Raj's Prototype Designs [Discussion Thread]


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I personally just snipped one wire from each LED because I didn't want to take the fan off and deal with re-installing. I just unplugged the power from the fan, pulled a single wire up using a small pocket knife out of the grove and clipped it with a pair of finger nail clippers. I would of used a pair of wire cutters, but I couldn't find them and I knew where the finger nail clippers was LOL.

 

Which color did I cut. Honestly I don't know, but I new it took two wires to light the LED so I knew either would work.

 

2UBbs.jpg

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thanks for all the detailed answers !

 

today i wanted to fill my cart and start buying all components, when another more overall question came up

 

do i miss something, or is this board way better then the biostar from this build?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131654&Tpk=Asus%20M4A88TD

it already supports s-ata3 and ships with 2x usb3.0 ports?

maybe i oversee something, but it looks as it costs nearly the same here in europe.

 

 

since sata3 2tb drives are already very cheap here, i would plan to set up the system with all my sata2 drives in sata3 slots

and start replacing the parity drive with a new sata3.

this should boost the performance for later added sata3 drives, right?

downside would be, that i would need to look for sata3 5in3 cages, that are more expansive.

2nd good thing are those 2 USB3 ports, where i could access USB3 external drives on a very good performance level

are there downsides? do i oversee anything? this should work with all the other planned hardware, right?

 

 

 

 

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ok i did a bit more of research and now finally understand, that its not the sata interface, that slows down the transfer speed.

its more a mechanical limitation. so i wouldnt benefit a lot, when using sata3 instead of sata2.

 

with that conclusion, it would be a little bit too much to replace drives to become sata3

on the other side USB3.0 for external drives is still pretty awesome

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my order is finished. lucky for EU is the ease of ordering the centurion 590

 

Western Digital Caviar GreenPower 2TB SATA II (ears)

ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3, AM3, mATX

Corsair Builder Series CX430, 430 Watt

centurion 590 case

2GB Corsair DDR3 PC1333 C9 ValueSelect

AMD Sempron 140 AM3 "box", Sockel AM3

 

i wont use any sata controller card in the beginning. my level1 check hopefully succeeds with 5 drives (no bays yet, just low budget)

depending on the noise of centurion 590 case fans i would go for level 2 check as well

 

 

building starts next week. i try to show some results asap.

 

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Can someone confirm whether S3 and fan speed management work reliably with the Supermicro C2SEE on unRAID? Can the fans be turned off completely?  

 

S3 can put my C2SEE based array to sleep, but I've never gotten it to wake via WOL.  I've read on one person who said theirs did, but I never was able to duplicate their success.  I've not tried fan management, somebody else will need to provide feedback there.
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I know.  I haven't replaced it yet because I haven't found a good replacement.  The Biostar A760G M2+ (my original budget board) is currently for sale on eBay (US only) for about $55.  That is my recommendation for the time being.  However, once that vendor is out of stock I'll need to find something else.

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You can't exactly recommend without testing, can you? Which means a purchase, install, test, etc. Bad times...

 

Exactly!!

 

Rajahal nor myself are made of money so much so that we can do a lot testing.  We both have parts to test with (Rajahal more-so than myself) but buying a $50-$75 (that estimate may even be a little low) motherboard to test with can get expensive very quickly.

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Yep.  Last time I took a gamble on a new board I ended up wasting many, many hours of my own time and pushing back a client's build by a solid month (a poor business choice, and one I won't be making again).  I wasn't out any money as I got a full refund from Newegg, but the experience still was far from worthwhile.  More info here, if you care to read about it.

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You can't exactly recommend without testing, can you? Which means a purchase, install, test, etc. Bad times...

 

Exactly!!

 

Rajahal nor myself are made of money so much so that we can do a lot testing.  We both have parts to test with (Rajahal more-so than myself) but buying a $50-$75 (that estimate may even be a little low) motherboard to test with can get expensive very quickly.

 

Well, you guys are doing the unRAID's work for sure! :P

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I know.  I haven't replaced it yet because I haven't found a good replacement.  The Biostar A760G M2+ (my original budget board) is currently for sale on eBay (US only) for about $55.  That is my recommendation for the time being.  However, once that vendor is out of stock I'll need to find something else.

