Good morning all,

 

So after a month of research into various NAS solutions I've settled on Unraid. Perhaps settled isn't the right word because I'm quite excited about my choice!

 

I've started researching hardware (there's that word again) and of course the starting point of any of my builds is the motherboard. After poking around i found the GA-880GA-UD3H seemed to suit my needs, I'll include the Newegg link at the end for easy reference.

 

I've found 3 threads that are a few months old concerning this board. From what I read it is compatible and HPA is an option and disabled by default (yay). I'm looking to see if anyone else has had any more exp with these boards.

 

The first thread was from someone who admittedly knew nothing about hardware and the thread just kinda stopped, no reports.

 

The second thread the guy had unreal parity sync times which appeared to be bios related but a true cause was never really mentioned.

 

The third appeared to have no issues at all and loved the board, which should be enough for me. I do like to be sure though, so anymore exp with this board, or at least perhaps the chipset? I appreciate any input you guys might have and i look forward to being part of this community.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128444

 

Void4ever

I have the 880GPA as my desktop box (not unRAID), and I have been very satisfied.  My only gripe initially was the absence of eSATA, but I use a front panel for it so that is no sweat.

 

This was an upgrade from the GA-MA790GP-UDH4, and it is now my test unRAID box working fine.

I have one of these in a desktop at present, but am too wondering if it might make a good unraid board.  We'll just wait and see.

 

Although my next box will benefit from being able to telnet in even during boot for bios tweeking and truly headless operation.

 

Also called IPMI 2.0 with virtual media over LAN and KVM-over-LAN support which is found in the SuperMicro X8-Sil

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182211&RandomID=35686965322515120110324064530

This board looks like a fine choice, though there are cheaper options.  The 8 SATA ports are tempting, I know.  However, 8 SATA ports really aren't all that useful in many server configurations.  Consider this:

 

If you want to build a 22 drive server, you'll use two SASLP cards (8 ports each) and then six motherboard ports.

 

If you want to build a 20 drive server, you'll use two SASLP cards (8 ports each) and then four motherboard ports.

 

So 8 motherboard SATA ports will generally only come in handy if you are building a server with a capacity between 8 and 15 drives.  For a larger server, you might consider saving some money on a cheaper board, such as the Jetway JHZ03-GT-LF.

Is there anything in the works that will allow for more mb sata ports.

 

Will we ever see a mb with 24 sata ports?

Probably, but I doubt it would be a very worthwhile investment.  You can get a motherboard and a few SATA expansion cards today that will give you 24 ports for around $450.  I doubt a motherboard with 24 onboard SATA ports will be cheaper than that.

I hear exactly what your saying Raj and i actually spent some time thinking about that before i made the choice on that board. For the moment at least i don't see myself going over 6-7 data drives (haven't decided on a cache drive yet, but i have plenty of spares laying around). In fact I'm not sure I'll be going over 2 or 3 to start with. I def won't be building a 22 drive server ANYTIME soon, and if i do get that high i'll probably have rebuild the box by then, and I'll bet unraid supports more then 22 by then too

 

This board will also serve as a possible replacement for something else in my house should something go horribly horribly wrong, so i like to have a little bit higher end in that respect.

 

I do appreciate the advice and insight though from a seasoned veteran like yourself. Not a day goes by where i do research on this forum and i see you posting in a topic!