Sanity Check for Newbie

[kennelm]

I have an old Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard that I wanted to use for UnRAID.  Long story short, it does not look like a good bet with my new Seagate 1TB drives.  With no disks installed, unraid boots up just fine.  Once I install the SATA disks, the problems start.   The old SATA-1 controller on this board seems to have trouble with the big drives (they came jumpered to 1.5Gbps).  I have the BIOS updated to the latest (1008), but I am not sure what I can do about the SATA controller.  It just hangs on boot will not even respond to the request (F4) to go into the SATA config menu.

 

Anyway, since I have heard that even those who get SATA to work on this board have very slow writes, I think I need to just bite the bullet and upgrade to a new MoBo that has better SATA support.   Looking to go as cheap as I can, preferably with AMD socket AM2.  I have a known-compatible GigE PCI NIC I intend to plug into the board, so on-board NIC support is not as important.  Mostly, I am concerned about SATA support (and ability to boot USB)  I have checked the compatibility lists, but it's hard to tell when many of these MoBos do not specify SATA controller chipset.

 

Looking for feedback on these Biostar boards:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138112

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138119

 

This Gigabyte board has onboard NIC support with Realtek 8111C.  Is that OK?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128342

 

Also, if there are other boards out there that are socket AM2, have PCI slots (not PCIe), and have say 4-6 SATA ports, please let me know.

 

Larry

[SSD]

You are smart to do your homework before making a purchase!

 

I am all Intel, so can't give you any specific recommendations, but can give you some advice on how to help yourself.  Hopefully some other forum members will respond with some specific suggestions:

 

1 - There is a whole section of the forums called "Motherboards".  Take a look there for some specific discussions of some specific motherboards.

 

2 - If there is a specific motherboard you are looking at, do a forum search (click "advanced search" next to the "Search" button.  Advanced searches work much better than std searches.)

 

3 - Some forum members have some informaition on their motherboards in the "Personal Text" (look to the left of this and you will see that I have rated two motherboards that I use).  A grade of A-F is uesd.  This can be helpful in making a selection.

 

4 - Look for a motherboard that has a supported Gigabit enternet chip onboard.  You are not going to want to use a PCI-E slot for network.

 

5 - Read through the "Best of the Forums" / "Hardware Recommendations" section (see my sig for a link).  You will find lots of useful information there.  Also check out the FAQ which also has a ton of useful information about hardware and many other topics of interest to new and experienced unRAID users.

 

[kennelm]

You are smart to do your homework before making a purchase!

 

I am all Intel, so can't give you any specific recommendations, but can give you some advice on how to help yourself.  Hopefully some other forum members will respond with some specific suggestions:

 

1 - There is a whole section of the forums called "Motherboards".  Take a look there for some specific discussions of some specific motherboards.

 

2 - If there is a specific motherboard you are looking at, do a forum search (click "advanced search" next to the "Search" button.  Advanced searches work much better than std searches.)

 

3 - Some forum members have some informaition on their motherboards in the "Personal Text" (look to the left of this and you will see that I have rated two motherboards that I use).  A grade of A-F is uesd.  This can be helpful in making a selection.

 

4 - Look for a motherboard that has a supported Gigabit enternet chip onboard.  You are not going to want to use a PCI-E slot for network.

 

5 - Read through the "Best of the Forums" / "Hardware Recommendations" section (see my sig for a link).  You will find lots of useful information there.  Also check out the FAQ which also has a ton of useful information about hardware and many other topics of interest to new and experienced unRAID users.

 

 

What is wrong with using a PCI-based NIC?  I see plenty of people are doing that, based on comments here. 

 

I have been searching and reading, but the list of compatible MoBos is actually quite short, and not too many of the newer boards are even mentioned.  Makes me wonder if the list is mostly geared towards older stuff that is more problematic?

 

Larry

[SSD]

The PCI bus becomes a major bottleneck under load if you have PCI based hard disks and a PCI based network connection.

 

I think you will find few users of PCI based network cards.

 

If you are talking about a PCI-E based addon netwok card, there is no real problem, except the fact that you are using one of your precious PCI-E slots that is better used for adding another high-bandwidth disk controller.

 

Support for newer motherboards is dependent somewhat on the release of Lunix that is used.  I would stay away from the bleeding edge, but think you'll find pretty good support for most newer motherboards.  The problem is there are not THAT many unRAID users, and some of the motherboards are untested (or barely tested).  The unRAID author has been using a particular Intel-based motherboard called the P5B VM DO for the majority of his pre-built systems and for his testing.  For that reason, may users, including myself, decided to buy that particular board.  They are very hard to find now, however, but it is the one I'd recommend if you can find it.

 

Remember that unRAID doesn't require a high powered CPU, SLI, sound, wireless, or any of the other wiz-bang features you'd love on a windows workstation.  Just the basics, CPU, memory, lots of SATA ports, an onboard Gb chip on the PCI-E bus, and at least 2 PCI-E slots.

 

[kennelm]

The PCI bus becomes a major bottleneck under load if you have PCI based hard disks and a PCI based network connection.

 

I think you will find few users of PCI based network cards.

 

If you are talking about a PCI-E based addon netwok card, there is no real problem, except the fact that you are using one of your precious PCI-E slots that is better used for adding another high-bandwidth disk controller.

