October 2, 201213 yr What is your budget? ~400 without hard disks. Cheaper is better and I am ready to go higher if the benefits are worth it. How many drives do you want your server to be able to support and how much capacity do you need? ~6TB currently. The need, as we all know, is ever increasing Is expandability important to you? If so, what's your long term goal? Yep, very. Long term might be ~20TB ballpark. Are you interested in running any unRAID Add Ons (see here)? If so, which ones? Be specific. Nope, just the data server. 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. Green works, as long as they can stream flawlessly to my HTPC. Do you have any spare parts laying around that you would like to apply towards your build?This includes drives. Yep, 2 x 2TB HDDs. If you already have parts in mind, please oh pretty please post links to them so that we don't have to look them up. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks CPU: AMD Sempron 145 2.8GHz Single-Core Processor ($39.23 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Asus M5A88-M Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg) Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($16.99 @ NCIX US) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($131.99 @ NCIX US) Case: Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.28 @ Amazon) Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 400W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($47.98 @ Newegg) 5 in 3 hotswap: NORCO SS-500 5-Bay SATA / SAS Hot Swap Rack Module Total: $435.46 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) -EDIT- I'm actually looking to save on the motherboard as it seems to cost a lot. Do you guys have any recommendations?
October 2, 201213 yr I would hardly call $100 too high for a reasonable motherboard with 6 SATA ports Note also that this motherboard only has one PCIe slot >1 lane ... probably okay as long as you don't ever intend to install a video card. You'll need the x16 slot to install an x4 multi-port SATA card when you go above 6 drives. Other comments ... => You don't need the Norco 5-in-3 rack. The Antec 900 has six interal 3.5" bays that keeps drives MUCH cooler (6-8 degrees in my experience during parity checks) than any of the 5-in-3 racks do, as there are large fans blowing directly on those 6 drives. With 3TB drives, that's 15TB of capacity you can install before you need to use the 5.25" bays ... and if/when you DO need to install drives there, I'd use a CoolerMaster 4-in-3 cage that also has a large fan in front. [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817993002&Tpk=coolermaster%204%20in%203 ] Using 3TB drives, that cage plus the 6 native slots will provide you with a 27TB UnRAID server in that case. As I assume you know, you also didn't factor a USB flash drive or the cost of UnRAID.
October 2, 201213 yr If you want 6 SATA III ports and onboard video in a AM3+ socket, there's not many boards can match that. Things get a lot cheaper with SATA II connections, like the ASRock 880HM-LE FX for $54.99 http://pcpartpicker.com/us/part/asrock-motherboard-880gmlefx
October 2, 201213 yr Author If you want 6 SATA III ports and onboard video in a AM3+ socket, there's not many boards can match that. Things get a lot cheaper with SATA II connections, like the ASRock 880HM-LE FX for $54.99 http://pcpartpicker.com/us/part/asrock-motherboard-880gmlefx How much am I losing by missing out on SATA 6GB/s? @ garycase I agree that the Norco 5 in 3 isn't necessary. I am only buying it to allow for easy drive swapping. Would you have a better recommendation for hotswap bays? I am open to hearing arguments against hotswap bays too if you feel I'm making a mistake. Should I be chasing 4 in 3 hotswap instead? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133035 -EDIT- I also liked the Antec 300 case. It costs 60 bucks less. Should I be chasing after that one? -EDIT2- Nexus Prominent 9!!! http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-PROMINENT-9-Prominent/dp/B004EZI0E0/ref=pd_cp_e_0 9 external 5.25 bays. hotswap everything!
October 2, 201213 yr I don't think you are missing anything by going with SATA2. At least for disk drives. That motherboard is the one I am going to buy. Also if you want to save money, this case has 8 internal 3.5 bays and room for hot swap cage. I don't know if you have the need to hotswap everything tough.
October 2, 201213 yr Author I don't think you are missing anything by going with SATA2. At least for disk drives. That motherboard is the one I am going to buy. Also if you want to save money, this case has 8 internal 3.5 bays and room for hot swap cage. I don't know if you have the need to hotswap everything tough. Thanks! I guess I don't have a 'need' per se. I just like the idea that I won't have to go into my server to change disks. Disk failure? Pop up disk slot - slide old one out, new one in. Fixed in 2 mins. No turning off the system, dealing with wires, praying that the connection you created was tight enough that you don't want to have to go in again ... etc. I'm a lazy cunt, I agree. But I'm OK with paying the 80 more bucks for that luxury. However, if you or anyone else knows that the hotswap bay has had issues - or heats up too much or really anything that will affect the server negatively, please do tell. Functionality takes precedence over luxury.
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