June 10, 201214 yr First time build! What is your budget? Under $500 without the hard drives. The cheaper the better! How many drives do you want your server to be able to support and how much capacity do you need? Looking to run up to 4-6 max, but I'm gonna start with 2 drives + parity to keep costs down. Is expandability important to you? If so, what's your long term goal? As long as I can add a card for additional drives when the motherboard ports are filled up. Are you interested in running any unRAID Add Ons (see here)? Plex Media Server, Transmission, iTunes Server, and possibly APC UPS D. I want the system to be able to handle 1080P transcoding. Do you want to run green/low power drives or faster 7200 rpm drives? Green drives is ideal. Do you have any spare parts laying around that you would like to apply towards your build? A USB stick. I'm looking to build a power efficient Mini ITX unRAID server running the above mentioned plugins. I don't need a ton of storage right now, just mainly for TV shows I'm currently catching up on and a few of my favorite movies. Who knows in a couple of years... Parts Intel Core i3 2120T Processor = $135 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115094 ASRock H77M-ITX Motherboard = $107 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157311&Tpk=h77 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3 10666 RAM = $22 w/Rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145251 Lian Li PC-Q25B Case = $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339 Corsair CX430 V2 PSU = $37 w/Rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026 Total $431 shipped I will probably shop around for cheaper prices to shave off a few dollars. The motherboard should work with the latest release candidate, but otherwise, does everything look good? Questions? Suggestions? Concerns? Fears?
June 10, 201214 yr Nice setup. My next server will be that case with a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182234 Others can comment on the i3 and Plex performance.
June 11, 201214 yr Not sure if you can get the same offer wherever you are but in the UK currently you can get the HP N40L server for £140 after rebate, and thats case, power, MB, everything! This has 4 drive bays as standard but i have 6 drives in mine with minimal tweaking, and 5 drives is very easy - the info in these forums tells you how to do it and with 3TB drives you can have a very neat 12TB data box. Its so good i am going to order another one, put all my old disks in there as my main one grows in size (only got 1.5 and 2TB drives currently) and use it as a backup location
June 11, 201214 yr The HP N40L won't be able to transcode 1080p... Your build has be intrigued a_n_d_y. I just priced out a similar mini-ITX build but went with an older AMD mobo/cpu combo. Your build seems like it would handle transcoding better than mine. Also, just curious, to save money, why not go with a cheaper motherboard such as this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131727
June 11, 201214 yr Author That HP looks nice, but like grobbes suggest, I highly doubt that will satisfy stutter free 1080P transcoding on the fly. The i3 2120T gets good reviews and looks to be very similar specs to the 2100T. I'm under the assumption that the 2120T will have very similar power usage as the 2100T. I used this article as a reference point: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2100t_11.html From what I've read, the i3 should handle 1080P transcoding just fine, but I guess you never know without trying. The ASUS motherboard you recommend does not have an onboard video card. I've been out of the BYO PC world for a while, but if there is no onboard video card, will the HDMI, D-SUB or DVI work to hook up to a monitor for initial setup? Or would I need to need to get video card? If I don't need a video card, I will definitely consider that motherboard to cut down on cost. If I can get down to $400 shipped for everything (minus the drives), I would be happier. grobbes, have you put together your system yet? I'm just curious on how well it transcodes.
June 11, 201214 yr The i3 2120 has the graphics on chip, so you don't need an onboard video card. I haven't done much research with the ASUS and compatibility though. I haven't built anything yet; still trying to figure out what hardware to settle with. I'm now leaning towards an i3 though instead of my previous proposed build.
June 11, 201214 yr Yes, the N40L probably will not do the grunt work on the fly. I have ripped bluray movies into MKV format but very high quality - around 10-20gig per movie ! good news is that the server streams to my media player no problems at all, and given how much media player devices are (for basic "just show me the movie" devices) this is more than enough for me. I stream to my TV with no issues at all over a gig LAN. Just ordered a second server to fill with old disks as a back up device, they really are small and neat devices, and at £140 how can you go wrong !!! - but it has to fit your needs to be the right thing
June 11, 201214 yr Author The i3 2120 has the graphics on chip, so you don't need an onboard video card. I haven't done much research with the ASUS and compatibility though. If you happen to find out anymore about that ASUS board and if it will be compatible, post back or PM me! Since an onboard video card is not a requirement with the i3 chip, that should open up a few doors for keeping the budget inline. Otherwise, I will hopefully have an hour tonight to scour web for less expensive boards and report back here.
June 11, 201214 yr I would spend the extra $100 for a supermicro x9scm board. You won't regret it long term. Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2
June 12, 201214 yr Author I would spend the extra $100 for a supermicro x9scm board. You won't regret it long term. My build requires a Mini ITX. If they had a Mini ITX board that didn't have a dedicated Atom processor, I would be all over it. Thanks for the suggestion.
