I've currently got a P5E-VM-DO (I think...) but I want to upgrade to something with 8 SATA ports.

 

I'm thinking about this board:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188035

 

Do you guys think this would work well, or has anyone used it?

Main reason is I want onboard video and 8 SATA ports...

 

What do you guys think?

This seems like a rather expensive motherboard with features, like HDMI, that are of no benefit to unRAID.

 

You run a substantial risk of being the guinea pig for this MB, which  may or may not have problems with unRAID.  (unRAID - or more accurately the Linux behind unRAID - tends to have problems with the newest hardware models - sometimes requireing a version of two before they become better supported).

 

If you are going to upgrade, I'd recommend the SuperMicro board that Tom is using in the new severs.  It will allow you to add 2 PCIe x4 Addaptec 1430SA cards to provide 8 additional very fast ports.

 

Do you have the exact model number on that board?

 

If it's what I think it is - isn't that only 6 (on board) + 8 1430SA ports for 14 total?  I'd prefer something that can do at least 15 ports.

Here is the link to the Canadian NewEgg site ... LINK

 

You are right that it has 6 on-board SATA slots, but id has a PCie x1 slot, a PCIe x4 slot, and a PCIe x16 slot.

 

I have the prior std motherboard P5B VM DO.  It has the 8 SATA ports, but only has 2 PCIe slots (x4 and x16).  (The 2 extra SATA ports are actually obtaining by bundling the equivalent of a 2 port PCIe x1 card on the motherboard).  By adding an inexpensive 2 port PCIe x1 SATA card, you'd have the same expandability as I have.  (I think you can actually get 4 port PCIe x1 cards, and have a couple more pretty fast ports.  You can also add 1-2 PCI based SATA ports without sacrificing performance.)

 

I am not trying to sell you anything, just know that if you stick with one of the standard motherboards, you are likely to have fewer problems wth unRAID and unRAID updates.

hmm..interesting..

 

so I've actually bought 2x 1430SA add-on cards....what card would you suggest to get the 2 additional SATA ports?

Look at a card based on the Silicon Image SIL 3132 Chipset.

 

Here are 2 I happened to find at Newegg.  I have no experience with either of these cards, but the first one has 4 ports and is cheaper.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815280008

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168167132008

 

(These are from the US newegg site, forgot to switch to Canadian.)

The MASSCOOL PCI-e 4 port SATA2 (SIL3132 Chip)  "4" port version is actually a 2 port version with switchable interfaces from internal or external.

 

I'm using this with success.

 

 

I bought a card that looks identical to that Masscool card but it was called a Sabrient. Did not work, a working drive hooked to it would not work. The data was badly corrupted. I RMA'd it and got another one. It almost works but still gives read errors.

 

Both cards are running a version of the RAID bios for the SiL3132 - can't remember the version offhand but I believe it was the most recent. The card also uses a funny eprom instead of a flash that is supported by the SiL3132 so they can't be reflashed to use a standard bios (which might fix the problem.

 

Peter

 

You have had good replies in general, as to the wisdom of purchasing an untested board.  I will touch more specifically on the EVGA 113-YW-E115-TR.  It is an nForce 730i based board, with very good specs, but I know of no one who has tried using a 730i with unRAID.  I think I can say with some confidence that at some time in the future, it will be completely supported, but currently, at best it will need a workaround or 2, and at worst, may not work at all.

 

All or almost all of the nForce boards use the forcedeth driver for network support, a good and stable driver with few recent changes.  All or almost all of the nForce boards use the sata_nv driver for SATA controller support.  This had been a good driver, but there have been some development changes lately, and it is definitely not as stable currently, hopefully will be with another release or 2.  Currently, it often requires a 'workaround' (swncq=0).  My board and others have needed the noapic boot option to boot successfully.  

 

So although nForce boards generally have very good performance, with very good feature sets and lots of SATA ports, I can't currently guarantee completely trouble-free operation.  I do expect that to improve.

 

Unless you have the money, time, a system with non-critical data to test with, and the kind of personality that likes pushing the edge, I would wait for another 'guinea pig' to confirm complete support for this board.