Hello all,

 

What has originated as the idea of getting a spare computer has manifested into the need for an unRaid server. After much reading and thinking, I have decided to give it a try and build the server. While I have a software-centric background and most likely will be comfortable in software setup, I am more hardware-illiterate and am not sure what parts and combinations will satisfy my needs or cause a fire. In fact, I'm hoping by building this I'll get more educated in hardware. I may be able to get a hold of someone that has some experience in building to help me out when I start constructing. While I would like to spend less, I'm willing to spend some extra if that means ending up with a solid, reliable build with more of the bells and whistles that I want, as well as making changes later less drastic.

 

I may not need a huge storage amount up front, but I don't mind doing some of the legwork right now to make less changes down the road and make increasing capacity more of a breeze. Besides storing files and VMs that I may not need for a while, I would like to use the server as an HTPC, utilizing add ons for downloads (still evaluating which route to take, probably the SAB route) and Plex for streaming to the TV/devices in HD. (I don't know if it is capable of streaming to two different devices.) I read there is also an add-on for VMware which would be nice for remote access, but am not sure if it is even realistic or possible to have virtualization and HTPC both on this setup. (Priority is regular storage and HTPC.) Note that this is going to be for more personal use.

 

I've tried to fill in some blanks but would like to hear some input on what I could get, as some of the terminology and justifications I've read from others are still foreign to me:

 

(I'll aim for including virtualization so I know the highest price point. I'll probably go for it anyway even if it is more pricey. I'm going to try to aim for ordering within the next 3 weeks.)

 

CASE

Antec 900 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

- Suggested by someone, may be able to get from someone directly

- If I get something like this should I disable the lights?

 

MOTHERBOARD

SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

- Popped up a few times in my searches

- Not sure if it is just enough for my needs (more or less)

- I do like the IPMI but I can do without it, especially if I can save a substantial amount of money

 

PROCESSOR

INTEL Xeon E3-1220 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115084

- There's more Xeon E3 models at prices that don't deviate too far, is there a reason to go to another one as opposed to this one?

 

MEMORY

Kingston ValueRAM DDR3 DIMM 8GB x2 http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-ValueRAM-1333MHz-Desktop-Server/dp/B00288BHIG/

- Not familiar with compatibility of memory relative to the above MB. If there is one more affordable that is compatible let me know.

- Should I just settle for 4x4GB instead to save some money if you don't see me upgrading the RAM anytime in the future?

 

EXPANSION [GREEN]

Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358

Silicon Image SIL3132 http://www.amazon.com/Serial-PCI-Express-Controller-Silicon-SIL3132/dp/B001TIXH0C/

 

BAY

NORCO SS-400 4 Bay x3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133035

-or-

SUPERMICRO CSE-M35T-1B 5 Bay x3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121405

- Still debating on whether to go for 12 or 15 drives. I could get the 5-bays so I don't need to worry upgrading later but heard some concerns on heat as the drives are closer. 15 it is. Will look at others one besides Supermicro as well.

 

PSU

SEASONIC X FANLESS 400W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151097

SEASONIC X FANLESS 460W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099

- For all that I'm going to be doing is 400W 460W / 38A sufficient or do I need to go for the Seasonic Fanless 460W or something different? What about if I go for red drives over green?

 

That's what I got so far and even then I'm not sure if this is a step in the right direction. There's still things I'm debating on based on what I need: (assuming I am aiming for HTPC+virtualization)

- I left out the processor because I'm not sure if the motherboard is even the right fit. I would like to hear suggestions on this end.

- How much memory should I use? From asking a few people I've gotten inconsistent answers ranging from 4-16GB. Will look at memsticks, aiming for 4x4GB.

- I was thinking of getting it, but I'll ask anyway: Would an SSD scratch disk be a good fit for this? I haven't specified the size yet as I need to make sure of the HDDs that I'm getting, which is covered below. Will check out the SDDs with GC.

- As for the hard drives, I was thinking either getting 3-4 large sizes to start or buy one batch of smaller size HDDs in bulk. Is there a significant advantage/savings if I go for buik? What about in the long-term? I currently have no extra HDDs. Will look into some HDDs later, then get 3-5 depending to start.

- Someone suggested go black over green for what I need. If it's not overkill for what I need and means good reliability and solid performance, I can lean towards black. Sounds like I don't have to pony up for black.

- I don't know where to even start when it comes to the fans, power supply, (saw thread, will make decision based on whether I go for black and how many) and any other accessories. I can either try to make it substantially cooler and have it in the closet (I'll check the ventilation in a few days) or make it more quiet and have it in one of the rooms. I'm trying to make an assumption but I really can't decide where of the two yet.

 

I'm hoping these questions are not too open ended based on what I know and need. I can answer more questions. Thanks for reading and hopefully providing feedback.

 

NOTE: Am using Newegg/Amazon/etc. to post details. Does not mean I'm going to make my shopping there or not, as well as elsewhere. When I finalize I'll research deals but am willing to hear any specials occurring right now.

I have the same case with two of the Supermicro cages in it. I think both are great. I personally went with the Supermicro cages over other 5 in 3 cages because it has larger fans on the back to provider better cooling with less noise. The stock Supermicro fans are still a little loud for my taste so I swapped them with Noctua NF-B9's which are whisper quiet. As far as your question about disabling the lights on the case that is up to you. Personally that was one of the first things I did because I find that stuff really tacky. I even painted over the plastic side window because I just find that "case modder" look tacky.

 

Motherboard choice is probably the best choice out there right now for a Core i3 or Xeon E3. If the price isn't an issue for you just go for it.

