Hey, guys. I've been thinking about building an unRAID server and plunging into the HTPC community for a while now, and now seems to be as good a time as any. Just looking to get some advice from you guys on my build and how I should proceed so I'm well prepared.

 

I don't really have a specific budget in mind, but obviously I don't want to spend more than I have to. I'm going to start out just using 3 drives with the free version of unRAID with the option to expand with unRAID Plus -- which allows 7 drives, correct?

 

So I was thinking of using the Lian Li PC-Q25B as my case, since it has the 5 hot swap drive bays and can hold up to 7 drives. For add-ons, all I know I want to use as of right now is Plex Media Server for transcoding to various Rokus, phones, tablets, etc. Mostly, I'll be streaming to an HTPC running XBMC, but I want the ability to take my media on-the-go as well. So if I wanted to be able to transcode multiple streams -- at least 2-3 -- of video with quality ranging from DVD rips to uncompressed Blu-Ray rips, how powerful would my CPU need to be? An i3-3225 or i3-3220T? And what would be the best motherboard?

 

So right now, my build would probably look like this:

 

Case: Lian Li PC-Q25B

PCU: i3-3225? (And would I need an aftermarket cooler, or is the stock one fine?)

Mobo: ?

PSU: ? (How much power would I need so I can expand to 7 drives with unRAID Plus?)

RAM: ? (Would having more RAM help with the transcoding, or could I just go with like 4 GB of Kingston ValueRAM?)

Storage: 3 x 3 TB WD Greens (Initially, then expand to 7 drives eventually, maybe with bigger green drives as they become available.)

 

As I said, I'm just getting started -- never built a PC of any kind before either. So any help you guys can give would be appreciated. And let me know if I'm forgetting anything important in my build, as well. Thanks!

Excellent choice for a case ... by far my favorite for a small (up to 7 drives) case.

 

Since you want the "horsepower" for Plex,  I'd use the following motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131841

 

... the i3-3225 you selected is a good choice

... 4GB is okay, but I'd use a pair of 4GB modules (8GB total)

... For the PSU, you could use either one of these:

    (a)  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063

    (b)  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

 

(a) will provide the most room in the case (and is the best choice IMHO);  but (b) is a very good value at the moment ($25 with the rebate).    Note that (b) is the largest ATX supply you can fit in that case ... indeed you have to peel off the sticker on the side to fit it in the case !!  Do NOT buy the modular version of it (doesn't fit) or anything larger.

 

... I'd buy WD Reds instead of the Greens.  Slightly lower power draw;  higher performance; and better warranty.

 

Note:  For the backplane on that case, "left-hand" SATA cables work much better than standard ones.  You'll need to measure the length you need based on the motherboard's SATA connection placement, but here's a good source for the left-hand cables:  http://www.cpustuff.com/left-angle-to-straight-sata-cable/

Thanks for the quick reply! I really appreciate it.

 

Thanks especially for the advice on the PSU. And that will be enough power even when I get to 7 drives, correct? Also, I take it I don't need an aftermarket CPU cooler? Would I only need one of those if I wanted it to be a quieter system or do they often offer better performance as well?

 

I know you mentioned the left angle to straight SATA cables, which I never would have known about -- so thanks. Are there any other cables I should expect to purchase that I need to know about that won't come with any of the listed components?

 

Thanks again for the help!

Either of those PSU's have ample power for 7 drives.

 

You'll need 5 of the left-hand SATA cables for the backplane.  You could just order 5 10" ones and would probably be fine.  When I built mine, I waited until I had the motherboard installed, and then ordered a few different sizes so I'd have minimum "left over" cable to deal with.  But I used a different motherboard (SuperMicro Atom board) that doesn't have enough "horsepower" for Plex, so I don't know exactly what lengths you'll need.  [i used a 6", 2 8", and 2 10"]

 

You'll also need 2 standard SATA cables for any drives you install on the metal drive plate at the bottom (the 2 that aren't hot swap).

 

The Intel stock cooler is fine ... I doubt you'll see any need to replace it.

 

The extra money for the i3-3225 is a waste. The HD4000 in it is of no use to you. Get the i3-3220. If you want to spend a little extra get the i3-3220T since it'll run cooler and use less power under full load.

 

Also, the stock Intel cooler is more than sufficient. No need to upgrade. Intel's desktop coolers have been great for non overclocking uses for the last few years.

The extra money for the i3-3225 is a waste. The HD4000 in it is of no use to you.

