Hi Everyone!

 

I've been playing with UNRAID on a pile of old hardware for a little while and I really like the concept so I've decided to build a proper pc to do it for real! ( the pile of old hardware is out of the running for a "production" machine because it uses way too much power )

 

My budget is around £450 max (inc shipping).

 

I'd like for the machine to support up to 10 disks ultimately but I'll be starting off with just 3 and expanding by adding new disks or replacing them as my storage needs change. I'll add a 5 in 3 drive cage type thing when I exceed 5 3.5" disks.

 

The server will replace my Netgear Stora NAS, which I've run out of disk space on.

 

I'm planning on running sabnzbd, sickbeard and couchpotato add ons, and serving media to 2-3 clients (although rarely all at once).

 

I already have a 3TB toshiba disk I'm planning on using for parity and two other 2tB disks I don't recall the brand of (how embarrassing) that are coming out of my existing NAS. I plan on adding an additional cache disk for apps and for the write-back cache functionality ( I already have a UNRAID license ).

 

Here's the parts list I've provisionally made up, I would really appreciate any tips or comments on anything I've missed out or if any of these parts are showstoppers somehow. I'm aiming for this to be as low-power and low-noise as possible, not really intending on doing any transcoding media steaming type stuff.

 

Motherboard:

ASRock H87M PRO4 Intel H87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-113-AK

 

CPU:

Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-497-IN

 

Memory:

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-203-CS

 

Cache Disk:

Western Digital Scorpio Black 2.5" 750GB 7200RPM SATA

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-399-WD

 

Case:

Antec One

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-178-AN

 

Power Supply:

Seasonic G series 360w '80 Plus Gold'

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-020-SS

 

CPU Cooler:

Thermalright HR-02 Macho

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-082-TR

 

Case Fans:

Antec TrueQuiet 120 120mm Case Fan ( x2, one in front to cool the hdd's, one in back as an exaust )

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-020-AN

A few observations and/or questions...

 

Why have you settled on 10 drives? A pro license bumps you from 7 to 20+ drives so you're not really utilizing it if you upgrade. If you're trying to reach an eventual size for your array, could you not achieve the same result from just using larger drives in a smaller array? I would attempt to maximize a "plus" license (a 7-drive array) if it were me. After a cache drive, though, that actually becomes 8 drives. That will sve you a few bucks on the pro license.

 

The Lian Li PC-Q25B is a very popular choice for such a "plus" license setup. However, the Bitfenix Phenom has just been made available for pre-order. The mini-ITX variant can support 7 drives. Not sure about 8. Either way, it's cheaper than the PC-Q25B if you're budget-conscious. Both cases are more appropriate for a file server, and a 5-in-3 cage will end up costing you a lot of money when you finally have to go down that road with the case that you picked. the caveat on both of these cases is that they'll require a mini-ITX board. most haswell mini-ITX boards I know of have just 4 SATA ports, but you can always add a cheap expansion card down the road. It'll help offset some up-front cost.

 

Is money the only reason you're not bumping up to an i3 processor? Otherwise, the speed bump coupled with hyperthreading would give a significant performance increase. It might be overkill if you're transcoding, but a little money to make something a bit more future-proof can help.

 

I don't think your cache drive needs to be that large. You could probably get away with 250GB, but the smallest Scorpio I saw was 500GB so that might be the thing to do. it's not a huge savings, but it's betetr than nothing.

 

I wouldn't spend money on an aftermarket cooler for such an underpowered processor. Just use the one that comes with the processor. it's all you'll ever need. Heck, if you save them oney on the cooler, you can pretty much afford the entry-level i3. It's a much more worthwhile upgrade.