Help with unraid build

[Ryan00]

Hey everyone Im a new user here, And was wondering if anyone could help me out and tell me if the parts for my rig look good for a unraid server?

Im also confused how the backplane works for the  norco 4020 case. My motherboard supports 4 3gb sata ports and two 6gb sata ports. my understanding is i take a sata cable and run it to say port one on the motherboard and then to the sata port on the backplane ? I want to have a furture 20 hard drive rig do i need to buy any sata cards or should the backplane on my case be fine?  (confused)

 

Here are my goals in building a unraid server  to stream to pc 1080 movies and dvd movies and music . I want a system that is fast and low power, Im going to start with only two hard drives for now 1 parity drive and 1 data drive. Both of these drives will be western digital 2tb green drives. However i want to have easy upgrade to add new hard drives. (20 hard drives total)

 

Here are the parts im looking to buy please let me know what you guys think?

 

RPC-4020 4U Server Case w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bay  link here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NO7THO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATAV5SZ5JVR3C

 

ASUS P8H67-M LE LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel H67 DDR3 1333 Micro ATX Motherboard

link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QF0VFO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=A2YLYLTN75J8LR

 

Intel Core i3-2100 Processor 3.1GHz 3 MB Cache Socket LGA1155

 

Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD platforms - CMPSU-750TXV2  (Hopefully this can power 20 drives down the road.  Im sure all 20 wont be spining at once ) link here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MYFODI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

Corsair XMS3 8 GB (2 x 4GB) 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9    (Im not sure how many addons i will be running but just in case lol )  link here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

 

X2  Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARX  link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VFJ9MK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

Thanks for any help you can send my way Ryan !  And have a netgear router gig ports thanks agian

[Rajahal]

First off, I highly recommend the Norco 4220 over the 4020.  The difference is the 4220 uses mini-SAS backplanes, whereas the 4020 uses SATA backplanes.  MiniSAS lets you combine 4 individual SATA cables into just one cable.  So the 4220 can be wired up with just 5 data cables, as opposed to the 20 SATA cables needed with the 4020.  MiniSAS makes the cabling much simpler, and it makes troubleshooting that much simpler as well (imagine trying to determine which of your 20 SATA cables is defective!).  Click the link in my sig to the Greenleaf Prototypes Blog and check out the 20 Drive Budget Build - it contains links to all the cables and such that you will need.  You can also browse the Greenleaf photo albums to get an idea of how the cabling will work.

 

The motherboard you've chosen will work for a 15 drive server, but it doesn't have enough PCIe slots to support 20 drives.  Again, I recommend the board I list in the prototypes blog.

 

I also don't recommend using a 750W PSU.  If you plan to use only green drives, Corsair's 650W is enough.  If you plan to use only 7200RPM drives, Corsair's 850W is the right choice.  If you plan to mix them, then I suppose the 750W would work, but I would prefer to use the 850W to be on the safe side.  With the 750W you would always need to keep track of how many 7200RPM drives are in your system so that you don't overtax it.

[Ryan00]

Thanks for the help . could you please tell me if this looks better? im going to add a 5 in 3 cage and sas later on for now im just going to use onboard sata because i will only have 2 drives to start with.  Also will the corsair ram i have work with this motherboard i have?

 

hopefully this should get me started and running. I will prob add a cage here:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994028  (ICY DOCK) also when you run somthing like the icy dock 5 in 3 with sas does it hurt performace at all ?

 

 

Antec ATX Full Tower Gaming Case, Twelve Hundred V3 (Black)  i think this case will fit better in my closet  link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004INH0FS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O Xeon X3400 / L3400 / Core i3 series Dual LAN Micro ATX Server Board w/ Remote Management link here:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182211

 

Corsair XMS3 8 GB (2 x 4GB) 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9  link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

Intel Core i3-550 Processor 3.2 GHz 4 MB Cache Socket LGA1156 - Intel

 

 

 

Corsair Enthusiast TX V2 Series 650-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified High Performance Modular Power Supply  (will prob have to go for the 850 years down the road) .

 

 

  x 2  Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS - Western Digital

 

Thanks again Ryan .

 

[Rajahal]

Everything looks fine except for the RAM.  Supermicro boards are very picky about RAM, you have to use something from either Supermicro's or the RAM manufacturer's compatibility list.  For an 8 GB kit for that board, I use this Kingston RAM.

 

Also, there are cheaper options than the Icy Dock cages, but they will work just fine.  My favorite is the Norco SS-500, which is currently unavailable (supposedly available 2/7, but we'll see).  The Supermicro cages are also OK.  Many people like to replace the fans in all of these units to help keep the server's noise levels down.

[Ryan00]

Hello again thanks so much for your help! The link you sent me for the ram will it work with the motherboard i have on the list? Also whats a good sata card?  looking for x8  sas/sata

 

The Norco SS-500 looks nice hopefully they will get more in stock soon .  Again thanks for the help without your help i would be taking back some parts after i found out they wouldnt work   

[Rajahal]

Yes, the RAM I linked will work with the X8SIL-F-O motherboard.

 

I recommend the Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 card.  It uses x4 PCIe and has two miniSAS connectors, for up to 8 drives support.  x4 is plenty fast for 8 drives, you don't need x8.  If you click the prototypes link in my sig, you'll find links to the cards and the cables needed in most of the prototypes builds.

[Ryan00]

I went ahead and got all the parts i needed, i should start building my server in a about a week or so.  Thanks again for your help !

 

 

 

 

              Ryan

[Takkie1970]

Guys,

 

Correct me if I am wrong but I I read correctly, Ryan00 mentioned an I3-550 CPU, does that work with an 1155 MotherBoard?  Schould that not be a 1156 kind of board?

 

 

[ljh89]

He changes his board and cpu from 1155 to 1156 and no mixing them would not work.

[Ryan00]

Guys,

 

Correct me if I am wrong but I I read correctly, Ryan00 mentioned an I3-550 CPU, does that work with an 1155 MotherBoard?  Schould that not be a 1156 kind of board?

 

(New build  im putting together )

 

Antec ATX Full Tower Gaming Case, Twelve Hundred V3 (Black)  i think this case will fit better in my closet  link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004INH0FS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O Xeon X3400 / L3400 / Core i3 series Dual LAN Micro ATX Server Board w/ Remote Management link here:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182211

 

Corsair XMS3 8 GB (2 x 4GB) 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit CMX8GX3M2A1333C9  link here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

 

Intel Core i3-550 Processor 3.2 GHz 4 MB Cache Socket LGA1156 - Intel

 

 

Thanks for all the help everyone !!!