 

While I agree the HD2500 in a 3220 is fine, the nominal cost increase for a 3225 ($10) to get the HD4000 graphics is easily worth it.  You just never know when you might want to repurpose a CPU ... and the HD4000 is FAR better than the HD2500.

 

... By the way, if you want some serious "horsepower" AND the "latest and greatest" technology, Asus is now shipping their Socket 1150 mini-ITX board:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-H87IPLU

 

You'd have to go with an i5 if you build it now (the Haswell i3's aren't due until September) ... so you'd have to get something like this:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116895

 

... but it has even better graphics;  and scores 6055 on PassMark's CPUMark, compared to 4382 for the i3-3225 

 

... or you could use this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116897

... which scores 5798 on PassMark, but is a lower-power CPU than the 4430 (has the same graphics).

 

 

The extra money for the i3-3225 is a waste. The HD4000 in it is of no use to you.

 

While I agree the HD2500 in a 3220 is fine, the nominal cost increase for a 3225 ($10) to get the HD4000 graphics is easily worth it.  You just never know when you might want to repurpose a CPU ... and the HD4000 is FAR better than the HD2500.

 

 

:o :o

 

In what usage scenario are you repurposing that CPU down the line and not using a dedicated graphics card in which case the HD4000 will make a difference? Maybe you've got some obscure use case in mind I'm not thinking of but I just don't see spending the money on that.

 

 

As I said earlier, any extra money would be better spent on the i3-3220T that will use less power under load and run cooler.

 

The extra money for the i3-3225 is a waste. The HD4000 in it is of no use to you.

 

While I agree the HD2500 in a 3220 is fine, the nominal cost increase for a 3225 ($10) to get the HD4000 graphics is easily worth it.  You just never know when you might want to repurpose a CPU ... and the HD4000 is FAR better than the HD2500.

 

:o :o

 

In what usage scenario are you repurposing that CPU down the line and not using a dedicated graphics card in which case the HD4000 will make a difference? Maybe you've got some obscure use case in mind I'm not thinking of but I just don't see spending the money on that.

 

 

As I said earlier, any extra money would be better spent on the i3-3220T that will use less power under load and run cooler.

I would use it for HTPC myself the HD4000 is fine for playback don't need a descrete card for that. 

 

I not only would, but AM using HD4000's for two of our HTPCs => it works perfectly for that.    The newest Intel on-chip video (HD4000 & above) is all most people need for Windows 7 or 8 systems as well as long as you're not a serious gamer ... it's even good enough for basic gaming.

 

The days of "automatically add a dedicated video card" are gone.

 

There is no benefit to using HD4000 over HD2500 in a purely HTPC environment where all you're doing is video playback an no gaming. Go read some discussion threads about it on AVS Forum. The video decoding hardware is no different between the two:

 

Namely, HD Graphics 2500 is a good choice for media players and HTPC, because its video transcoding and decoding functions remained untouched [from the HD4000]

 

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500_9.html

 

I'm using a chip with HD2500 for my HTPC and it works great.

I may be a little out of my league on this, but considering Raspberry Pi can do 1080i on XBMC, I would think you can use pretty modest hardware.

You can use relatively modest hardware -- and indeed an HD2500 is okay for video playback as well.    But if you can have the HD4000 for $10 more ... why not??    It's a very nice improvement over the 2500; uses no more power (except at high demands, when it's good to have that power);  and is only $10.      The never-buy-anything-more-than-you-absolutely-need argument is okay; but by that token you shouldn't even be looking at i3's ... a low-end Celeron will do just fine.

 

... and most of us should be living in far smaller homes and driving far less expensive cars 

My wife and I finally dragged ourselves away from the TV and went to see the latest Star Trek movie last night. The theater popped up a message touting a Sony 4k projection system. Cool! Well, it was pretty darn good!

 

The point being, yes spend the $10 extra and get the better chip because soon we'll look back and find it hard to believe we watched video  at 1080p....in only  two dimensions!

(where's the popcorn emoticon?)

You can use relatively modest hardware -- and indeed an HD2500 is okay for video playback as well.    But if you can have the HD4000 for $10 more ... why not??    It's a very nice improvement over the 2500; uses no more power (except at high demands, when it's good to have that power);  and is only $10.      The never-buy-anything-more-than-you-absolutely-need argument is okay; but by that token you shouldn't even be looking at i3's ... a low-end Celeron will do just fine.

 

... and most of us should be living in far smaller homes and driving far less expensive cars 

 

 

I agree, that's why I said spend the extra money on the i3-3220T which will benefit him now.

