Long time lurker, first time poster. New build!

[caseyparsons]

Hey folks, I'm finally ready to start building a new NAS. I'm new to unraid but have been reading and lurking for months, so feeling confident. Please let me know if I'm on the right track.

 

What is your budget?

No budget really. As usual, the less expensive the better, but I want to get a good, reliable system. I know I'll be dropping at least ~$700. Would like to save money where appropriate and spend money where it counts.

 

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

To start, I plan to just do three 3TB drives. 1 parity, 2 data. Can add more data later on. ~6TB is way more than enough for me for now, and I'll add more drives later on as needed.

 

Are you interested in running any unRAID Add Ons (see here)?

Nope. File serving only, no apps. Have a dedicated server box hosting VMs running everything else.

 

Do you want to run green/low power drives or faster 7200 rpm drives?

Low power for sure. Can't decide between Green or Red.

 

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

4GB DDR3 RAM. Everything else will be shiny and new.

 

###

 

OK, here's what I've been thinking.... So here's the details so far. All of this is up for discussion, just what I've dug up on very preliminary research. Things I'll need: Case, CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, HDDs, SATA cables. Am I missing anything here?

 

Case: We can get just about anything here, but needs to be big enough to hold a bunch of hard drives. The NZXT Source 210 ELITE looks sharp, has good reviews, and is only $50. It has USB3.0 on the front, which may or may not be useful. I'm open to other options.

 

CPU: The AMD Sempron 145 is definitely the most recommended processor for NAS builders out there. Only $38.

 

Mobo: Criteria on this one is it needs to be socket AM3 (for the Sempron 145 CPU) and should have 6 SATA ports. I opted for a Mobo with 6Gbps SATA III ports instead of 3Gbps SATA II. While 3Gbps is still faster than my network can currently run, I thought the faster SATA controller would help with local copy, parity writing, etc. Is this true? I'm currently looking at the Asus M5A97 at $99.

 

RAM: Really any DDR3 RAM is fine. I've got 4GB laying around at home that I literally couldn't give away. I'll just re-purpose that, and my research indicates that that is plenty of power for a stand-alone NAS not running any apps or VMs.

 

PSU: Main criteria here is an 80 Plus efficiency rating, that will allow the PSU to draw less power when appropriate. The Corsair Builder Series CX V2 is recommended by most NAS builders. It is 430-Watt, which is enough to spin up all drives, and is very inexpensive at $42. There are also 500 and 600 watt versions, but I don't think those are necessary.

 

SATA cables: These are like 40 cents each at monoprice.com. Will need data and power for each HDD, plus a few spares.

 

So that's the box, minus hard drives. Total for that comes out to $228.47ish in my Amazon cart. Everything but the Mobo has Prime (free, 2-day) shipping.

 

 

Now the important (and expensive) part: HDDs!

WD Greens come to $450 (3x$150) for the drives. Combined build of $678.47ish.

WD Reds come to $627 (3x$209) for the drives. Combined build of $855.47ish.

 

Whew! Thoughts? (Thanks!)

[Mr Del D]

Hello,

 

(As you can tell form my post count, I am new to this too. So this is defiantly, my two cents worth…)

 

I have been looking at cases for a couple weeks and really like the NZXT line. You might want to look at the NZXT Tempest This has screw less bays for the hard drives and is not much more. I personally like the Fractal cases, but I have limited room and would be sitting just a few feet from the server. I have no personal experience with this manufacture, but as you pointed out they have good reviews.

 

Take care,

 

Del

 

[Influencer]

Don't have time at the moment to get in depth with your build, I'll come back to it when I can if questions haven't been answered by then, but wanted to chime in on the Sata III bit.

 

Sata III really will not help with local copying, parity checks/writes as current hard drives don't max Sata II speeds much less come near Sata III speeds. The only drives out there right now that can get in that realm are SSD drives.

 

Nothing wrong at all with future proofing, but Sata III is definitely not a must right now. You would gain if you use a SSD cache drive, but that's about it right now.

[caseyparsons]

Hello,

 

(As you can tell form my post count, I am new to this too. So this is defiantly, my two cents worth…)

 

I have been looking at cases for a couple weeks and really like the NZXT line. You might want to look at the NZXT Tempest This has screw less bays for the hard drives and is not much more. I personally like the Fractal cases, but I have limited room and would be sitting just a few feet from the server. I have no personal experience with this manufacture, but as you pointed out they have good reviews.

