New user - need a motherboard to get started

[StevenD]

Can someone recommend a motherboard for me?  I already have a Celeron 430, so Id like to be able to use it.

 

Ive looked at the motherboards on the hardware compatibility chart and it seems that most of them are discontinued.  I would like at least 6 SATA ports and gigabit on-board.  On-board VGA would be nice also.

 

Thanks for helping out a noob!  I just discovered unraid a couple of weeks ago.  I have it running on an old Dell just to play with right now.

[Koperfild]

IMO that board is the best buy for the future.

 

http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/motherboards/DQ45CB/DQ45CB-overview.htm

[StevenD]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Unfortunately, I cant find that board from any retailer that Ive heard of.

[WeeboTech]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Unfortunately, I cant find that board from any retailer that Ive heard of.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=DQ45CB&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&cid=1995603064101870096&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=2&ct=result#ps-sellers

 

I've bought from the follow online retailers with good service.

 

newegg.com

buy.com

ewiz.com

beachaudio.com

 

[SSD]

Best motherboard for unRAID - very hard to find. 

 

It has 8 SATA ports, onboard video, a PCIe x4 and a PCIe x16 slot, and a couple of normal PCI slots. 

 

It's also the one that LimeTech uses so unRAID is very well tested on this motherboard.

 

Seems this vendor has some:

 

P5B VM DO

[StevenD]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Unfortunately, I cant find that board from any retailer that Ive heard of.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=DQ45CB&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&cid=1995603064101870096&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=2&ct=result#ps-sellers

 

I've bought from the follow online retailers with good service.

 

newegg.com

buy.com

ewiz.com

beachaudio.com

 

 

Thanks!  I tried searching google and none of these came up.  I didnt try Product Search specifically.  HOwever, this board only has 5 SATA ports.  That Asus board would be perfect.

[WeeboTech]

See this thread

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2828.0

 

 

[JRS]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Unfortunately, I cant find that board from any retailer that Ive heard of.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=DQ45CB&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&cid=1995603064101870096&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=2&ct=result#ps-sellers

 

I've bought from the follow online retailers with good service.

 

newegg.com

buy.com

ewiz.com

beachaudio.com

 

 

Anyone out there know if this Q45 board deactivates the onboard video ports if ANY device is put in the x16 PCI-E slot?  I've read that this happens with some intel chipsets of the G45 variety.  If the onboard video would work with a 4 sata port pci-e x4 card in the x16 slot, and then 2 sata port cards in all the other slots, one could hit 16 drives with only 2 drives on the PCI bus and therefore get better performance than putting 8 drives on the PCI bus.

[StevenD]

See this thread

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2828.0

 

 

Thank you!  NewEgg has an open box C2SEE for $78.00. 

[StevenD]

Well, I'm an incredibly impatient person.  Fry's had an ECS A740GM-M & Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5200+ for $80 today.  I bought it and its working great.  I may upgrade in the future, but this will give me a good start (6 SATA, VGA and Gigabit).  For $80, I just couldn't pass it up.

[smino]

Adaptec 1430SA 4 port sataII. Is this natively supported in unRaid?

Is there an 8 port card that is also supported?

[WeeboTech]

Adaptec 1430SA 4 port sataII. Is this natively supported in unRaid?

Yes, although you may have to disable something in the bios, others may provide more information.

 

Is there an 8 port card that is also supported?

I do not know of an adaptec 8 port card that is natively supported in unRAID.

 

There is a PCI-X/PCI supermicro card that is natively supported in unRAID.

 

[BryantD]

Adaptec 1430SA 4 port sataII. Is this natively supported in unRaid?

Is there an 8 port card that is also supported?

 

You need to turn off the bios on the 1430SA during boot up of the unRAID server, so you will need a monitor & keyboard the 1st time. After that you're good to go.

[lionelhutz]

Well, I'm an incredibly impatient person.  Fry's had an ECS A740GM-M & Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5200+ for $80 today.  I bought it and its working great.  I may upgrade in the future, but this will give me a good start (6 SATA, VGA and Gigabit).  For $80, I just couldn't pass it up.

 

Congrats.  The board with those chipsets are popular choices and work well. Just not real ideal to expand past about 12 drives (there are reasonable PCIe to add to get to 12 drives and maintain good drive access speed) but still a great bargain board. Same board as I'm running and I haven't had trouble with it yet.

 

Peter

 

[StevenD]

Well, I'm an incredibly impatient person.  Fry's had an ECS A740GM-M & Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5200+ for $80 today.  I bought it and its working great.  I may upgrade in the future, but this will give me a good start (6 SATA, VGA and Gigabit).  For $80, I just couldn't pass it up.

 

Congrats.  The board with those chipsets are popular choices and work well. Just not real ideal to expand past about 12 drives (there are reasonable PCIe to add to get to 12 drives and maintain good drive access speed) but still a great bargain board. Same board as I'm running and I haven't had trouble with it yet.

 

Peter

 

 

With 1.5TB drives available now, I dont see myself needing more than the 6 on-board SATA ports for quite some time.  Im still playing with it and I havent moved a lot of data over yet.  But, so far, Im happy with unRAID and the config I have.  Like I said, I just couldnt pass it up for the price.