I agree, that's why I said spend the extra money on the i3-3220T which will benefit him now.

 

i3-3220T =>  3729  on PassMark's CPUMark

 

i3-3225  =>  4382  on PassMark's CPUMark

 

Not sure I see how spending more for a CPU with 15% LOWER CPU performance AND 40% lower graphic performance would provide much benefit 

 

I agree, that's why I said spend the extra money on the i3-3220T which will benefit him now.

 

i3-3220T =>  3729  on PassMark's CPUMark

 

i3-3225  =>  4382  on PassMark's CPUMark

 

Not sure I see how spending more for a CPU with 15% LOWER CPU performance AND 40% lower graphic performance would provide much benefit 

 

 

What current or future planned usage has he outlined that either of those statistics will make any difference in? For what he outlined as his needs the i3-3220T is more than capable while doing it cooler and using less electricity. He plans on putting this in a relatively small case. Less heat + small case = good. In other threads you have literally recommended what I am suggesting as a CPU to go with this case/setup. You seem to be arguing with me just for the sake of arguing. Or do I have it wrong and you really believe that he should spend the extra money to generate extra heat, over the i3-3220T, in his small case with no benefit to his intended usage now on the off chance that he'll use that CPU in a different setup months or years down the line for gaming which is the only use case the HD4000 is better than the HD2500?

The simple fact is it makes no difference which CPU he uses.    I agree the lower TDP CPU will limit the power draw ... but with UnRAID it likely makes no difference, as both CPUs will draw very little when not being stressed.

 

I have several HTPCs (one for every TV) ... and one of them was originally built with a low-power i5 [2400S] ... but I later decided to also use that box for some video transcoding, so I swapped it out for an i7-2700k.    There was NO difference in the idle power consumption (per my Kill-a-watt) after the CPU swap ... although clearly it drew a good bit more at full load [but it also had a LOT more power  ].

 

What started this discussion was my comment that the CPU the OP had selected was a good choice 

I still agree with that.  A 3220T would also be a good choice.  It's really a toss up ... but if was me I'd go for the 3225.    He DOES want to run Plex and do a bit of transcoding ... and once you go down that road you never know just how much "horsepower" you'll likely need ... so even the extra 15% of CPU "horsepower" just might be useful.

 

Then why not go for the standard i3-3220 and save yourself some money? On Amazon that model goes for $30 less than the i3-3225.

 

dirtysanchez, whose build with this small case you've promoted on multiple occasions on here, has said multiple Plex transcoding streams are no sweat for the i3-3220T so I don't know for what data crunching on his unraid server that 15% is supposed to come in to play.

 

 

 

So I guess the answer to the OP is in case you think you might decide to use that CPU down the road for gaming without a dedicated video card spend the extra $30 dollars over the i3-3220 for the HD4000 graphics as garycase has decided this week he doesn't want to cede someone else's point or you could spend $15 dollars more for the i3-3220T that will generate less heat in your small case but will leave you totally screwed if you want to play Crysis when you decide to reuse this CPU at some theoretical possible point in the future.

<Sigh>  I ceded your point LONG ago ["... I agree the HD2500 in a 3220 is fine ..."]

 

I simply noted that "...  the nominal cost increase for a 3225 ($10) to get the HD4000 graphics is easily worth it."

 

Clearly if the difference is $30, that's a different choice.

 

As you well know, I am a big fan of LOW power systems ... my system in the same case uses a 13w Atom -- but I don't use Plex (or any other add-ons => my UnRAID server is solely a NAS, as it was originally designed for).

 

Hey, guys. Thanks for all of the advice! I've started ordering parts so that I can start building this thing. I do have a question, though. When I get drives 6 and 7, I'm guessing I'll need a PCI-E SATA controller card, right? Is there one in particular that you guys would recommend for this type of build?

Hey, guys. Thanks for all of the advice! I've started ordering parts so that I can start building this thing. I do have a question, though. When I get drives 6 and 7, I'm guessing I'll need a PCI-E SATA controller card, right? Is there one in particular that you guys would recommend for this type of build?

 

What motherboard did you use/are you using?    Both of the ones I mentioned have 6 SATA ports, so you'll only need an add-in card if you go to a 7th drive.    With 4TB drives, you can get up to 20TB of space with the 6 drives supported by the motherboard.    But yes, you'll need an add-in PCIe SATA card if you want to add a 7th drive.  Any inexpensive 2-port PCIe card should work fine for this.