Raj's Prototype Designs [Discussion Thread]

[mbryanr]

I have updated the Prototype Designs thread.  Noteable updates are:

 

• All Budget Box designs that previous called for the Azza Helios 910 now call for the Xigmatek Utgard Original CPC-T90DB-U01.  The Utgard is cheaper and potentially quieter since it lacks the over-sized side fan.  I have not personally used the Utgard case yet, but it is on my list of hardware to review.  If you would like to see this or any other piece of hardware reviewed sooner, consider donating to the GreenLeaf Software and Hardware Blog.  All donations are applied towards purchases of hardware or software to be reviewed.
  

 

A few reviews:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Xigmatek/Utgard/

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=554

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/04/14/xigmatek-utgard-case-review/1

[myangeldust]

Your prototype design page is really good work. It seems meticulous and if I experienced minor vertigo reading it I can only imagine what was it like to write it.

 

I was looking at what you call the "20 Drive Budget Build (rackmount)". It's been years since I put a box together and an unRAID server would be a nice project and useful since my current movie streaming device is a USB Drobo. I'm not planning to use it for anything else so the Celeron should suffice. Parts acquisition and building I do just fine. But I get lazy on designing a box. So my question to you is: Will your rackmount 20 Drive Budget Build work using the parts you specified Or have you built something similar?

 

PS: I had considered using Lime Tech's own server products as a template but in a rackmount form. Though if the price is right I'd buy a rackmount version of a Lime Tech-built server. (Hey, I LIKE building up my car but I LOVE driving it even more.) Thanks!

[prostuff1]

Will your rackmount 20 Drive Budget Build work using the parts you specified Or have you built something similar?

The list of parts for the 20 Drive Budget Build is up to date.  Those are the parts that we use in our 20 Drive Eco Rackmount build on the GreenLeaf Technology site.

[myangeldust]

The list of parts for the 20 Drive Budget Build is up to date.  Those are the parts that we use in our 20 Drive Eco Rackmount build on the GreenLeaf Technology site.

 

Thanks for the info. Those are nice machines on your site. It looks like Greenleaf doesn't overprice rackmounts like everyone else does.

 

I know that unRAID will spin down any hard drives that are not in use (best feature ever). But can the entire rackmount unit go into sleep mode when not being accessed or at a preset time? And if it can sleep, will accessing it via the network wake it up again or does the user have to physically turn it on? Thanks.

[prostuff1]

Thanks for the info. Those are nice machines on your site. It looks like Greenleaf doesn't overprice rackmounts like everyone else does.

Thanks for the concept

 

I know that unRAID will spin down any hard drives that are not in use (best feature ever). But can the entire rackmount unit go into sleep mode when not being accessed or at a preset time? And if it can sleep, will accessing it via the network wake it up again or does the user have to physically turn it on? Thanks.

It can, there is a thread about WOL and s3 sleep in the User Customization forum.  I have not personally set up an server to use it, mine stay on all the time.  I am not positive if any of the servers we sell will do s3.

 

most of the time you have to send a WOL packet for the server to come back up.

[myangeldust]

It can, there is a thread about WOL and s3 sleep in the User Customization forum.  I have not personally set up an server to use it, mine stay on all the time.  I am not positive if any of the servers we sell will do s3.

most of the time you have to send a WOL packet for the server to come back up.

 

Wow, thanks! Twenty-six pages of WOL and scripts and Linux speak. My laziness subroutine is kicking in just reading the first two pages. Since I'm only using this proposed box for movies I think I'll just manually fire it up and power down as needed. Maybe the Lime Tech guys can add it to a future release of unRAID.

[ZohmBii]

 

The Budget Board for 5 - 15 drive designs has been updated to the ASUS M4A78LT-M.  It is temporarily out of stock at Newegg, but should be back in stock soon.  Hopefully it lasts longer than the previous one did.

 

Any other MOBO recommendations for a first time unRAID server builder (looking to build an 8-Drive in a Fractal R3 Case)?  No worries if price goes up a little.

[eldustino]

First off, amazing information you've compiled here.  One of the best bar none.  Now, this is probably a stupid question but here goes.

 

I just got the Norco 4220 and the TX650 PSU, but this PSU has just 8 SATA power connectors and the 4220 has 5 trays / rows w/ 2 power connectors each (5 x 2 = 10).  What is everyone doing for power to the 5th and last row/shelf?

