Hi,

 

I'm building my first unRAID server, and have read a bunch of threads on this forum but still have some questions, so I was hoping for a little help if you can!

 

I'm planning for a 10-disk server, and I've already got the following hardware:

 

Case: Fractal Designs Define R3 Black

PSU: Corsair CX-430 v2

HDDs: A couple of 2TB WD Greens, a 1TB WD Green, a 2TB Hitachi Deskstar 5400RPM, a 2TB Seagate Barracuda

 

I was thinking of getting a AMD AM3 x2 260 CPU, and the following MoBo:

 

AsRock 880GM-LE: http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=880GM-LE&cat=Specifications

 

It looks OK to me, but is there something I'm missing that might not work well with unRAID? The NIC is Realtek RTL8111DL, so I hope it won't have the problems I've read about with the 8111E. It's also got 6 SATAII ports, which is enough for now - I'll get a PCI-E expander card later when I need it.

 

If I couldn't get that one (not many places sell it in my area), I was thinking about this one:

 

Asus M5A78L-M LX: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A78LM_LX/#specifications

 

It uses the Realtek 8111E NIC, but I could easily put an Intel NIC in there if need be.

 

Any advice regarding this setup (especially CPU/MoBo) would be greatly appreciated. Budget is a bit tight, so I'm really hoping to get the config right first time!

 

Thanks a lot!

The ASRock 880GM-LE works well with unRAID, do a quick search to find other builds with this MB

 

Everything looks ok with the Asus M5, except the NIC which you mentioned.

I attempted to test the AsRock 880GM-LE as one of my 15 Drive Budget Boards, but I ended up getting two DOA boards in a row!  You can read more about my trials and tribulations in the Greenleaf Blog.  On paper the board looks great, I just hope you have better luck with it than I did.

 

With the onboard Realtek NIC disabled and an Intel PIC NIC installed, the Asus M5A78L-M LX should work just fine.  Alternatively, you can try the onboard Realtek NIC with the latest beta version of unRAID (currently beta13), some are reporting success on that build.

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys. Certainly makes me feel more confident about dropping those dollars! Time to go shopping...

So it turns out the AsRock 880GM-LE is pretty much impossible to get now (at least new, in Australia). I was going to get the Asus M5A78L-M LX as a backup, but I just found this little bit of info in the specs:

 

* AMD AM3 100 and 200 series CPU support up to DDR3 1066MHz.

 

As I'm using a 260 and am having difficulty sourcing DDR3 1066MHz memory, I'm going to go for the AsRock 880GMH-LE/USB3 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=880GMH-LE/USB3&cat=Specifications), which is very similar to the AsRock 880GM-LE except it has USB3 (not that it matters to me much), and it has a Realtek 8111E NIC 

 

No big deal, I was going to have to get a separate NIC for the Asus anyway.

 

On that note, I've found a good deal for a Intel PWLA8391GT PRO/1000 GT NIC on eBay, so I'm going for that.

 

I think that all looks OK. Phew, there's a lot of factors to consider! 

 

 

Again, try the Realtek 8111E on the latest unRAID beta before purchasing a PCI NIC.  You might get lucky and not need one.

you can't go wrong with an Intel card IMO.

I tend to replace all my desktops with them if they have an athros or realtek card.

Hmm... I wasn't going to try the beta, but I suppose it can't hurt - I can always rollback to 4.7 and/or buy the Intel NIC later if necessary.

 

Thanks again for the advice, guys!

 

the 8111e does work with latest beta. at least 5.0b13

I am using  ASUS M5A87 Socket AM3+ 870 ATX  "http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0365861"

and it works great.

 

you can get it from Microcenter right now for $94

and there is a rebate for $20 from ASUS so final price will be like $74.00

 

 

I actually ended up getting a completely different MoBo/CPU combo in the end, as I was having a hard time stocking the parts I originally wanted.

 

I ended up getting an Intel DH61BEB3 MoBo, and an Intel G620 CPU. All the other parts I mentioned in the OP stayed the same. I've been running the completed build for a good few weeks now, and so far, everything has worked beautifully (touch wood).

I actually ended up getting a completely different MoBo/CPU combo in the end, as I was having a hard time stocking the parts I originally wanted.

 

I ended up getting an Intel DH61BEB3 MoBo, and an Intel G620 CPU. All the other parts I mentioned in the OP stayed the same. I've been running the completed build for a good few weeks now, and so far, everything has worked beautifully (touch wood).

 

Which unRAID build are you running? 

 

Are you able to get the server to go to S3 sleep and wake up from sleep successfully using this hardware combination?

I'm running 5.0b13.

 

I haven't set up any sleep/WOL functionality, as I use the transmission unmenu package as well, so the box is basically torrenting 24/7.