 

As to your question about the CPU and RAM. If you don't plan on doing virtualization with ESXi then go for a Core i3 and 8GB of RAM. That will provide you plenty of horse power for doing things like transcoding video on the fly with very low power consumption and more than enough RAM if you start using a lot of plugins. If you think you might go for virtualization then go for a Xeon E3 and at least 16GB of RAM.

 

In terms of hard drives. I would suggest going for green (or Red) drives. Black aren't going to provide enough of a performance difference to justify the higher price in a server like this. And I would go for 3 or 4 big ones now, not a larger amount of smaller ones. That's only going to leave you with a bunch of unused drives down the road as you continually add more storage. I'd go with 3TB or 4TB for parity as the parity disk has to be at least as big as the biggest disk in your array so it'll provide you with some future proofing. I'd then go for 3TB disks for the rest, 2TB if you can't afford it. I'd also take a look at WDs new Red drives. They are based off the WD Green drives but have some NAS oriented features, a 3 year warranty and a 35% higher MTBF for only about $10 more than a WD Green drive on Newegg.

 

As for the SSD you asked about. Right now I'd say there isn't much point unless you go for one of those expensive SSDs with the Marvell chipset that have garbage collection features built in. Unraid doesn't support TRIM so after a short period of time most SSDs will slow to a crawl.

 

And your question about fans: the stock fans in the Antec case are pretty decent. The 200mm fan on the top of the case moves a ton of air very quietly and the 120mm on the back moves a good amount too even on the lowest speed setting. I would suggest sealing off the vent on the side of the case. If you go for 3 cages then I would think about replacing those fans though with quieter ones like I mentioned earlier, such as Noctuas which are very quiet and have a high static pressure that will better pull air through the vents on the cages than other quiet fans will. If you go for less than 3 cages, disable and seal off the fans in the bays that don't have cages in them so all the air pulled in to the case has to travel over the disks.

 

Also, if you don't have one laying around look in to picking up a cheap drive around 120-320GB for a cache drive.

mrow, thanks a lot for your feedback. Definitely cleared up plenty for me.

 

- I feel more comfortable with going with the 5 bays at this point. I think whoever mentioned the heat probably hasn't seen some of the cages. I will look into fans for quietness which I may go for even if it can go in the closet.

- If this ends up in the closet, I could care less on the LEDs and "tackiness" but I may want to clean it up a bit if it's going to be out in one of the rooms. I do like clean and minimal.

- As it sounds that virtualization could be attainable, I'll go for the Xeon and high ram. I'll start with 16GB so I'll look at 2x8GB vs 4x4GB.

- This is the first time hearing about the red drives, I'm reading about those this moment and seeing how much more power would I need if I opt for reds.

- The SSD will probably be the last decision then once the price is closer to getting finalized.

- Thank you for bringing up the cache drive. I was wondering on the size a cache drive would require but forgot to ask.

- I'm going to do some more research today to fill some more blanks.

Yeah, I'm not sure who mentioned heat with the 5 in 3 cages but lots of guys on here run those Supermicro cages with no heat issues, including myself.

 

Here is a guide to setting up ESXi for use with unraid. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=14695.0

 

All the reviews I've read show the Red drives using the same power as the Green drives. As far as power supply, wattage is not so important as amps on the +12v line. 28-30 amps should be good for about 12 Green (or Red) drives. I'd look for something higher is you think you're going for 15 just to be safe. Also, make sure you confirm your power supply will work with that Supermicro motherboard. It's picky about power supplies but my understanding SeaSonic is a safe choice with that board.

 

The rule of thumb is to think of the most amount of data you think you might write to the server in one day. Some people go for bigger drives, but I personally have a 320GB WD Scorpio Black 7200RPM laptop drive and have never needed anything more. I went with the laptop drive because 1. I had a couple lying around 2. it uses the same amount of power as a Green drive while offering 7200RPM performance 3. I can tuck it away in the case because then I don't have to use a bay in one of my cages and it runs cool on it's own so it doesn't need a lot of air flow.

 

Do you know what controller cards you're going to get?

ESXi link is now bookmarked.

 

So if I'm going for 15 hard drives, it looks like the 460W variant can work. (38A as opposed to 33A on the 400W. I think I need ~36A overall?) I think I've seen the board and power supply series together in my searching before. I'll double check.

 

That's good elaboration about the drive. What I can do then is when I start out put that drive in a tray that has some distance from the rest.

 

As for controllers, it looks like I need 9 more connections. These came up:

Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816101358

Silicon Image SIL3132 http://www.amazon.com/Serial-PCI-Express-Controller-Silicon-SIL3132/dp/B001TIXH0C/

Also realized this would be for greens. Willing to hear suggestions for controller combinations to possibly allow more reds.

 

I've been a bit busy so I still need to look at the HDDs as well as the replacement fans. I think I need cables and some other accessories as well?

I'm pretty lost on controllers at this point if I go for red drives. From what I can tell I need cards that support SATAIII. I saw a few that were a bit pricey but I'm not even sure if I can even place them all in my MB and whether they even support unRAID. Any recommendations on expansion controllers that run on SATAIII? I'm very confused in this department. I'm also willing to shrink it down to 12 drives if necessary.

I'd suggest upping the psu if I were you. Also you need a SSI compliant PSU, like the Seasonic X-series.  In all honesty, I'd go with at least a 650w now as if you do ever need more than that 460, it will work out much cheaper to pay for that now rather than completely replace your PSU down the track.

 

Otherwise looks good to me!

You don't need to worry about SATAIII controllers when working with spinning disks. Most disks don't even reach SATAI speeds. Go for either Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8s or IBM M1015 cards. The IBM cards can be found on eBay for a decent price.

 

I also agree that you are better off just going for a more powerful power supply now rather than realize a year down the road you need a new one because you're adding more drives.