R410, which range on Ebay anywhere from $150-$300 depending on configuration.
I'm planning on using this NAS for media streaming/transcoding (Plex) to maybe 5 concurrent streams max, streaming either 720/1080p to mainly desktop/laptop clients.
In addition, probably OwnCloud and a few small VM's but the main resource user I see becoming a problem is Plex.
Because of this, I've decided I'd like something with dual quad core CPU's and 16GB memory at least.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R410-Cabled-Server-2-x-E5520-16GB-RAM-PCI-Rail-Kit-/191409850981
that is pretty much all I want, however I had a few questions in regards to Poweredge R410's in general I suppose.
First, is it safe to assume the servers are shipping with ECC ram? Most descriptions either just say "DDR3" or "PC3-10600R" and I've found that the R simply means Registered but not always ECC so I am a bit confused.
Secondly, has anybody successfully used a Poweredge server (of this generation) with Unraid by simply plugging the sata from the backplane into the mobo, or am I going to want to purchase Dell PERC or other non-raid HBA? Unfortunately I think the ports on the mobo are SATA2, but will this drastically decrease performance for my uses? (Plex/Owncloud).
Thanks for any input guys.