What is your budget?  Even if you don't have a strict budget set out, at least give us an idea if you are pinching pennies or splurging on your build.

Originally I wanted to try and do a build for under £200, but I later decided that I'd really like the luxury of a machine powerful enough for transcoding so I'm now looking at £250 excluding usb key and hard disks. Would like it to be cheaper and would be reluctant to go much above £250 unless a really good case can be made to me

 

How many drives do you want your server to be able to support and how much capacity do you need?

6 drives. I currently have a 1tb, 2x1.5tb, 2x2tb and I will buy a 3tb for parity with future additional drives/upgrades in mind.

 

Is expandability important to you?  If so, what's your long term goal?

I won't ever need more than 8 drives.

 

Are you interested in running any unRAID Add Ons (see here)?  If so, which ones?  Be specific.

Transmission. I'm hoping to be able to seed at least a couple of thousand torrents at a time - they will be low traffic - but I imagine that more torrents running requires more ram? I'm also looking to build a machine powerful enough to allow transcoding for ios devices and DLNA devices. So airplay/plex. After having looked at sickbeard/couchpotato I wouldn't like to rule out using those in the future as well. I'm willing to compromise/take advice on my expectations here - if I'm simply not being realistic with my budget or my proposed parts - please let me know.

 

Do you want to run green/low power drives or faster 7200 rpm drives?  If you don't have a specific need for 7200 rpm drives, then choose green drives.

At the moment I have a mix of 7200 and green drives. All of my future drives will be "green".

 

Do you have any spare parts laying around that you would like to apply towards your build?  This includes drives.

I have all the hard drives I need for the build and have a spare usb flash drive to boot unraid on. Everything else needs to be bought new.

 

My proposed build

Reading around the board, I read a post that suggested that the AMD APU chips are one of the cheapest ways to build a unraid machine powerful enough for HD transcoding. So I started looking at the lower end A3 chips which I believe are comparable in performance to the lower end intel i3 chips. This is my first build of a computer so am unacknowledgable when it comes to most of this stuff. I selected motherboard and had it checked out in the motherboard section of the site. Looks to be ok since I will be running the v5 beta. I am buying in the UK.

 

Case: Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium V2 Midi Tower Soundproof Chassis w/ USB3.0

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Midi+Tower/Fractal+Design+Define+R3+Titanium+V2+Midi+Tower+Soundproof+Chassis+w%2F+USB3.0+?productId=48408

PSU: 430W Corsair Builder Series 430CX V2 80PLUS Power Supply

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies+-+PSUs/Non-Modular+650W+or+less/430W+Corsair+Builder+Series+430CX+V2+80PLUS+Power+Supply+?productId=42487

CPU: AMD A4-3400 2.70GHz Dual-Core Processor

MB: MSI A75MA-P35 AMD Hudson D3 (Socket FM1) DDR3 PCI-Express Micro-ATX

RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte (2x4GB) 1600 (PC3-12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CAS 9-9-9-24 1.5V

CPU+MB+RAM in this bundle - which also includes a cooler and arctic silver:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Systems/Bundles/Home+and+Office+Bundles/Gladiator+VALUE+AMD+A4-3400+2.70GHz+8GB+Motherboard+Bundle+?productId=50219

 

How does that look? It all comes to a fraction over £250 from the same supplier + delivery.

 

Am I spending the money wisely? Anything you would change? Is the processor choice good? Is the unspecified cpu cooler in the bundle ok? Or should I avoid the bundle and go for a specific cooler?

 

The corsair psu comes with 4 sata power cables. How do I power the other drives? This is obviously a really basic question, but I've not had much luck figuring out exactly how I do it (and what I might need to order?). If I buy molex->sata cables like this:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Cables/Power+Cables/ARIANET+Molex+MALE+to+Serial+ATA+SATA+Power+Adapter+%28Connects+SATA+Hard+Drive+to+IDE+Internal+Power+Connector%29+?productId=7683

 

Can I plug those in to the psu and then attach them to the drives? I don't actually know what sockets the psu will have? Presumably there are only so many sockets? Or are the plugs also sockets - so they can be stacked/daisy chained indefinitely? Or do I need splitters of some sort?

 

Am I also right in thinking that I'll need to buy sata data cables to go from each drive to the mb?

 

Anything else I am forgetting? Am I going to need a supply of screws or anything like that?

 

All help and words of advice very much appreciated! Thanks!

