MSI FM2-A85XA-G43

[malcolmkza]

Hi,

 

Does unRAID run on an MSI FM2-A85XA-G43?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130709

 

It's the cheapest board I can find with 8 x SATA6 ports.

 

Positives? Negatives?

[garycase]

I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work, but don't know of anyone actually using that specific board.

 

Positives:  plenty of SATA ports; and 2 x16 slots

 

Negatives:  it's not an Intel board    [i'm a die-hard Intel guy]

 

Notwithstanding my Intel bias, I'd think this would be a very nice board for an UnRAID system.

[Ford Prefect]

...cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157329&Tpk=B75-M-Pro3

 

...and intel based (in order to re-bias gary  )

 

This is a very good board...even ESXi with vt-d will work on it with the right CPU.

Cheapest IB CPU to go with this is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116889

 

Edit: OK..only 3x SATA-6Gbps...but with unRAID you won't see a difference if you're not going to build a system entirely based on SSDs 

[garycase]

Cheaper ... still has 8 SATA ports ... AND it's an Intel ==> what more could you ask  for !!?? 

[malcolmkza]

Thank you very much for the replies. I greatly appreciate it.

 

Unfortunately, the ASRock board isn't available here.

 

Plus, would prefer 8 x SATAIII.

 

Thanks again.

[garycase]

Availability is an issue -- but it really makes NO difference whether the ports are SATA-II or SATA-III unless you're using SATA-III SSDs.

 

Rotating platter drives can't get anywhere near the SATA-II bandwidth, let alone SATA-III.

 

So as long as you have a couple of SATA-III ports (for an SSD cache or two), the rest of the ports don't matter.

 

[captain_video]

I was looking into the MSI FM2-A85XA-G43 as a possible replacement for my current Asus F1A55-M LX unRAID setup.  I'm using it in a Supermicro SC846TQ 24-bay server rack.  I have two Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA controllers in conjunction with 6 onboard SATA II ports.  The motherboard has two PCI-e x16 slots, one PCI-e x1 slot, and a PCI slot.  The PCI-e x1 slot is used by an Intel Gigabit NIC and the PCI slot has aa older 4-port SATA controller card, of which only two ports are being used. 

 

I tried giving up the x1 slot so I could use a Silicon Image SIL3132 2-port controller, but that means using the onboard Realtek 8111E NIC.  The transfer rates I get with the Realtek are painfully slow compared to the Intel, which is why the MSI board is looking so attractive.  It's got two PCI-e x16 slots (the controllers only need x4 slots so they should work fine) and three x1 slots.  I have a feeling that the two x1 slots in the middle can't be used simultaneously (I have another MSI board and this holds true for that board), but I only need two of the three to work for my configuration.

 

Micro Center has the MSI board for $75 with a $10 rebate and has an AMD A6-6400K CPU on sale for $70 with an additional $40 discount if purchased together, for a grand total of only $95 plus tax.  The ASRock board that was recommended has two PCI-e x16 slots and eight SATA ports, so it would work with my setup, but it lacks the additional PCI-e x1 slot to use my Intel NIC, forcing me to use the onboard Realtek LAN, so I'd be no better off than I currently am.  It would also cost me $125 with shipping from Newegg, so the MSI is by far the better deal for me. We just had a Micro Center open up about 30 miles from me north of Baltimore about a year ago so I'm thinking about heading there tomorrow if they have the items in stock.  If I get them I'll post my results and let everyone know if it works with unRAID.

 

Crap.  I just checked and both the Baltimore and Rockville stores are out of stock.  Oh, well.