 

Take care,

 

Del

Thanks, Del! Yeah that Tempest case looks really great. A lot of similar ones to the Source case that I linked, but maybe even a little nicer. And essentially the same price. That's an option for sure.

[caseyparsons]

Don't have time at the moment to get in depth with your build, I'll come back to it when I can if questions haven't been answered by then, but wanted to chime in on the Sata III bit.

 

Sata III really will not help with local copying, parity checks/writes as current hard drives don't max Sata II speeds much less come near Sata III speeds. The only drives out there right now that can get in that realm are SSD drives.

 

Nothing wrong at all with future proofing, but Sata III is definitely not a must right now. You would gain if you use a SSD cache drive, but that's about it right now.

 

Thanks, Influencer! Yeah I see what you mean about Sata II not being a bottleneck. I want to leave my options open for using SSD cache, even though I won't be buying that immediately. So it's probably worth a few extra bucks to be future-proof, like you said.

 

Hope to hear back from you if you have other opinions. Thanks!

[Influencer]

Ok, have a little time now....

 

The USB 3.0 will be basically useless in the unraid environment as unraid doesn't support usb 3.0. Of course it will fall back to 2.0 speeds but then thats no fun is it? Not to say unraid won't support it in the future though, I just wouldn't use that as the tipping point in any decisions.

 

The 430W PSU will be more than sufficient for 3 drives. All in all for a basic build there isn't much needed, and you pretty much nailed down the specs of any basic unraid server.

 

I myself run my server off of much the same, I use the Corsair Builder Series V2 430W, and a AMD Sempron 145. Depending on the board you get, if it supports core unlocking you MAY be able to unlock a second core to squeeze out a little more juice if you ever need it. My board does support it and I've tested it, the CPU was stable with the second core unlocked, turned my Semron 145 into a Athlon II 4550E 2.8Ghz Dual Core Processor. By no means a powerhouse but a little extra kick. That being said, I do not run it unlocked and the single core sempron does its job nicely. Note I also run some addons too so that should tell you that it will be good for your build.

 

As far as sata cables, I use the ones from monoprice, These actually because I needed the 90 degree bend, but haven't had a single issue out of them at all.

 

4 GB of ram will be good too, should give you plenty of headroom.

[mrow]

I'd go with the Antec Neo Eco 400W PSU. I used one for years in my server before I needed to upgrade to a 750W unit. It's got an extra 2 amps on the 12 volt rail which is enough to power an additional green/red drive. Plus, it's on sale on Newegg right now until Monday for $30 bucks with free shipping so it'll save you a couple of bucks.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

 

EDIT: Just remembered the Antec doesn't come with a power cable so if you don't have one lying around you'll need to order one. I always forget to mention this because I have a million of them from work. I'm sure they are dirt cheap on monoprice though.

[mrow]

The USB 3.0 will be basically useless in the unraid environment as unraid doesn't support usb 3.0. Of course it will fall back to 2.0 speeds but then thats no fun is it? Not to say unraid won't support it in the future though, I just wouldn't use that as the tipping point in any decisions.

 

 

Just an FYI, Unraid does currently support USB 3.0. The kernel used in the most recent RC has USB 3.0 drivers. However it's not really that useful unless you want to add a SNAP drive outside of the array.

[Influencer]

I was unaware of that! Might just have to connect the USB 3.0 port now

[caseyparsons]

I'd go with the Antec Neo Eco 400W PSU. I used one for years in my server before I needed to upgrade to a 750W unit. It's got an extra 2 amps on the 12 volt rail which is enough to power an additional green/red drive. Plus, it's on sale on Newegg right now until Monday for $30 bucks with free shipping so it'll save you a couple of bucks.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

 

EDIT: Just remembered the Antec doesn't come with a power cable so if you don't have one lying around you'll need to order one. I always forget to mention this because I have a million of them from work. I'm sure they are dirt cheap on monoprice though.

Awesome, now this is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Hands on, personal experience...a specific product that works as good or better than my current option.

 

The PSU you recommended sounds great on the reviews on Newegg, and price looks great too. I'll jump for that Antec Neo Eco 400W PSU!

[Frank1940]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

[caseyparsons]

Ok, have a little time now....