 

TIA,

Dustino

[prostuff1]

First off, amazing information you've compiled here.  One of the best bar none.  Now, this is probably a stupid question but here goes.

 

I just got the Norco 4220 and the TX650 PSU, but this PSU has just 8 SATA power connectors and the 4220 has 5 trays / rows w/ 2 power connectors each (5 x 2 = 10).  What is everyone doing for power to the 5th and last row/shelf?

 

TIA,

Dustino

Norco specifies that you only need one molex per row.  Try it that way first and see how it works.  If it does not, try adding the second molex connector.  If you need two connectors then you can by a molex splitter/adapter from a place like monoprice.com

 

[eldustino]

Ah, I thought that may be the case, but I could not find any info from Norco.  Did they publish this or is there a hidden manual for this thing somewhere? 

 

Thanks much!

 

[Warp3]

There are definite advantages to the user share system, but the lack of the ability to nest shares has some downsides compared to other file sharing setups (unless I'm overlooking the ability to do that in unRAID).  Personally, I'd love to see a feature like a "super share" that would allow me to map a drive to say \\unraid\shares which would then have all the other user shares underneath that structure (in other words, my \\unraid\music and \\unraid\tv shares would also be accessible via \\unraid\shares\music and \\unraid\shares\tv).

 

Just to update my old post, it turns out this can be done by sharing the /mnt/user folder via an smb-extra.conf file.  That made things much nicer.

 

You can also leave the power LED disconnected, nothing wrong with that.

 

That's what I finally ended up doing on mine.  All the case fans have LEDs anyway, so you don't really *need* a power light since the whole case practically lights up when you turn it on.

[Rajahal]

 

The Budget Board for 5 - 15 drive designs has been updated to the ASUS M4A78LT-M.  It is temporarily out of stock at Newegg, but should be back in stock soon.  Hopefully it lasts longer than the previous one did.

 

Any other MOBO recommendations for a first time unRAID server builder (looking to build an 8-Drive in a Fractal R3 Case)?  No worries if price goes up a little.

 

Nothing at the moment, sorry.  I just returned from a vacation and I'm still getting settled in my new house.  I do plan to start another round of budget board testing once I'm settled, but I don't expect to have any results for weeks or even a month or more.  Sorry that I can't get to it any faster than that.

[Apex77]

I'm thinking of using the following 5.25" bay to 3.5" bay converter instead of the Hot Swap Bay for the 5 Drive miniBox.

 

Here is the converter:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Module-Device-STB-3T4-E3-GP/dp/B00129CDGC/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header

 

Other than losing the ability to Hot-Swap, can anyone see any obvious red flags in using this module.

The hot swap bay listed in the 5 Drive Minibox build is > $80 and this is only $24. Hard to beat that.

 

With this setup, I guess the 5 Drive Minibox can become a 9 Drive Mini box.

Or am I missing something here.

[ohlwiler]

I've used both, so I think I can compare. The pros are price, better and quieter cooling. The big downside is convenience. It is hard to beat the hot swap for convenience. I am using the previous version of the cooler master in my build. I filled my server about 10 months ago and have swapped out one defective drive since then. If you plan on constantly adding drives the cooler master will get old.

[dannycorker]

Have been mixing and matching from the UK budget build on the wiki and previous advice from on here and come up with this list:

 

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240e - http://www.ebuyer.com/264382-amd-athlon-ii-x2-240e-2-8ghz-socket-am3-2mb-l2-cache-retail-ad240ehdgmbox

MOBO: Asus M4A78L-M - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=123788&source=froogle

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 240-PIN DDR2 800MHz CL6 - http://www.dabs.com/products/kingston-valueram-2gb-240-pin-ddr2-800mhz-cl6-5JWS.html?q=ddr2%20gb%202%20kingston

PSU: Corsair 430W V2 CX Series PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/271798-corsair-430w-v2-cx-series-psu-cmpsu-430cxv2uk

SWAP: Coolermaster Full Alloy 4 in 3 Devices Module - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-full-alloy-4-in-3-devices-module-ideal-for-most-cases

CASE: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Tower Case - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=72693&source=froogle

 

I do have a couple of questions about everything. Firstly, the MOBO is a slightly different model to what I was previously after I think, does the one listed look alright? Secondly, the swap currently isn't a hot swap. Is there a reason this would be a problem when I don't plan to change the drives other than adding new ones, and this would only be every few months or so?

