Potential build list

[melvin]

I've been trying to put together a list for my first build, but I'm pretty stumped when it comes to a motherboard and the SATA expansion card. I'm planning on building this as I feed my hoarding addiction with plans to convert my DVD collection, torrent a television episode or two, watch a hd movie every now and then, and do daily backups of several computers.

 

My budget tops out at $600, but of course I'd like to keep it at as low as possible therefore most of my purchases are from tigerdirect and amazon (I swear it's only for the free shipping, not trying to stiff the state of any taxes). I'm buying everything except for the case and the PSU. I've already sacrificed the trayless 5-in-3 hot-swaps as much as I wanted them in favor of the cooler master 4-in-3 and a mobile rack. My plan was to keep the mobile rack free to pre-clear drives in the futureand maybe even use it to transfer some of the iso files i have sitting on another drive.

 

My building experience is limited since I've only built from kits, so I'd appreciate any input. Also, I haven't looked too closely at the AddOns but UnMenu and UnTorrent are on the list so far.

 

CPU: Intel Core i3 540 LGA1156

Motherboard: (Intel H55HC Motherboard)http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5587168&CatId=5195 or (Intel DQ57TM Motherboard)http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6346527&CatId=5323

RAM: 4 GB DDR3 1333

Case: AZZA Helios 910 Black Japanese SECC Steel ATX Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517007

Drive Cage(s): COOLER MASTER STB-3T4-E3-GP 4-in-3 Device Module Hardisk Cage (2), Mobile Rack for 3.5 inches SATA HDD - Open Frame (3)

Power Supply: CORSAIR 430W

SATA Expansion Card(s): 2 port SATA2 Serial ATA II PCI-Express RAID Controller Card () http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10407&cs_id=1040702&p_id=2530&seq=1&format=2

Cables: SATA Cables. Any ideas on something that won't make the inside of the case look like a jungle?

 

 

Flash Drive: 2 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro using a StarTech USB A to USB Motherboard 4-Pin Header F/F 2.0 Cable, 6" (USBMBADAPT) http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Motherboard-4-Pin-Header-USBMBADAPT/dp/B000IV6S9S/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1299477681&sr=1-2

Parity Drive: 2 TB Hitachi 5K3000

Data Drives: 2 TB WD Green EARS which I need to find jumpers for (4), in the future I'll be using all green drives

Cache Drive: 500 TB WD Blue

[yelnatsch517]

Any reason you picked those specific components?  You could go cheaper with AMD CPU/Mobo.  I recently got the Sempron 140 from Frys for $25 + tax, and a recommended Biostar Mobo for $56 shipped.  That's already cheaper than your CPU or motherboard alone.  You should also check Newegg more often.  They have free shipping on many items and the shipping prices change almost daily, sometimes hourly.  It's not a set price.  I'm sure they use some sort of traffic algorithm to calculate the shipping cost.  

 

There are many people on this board who have experience with that specific SATA controller so they can tell you about their experiences.  I personally purchased the one from eBay for a bit under $8 shipped.  It was something like $2 for the card and $6 shipping.  Many people on this board use that controller as well.  It just takes a few weeks to ship, but that doesn't really bother me as I don't need it immediately anyway.

 

Also, why do you need jumpers for the EARS drives?  unRaid 4.7 and above support advanced format drives.  I'm currently running 1 WD20EARS and pre-clearing 2 right now.  Just a warning though, Amazon does an incredibly shoddy job of packing HDDs.  I'm running my WD20EARS through 3 cycles of pre-clear just to make sure.  I ordered 2 at a time.  Each are pre-kitted in their own box, what Amazon calls hassle free packaging.  The two HDDs, each in their own box, were boxed in a much larger box that Amazon failed to pack properly so it resulted in an overall package that allowed the two smaller boxes to bounce around inside the larger one.

[Rajahal]

Do you have a desktop computer fast enough to handle your DVD encoding?  If so, then I agree with yelnatsch517 - go for a Sempron 140 and a Biostar A760G M2+.  That combination is cheap, reliable, and fast enough.  You can even run video transcoding on it, but it will just take a bit longer.  The i3 is an amazing CPU, but it sounds like it is a bit out of your budget.  Go the Sempron route and then you can afford some 5-in-3s   2 GBs of RAM is also sufficient, you can always add more later if needed.

 

I also do recommend the SIL3132 controller that you've chosen.  The $8 controller appears to be fine as well, though I haven't used one personally.  How many drives do you eventually want to be able to support?  You may need a Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card and some breakout cables as well.  See my prototype builds thread in my sig for links.

 

Agreed, use unRAID 4.7, set the option to '4k-aligned' on the settings page, use the -A option in preclear, and then no jumpers needed.

