en2ec

I guess that should have been obvious. :-) Like I said, I'm new. Thanks. That clears up the SSD question I had.

Goal: Unraid set up for: file storage Plex and other media server Other cool stuff that I may decide to do later (I'm just learning about unraid) VMs -- Windows, MacOS, and Linux I do some optimization modeling that requires as much RAM and CPU as I can affordably throw at it. I like using MacOS for everyday stuff. Some modeling tools are available for Linux. Some for Windows, and I'm really interested in VMs that can access the CPU at near native speed. I don't game and don't need a dedicated graphics card. This build would serve as my server/modeling computer/and basic desktop all in one. I've built hackintoshes before. I'm trying to figure out if I install MacOS as a VM on an unraid box, do I need to worry about Mac compatible hardware as if I was installing natively? I'm thinking of 4x or 5x 3TB drives with 1 parity drive. Does Unraid OS install on an SSD? When I install VMs, are they on the SSD or on the raid? Hardware suggestions? Do I go i7 or Xeon? Do I limit myself to Mac compatible hardware? I'd like to keep the budget under $1500 (ideally under $1000, but I doubt that's possible). I have some SSDs and random other bits, monitor, etc. I'm thinking of a fractal designs 804 case, but am open. So I'm mainly looking for CPU, mobo, sata card, memory, PSU, and HD recommendations. Thanks!