April 20, 201313 yr Obligatory intro from a typical 'lurker' Long time browser of the forums; been interested since a friend introduced me over a year ago. I purchased a key back then, which I'm hoping is still okay to use when I find out my GUID. I've found some free time, so I'm jumping right in and have committed to finally getting this built. Looking for Media streaming Sharing over SMB/AFP Backing up of data Future: Private cloud storage thing (Headless AeroFS. Headless Bitcasa when available). Budget: Not on a strict budget, but not splashing out thousands for this. Looks like it'll be ~£1000 ($1523 / €1166). Willing to spend a little more if it means a longer-lasting component/build. Drives: Purchased 4 x 2TB WD RED. Looking to expand long-term, hence my case choice (below). Interested in a cache drive too - need to do more research on this, though. Expandability: Important. Will be filling up my case and utilising intake fans on the front. Will look into investing in those "5 in 3" dock/enclosure things later; after I fill all bays. Add Ons: Yes - but nothing out of the ordinary. SABnzbd, SickBeard, CouchPotato and those menu/GUI ones. Going to be streaming media to Xbox 360 and Raspbmc. Probably need some add on for that to happen. I'm not very knowledgeable on all the unRAID streaming/transcoding/UPnP capabilities at the moment. Components already acquired (manufacturers page / retailer page): 4 x 2TB Western Digital Red - http://goo.gl/3RBDP / http://goo.gl/to1JL Lian Li PC-A77FB - http://goo.gl/bznhv / http://goo.gl/d89Yk Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB - http://goo.gl/AIoQA / http://goo.gl/zmSMO The bit where I ask for help - I still need to purchase a CPU, motherboard, RAM and PSU... Based on my requirements, I feel an Intel i3 is appropriate. My problem is that I'm failing to clearly see the big differences between the various models (3220, 2120, 2100, 3225). Even the price difference is tiny (source: http://goo.gl/vBLz0). Do I automatically go for the most expensive one because it will be better? And a stock cooler will do fine I think. I think it's safe to presume I'm going with a 1155 socket processor, so I'll move onto motherboards. It looks like Supermicro boards are a community favourite and I think they look good on paper, too. There are a few things that have caught my attention. Firstly, I'm liking the idea of an on-board USB port (for unRAID flash drive). Secondly, I've never tried IPMI, but it's something I really want to play around with. The only other thing I want is for a large number of SATA ports, but it's inevitable that I'll need PCI cards when it comes to filling my case with HDDs. Anyway, compatibility is my main concern here. Choosing RAM should be pretty straight forward once I've got my motherboard. I've go no worries here, but I'll listen to any recommendations. I'm thinking 8GB. And finally, the power supply. I know it needs to support all drives spinning (eg. for boot up), but not sure what I'm going for. Will a modular Corsair 800W suffice, for example? Any questions, corrections and advice is welcomed. Many thanks in advance - I know you're a helpful bunch! Omid.
April 20, 201313 yr Based on my requirements, I feel an Intel i3 is appropriate. My problem is that I'm failing to clearly see the big differences between the various models (3220, 2120, 2100, 3225). Even the price difference is tiny (source: http://goo.gl/vBLz0). Do I automatically go for the most expensive one because it will be better? And a stock cooler will do fine I think. I like i5s myself, because they have just a little more horsepower if you decide to do any compression. But you're right, there are so many flavors of Core processors it's difficult to know what's best. It really is splitting hairs - you'll not notice a difference in speed. It looks like Supermicro boards are a community favourite and I think they look good on paper, too. There are a few things that have caught my attention. Firstly, I'm liking the idea of an on-board USB port (for unRAID flash drive). Secondly, I've never tried IPMI, but it's something I really want to play around with. The only other thing I want is for a large number of SATA ports, but it's inevitable that I'll need PCI cards when it comes to filling my case with HDDs. Anyway, compatibility is my main concern here. I prefer the Supermicro boards because they are designed for server use, they have high compatibility with unRAID, and IPMI is amazing. I would also point out that if you look at a board with more than 6 SATA ports on it, it is almost always consuming a PCI lane to add more ports. You're better off adding a card with more ports on it. Choosing RAM should be pretty straight forward once I've got my motherboard. I've go no worries here, but I'll listen to any recommendations. I'm thinking 8GB. RAM is so cheap, it's hard to go wrong here. Honestly 4GB is plenty for day to day. If you're adding Plex then 8GB is good. If you decide to build a VM box then 16GB is minimum. And finally, the power supply. I know it needs to support all drives spinning (eg. for boot up), but not sure what I'm going for. Will a modular Corsair 800W suffice, for example? 800W is beyond too much. Remember, generally the higher wattage power supplies run less efficient in low power requirement systems. I don't know how many drives you're planning for, but I'm assuming with that case you're thinking around 15 or so. I would say 550W should be sufficient if you're going with efficient drives like the REDs, and a low power CPU. Welcome to unRAID!