 

The USB 3.0 will be basically useless in the unraid environment as unraid doesn't support usb 3.0. Of course it will fall back to 2.0 speeds but then thats no fun is it? Not to say unraid won't support it in the future though, I just wouldn't use that as the tipping point in any decisions.

Yep, USB 3 is not a dealbreaker for me. I have no plans to use it, but just thought it would future-proof a bit.

 

Depending on the board you get, if it supports core unlocking you MAY be able to unlock a second core to squeeze out a little more juice if you ever need it. My board does support it and I've tested it, the CPU was stable with the second core unlocked, turned my Semron 145 into a Athlon II 4550E 2.8Ghz Dual Core Processor. By no means a powerhouse but a little extra kick. That being said, I do not run it unlocked and the single core sempron does its job nicely. Note I also run some addons too so that should tell you that it will be good for your build.

Yeah I was reading about this. Sounds awesome and I'd like to take advantage of the unlocking, if possible. Do you have any idea if my proposed board will unlock the chip? I'm not sure how to tell. I would definitely pick a different board if it was the difference between being able to unlock the CPU or not. Here's what I was looking at from the original post: Asus M5A97.

 

As far as sata cables, I use the ones from monoprice, These actually because I needed the 90 degree bend, but haven't had a single issue out of them at all.

OK great. Yeah, at 61 cents each, those are awesome. http://"http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10226&cs_id=1022602&p_id=8785&seq=1&format=2

 

Thanks so much for all the great feedback! I'm definitely appreciating and receiving it all.

[caseyparsons]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

 

Well shoot, that's something I hadn't thought of. I'm not sold on this Mobo, so I'm open to other options.

[Frank1940]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

 

Well shoot, that's something I hadn't thought of. I'm not sold on this Mobo, so I'm open to other options.

 

When I was looking to build, I didn't find any AMD boards that had enough SATA ports (wanted  6 ports) and onboard video in the price range I was looking at.  If there is a local PC shop that builds and services PC, you might be able to get a used PCI video card at a reasonable price.  (These things are becoming dinosaurs and, hence, are almost worthless unless you are the guy looking for one.)

[caseyparsons]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

 

Well shoot, that's something I hadn't thought of. I'm not sold on this Mobo, so I'm open to other options.

Could I get nearly any inexpensive PCI-E video card? Or is there a better mobo to try?

When I was looking to build, I didn't find any AMD boards that had enough SATA ports (wanted  6 ports) and onboard video in the price range I was looking at.  If there is a local PC shop that builds and services PC, you might be able to get a used PCI video card at a reasonable price.  (These things are becoming dinosaurs and, hence, are almost worthless unless you are the guy looking for one.)

[Frank1940]

 

Could I get nearly any inexpensive PCI-E video card? Or is there a better mobo to try?

 

 

Any video card will work that will fit into the Motherboard.  I proposed a PCI card since you should never have reason to use a PCI slot for anything--- There is always a better alternative.  The PCI-E slot is much more likely be of use at some point in the future. 

[ljh89]

Depending on the board you get, if it supports core unlocking you MAY be able to unlock a second core to squeeze out a little more juice if you ever need it. My board does support it and I've tested it, the CPU was stable with the second core unlocked, turned my Semron 145 into a Athlon II 4550E 2.8Ghz Dual Core Processor. By no means a powerhouse but a little extra kick. That being said, I do not run it unlocked and the single core sempron does its job nicely. Note I also run some addons too so that should tell you that it will be good for your build.

Yeah I was reading about this. Sounds awesome and I'd like to take advantage of the unlocking, if possible. Do you have any idea if my proposed board will unlock the chip? I'm not sure how to tell. I would definitely pick a different board if it was the difference between being able to unlock the CPU or not. Here's what I was looking at from the original post: Asus M5A97.

 

Don't do it! Well you can but if you do get a cpu with a disabled core make sure you test it for stability when you unlock it.  I unlocked the extra core on my AMD Sempron and everything seemed stable until parity calculations happened. Then I was getting 1in4 parity calculations as an error, took me days to figure out since the system seemed stable until then.

[Influencer]

That's why I said may be able to. Sometimes its rock solid others its not. There IS a reason why they lock cores on these, it may be that some of the test chips were unstable so they lock the batch. Always test for stability if you do this. I should have worded that more carefully.

 

In the suggestions im giving some of the stuff is food for thought in the interest of giving as much info as possible. Things like core unlocking should not be a reason to buy a board or not but more for general knowledge.

