I currently have a 32TB array using a hp n54l microserver and two esata enclosures and i'm looking to upgrade to something with more performance.

I have been looking at a norco 4220 for the chassis and a corsair hx series psu, that's as far as i have got, I really need some help.

 

I want to be able to transcode 1080p mkv's to 4 or 5 clients and run mysql, plex pms, couch potato, sabnzbd, sickbeard and headphones plugins.

 

I'm not too concerned with virtual machines, but i'd like compatibility if possible, in case i change my mind at a later date.

 

My budget is going to be £1500 (including the case and psu)

I'd use a SuperMicro board [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182773  ] and a v2 Xeon [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117285 

]

... I'd use a couple 8GB ECC modules to start (16GB total) -- PLENTY unless you use ESXi ... and even then that's plenty unless you build a LOT of VM's

 

You may want to look at one of the newer Socket 1150 boards with a v3 Xeon, but the v2's have plenty of performance and will save you a few $$ [or ££  ]

 

 

Would this board be suitable for unraid, (it's a little pricey, but it has a bucketload of sas/sata ports that are 6gb/s so i can get some longevity out of hopefully).

 

I've purchased two ibm m1015 to form the main basis for my array, and this board has following pci-e configuration

 

1x PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot

1x PCI-E 3.0 x8 (in x16) slot

1x PCI-E 2.0 x8 slot

 

It is pricey but it does come within my initial £1500 budget.

...knock, knock...give us a link to that board you have in mind 

oops, lol.

 

http://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/components/motherboards/intel/supermicro-x9srh-7f-mbd-x9srh-7f-o/

That's a VERY nice board => supports registered RAM (good), and has plenty of multi-lane expansion.

 

It is, however, overkill.  A socket 1155 or 1150 board and Ivy Bridge (1155) or Haswell (1150) CPU would be more than enough => and Supermicro makes some nice boards in that form factor for a good bit less cash.  [see the motherboard/CPU I suggested above]

 

...expensive as well for the CPU, being a socket 2011

 

Do you *need* that many slots?... with the LSI on board, adding one M1015 will fill your desired 20-bay case.

Also with all the PCIs on-board, I doubt that you will be able to pass-through all of these independantly in an ESXi setup later.

 

Maybe consider this: http://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/components/motherboards/intel/supermicro-x10sl7-mbd-x10sl7-f-o/

 

I'm playing with various configurations until my isa (tax-free savings account) matures in the 1st of week of november, good while to find a good fit for bang vs buck.

 

basically it is a very good idea to go for a mobo with a LSI controller on-board....compared to an extra, single unit, these come cheap.

 

However, this LSI "card" is fitted internally to a PCIe slot, so the mobo will have less PCIe available compared to its sibling without LSI.

...and you'll loose the option to re-purpose that PCIe slot later.

As long as you can max. out your case or unRAID license, this should be OK, I think.

For an ESXi build, where you'll never know what other cards you are going to employ (for a TV recorder or virtual desktop as an example)

this might be a real constraint.

I'm looking at this now as one possible configuration to go with, based on your suggestions.

 

For the mobo

 

http://www.servercase.co.uk/shop/components/motherboards/intel/supermicro-mbd-x10slm-f-b-mbd-x10slm-f-b/

 

CPU

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-E3-1245V3-Server-Processor-LGA1150/dp/B00D69PZWU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381303471&sr=8-1&keywords=Intel+Xeon+E3-1245V3

 

Memory

 

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=AF6DBDEAA5CA7304

 

Along with 1 or possibly both of the ibm m1015 cards, and of course the case and PSU i mentioned in the first post.

 

Comes in at a shade over £1030 (with what I paid for the IBM cards), plenty of money over to splurge on data drives and cables etc...

 

Is this a good setup for plex transcoding and the other apps I plan on using ?

All SM boards with a "-F" configuration (the ones "with" IPMI) in the model-name already have a small GPU on-board.

The 12x5 CPU with IGP is of no use...you are not going to need/make use of it for unRAID or ESXi.

Edit: Using the IGP on passthrough for a virtual desktop in ESXi does not work AFAIK...I've seen this with XEN and intel IGP somewhere...maybe things will improve over time.

Getting the 12x5 XEON does not do harm if you want to go that route later.

Note that kvm-over-ip with IPMI will only work with the on-board GPU on primary GPU and the IGP disabled.

 

...The X10SLM-F is a good deal, compared to the X9SCM-iiF

If you *have* the M1015s already, you should be fine.

Note that this board comes with two slightly different NIC models on board.

I*think* it might not make a difference for unRAID and the linux driver...at least one NIC will work OOTB

...compare to the X10SLM+-F ... this comes with two identical NICs that have been confirmed to work...but again with less PCIe bandwidth/options

 

...looks like the X10SLM-F is kind of  sweet spot then

Hello

 

Sorry to jump in here, but I'm in the same boat.

 

I'm about to build from scratch an unRAID system with 16 drives.  I plan on getting a M1015 for a controller as well.

 

Do you guys still think that the MBD-X10SLM is a good choice for a new build?  There is no chance I will ever do any sort of visualization, but I'm sure I will run quite a few plugins.  I plan on getting 16GB ECC RAM.  Having IPMI is important to me.

 

Also, what processor would you recommend?

 

Thanks.