 

Most importantly, I'm a student at the moment so don't have much money (naturally). Therefore, if something is likely to be discontinued or hard to find between now and Christmas (about how long it will take me to buy everything) I would be best off buying it first! So if anyone has any advice about which products to buy (in the UK) and what order to go after them in, I'd be very grateful!

 

Thanks,

 

Danny

[znelbok]

I am looking at a small system, no more than 6 drives in total.

 

The main aim is to store video's music and personal data.

 

One thing I want to do is run twonky for the different renderes around the place.

 

Will the semperon 145 be OK for using with twonky.  I dont know if transcoding is possible with twonky and I am not sure if I need it, but there is a PS3 in the mix that will hopefully be able to be used.

 

Mick

[Rajahal]

Have been mixing and matching from the UK budget build on the wiki and previous advice from on here and come up with this list:

 

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240e - http://www.ebuyer.com/264382-amd-athlon-ii-x2-240e-2-8ghz-socket-am3-2mb-l2-cache-retail-ad240ehdgmbox

MOBO: Asus M4A78L-M - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=123788&source=froogle

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 240-PIN DDR2 800MHz CL6 - http://www.dabs.com/products/kingston-valueram-2gb-240-pin-ddr2-800mhz-cl6-5JWS.html?q=ddr2%20gb%202%20kingston

PSU: Corsair 430W V2 CX Series PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/271798-corsair-430w-v2-cx-series-psu-cmpsu-430cxv2uk

SWAP: Coolermaster Full Alloy 4 in 3 Devices Module - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-full-alloy-4-in-3-devices-module-ideal-for-most-cases

CASE: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Tower Case - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=72693&source=froogle

 

I do have a couple of questions about everything. Firstly, the MOBO is a slightly different model to what I was previously after I think, does the one listed look alright? Secondly, the swap currently isn't a hot swap. Is there a reason this would be a problem when I don't plan to change the drives other than adding new ones, and this would only be every few months or so?

 

Most importantly, I'm a student at the moment so don't have much money (naturally). Therefore, if something is likely to be discontinued or hard to find between now and Christmas (about how long it will take me to buy everything) I would be best off buying it first! So if anyone has any advice about which products to buy (in the UK) and what order to go after them in, I'd be very grateful!

 

Thanks,

 

Danny

 

Your motherboard looks fine, as do the rest of your components.  Hot swap cages are a tricky thing.  In one sense, they are just a luxury - they allow you to swap and add drives faster and more easily.  However, in another sense they are necessary to make your server less of a pet project and more of an appliance.  When swapping drives in a non-hot swap drive cage, there is ample opportunity to knock other cables loose, mix up the order of your drives, and potentially cause other problems.  Since you are on a tight budget (I built my first server as a student as well, so I can relate), I suggest starting with just one or two of the non-hot swap cages now just to get you started, and then saving up money over time and replacing them with the hot swap cages when you can afford it.  You'll truly appreciate the hot swap cages after using the non-hot swap cages for a while.

 

As I don't live in the UK or keep tabs on the availability of components there, I can't answer your last question, sorry.  The motherboard takes the most time to research, so I would suggest that being your first purchase since you've found a good one.

[Rajahal]

I am looking at a small system, no more than 6 drives in total.

 

The main aim is to store video's music and personal data.

 

One thing I want to do is run twonky for the different renderes around the place.

 

Will the semperon 145 be OK for using with twonky.  I dont know if transcoding is possible with twonky and I am not sure if I need it, but there is a PS3 in the mix that will hopefully be able to be used.

 

Mick

 

I don't know about Twonky, but I do know that the Sempron is not fast enough for PS3MS.  If you want to run transcoding on your server, get a cheap dual core CPU.

[dannycorker]

Have been mixing and matching from the UK budget build on the wiki and previous advice from on here and come up with this list:

 

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240e - http://www.ebuyer.com/264382-amd-athlon-ii-x2-240e-2-8ghz-socket-am3-2mb-l2-cache-retail-ad240ehdgmbox

MOBO: Asus M4A78L-M - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=123788&source=froogle

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 240-PIN DDR2 800MHz CL6 - http://www.dabs.com/products/kingston-valueram-2gb-240-pin-ddr2-800mhz-cl6-5JWS.html?q=ddr2%20gb%202%20kingston

PSU: Corsair 430W V2 CX Series PSU - http://www.ebuyer.com/271798-corsair-430w-v2-cx-series-psu-cmpsu-430cxv2uk

SWAP: Coolermaster Full Alloy 4 in 3 Devices Module - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-full-alloy-4-in-3-devices-module-ideal-for-most-cases

CASE: Antec Three Hundred Gaming Tower Case - http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=72693&source=froogle

 

I do have a couple of questions about everything. Firstly, the MOBO is a slightly different model to what I was previously after I think, does the one listed look alright? Secondly, the swap currently isn't a hot swap. Is there a reason this would be a problem when I don't plan to change the drives other than adding new ones, and this would only be every few months or so?

