will my old computer be ok to run unraid

[Sulprax]

Hello i am new to unraid and was highly convinced to join unraid due to watching space invaders one tutorials on YouTube. this will be temporary until i get an x99 motherboard and Xeon processor, as i want dedicated vm's  for my pfsense and home assistant.

current pc is;
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER socket 1150

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor

Memory: 20GB DDR3

PSU: be quiet System power 8 400w 80+

case: Fractal Design R6

Before i add hard drives do i need a sas card to future proof the system, also someone on youtube said to use a sas card for better stability, is this true?

i am hoping you lovely people on this forum can give me any tips and advice.

regards Sulprax

[JonathanM]

Looks decent, you don't need to add a disk controller until you run out of onboard ports, 7 or 8 depending on whether you populate the M.2.

Since that case doesn't appear to easily support that many drives, I doubt you will need a disk controller unless you move to a motherboard with fewer onboard SATA.

That motherboard appears to advertise how overclock friendly it is, but DON'T overclock a server.

[Sulprax]

@jonathanm Thank you the motherboard has never been overclocked, i brought it years ago because i liked the look of it haha, and still don't want to part with it yet, the case can support 10 hard drives and 2 ssd so when i run out of the 8 onboard satas i should look at getting a disk controller 

[JonathanM]

31 minutes ago, Sulprax said:

i want dedicated vm's  for my pfsense

I have exactly this setup, a pfsense VM and a windows VM with Homeseer.

 

My advice? Keep a relatively current hardware based pfsense box available, as well as figuring out what's needed to migrate your pfsense xml backups from the VM to the hardware.

 

Not because you will need it often, I've not booted my pfsense hardware in over 2 years, but because when you do need it, you don't want to be experimenting under pressure, and until everything is set up and smooth you may want to boot back and forth between the 2, hardware and VM, and it's nice to have continuity of network availability.

 

The trial version of Unraid CAN NOT BE SUCCESSFULLY USED AS A HOST FOR YOUR MAIN ROUTER.

The licensed version removes the need to have a network connection to start, so no issues with a paid for license, but you can't start the array with a trial unless you have active internet.

[JonathanM]

2 minutes ago, Sulprax said:

i should look at getting a disk controller 

 

[Sulprax]

@jonathanm yea i will be buying the licenses key as soon as i get everything ready to test, ill always keep the pfsense server as a backup just in case, its a shame there isnt a cpu with enough cores to support my vms otherwise i wouldnt look at getting the x99 motherboard 

[JonathanM]

2 minutes ago, Sulprax said:

@jonathanm yea i will be buying the licenses key as soon as i get everything ready to test, ill always keep the pfsense server as a backup just in case, its a shame there isnt a cpu with enough cores to support my vms otherwise i wouldnt look at getting the x99 motherboard 

I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how well pfsense runs with only 1 core and 2 or 3GB RAM. I'm not familiar enough with hass to recommend resource allocation, but I doubt you will run into issues giving it a single core as well.

 

I'm not saying you won't appreciate more power, especially as you start loading down the server with as of yet unanticipated functionality, but I think for your core use what you have will work just fine.

[Sulprax]

@jonathanm ok thank you for all your help i highly appreciate it