JTCA

Still looking to sell? How much?

Any particular reason the configurations on greenleaf don't use 3TB drives?

Any thoughts? Seriously, I have forgotten why I was going this route verses just buying a lime tech system.

Good point. So looking at how much this is costing, I was starting to ask myself, why build what I have spec'd verses just buying one of the lime-tech MD-1510 servers? Ignoring the fact that I would have more available disk space.

I would imagine you can't go wrong with either board But, just FYI: The X8SIL has 3 PCI-e, so 3x8 port SAS controllers = 24 + 6 onboard = 30 drives. The PCIe 4x slot will still run 8 drives no problem (assuming your using standard SATA drives) as the bandwidth is more than enough for current drive speeds. Right but 2x8 PCI-e + 6 Onboard = 16 + 6 = 22 Drives. I guess I could do a 2 port card for the last 2 drives. But I was trying not to mixup the controllers and speeds to much. Like, I figured that trying to use the pcie 4x would drag the overall performance of the unraid set down to its performance level.

PSU was all that showed up on new egg after filter by single rail, 12 sata power connectors, modular, and main 24 pin connector. I chose the corsair since most people rate them as high quality. As far as the motherboard, I picked it because I need to support 24 drives in the 4224. Granted unraid only supports 22. 2 controllers with 8 ports + the 6 onboard would give me 22. So I wanted to have another just in case I needed the additional 2 disks and unraid began support it or for anything I might want to add later.

Ok, Long time no see. Been pretty busy lately. Here is where I am with a Powersupply. How does it look? Thoughts? Am I missing something? Qty. Product Description Total Price 1 SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard $239.99 3 Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $711.00 3 SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller $329.97 1 CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power ... $219.99 1 Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80616I3540 $99.99 1 Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G $74.99 1 NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays $399.99 [/size][/size]

This is will not be an EXSI build. Just an unraid server used to store media.

I used 20 "regular" SATA drives - that was the max they have, and 4 "Green" drives. Go to the site and try with your settings (as number/size of fans can make a difference as well). Checked it out and included some fans. Still looks right around that number which would also match what I have read from others who have put together a rig with this many drives.

Marcusme, Does that include 24 hard drives or just the 3 I'm initially purchasing?

Wow, missed that. Forgot to change the processor when I changed the board. Also missed that the card was a pci-X. I spent hours trying to find a replacement pci card. Thanks to marcusme and JohnM for the suggestion, forgot that I could look at SAS connectors as well. So here is where I am now. Qty. Product Description Total Price 1 SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard $239.99 3 Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $711.00 3 SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller $329.97 1 Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale 3.06GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80616I3540 $99.99 1 Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G $74.99 1 NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays $399.99 Looking at my research I'm estimating almost 900w with all 24 drives in. Agreed? Now on to figure out the power.

OK this is what I'm looking at now. Qty. Product Description Total Price 1 SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard $239.99 3 Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $674.97 3 SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card $284.97 1 Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32100 $124.99 1 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM $79.99 1 NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays $399.99 I will probably not purchase the supermicro controller card since with only initially needing 3 drives, they can be connected direct to the board. Thoughts, opinions, recommendations?

Ok that brings up another question. SATA or SAS drives? Sata I/II/II or SAS or SATA/SAS controller?

Ok looking at some supermicros and I noticed this one in addition to the X8SIL-F-O. The difference I see is an addtional PCI Express x8 giving a total of 3 verses 2 on the other board. SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard I figure with 6 sata 3.0 ports, then add two 8 port cards I will get 22 drives. That leaves two more available drives. So I can either add another pci card for the 2 drives or use it for something else. Especially since I read on one forum that unraid will only support 22 drives.

Another Question, what is your thoughts on Celeron vs using an I3 for media streaming.

ashaneil - Looking at the post you mentioned, the 20+ drive configurations mentioned all use supermicro boards. Prostuff1- Thanks for the alternative perspective. WeeboTech - I had to look up what you were talking about with IPMI last night. From the sounds of it, that is definitely the direction I would prefer to go. I have all my equipment in a closet and would prefer to not have to go into the closet to manage it which is also one of the reasons I am building this server in the first place. I prefer building for the long haul so I would prefer parts I can depend on. Based on recent replies sounds more like the ASRock should work, but the Supermicro will work. So I think I will look at some supermicro boards. I think I will also go with the Narco 24 bay case. Like WeeboTech mentioned I need only add drives as needed and can use it to store backups, music, pictures, etc... WeeboTech, same question as ashaneil on the sas/sata cards?

Ok starting to look at the numbers and I'm starting to think I am going a little overboard. At 5TB I'm at about 142 blu-ray isos at 35gb each which is about where I am now. a 24 case with 2TB comes out to 48TB assuming 2TB lossed to unraid, I'm looking at 46TB or approx 1300 movies. Half of that leaves me at approx. 630 movies and 22TB of space, with 12 2TB drives. Half that once more and I'm at 285 movies on 10TB of available space on 6 2TB drives. I'm starting to think that 8 2TB drives is all I will probably need or does anyone else see storing more than 400 blu-ray movies as feasible in the near future?

Norco looks pretty nice. NORCO RPC-4224 4U Rackmount Server Case with 24 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays $400 But why is the price so low?

I'm looking to support as many drives as possible within a single unit. I would rather build with room for growth than build and come up short. I'll take a look at the Norco cases. Also take a look at some 8 port cards and going with supermicro. I was originally looking at supermicro which was recommended by lime, but it did not seem to support the latest PCI express options. Wasn't sure if that was because the article was old or that the performance improvement would be negligible or unused for media streaming.

Thanks for anyone's help. I have been planning my unraid server to move about 5TB of media immediately with room for growth. This is what I have put together for hardware so far. I have done some research around and based on what I have read calculated a need for support of about 763W with a suggestion to multiply it by 1.5 to account for surges leading to about 1145W. Any opinions, thoughts, and suggestions are GREATLY appreciated. Take note there are two cases listed. Antec case listed with 0 quantity because in my research I have heard that though it is a good case the Lian case is better. Qty. Product Description Total Price 1 LIAN LI PC-P80 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case $299.99 0 Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case $160.00 1 ASRock P67 EXTREME6 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $159.99 3 HighPoint Rocket 620 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) Controller Card $74.97 1 ICY DOCK MB455SPF-B 5 in 3 SATA I, II & III Hot-Swap Internal Backplane Raid Cage Module $147.99 1 Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32100 $124.99 1 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM $79.99 4 HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (0f12115) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $799.96