Hello all, I am in the process of building my first unRAID server. I am coming from a SansDigital 4-bay RAID 5 setup, it just died on me (Bad PSU & fried one of the HDD's.) It wasn't even 2 years old, luckily I was able to get the data off by rigging a power supply to it. Anyway here is some information on my build:

 

This will only be used for a media/file server in my home. I am looking for something that will last long term, unlike my previous setup. I will streaming media from this to my OpenELEC HTPC in my living room. Network setup is entirely cat6 and GB switch & router.

 

Budget - I'm looking at somewhere around $500

 

HDD's - I will be reusing my existing HDD's out of my RAID 5 setup. I currently have 6x WD RE4 2 TB Enterprise Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA II, 64 MB Cache - WD2003FYYS. I will be using 4 of them to start with, 3 for data and 1 for parity. Will expand as extra space is needed, I cant see having more than 6 drives in the near future for my setup.

 

Add-ons - I will probably only be using the APC UPS addon to shutdown the server when UPS has 5 minutes left.

 

Parts List:

Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

 

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116887

 

RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148744

 

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182068

 

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352011

 

Any comments on this hardware would be appreciated. I have been reading the wiki and forums on suggested hardware and I think this will accommodate what I need while giving me long term reliability.

 

Thanks

...the CPU is not the sweet spot in that range.

If you can spend the money, go for an i3 or start with the cheapest, like the G1610...it will do for what you have planned.

 

...the RAM is non-ECC AFAIR...you'll want ECC (AFAIK you *need* ECC, unbuffered with that mobo)...the CPUs will support it fine.

Look into the compatibility list at SM or at Kingston.

Thanks for the reply, updated my CPU to a i3-3225.

 

I posted the wrong RAM, I had too many tabs open and copied the wrong link. What i meant to post was:

 

RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239222

 

Thanks again

...the i3-3225 appears to be more expensive than the more powerful i3-3240 ?!?

Note that you'll not make use of the more advanced IGP of the i3-3225 with unRAID....if you want to repurpose it later, then maybe...

You don't need an IGP with the -F model of that board, it will be diabled in favour of the onboard GPU for IPMI/kvm-over-ip.

 

SM boards are picky...as long as the memory is listed with Kingston, it should be fine....you should check.

I'd go for two modules in order to get dual-channel support.

You can also go for the 1333-CL9 modules instead of the 1600-CL11...you won't notice a real difference in performance.

Thanks for the information, I have decided to use some spare parts laying around in order to test unRAID to see how it performs. I will be ordering parts once testing is finished and will post back at that time.