June 12, 201214 yr Author marcusone, question for you. What makes the Super Micro boards so good? Is it mainly the IPMI feature?
June 12, 201214 yr Author Parts (updated) Intel Core i3 2120T Processor = $116.32 http://www.amuras.com/ssproduct.asp?pf_id=1020568638 ASUS P8H61-I Motherboard = $78.47 http://www.amuras.com/ssproduct.asp?pf_id=1019703345 Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3 10666 RAM = $21.99 w/Rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145251 Lian Li PC-Q25B Case = $129.98 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339 Corsair CX430 V2 PSU = $36.98 w/Rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026 Total $383.74
June 12, 201214 yr The supermicro boards have some great features (like ipmi) but the main attraction (at least IMHO) is that they are server-grade hardware at a relatively affordable price. They are designed to run 24/7 and do so frequently far beyond their use by date. They also have an excellent support/Rma department.
June 12, 201214 yr The supermicro boards have some great features (like ipmi) but the main attraction (at least IMHO) is that they are server-grade hardware at a relatively affordable price. Good summary thread I always go back to when I'm thinking of getting a SuperMicro http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5133.0
June 12, 201214 yr andy, the power supply is now $20 after promo EMCNDJH37 and MIR at newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
June 12, 201214 yr Author Sweet! I'll have to order the power supply today for sure. Now if only they'd have a sale on those Lian Li cases... Anyways, that brings my build cost down to around $367.
June 12, 201214 yr A mini-ITX SUPERMICRO server board would be nice, but their offerings in that area are pretty bad. An embedded Intel Atom won't transcode 1080P and a G2 socket motherboard is pretty useless given the available processors. We have a few SUPERMICRO server boards at work that have worked very nicely. Support is pretty good (their phone system is kinda wacky, usually disconnects a lot) but never dealt with their RMA department. Really can't give up the mini-ITX form factor though.
June 12, 201214 yr Author Apparently the site I was going to order the processor and motherboard from DID want to charge for shipping. New vendors found! Parts (updated) Intel Core i3 2120T Processor = $122.99 http://www.ecost.com/p/6898307 ASUS P8H61-I Motherboard = $79.99 http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-3-0-SATA-Intel-Mini/dp/B004W8EFWK Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3 10666 RAM = $21.99 w/Rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145251 Lian Li PC-Q25B Case = $129.98 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339 Corsair CX430 V2 PSU = $19.99 w/Rebate and Promo Code http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026 Total $374.94
June 13, 201214 yr Hope you don't mind posting my findings/changes in my build. I can't really find anything regarding the ASUS and unRAID. After doing some more research, I may actually settle on a more expensive board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121513 Not quite sure if I want to incorporate ESXi down the road, but that motherboard would allow for it . Any updates with you andy?
June 13, 201214 yr Author Not at all. Post away. I believe the ASUS P8H61-M LE is a similar board in Micro ATX format. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LE/#overview The Micro ATX version seems to be working fine. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=15792.msg146945#msg146945 Hmm... ESXi... I don't need it... or do I? Everything is currently on order, except the case. I may need to re-think the motherboard.
June 13, 201214 yr Nice, don't see why the mini-ITX version wouldn't work good then. Have you ever used ESXi before? You'd be able to host unRAID on there, plus a few more servers (windows, linux, etc) depending on your final hardware configuration. There's also a server grade board I'm looking at as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121553 I shouldn't have read these boards over the past few days - my possible build keeps getting more and more expensive
June 13, 201214 yr Nice, don't see why the mini-ITX version wouldn't work good then. Have you ever used ESXi before? You'd be able to host unRAID on there, plus a few more servers (windows, linux, etc) depending on your final hardware configuration. There's also a server grade board I'm looking at as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121553 I shouldn't have read these boards over the past few days - my possible build keeps getting more and more expensive Raland's review of that board says "Also for all the people looking at this board for VM's. It does NOT support VT-d while the DQ does. I really can't figure out what Intel was thinking, leaving this feature off a Server board that was seemingly custom made for VM labs yet including it on a consumer workstation board."
June 13, 201214 yr Author Nice, don't see why the mini-ITX version wouldn't work good then. Have you ever used ESXi before? You'd be able to host unRAID on there, plus a few more servers (windows, linux, etc) depending on your final hardware configuration. There's also a server grade board I'm looking at as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121553 I shouldn't have read these boards over the past few days - my possible build keeps getting more and more expensive I've decided to go with my current selection of parts to keep the cost down at this time. I'd like to toy around with ESXi, but realistically I don't have much use for it around the house at this time. Plus, the Intel i3 2120T processor does not look to be compatible. Parts should hopefully be here by the weekend!
June 13, 201214 yr Author I found what I think is a good deal on 2 TB green hard drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148681&Tpk=ST2000DL003 http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000DL003/dp/B004CCS266/ I ordered 2 for right now. Anyways, I'll report back once I get things setup and tested out.
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