 

 

[melvin]

I chose the i3 for the power consumption, integrated graphics, and because I thought it could handle any extra work I threw at it. My thinking was that I needed some extra processing power to convert my DVD's and iso files to 1gb .mkv files in the background, while I let my family watch a movie. My plan was for a maximum of 12 drives, but I went to 11 since I decided on using the mobile racks in addition to the cooler masters. After a great deal of thinking i realized I really did not need the icy dock 5-in-3s. I don't plan on swapping the drives out constantly since I plan on buying 2TB drives as I need them. And if I ever think about going into the 15 disk range I figure it would be a new build anyway.

 

Maybe I'll look into an AMD processor since they seem a whole lot cheaper and with regards to power consumption it's not that big of a deal.

 

I am actually in the process of building myself a desktop as well, which i've given myself a $750 budget for. For that I'm using either an i5 or i7 (waiting to see if there will be any combos when the sandybridge mobo start showing up). Should I just convert everything through this desktop and then transfer the data by way of the mobile rack?The 4gb of ram is actually a purchase of 2x4gb sticks that I was planning on splitting between unraid and my desktop build.

 

btw, I've found viewing all these components and all your builds to be a form of geek porn which I cannot look away from.

[Rajahal]

The extra processing power would let you finish your encodes faster, but it shouldn't affect media streaming (assuming you are using a capable HTPC and don't need to transcode with PS3 Media Server or anything like that).  When streaming even a high bitrate BluRay movie the server will use maybe 1 - 5% of the CPU.

 

What are these mobile racks you keep referring to?  Link me?

 

It would take a year or more of constant use to pay off the difference between the cumulative power savings of the i3 processor and motherboard and the initial cost as compared to the AMD solutions.  They still make for great servers, just not so much budget servers.

 

I prefer to do all encoding on my desktop and then transfer the files to my server overnight.  It makes more sense to me to have a cheap and efficient server that runs 24/7 and a beefy desktop that runs when I need it (which still tends to be 24/7).  An i5 or i7 based desktop will make short work of your video encoding tasks.

 

I aim to be the Ron Jeremy of nerd porn.  The whole world will know the size of my...server

[melvin]

I think I found an AMD II x2 at, of all places, Salvation Army. The motherboard may need to be replaced because it only has 4 sata ports and I'm not even sure it turns on. They told me I could bring a power cable and screen in and check it out before I buy it.

 

The mobile rack I was speaking of are from amazon http://www.amazon.com/Kingwin-3-5IN-Sata-Mobile-Rack/dp/B00126U0VA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299564545&sr=8-1. They're similar to what you have on your budget 9 drive build.

 

Mod edit: fixed broken link

[DoeBoye]

If the used X2 doesn't work out, AMD has some low power 2, 3, and 4 core processors rated for 45 watts and under $100... Not much cheaper then the the i3, but combined savings with the cheaper amd mobo might save you almost $100 with tax etc, and you still get a low power cpu...

[Rajahal]

I would definitely be dubious of a CPU from the Salvation Army, but if it is cheap enough, then go for it.  Those mobile racks are fine.  I think the ones I use are actually the same models just rebranded to be generic.

[yelnatsch517]

You really don't need mobile racks.  If you're building another machine with i5 or i7, then do all the encoding on that one and then just transfer the files over through the network.  A media server is just a media server and that's the whole beauty of it.  You find the cheapest motherboard, cpu, memory, controllers, etc. you can find and stick a bunch of nice, reliable, large HDDs in.  The money should be dumped into the HDDs instead of the other components, the exact opposite of a conventional gaming machine.  If you're not going to go with 5 in 3s, which are ridiculously expensive IMHO, then check out the 4 in 3 Hard Disk Stabilizer x4.  They are relatively cheap (compared to the 5 in 3s) and work fairly well.

 

Here's a potential build I have saved in an excel file w/ much more detail (I'm a bit OCD  ):

Case: iCute A11-01

Motherboard: Jetway JHZ03-GT-LF

CPU: AMD Sempron 140

Memory: G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX

2x SATA Cont: Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

4x HDD Cage: Scythe SCY-HDSX4

 

6 SATA onboard + 2x8 SATA from controller = 22 SATA ports

You could always add another 2 SATA ports w/ a PCI-Ex1 controller for a total of 24 ports if unRaid eventually supports it.

[Rajahal]

I agree that the 5-in-3s are expensive, but replacing a single faulty drive in a 4-in-3 like the one you linked is quite a PITA.  I ran my server on internal drives for about 6 months before I couldn't stand it anymore and upgraded to external drives.  My personal server is a 9 drive unit that uses the mobile racks linked in my prototypes thread.  9 of those units costs around $150.  Much less than traditional 5-in-3s and much more than the internal 4-in-3s, so a nice middle-of-the-road option.  The only real issue with those units is that the cabling can be a bit complicated since each drive needs its own power and data cables.