February 16, 201412 yr I've had an unraid system since 2010 running on several HDDs and worked flawlessly. Last year, I upgraded my desktop so I used the old innards of that desktop (Core i7-2600k Sandybridge) and put into my unraid in the hopes of improving performance. Instead what I got was a slower, buggier unraid (frequent crashes, insanely slow data transfer speeds). I've troubleshot this thing to my wits end, and now have decided I should upgrade. I'm not experienced with understanding virtualization and using ESxi etc, and primary purpose of my unraid is to have a machine that runs 24/7 with low power consumption and that can effortlessly stream HD video across multiple clients using PLEX. I wanted to ask the forum if anyone had a suggestion of a configuration that you know already works very well and if so, if you could list that for me. I'm looking for primarily Mobo/Memory config options, but I am open to any suggestions that might be out there. Open to ideas.
February 16, 201412 yr This is my setup using a Asrock C226 WS http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31050.0 http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?Model=C226%20WS Your CPU is in asrocks supported CPU list. http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?cat=CPU&Model=C226%20WS When V6 comes out I will be upgrading my memory and CPU to use XEN.
February 16, 201412 yr The only thing I would suggest you keep in mind is that the Xeon processor you mention does not have on-board GPU, so you will either need a motherboard with IPMI to manage it, or you will need to install an actual graphics card. If you want on-board graphics you will need to look at the E3-1225 v3 or E3-1245 v3. Before buying any CPU from Intel it's worth checking it on http://ark.intel.com to confirm it has all the features that you want. If you need IMPI you are likely looking at SuperMicro, otherwise ASrock is a great choice as they usually support the virtualization technologies you may want in the future (ASUS and others use the same chipsets, but don't necessarily enable the VT-D features in their BIOS).
February 16, 201412 yr Author The only thing I would suggest you keep in mind is that the Xeon processor you mention does not have on-board GPU, so you will either need a motherboard with IPMI to manage it, or you will need to install an actual graphics card. If you want on-board graphics you will need to look at the E3-1225 v3 or E3-1245 v3. Great point, and I wasn't aware of this. So if I understand correctly the 1225v3 doesn't have hyperthreading, right? whereas the 1230v3 does, but has no graphics? I'm wary of not having an on-board graphics chip since I haven't heard IPMI universally working for everyone. So maybe I should look into the 1245v3, but that's adding more $$$. How important is hyperthreading to the activities that I need to do (transcoding, streaming video). Before buying any CPU from Intel it's worth checking it on http://ark.intel.com to confirm it has all the features that you want. If you need IMPI you are likely looking at SuperMicro, otherwise ASrock is a great choice as they usually support the virtualization technologies you may want in the future (ASUS and others use the same chipsets, but don't necessarily enable the VT-D features in their BIOS). I'm intrigued by ASRock. I currently have one, and it should be a good one if it behaves in the desired manner (which it is not) and therein lies my problem. In your opinion would you choose Supermicro over ASRock -- keeping in mind the purposes I intend to use this for? If so, which would be your choice of boards (that are known to work with unRaid without a hiccup).
February 16, 201412 yr Author This is my setup using a Asrock C226 WS http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31050.0 http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?Model=C226%20WS Hey thanks! I checked it out. That's a beefy motherboard at $260 on NE with some impressive features. Can I ask why you chose that solid motherboard with the processor and amount of memory that you did? How has your performance been?
February 16, 201412 yr It's $194 on newegg. It does not have IMPI. A quick way to tell if the xeon processor's model number ends in a 5 it has integrated graphics. The 1225v3 has graphics the 1220v3 does not. The reason I chose this one was the number of sata ports, it has 10 but I don't plan on going over 12. There are 3 full PCIe slots at 8x, 8x, 4x and 3 at 1x. I will need one PCIe port for a 2 port sata card eventuality. The other ports are for future passthrough of tv tuner and graphics card. The CPU and ECC RAM I picked was just to get me up and running for the time being. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
February 16, 201412 yr The only thing I would suggest you keep in mind is that the Xeon processor you mention does not have on-board GPU, so you will either need a motherboard with IPMI to manage it, or you will need to install an actual graphics card. If you want on-board graphics you will need to look at the E3-1225 v3 or E3-1245 v3. If you expect to make us of the GPU integrated into the CPU, the motherboard will have to support that option, which many server-class boards don't do. In any case, many motherboards have on-board graphics which don't rely on the CPU - most Supermicro boards, for instance.
February 17, 201412 yr Author If you expect to make us of the GPU integrated into the CPU, the motherboard will have to support that option, which many server-class boards don't do. In any case, many motherboards have on-board graphics which don't rely on the CPU - most Supermicro boards, for instance. Thanks! This is useful to know. Most super micro boards I was looking at have integrated graphics on-board, but I was assuming that I could not use these with the E3-1220, E3-1230 range Xeon CPUs that do not have dedicated graphics. So what you are saying is that I could still use these CPUs and get basic text (display output) on my display provided that my Supermicro board has some integrated graphics, correct?
February 17, 201412 yr If you expect to make us of the GPU integrated into the CPU, the motherboard will have to support that option, which many server-class boards don't do. In any case, many motherboards have on-board graphics which don't rely on the CPU - most Supermicro boards, for instance. Thanks! This is useful to know. Most super micro boards I was looking at have integrated graphics on-board, but I was assuming that I could not use these with the E3-1220, E3-1230 range Xeon CPUs that do not have dedicated graphics. So what you are saying is that I could still use these CPUs and get basic text (display output) on my display provided that my Supermicro board has some integrated graphics, correct? If the board has IPMI then yes you want a Xeon without graphics as the graphics won't be used anyway.
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