 

Most importantly, I'm a student at the moment so don't have much money (naturally). Therefore, if something is likely to be discontinued or hard to find between now and Christmas (about how long it will take me to buy everything) I would be best off buying it first! So if anyone has any advice about which products to buy (in the UK) and what order to go after them in, I'd be very grateful!

 

Thanks,

 

Danny

 

Your motherboard looks fine, as do the rest of your components.  Hot swap cages are a tricky thing.  In one sense, they are just a luxury - they allow you to swap and add drives faster and more easily.  However, in another sense they are necessary to make your server less of a pet project and more of an appliance.  When swapping drives in a non-hot swap drive cage, there is ample opportunity to knock other cables loose, mix up the order of your drives, and potentially cause other problems.  Since you are on a tight budget (I built my first server as a student as well, so I can relate), I suggest starting with just one or two of the non-hot swap cages now just to get you started, and then saving up money over time and replacing them with the hot swap cages when you can afford it.  You'll truly appreciate the hot swap cages after using the non-hot swap cages for a while.

 

As I don't live in the UK or keep tabs on the availability of components there, I can't answer your last question, sorry.  The motherboard takes the most time to research, so I would suggest that being your first purchase since you've found a good one.

 

Well, already struggling to find the motherboard again Out of stock on the link I gave. There is an LE version available, am I right in thinking that this would not be suitable?

 

Or, alternately, what I assume was designed as the upgrade, the Asus M5A78L-M LX? http://www.ebuyer.com/269070-asus-m5a78l-m-lx-amd-socket-am3-8-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-m5a78l-m-lx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

[Johnm]

Well, already struggling to find the motherboard again Out of stock on the link I gave. There is an LE version available, am I right in thinking that this would not be suitable?

 

Or, alternately, what I assume was designed as the upgrade, the Asus M5A78L-M LX? http://www.ebuyer.com/269070-asus-m5a78l-m-lx-amd-socket-am3-8-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-m5a78l-m-lx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

 

Unfortunately that board has the 8111E nic

 

It looks like the motherboard manufacturers are being forced to use that chipset by realtek since that's the current cheap bulk chip they are selling. Possibly only chip they are currently manufacturing.

[dannycorker]

Well, already struggling to find the motherboard again Out of stock on the link I gave. There is an LE version available, am I right in thinking that this would not be suitable?

 

Or, alternately, what I assume was designed as the upgrade, the Asus M5A78L-M LX? http://www.ebuyer.com/269070-asus-m5a78l-m-lx-amd-socket-am3-8-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-m5a78l-m-lx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products

 

Unfortunately that board has the 8111E nic

 

It looks like the motherboard manufacturers are being forced to use that chipset by realtek since that's the current cheap bulk chip they are selling. Possibly only chip they are currently manufacturing.

 

Don't suppose you have an alternate recommendation that would be purchase-able in the UK?

 

EDIT: Managed to find an Asus M4A78LT-M that claimed to be in stock - just hope it actually gets sent and that it isn't the LE version!

 

EDIT 2: No stock after all - back to the drawing board Open to suggestions that are available in the UK!

[Rajahal]

Have you looked for all the boards listed in the Old Components section?  Boards that are no longer available in the US sometimes find their way to the UK.  Worth a shot if you haven't tried it already.

[mbryanr]

 

Don't suppose you have an alternate recommendation that would be purchase-able in the UK?

 

Asus M4A785-M

You will have to get DDR3 memory for these boards:

Biostar A880G+ <4 SATA MB Ports>

or here

or here

 

ASRock 880GM-LE

 

 

[revco]

Raj - just a quick thanks for all the prototype builds & the countless hours you've spent testing compatibility with unRAID.  It greatly helped me to design a 12-bay system based on the Azza 910 that I think I'm going to be really happy with.  The design process honestly couldn't have been any simpler with the continually updated build info you maintain.

 

My build:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=15756.msg146631#msg146631

[Rajahal]

You are very welcome revco, I'm glad you found my designs and testing helpful.