February 26, 201313 yr Hey everyone, Building a storage server for a friend for his wife to store her pictures on (semi-pro photographer). I'd appreciate any comments you have. Here is what I had in mind during the build - Money is generally not a big concern. She just had a hard drive crash and was quoted 1700$ for data recovery. - Computer should be a functional computer if desired in 2 years (hence 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB for an extra 20 bucks and a slightly bigger PSU if standalone video card is ever added). - Buying used parts makes for questionable reliability. - Motherboard has an Intel gigabit Ethernet controller - slightly more stable then another chipset perhaps? - Case doesn't matter. This one has 6 bays, and a hotswap drive port at the top which could be neat for copying files. - Still need locking SATAcables - This should support up to 10 drives - I still need to pick out a SATA expansion card to add a few more ports - We'll be staggering the drive purchases - some local, some online. - 80mm fans are to replace the NORCO fans. If you can recommend a PCIe SATA expansion offhand that would be great - I'll keep perusing the FAQ, I think this thing should be pretty solid otherwise. Also, I need to read up more on the cache drive... but from what I've read I don't think it's what I'm looking for. Is there any way to use RAM as a disk cache? PCPartPicker part list CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada) Motherboard: Intel DZ77SL50K ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($127.99 @ Newegg Canada) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg Canada) Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.79 @ DirectCanada) Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.79 @ DirectCanada) Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.79 @ DirectCanada) Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.79 @ DirectCanada) Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.79 @ DirectCanada) Case: Cougar Evolution ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.29 @ DirectCanada) Case Fan: Noctua NF-R8 PWM 31.4 CFM 80mm Fan ($16.99 @ Memory Express) Case Fan: Noctua NF-R8 PWM 31.4 CFM 80mm Fan ($16.99 @ Memory Express) Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($159.99 @ Newegg Canada) Other: NORCO SS-500 5-Bay SATA / SAS Hot Swap Rack Module ($94.99) Other: NORCO SS-500 5-Bay SATA / SAS Hot Swap Rack Module ($94.99)
February 26, 201313 yr I would consider using wither the Antec 900 or the Antec 1200 case. Both of these can be configured for 5.25 drives top to bottom--- 9 in the case of the 900 case and 12 in the case of the 1200. This provides the maximum in configuration options for a server where you definably want to have the drives externally accessible. You really don't want to have to open up the case to add (or change out) a drive after you have more than five or six drives. (Too easy to knock loose one or more of those SATA connectors when moving the wiring for access.)
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.