 

Support for newer motherboards is dependent somewhat on the release of Lunix that is used.  I would stay away from the bleeding edge, but think you'll find pretty good support for most newer motherboards.  The problem is there are not THAT many unRAID users, and some of the motherboards are untested (or barely tested).  The unRAID author has been using a particular Intel-based motherboard called the P5B VM DO for the majority of his pre-built systems and for his testing.  For that reason, may users, including myself, decided to buy that particular board.  They are very hard to find now, however, but it is the one I'd recommend if you can find it.

 

Remember that unRAID doesn't require a high powered CPU, SLI, sound, wireless, or any of the other wiz-bang features you'd love on a windows workstation.  Just the basics, CPU, memory, lots of SATA ports, an onboard Gb chip on the PCI-E bus, and at least 2 PCI-E slots.

 

 

Thanks for the tip on the P5B VM DO board.  I'll look into that.

 

I don't plan to have any PCI-based disks.   Just the NIC (unless I can get onboard GigE NIC), and maybe a video card if need be.

 

Understand that unRAID doesnt need all that other fancy stuff.  That puts me in the $50 range for a MoBo, it looks like.

 

Larry

[SSD]

Here is a link to a place you can buy the P5B VM DO.  Pricing not super - but if I were setting up a new unRAID box, I would pay it.  Almost guarantees ongoing compatibility version to version.

 

http://www.pcplanetsystems.com/abc/product_details.php?category_id=115&item_id=2267

 

If I didn't get that MB, I'd likely go with the Abit AB9 Pro which is used by several unRAID users including some senior forum members.  I feel if there were any compatibility problems with it, there'd be some good brains working on it, not just me.

 

[WeeboTech]

After seeing that link and the price of $166, I would be inclined to suggest the ABIT AB9 PRO.

Sometimes you can get it for half the price from that link, and get more growth out of it.

 

On the flip side, you can watch eBay and snag a used ASUS VM D0 board for a song and a dance. I saw one go for $19.00 once and another for less then $50.

 

[jimwhite]

If you keep an eye on EBay, periodically the AB9pro's appear as factory refurbs for about $49... I bought two, and both work fine... one for my server, one in the closet as a backup 

 

PBTW, the first AB9pro I bought was from Newegg for $99, and it was DOA 

 

 

[NAS]

For what its worth i purchased a DO. Not because it was the best bt because i expected to install it and everything work perfectly.

 

I installed it and i have no spent a single minute debugging any hardware problems (as opposed to my last 2 boards that need tweaked).

 

If you want ease of install and support the DO cannot be beaten. It can how be beaten on features and performance but with that you accept the risk of having to debug stuff.

 

Hopefully Tom will soon say what the new official board is as its a bit unfair to recommend a board thats so hard to find now

[Mooney]

I just finished my build and stressed about the motherboard issue as well . All the mobo's people had working were out of date and hard to get or unavailable here in Australia. I went with the Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L it worked well had no dramas, and a week later still no dramas. The big thing for me was that it has 6x sata ports I couldn't find anything else that came close in it's price range.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345

 

Good luck

 

 

Sandisk micro cruzer U3 2GB

 

Gigabyte Mainboard GA-EP45-DS3L, LGA775 P45+ICH10, FSB 1600 MHz, DDR2 1200, PCI-E x16 2.0, SATAII 6 ports, GbN LAN, 7.1-channel, ATX.

 

Cooler Master Centurion 590 Case

     

Intel E5200 Pentium Dual Core Processor - LGA775, 2.5Ghz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache, 45nm

 

2x DDR2-667 Corsair 2GB-Kit [VS2GBKIT667D2 G] Value Select PC-5300 (667MHz), 240-pin DDR2, non-ECC, Unbuffered, 2x128Mx64, not compatible with DDR motherboards

 

620W "Corsair" HX-620 ATX Modular Power Supply, 120mm fan, Dual PCI-E Graphics Card Connector, 8 SATA Connectors, Universal AC input 90~264V

 

4x 1000GB 3.5" SATA-II Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar GP Hard Drive, RoHs Green Power 7200rpm 16MB

 

6x iCute SATA II HDD Mobile Rack BC/ iCute-iswap(MRA201)

 

[lionelhutz]

FYI, I used a ECS A740GM-M board and it worked fine with no issues whatsoever. I just set it to boot from the USB, turned off the serial and parallel ports and it worked. This ECS has the same 740G and SB700 chipsets as your first and 3rd boards. Newegg has the ECS cheapest after $10 mail in rebate.

 

Peter

 

[adambeck7]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186151

 

i was looking in to using this board. it has the same 740G and SB700 chipsets, gb lan, and 4 sata ports. i put a post to see if anyone else had the same board and if they thought it would work but haven't heard anything. i'll let you know if i do.

[MartinQ]

kennelm, I have the same board and have been testing it. I believe you have a newer revision though, as my BIOS is a modified version of 1013. The modified motherboard BIOS has an updated BIOS for the SII 3112 SATA controller. Asus did not release a BIOS with updates to the 3112 controller.

 

I found a forum/site that had lots of info and support for these boards and that's where I found this BIOS. Let me know if you need a link and I'll dig it up.

 

Anyway, my read/write performance is fine using both the onboard 3112 as well as multiple 3114 PCI controllers. The onboard gigabit ethernet seems to be working great as well (though I still have testing to do).

 

Best of luck, I don't think you would have a problem with this board performance-wise unless you have specific requirements.