I found the manual for your PSU: http://www.corsair.com/media/cms/manual/49-000036_rev_AA_CXv2Manual.pdf

 

Sorry it's nearly 5am here so I need to get some sleep so I'll keep this quick (and in no particular order). The motherboard will likely come with 2-4 SATA cables, you can basically daisy chain as many as you want- especially with a single rail PSU. 8 Drives is nothing to worry about, with 28A (12V) you should be fine. Corsair make great power supplies. The screws come with the case so you should get an abundance, I believe Corsair also supply a set of screws with their PSUs. The stock/bundled CPU cooler should be fine. The RAM might be a little overkill but if you are getting the bundle it's all good. Memory is cheap as chips anyway and more is always better than less.

 

Night

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I looked at the manual and also some video reviews. It seems that there is 4 sata power cables coming out of the psu. Then there are two molex - if I want 8 drives eventually would I be best advised to buy two y-shaped molex -> 2xSata power cables. Then I can attach each to one of the molex and then run them to the drives? Or when you say I can "daisy chain" how exactly is that done in terms of cabling?

 

I also understand that the Define case comes with only 1 fan by the hard disk stack which covers just half the drives. I guess I need to buy a second fan to cover the rest.

 

Anyone got thoughts on the wisdom (or otherwise!) of going the AMD route considering what I'm intending to do with the build?

 

Thanks

... if I want 8 drives eventually would I be best advised to buy two y-shaped molex -> 2xSata power cables. Then I can attach each to one of the molex and then run them to the drives? Or when you say I can "daisy chain" how exactly is that done in terms of cabling?

 

"Daisy chaining" is essentially connecting multiple devices from one source, like plugging a powerboard into a powerboard into another powerboard. Obviously you aren't supposed to do that but powerboards are daisy chains in themselves, as each of the ports are usually connected in series. As far as your PC cabling goes, if you use a Y splitter you are still connected to the same "set" of cables from the power supply, which is fine however as these chains get longer it puts more load on that particular rail and wiring. Most unRAID builds go for a single 12V rail PSU anyway so it doesn't really matter, just try to use power cables from each of the lines coming out of the power supply and split them with Y splitters as you need to. The power supply will handle the splits but try to share them between each of the sets of cables as much as you can (hope that makes sense..), this is generally just good practice.

 

I also understand that the Define case comes with only 1 fan by the hard disk stack which covers just half the drives. I guess I need to buy a second fan to cover the rest.

 

From memory the case includes one intake fan and one exhaust. Most places which sell the cases also sell the fans, otherwise you could get any 120mm fans you like. If money is no object, Noctua make excellent low noise, high quality fans but you will pay a premium.

 

Anyone got thoughts on the wisdom (or otherwise!) of going the AMD route considering what I'm intending to do with the build?

 

The new Core i3s coming out would be worth a look, I have no idea whether your transcoding software will support QuickSync but if it does it would make a big difference to your transcoding. See the following links for more info, I would also see if you can find some AMD vs Intel transcoding reviews to see if these new chips would outperform the AMD APUs, you would want to compare the AMD A4-3xxx and Intel i3-3xxx chips:

 

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/processors/intel-bringing-out-low-cost-ivy-bridge-i3-chips-this-month-1085424

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/quick-sync-video/quick-sync-video-general.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_%28microarchitecture%29

I'm a bit uncertain about the true power of the AMD chips. After more looking, the benchmarks even some of the more power AMD APU chips don't benchmark well in comparison with the lower end i3 chips. So while I continue to mull this over, I'm going to price up a low wattage i3 build. I really appreciate all the help and patience you have shown with me. At the very least I feel like I'm learning a lot!

I'm a bit uncertain about the true power of the AMD chips. After more looking, the benchmarks even some of the more power AMD APU chips don't benchmark well in comparison with the lower end i3 chips. So while I continue to mull this over, I'm going to price up a low wattage i3 build. I really appreciate all the help and patience you have shown with me. At the very least I feel like I'm learning a lot!

 

Core i3s are round-the-board faster chips, at the end of the day though you will always pay more for Intel. For your use the main things you are interested in is transcoding performance and power usage. Everything else isn't really going to matter. I went with an i3 because they have more grunt and good power management but I wasn't looking at transcoding so can't recommend anything without doing some more reading.

http://ark.intel.com/products/65700/Intel-Core-i3-3110M-Processor-(3M-Cache-2_40-GHz)

http://ark.intel.com/products/65700/Intel-Core-i3-3110M-Processor-(3M-Cache-2_40-GHz)

 

Laptop CPU, it doesn't look like they have the IB desktop i3s listed yet.

Yeah the Ivy Bridge i3 desktop CPUs were supposed to be released on Monday but I haven't seen them anywhere yet.

 

I would agree with everyone saying go with the i3 over the AMD. They are a bit more expensive but I think it's worth it. I've got the i3-2120 and this thing is a power house.

