June 7, 201214 yr Hey everyone! So after wading through this forum and many other resources, I think I'm finally about ready to start my first unRAID build. Now this isn't my first rodeo, but it's definitely my first NAS, and my first real server build. The goal is to end up with a reliable always on file server to store media and backups, as well as serve those files up around my house. There's a definite possibility of me needing to do some on the fly transcoding. So I guess I'll get down to the details! First of all, I got a little excited last week and bought a bunch of parts, so here's what I've got so far: LaCie mosKeyto 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820154027 (2x) Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514 Western Digital Caviar Green WD30EZRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136874 Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100 Seasonic SS-560KM Active PFC F3, 560W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91, 80Plus Gold http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098 Budget Money isn't a huge concern for me at this point, but I'm not really looking to spend more than ~$1000. I already spent ~$500 Drives I'm looking at starting out with the 3 drives I just bought, and slowly (over several years) expand as needed. I'll also be scrounging around for a spare drive for cache if once I purchase an unRAID license. I really have no idea how much space I'll need, which is why I'm starting small and giving myself a lot of room with the Antec 1200 Add Ons I'll most likely be running plex to stream files to my home theater. Other add-ons like SABnzbd, CouchPotato and SickBeard sound great but I've never used those programs before, so I'm not sure how awesome they are or if I'll use them. Environmental Impact I love my planet earth, and I'm not a speed demon, so I will be sticking with the green drives. I'd also like to keep the servers idle power as low as possible. So I want energy efficiency as well as enough horsepower to stream and possibly transcode full 1080p 5.1 video. With that in mind, I'm trying to decide on which motherboard & cpu combo I should invest in. Obviously an atom or equivalent is out. I know the general consensus around here is that supermicro is the most reliable choice of mobo, so I was looking at this board: SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 Micro ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253 Now at first I sought the most efficient i3 cpu to throw on this thing and found this: Intel Core i3-2120T Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 35W Dual-Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115094 However I'm concerned that it'll just barely not have enough power to transcode, So I guess my first real question here is, does it? If it does that's great because I hit all of my goals! If it doesn't then I was considering taking it to the next level and (maybe) trying the whole ESXi thing (of which I have no experience) with this bad boy: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo) 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117286 But from what I could gather I would have to pick up a RAID card to experience the glory that is passthrough? The biggest headache with this cpu is that the board may not be flashed with the latest BIOS, and therefore wouldn't support IB cpu's out of the box (which would leave me S.O.L.). So if anybody has recent experience purchasing this board from newegg, your expertise would be greatly appreciated. So. which CPU should I get? Am I unfairly exluding AMD chipsets? Is a virtualized unRAID server really the bees-knees? Is there anything I've forgotten? Help me unRAID Forums, your my only hope.
June 8, 201214 yr The i3 CPU will certainly handle transcoding. Unless you can think of a reason why you really need ESXi (and are willing to muck about with all the extra configuration work and expense), then I say go for your current choices! This should be a solid server on all fronts. I understand you are starting small and that's just fine. The PSU you purchased will last you a good long time. However, if you ever want to max your server out at 20 drives then you may be pushing the limits of that PSU. However, if you really space out your hard drive purchases over the years, then newer and less power-hungry drives will continue to come on the market, which will likely mean that your PSU will support a full 20 drives some day...but with today's drives it would be questionable. Another strategy is to stick with the WD greens as you have been doing, as they take a full 0.5 amps less than the other green drives on the market. By the way, this RAM is compatible with that board, that's what we currently use in Greenleaf builds. There are other choices as well, I just like Kingston as a high quality budget brand. Unfortunately the 2 and 4 GB kits have been discontinued.
June 8, 201214 yr Author Your sure the i3 can transcode full HD in real time (say converting a 1080p mkv to wmv)? I have done a lot of searching for a definitive answer to this but I've come up empty. Also, say I choose to go the EXSi route, which I'm considering. Can I boot everything from a flash drive? Would my other virtual servers need to boot from hard drive? Would I then need to get something like the following RAID card to enable pass through? Or can I just hijack the onboard controller for unRAID and run everything else off of flash? SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358 Finally, are there any 8GB sticks compatible with this motherboard? I think I'd rather go big than end up tossing some 4GB sticks when I upgrade later. Thanks for your help!
June 8, 201214 yr I can't say absolutely that the i3 can handle 1080p mkv to wmv. All of my media is 720p. However, I know others have used this CPU in transcoding servers and I haven't heard any complaints of them not being able to handle 1080p. I don't know enough about ESXi at this point to advise you. Prostuff1, Johnm, and others are experts in that area. I doubt you'll need more than 8 GB of RAM unless you go with the ESXi route. I believe that this RAM is compatible, but I have not tested it personally.
June 9, 201214 yr The i3-2120T Sandy Bridge 2.6GHz "Should be able to transcode HD" on the fly. I can not guarantee that as I have never tried it. Plex recommends a 2.4GHz dual core so it is just above the minimum. If you're concerned about the power of the CPU I would check the plex forums or hope someone here that uses plex on an I3 speaks up.. As far as 8 GIG sticks. yes there are. they are still very new and therefore a bit expensive still. They have however dropped considerably in price recently. As far as what Bios ships from newegg.. no clue. I have gotten cutting edge latest and 4 year old stock from them on 2 of same item in the same order. it is potluck. you might have to call customer support when you place the order so they can assist you. they tend to be very helpful. especially if they are preventing an RMA. although they also might not know what they have since supermicro probably does not indicate what version bios on the outside of box. calling wont hurt.
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