 

Speaking of which:

As I mentioned before, I ordered the "ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3, AM3, mATX". It ships in 5 different editions (Asus M4A88TD-M, Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3, Asus M4A88TD-V EVO, Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3, Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3), so you are able to customize your unRaid built a little bit better in price and features. (EU: 69-89€, US should be even cheaper from my experience).

 

I got the board today, but there wasn't enough time to post everything. First impression is very good. Have had no issues or what so ever. I plugged everything in and it worked just fine. (Not to mention, that I finally lost my old 2TB-lady. May you rest in peace!).

Before I get the "build post" done, I want to make sure it is at least level 1, as well as I want to get some power consumption values.

btw: this is the first board, I bought, that has a built-in flash tool via BIOS. could become very handy.

 

Basically you can replace it with your "Biostar TA785G3HD" and still go for sempron, but get a lot more features.

Right now I am very happy with everything and haven't found a downside. If you need any more detail, I would try my best to provide it.

 

 

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Even the most basic version of that board is $100 USD on Newegg right now.  A bit too expensive to be considered a budget board, but it could be used in some of the more powerful builds.  I try to aim for boards in the $50 - $75 range when researching budget boards.

 

I'm definitely interested to see your results.  I'll admit that my latest debacle with an Asus board has soured me to the brand a bit, but I suppose I could give them another shot.  Biostar and Supermicro are the only brands with which I've never had a problem.

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I know.  I haven't replaced it yet because I haven't found a good replacement.  The Biostar A760G M2+ (my original budget board) is currently for sale on eBay (US only) for about $55.  That is my recommendation for the time being.  However, once that vendor is out of stock I'll need to find something else.

 

The only thing keeping me away is the DDR2 RAM requirement. DDR3 RAM is so much cheaper at this point that I don't want to buy any of the older RAM.

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I know.  I haven't replaced it yet because I haven't found a good replacement.  The Biostar A760G M2+ (my original budget board) is currently for sale on eBay (US only) for about $55.  That is my recommendation for the time being.  However, once that vendor is out of stock I'll need to find something else.

 

The only thing keeping me away is the DDR2 RAM requirement. DDR3 RAM is so much cheaper at this point that I don't want to buy any of the older RAM.

 

The difference in price between DDR2 and DDR3 for a 2GB stick is about $10.  That is a little bit of a pain in the arse but other than that there is little difference.

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Even the most basic version of that board is $100 USD on Newegg right now.  A bit too expensive to be considered a budget board, but it could be used in some of the more powerful builds.  I try to aim for boards in the $50 - $75 range when researching budget boards.

 

I'm definitely interested to see your results.  I'll admit that my latest debacle with an Asus board has soured me to the brand a bit, but I suppose I could give them another shot.  Biostar and Supermicro are the only brands with which I've never had a problem.

 

i looked up the cheapest boards here in the EU with the following speccs:

at least:

-AM3 socket

-6x SATAII or SATAIII

-onboard graphics

-microATX

-1000mbit network

==> Asus M4A78LT-M LE   (DDR2)

==> Asus M4A78LT-M  (DDR3)

==> MSI 760GM-P33  (DDR3)

all are about 40-43€

 

adding USB3.0 or other newer features will push it up to 75€ and higher

maybe you find something interessting here

 

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==> Asus M4A78LT-M LE   (DDR2)

==> Asus M4A78LT-M  (DDR3)

Both of these are bad choices.  The LE board has a NIC that is incompatible with unRAID, so you have to use a PCI NIC with it (adds expense and power consumption).  The other board is incompatible with Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and is very picky about which USB flash drives it will and won't boot from. 

 

==> MSI 760GM-P33  (DDR3)

This board has an Atheros NIC that is not on the hardware compatibility list.  So the best I can offer is that it might work, but no one has confirmed that it will work.  There is always a chance that it won't work and you would have to use a PCI NIC just like the LE board above.

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The difference in price between DDR2 and DDR3 for a 2GB stick is about $10.  That is a little bit of a pain in the arse but other than that there is little difference.

 

Yup, looks like $30 shipped for 2GB DDR2 RAM now, I guess prices have come down a bit since I last looked.

 

Thanks for the heads up :)

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