Yeah the Ivy Bridge i3 desktop CPUs were supposed to be released on Monday but I haven't seen them anywhere yet.

 

I would agree with everyone saying go with the i3 over the AMD. They are a bit more expensive but I think it's worth it. I've got the i3-2120 and this thing is a power house.

 

Just to be clear, power house = performance, not power hungry

 

+1 for i3, a lot of people underestimate these chips. Heaps of performance, low power and most of the time mine idles in the low 20's ©.

Yeah the Ivy Bridge i3 desktop CPUs were supposed to be released on Monday but I haven't seen them anywhere yet.

 

I would agree with everyone saying go with the i3 over the AMD. They are a bit more expensive but I think it's worth it. I've got the i3-2120 and this thing is a power house.

 

Just to be clear, power house = performance, not power hungry

 

+1 for i3, a lot of people underestimate these chips. Heaps of performance, low power and most of the time mine idles in the low 20's ©.

 

Haha, yes, thanks for clearing that up. Mine also idles in the 20s. Transcoding uncompressed bluray video only raises the temperature to around 40. The server idles at under 50 watts.

So is the consensus to go for an i3 but not necessarily a low wattage i3 (with the T in the model number)? The low wattage version is a bit more expensive and I imagine is a bit 'cut down' in one area or another. I'm not very keen to go for the i3, but the motherboard choice is posing a problem. I have a thread just for motherboard discussion in the motherboard section, but a lot of the advice is to go for the SuperMicro x9scm-f - the only trouble is that it is £170+ in the UK which blows my budget way out of the water. That board is over 3 times the price of some others I found. Maybe I just need to save up more

 

thanks all!

So is the consensus to go for an i3 but not necessarily a low wattage i3 (with the T in the model number)? The low wattage version is a bit more expensive and I imagine is a bit 'cut down' in one area or another. I'm not very keen to go for the i3, but the motherboard choice is posing a problem. I have a thread just for motherboard discussion in the motherboard section, but a lot of the advice is to go for the SuperMicro x9scm-f - the only trouble is that it is £170+ in the UK which blows my budget way out of the water. That board is over 3 times the price of some others I found. Maybe I just need to save up more

 

thanks all!

 

If you can get a low wattage i3 all the better, if you can't- don't stress. Low wattage chips can be hard to find in retail as they aren't really that popular. They probably will start to get more available as electricity prices increase though (at least here in AU). TBH, compatibility wise any socket 1155 motherboard should work just fine if it has the features you are looking for. I would recommend Gigabyte or MSI by brand unless you want to pay a premium for a SuperMicro. This is obviously provided you are going with a socket 1155 core i3, something like an i3-2100.

 

What version of unRAID are you planning on running? The only major thing I can think of is if you wan to run 4.7 and end up with a board that has a Realtek RTL8111E NIC as they aren't compatible with 4.7 but should work fine with 5.0-rc5-8168.

I would jump in to the v5 beta.

 

There are actually a gigabyte and msi that I've been looking at. Both seem to fit my needs, the only question is whether unraid will be happy.

 

MSI B75MA-P45 Intel B75 Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/MSI+B75MA-P45+Intel+B75+Socket+1155+DDR3+PCI-Express+Motherboard+?productId=50392

 

GIGABYTE GA-H61MA-D3V GEN3 Intel H61 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards+-+Intel/Socket+1155+-+Intel+H61/GIGABYTE+GA-H61MA-D3V+GEN3+Intel+H61+%28REV+B3%29+Socket+1155+DDR3+PCI-Express+Motherboard+?productId=48248

 

Am I right in thinking that with the v5 beta there are no real comparability issues with motherboards? (or at least the above two)?

 

Thanks!

 

Edit: Just saw your suggestion of the Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3P - it looks great, but I can't find it in the UK. I can find the "Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V" but that only has 6 sata rather than 8. I guess that is a good choice too though?

You don't have to break the bank for a good board. I use this one. Paid $60 US for it.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157256

... Just saw your suggestion of the Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3P - it looks great, but I can't find it in the UK. I can find the "Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V" but that only has 6 sata rather than 8. I guess that is a good choice too though?

 

lol @ Gigabyte's choice of positioning for the SATA ports on that board.. it's like someone in the factory realised they couldn't fit them in line so just put them wherever there was space

 

I would recommend trying to find a board with at least 2x PCI-E 4x slots or more, that way you can put 2x controller cards in supporting 8 drives each if you ever wanted to max out your system. Otherwise a PCI-E 4x or greater and a spare PCI-E 1x should do the trick. Something like this GA-H77M-D3H if you can get it. Double check that the Atheros LAN is unRAID compatible though as I have no idea off the top of my head. Everything else should be fine.