Most important parts for performance

[tucansam]

I realize that for general reading and writing from and to the array, network interface speed and disk speed play a role... But for array rebuilding after upgrade or failure, parity operations, parity checks, etc., how would you rank the following in terms of importance?

 

1. CPU speed/number of cores

2. Amount of RAM

3. 7200rpm/SATA3 disks w/controller

 

Thanks.

[Helmonder]

Everything Unraid does is based on disk activity.. So disk speed plays a mayor part (BUT with writing being slower because of parity this makes the bonus of having very fast drivers somewhat low...)

 

What I seriously like about Unraid is that it performs like a M*ther with hardware "leftover" and cheap green drives... What I am using is a motherboard from a build somewhat like  years ago (my old pc) combined with WD green 2TB drives..

 

System is eating everything I throw at it and I am still able to stream video without stuttering... GREAT product...

[Johnm]

Honestly...

 

I would say..

• Solid PSU. Not enough juice.. you aint going nowhere. plus you want need clean power.
  
• Solid motherboard. you don't want to deal with  silly things related to motherboard issues. especially if you use the onboard NIC and PCIe slots.
  
• Solid Gigabit NIC. (onboard is ok if motherboard is solid). Intel is usually better.
  
• Dependable drives. dont use drives you found in your brothers desk drawer or old IDE's. Speed really makes no differance in unraid. you will get FASTER performance with modern 7200's. Try and get drives with more data per platter for speed.( todays big 5400's outperform even the 10,000 RPM raptors of a few years ago for sustained write/read [not seek time])
  
• Cooling, keep the server cool and it will last much longer and perform better.
  Lots of hard drives in one place get hot fast. Especially those 10k or 7200's. if they start to overheat, your data is is toast (no pun intended).
  

 

you can use just about any compatible CPU and RAM for the board you use. unraid will not care.

Any case will do if it securely holds your servers guts and keeps the temps low. build one out of legos if you have to...

 

That is also the order I would probably order my parts.. unless I wanted to use a specific case/chassis.

 

 

 

[c3]

I realize that for general reading and writing from and to the array, network interface speed and disk speed play a role... But for array rebuilding after upgrade or failure, parity operations, parity checks, etc., how would you rank the following in terms of importance?

 

1. CPU speed/number of cores

2. Amount of RAM

3. 7200rpm/SATA3 disks w/controller

 

As others have said for the array rebuilding and parity operations (including check), disk is it. However, how important is a 16 vs 22 hour parity check? Few disk drives are using the 6G vs 3G of SATA2 vs SATA3, but those that can will see an improvement from that vs adding 2G of RAM.

 

Based strictly on the measurement of array rebuild and parity operations;

1) disk rpm - 10k > 7200 > 5900

2) disk interface - SATA3 6G > SATA2 3G

But your gains are limited.

 

Operationally, John's list is a better place to focus.

PSU - high efficiency will save you money an power+cooling and headaches.

Motherboard - you dont want to open your storage up to fix a flacky capacitor.

NIC - networking in general, again you don't want to spend time on this, just get good stuff to start.

[tucansam]

Thanks to all.  I keep coming back to this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131732

 

And figure on adding this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033

 

as various posts relate that a PCI-Express card will work just fine in a slot meant for VGA...

 

Thoughts?

 

I've been down the Sempron/Celeron road, and I'd love to go LGA775 so I can make use of better CPUs if needs/unraid ever require it.  Or AM3.  But again I'm looking at motherboards that are suspect, and I can get an Intel LGA775 board and throw a SATA controller in a PCI-Express slot, but then I'm looking at DDR2 @ twice the cost.  Still, being able to upgrade the CPU has appeal.  Price will probably all come out in the wash...

 

 

[PeterB]

Thanks to all.  I keep coming back to this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131732

 

That looks like a neat solution.

 

And figure on adding this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033

 

as various posts relate that a PCI-Express card will work just fine in a slot meant for VGA...

 

Thoughts?

 

Some PCI-e slots are dedicated for a graphics card, and will not support anything else.  You will need to do some further research to determine whether that applies to this board.  However, with on-board video and only a single expansion slot, I guess that the chances are good that it will work.

 

However, by all accounts, support in the latest 5.0 unRAID for the Realtek network chipsets is good.  Unless you are particularly worried, I would stick with the on-board network interface.  After all, future requirements may be for additional drives, in which case you'll want that slot for a SATA HBA.

[c3]

Thanks to all.  I keep coming back to this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131732

 

And figure on adding this:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106033

 

as various posts relate that a PCI-Express card will work just fine in a slot meant for VGA...

 

Thoughts?

 

I've been down the Sempron/Celeron road, and I'd love to go LGA775 so I can make use of better CPUs if needs/unraid ever require it.  Or AM3.  But again I'm looking at motherboards that are suspect, and I can get an Intel LGA775 board and throw a SATA controller in a PCI-Express slot, but then I'm looking at DDR2 @ twice the cost.  Still, being able to upgrade the CPU has appeal.  Price will probably all come out in the wash...

 

As you mentioned, the slot has been used by others for the Intel nic. It is x4 slot, so cards requiring x8 or x16 will have problems. Many controllers will work in this slot, but not all.