April 21, 201313 yr +1 for supermicro boards and IPMI. Also these have Intel NICs which are also recommended and supported best. The variations you see in CPU models available for 1155 are basically Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. I would recommend Ivy Bridge, because these deliver slightly better performance at lower TDP. They will idle at lower power that their Sandy Bridge siblings, also. If you plan to go with ESXi you'll need a CPU that supports vt-d. In this case I'd go for a small XEON, like the E3-12xxv2. With a SM board and IPMI, an internal IGP is not needed at all.
April 21, 201313 yr Author Thanks to both for the input - a huge help already. Just to clarify, though, I'm not looking at any virtualisation/ESXi... Motherboard I've managed to narrow it down to Supermicro X9SCL+-F and Supermicro X9SCM-iiF. These two are VERY alike. I see that the iiF has 2 x SATA3 ports, where as all 6 ports on the +-F are SATA2. The other difference spotted is the extra PCI-E on the iiF. So, anyway... I've decided to go with the Supermicro X9SCM-iiF. CPU I'm tempted to go for an i5 instead of an i3, but I've now noticed people discussing Xeon. As far as my noobie unRAID knowledge goes, I'll be pushing the CPU the most during transcoding & streaming to Xbox 360. I'm happy to go for an i5, but will an i3 do that with ease? Do I even bother looking at Xeon? Also, will my motherboard choice be affected by this? I've noticed on the bottom of the Supermicro X9SCM-iiF page (http://goo.gl/ff78W) that it says: * Per Intel's spec, for platforms using C202/C204 PCH: 1) Intel i5/i7 CPUs are not supported Thanks again for your help; it's much appreciated! Omid.
April 21, 201313 yr ....X9SCM-F also has the same no. of PCIe than the X9SCM-iiF (the -iiF features two identical Intel NICs, where the -F has two mixed types, but without planning to go ESXi, this is not important). Yes, i5 and i7 on these boards is not supported...either Pentium G (dual-core), i3 (dual-core + some with HT) or XEON (quad core, + some with HT). Note, that for all CPUs, this board requires ECC memory. What transcoding features do you really need? Do you need live transcoding or just streaming pre-transcoded content to your clients? Have a look at these benchmark here: http://www.servethehome.com/Server-detail/intel-xeon-e5-2430l-review-benchmarks-dual-processors/ which features some i3 and PentiumG as well. An i3 delivers not much more compared to a PentiumG...a XEON, i5 or i7 are a different breed.
April 21, 201313 yr Author Damn, going down the Xeon route will bump up the price quite a bit. I'm not actually sure what I'll need to achieve the streaming functionality I have in mind. I'm planning on streaming various audio/video formats (incl. 1080p HD) (mkv containers, avi, mp4, flac) to an XBMC HTPC, other computers and an Xbox 360 - which doesn't support many formats. I think avi is about as daring as an Xbox gets. By the way, I don't mean streaming to all of these at the same time. D'ya think I'll be okay with a top i3? Thanks for bringing up ECC memory. I had and have no idea what this is. Researching now... If I do go with an i5, does anyone know of a compatible Supermicro board that's equivalent (or at least similar) to the X9SCM-iiF? Navigating around Supermicro's website is a pain; every page looks the same.
April 21, 201313 yr Damn, going down the Xeon route will bump up the price quite a bit. I'm not actually sure what I'll need to achieve the streaming functionality I have in mind. I'm planning on streaming various audio/video formats (incl. 1080p HD) (mkv containers, avi, mp4, flac) to an XBMC HTPC, other computers and an Xbox 360 - which doesn't support many formats. I think avi is about as daring as an Xbox gets. By the way, I don't mean streaming to all of these at the same time. D'ya think I'll be okay with a top i3? Thanks for bringing up ECC memory. I had and have no idea what this is. Researching now... If I do go with an i5, does anyone know of a compatible Supermicro board that's equivalent (or at least similar) to the X9SCM-iiF? Navigating around Supermicro's website is a pain; every page looks the same. You don't even need a top i3 for what you are looking to do. My server has a low power 35W TDP i3-3220T and can do 3 concurrent transcodes.