[mrow]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

 

If you have a video card in another PC you could take out for a half hour that would probably be better IMO. After the initial setup the server can be run headless and managed from the web GUI and telnet. No need to spend the money if you don't have to.

[caseyparsons]

If your motherboard choice is still the same as in the first post, you will need a video card as this motherboard apparently does not have onboard video.  You could get a cheap pci video card as unRAID uses only the 80X24 character video mode.  The cost would be less than $20.  The biggest problem is actually finding one today as the demand for these cards is very, very low! 

 

If you have a video card in another PC you could take out for a half hour that would probably be better IMO. After the initial setup the server can be run headless and managed from the web GUI and telnet. No need to spend the money if you don't have to.

Great idea. I'll definitely be running it headless. I'll see if I can dig up a video card around here for installation only.

[mrow]

Another popular thing to do is pick up one of these so you can keep your USB thumb drive inside your case so it isn't sticking off the back. I used this one before I bought a motherboard with a USB port right on the board.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200294

 

 

 

EDIT: actually this option would be a little cheaper. Just unscrew one of the cables from the bracket.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10307&cs_id=1030701&p_id=2210&seq=1&format=2

[caseyparsons]

Another popular thing to do is pick up one of these so you can keep your USB thumb drive inside your case so it isn't sticking off the back. I used this one before I bought a motherboard with a USB port right on the board.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200294

 

 

 

EDIT: actually this option would be a little cheaper. Just unscrew one of the cables from the bracket.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10307&cs_id=1030701&p_id=2210&seq=1&format=2

That's great advice there. Will definitely need to get that to keep the USB inside the case. :-) Thanks!

[caseyparsons]

Thanks, everyone! I'm going to start pulling the trigger on ordering the components this week. Last chance for someone to recommend a different motherboard. Just want the AM3 for the Sempron 145 CPU, and 6 sata ports... Onboard video would be nice but not a dealbreaker.

 

To spread out the cash-bleeding, I think I'm going to buy the PC components first and build the machine, then space out the purchase of the drives over the next few months.

[caseyparsons]

Here is current purchase list...nothing bought yet.

 

Case: NZXT Source 210 ELITE ($50) or NZXT TEMPEST 210 ($55, mesh grill)

CPU: AMD Sempron 145 ($37)

Mobo: Asus M5A97 ($99) Will need a video card for install.

RAM: ALready own 4GB DDR3.

PSU: Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W ($33)

SATA cables: monorprice

USB adapter inside case: monoprice

[jumperalex]

Here is current purchase list...nothing bought yet.

 

Case: NZXT Source 210 ELITE ($50) or NZXT TEMPEST 210 ($55, mesh grill)

CPU: AMD Sempron 145 ($37)

Mobo: Asus M5A97 ($99) Will need a video card for install.

RAM: ALready own 4GB DDR3.

PSU: Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W ($33)

SATA cables: monorprice

USB adapter inside case: monoprice

 

FWIW I have the non-elite version of the NZXT you list.  Biggest difference: no USB3, no toolless clips included for the drives, and no top exhaust fan.  I also personally have the white one.

 

In short, Love it.  I especially love the white inside as it makes working on it so nice.  As for the Elite vs non-elite ... I already had fans to use so I didn't need the included one.  But for $10 there is no reason to skip the Elite (it wasn't available when I bought mine) just for the tooless bits if not the extra fan and USB3 if you ever repurpose the case. 

 

Either way you'll front fans for the drive cooling.  With your CPU choice, and a low power video card, you can likely save $$$, power, noise and ingested dust, by only using two fans in the front and ignore extra exhaust fans.  With all that grating up top you should be fine with natural convection / the positive pressure created by the front fans. 

 

My final thought: as much as I love the Source for its overall internal design, I think the front bezel restricts airflow through by virtue of the design.  The air is being pulled through a gap between the central plastic peice (white on the white version) and the outer frame (black on the white version).  The gap is deceptively smaller then you might think from first impressions because it is further choked off deeper inside by strengthening ribs.  I'm basing my airflow conclusion on a comparison with and without the front bezel in place.  The fan speed and sound both noticably increase with the bezel in place. 

 

So ... NZXT in general internal design 100%.  For the front bezel concerns I say go TEMPEST all the way.  If they have it in white all the better bcause man it is so nice  being able to really see inside a case without a flashlight!!!