April 21, 201313 yr ...to stream to a XBMC based HTPC only requires the HTPC to do the transcoding. For unRAID a simple ATOM can do what you want. You'll be OK with a PentiumG or an i3 then. A Supermicro Server Baord will require ECC RAM...AFAIR no i5 or i7 supports that....most IVY Bridge PentiumG, i3 and of course XEONs do.
April 21, 201313 yr I have the same Lian-Li case and it is nice (but expensive). I ended up replacing the internal cages with SuperMicro 5-in-3 cages after a few months. If I was to build an UnRaid Server again I would definitely go for the SuperMicro motherboard - it costs a bit more but is worth it in the long term. Nice! TheWombat
April 22, 201313 yr First, I'd definitely go with a SuperMicro board that supports both ECC RAM and IPMI. This is a good choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182257 Second, I'd use a somewhat smaller PSU than you're thinking of -- a Corsair HX650 would be a good choice [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012 ] It's a superb PSU with active PFC and 80+ Gold certification ==> but remember that 80+ certifications are done at 3 load points: 20%, 50%, and 100% ... so when you're drawing less than the lowest load point (in this case 130w) the power supply efficiency drops rapidly. So while you want PLENTY of power, you also don't want so much that you're frequently running outside of its maximum efficiency range. Even 650w is probably too much, but this ensure you have plenty of spin-up amperage for the hard drives. Since you're going to use very efficient drives (WD Reds), you don't need a lot => 20 3TB WD Reds only draw a total of 5A at 12v (the HX650 provides 54A); and 5.6A at 5v (the HX650 provides 20A).
April 22, 201313 yr First, I'd definitely go with a SuperMicro board that supports both ECC RAM and IPMI. I'm not sure why you're suggesting that board - it offers 4 lan ports at the expense of having less PCIe slots. The x9scm-iiF, which the OP opted for is a much more suitable choice.
May 5, 201313 yr Author Hi all, Sorry for digging up and bumping this thread - should've replied sooner. I'm in the final stages Here's what I went with in the end (in case anyone is/was interested): Motherboard: http://www.supermicro.co.uk/products/motherboard/Xeon/C202_C204/X9SCM-IIF.cfm The only part left to purchase! I'm in the UK and, so far, it looks like I need to take out a loan to get one of these in my hands I could buy it from this scary-looking site: http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?region=GB&prodID=B932434 ...but I'll probably give up and go with buying it from Amazon.co.uk at a ridiculous price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Supermicro-MBD-X9SCM-IIF-O-Retail-Motherboard-Chipset/dp/B0090YPCTQ CPU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008F65MO0 i3 3220, Ivy Bridge - based on above recommendation. As mentioned above, there really isn't much of a difference between models in the i3 range. I simply chose this model based on Amazon's "popularity" and customer reviews. Memory: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51272BD160B I later realised I need to upgrade motherboard BIOS to support 1600MHz memory Probably should've just gone for the 1333MHz, but I always upgrade all firmware/BIOS anyway. I hope it's easy on Supermicro boards! PSU: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-HX650-Professional-Series-Modular/dp/B008NJGPTA 650w might be overkill ...if only there was an HX550 :'( I know about the squeaky noises people complain about. Got the same thing on my HX850 and I live with it - It does suck, but oh well. Will post pics once I start building. Thanks!
May 5, 201313 yr ...lambdatek price lokks OK for a UK based dealer....they offer paypal payments, so some risks should be covered. Just 25% above cheapest here in Germany. Here's a list from a priceportal with shops that ship Europe wide. http://geizhals.at/eu/supermicro-x9scm-iif-retail-sockel-1155-dual-pc3-10667e-ddr3-mbd-x9scm-iif-o-a814138.html The first shop "sona", I can recommend...bought from them several times. They appear to ship to UK for EUR17 when paying with paypal (EUR11.50 uplift for UK compared to DE)....much less than your deal with amazon. I don't know how VAT and customs will be handled through them.
May 8, 201313 yr Author Good to get an extra nod of approval from the community! I went with LambdaTek (PayPal) in the end and I've received an email saying it's been dispatched. Thanks!
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