April 10, 201412 yr Excited to be starting this new adventure. My last build was almost 15 years ago! Anyhow, here goes. Final Results: Did without the "T" version of i3. Was going to get the Corsair TX650 but found a deal for a HX750 for only $10 more. Overall cost without drives, $601.99. Thank you, Gary, for all your great input! Components 1x Intel i3 4130T 1x Intel i3 4130T 1x ASRock E3C224 ATX 2x Kingston 8GB KVR16E11/8 1x CORSAIR Builder Series CX 430 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS 1x CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified 1x WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache - WD30EFRX (Parity) 1x WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache - WD30EFRX 2x Seagate Barracuda LP 2 TB 5900RPM SATA 3 GB/s 32 MB Cache - ST32000542AS 1x Antec SX1030 Here's a link to the spreadsheet I'm using to keep track of the above, runner ups, costs, and specs. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajv-UvLpwdqDdDFta1lIbWtqYlRzSVlTZklWWTloX3c&usp=sharing Notes: - The Seagates will be pulled from an old ReadyNas unit. One might be dead. - I'll probably pick up a USB stick for the unRAID install. Requirements These are pretty simple right now and I think they're pretty much what unRAID is designed for. - Storage for a lot of photos. - TimeMachine backup. - Ability to backup to external HDD. SNAP? - Budget: $600 +/- $100. W/o drives. Future Requirements - CrashPlan - SickBeard - VirtualBox - VPN - UPS Questions - You may have noticed an old chassis listed up there. It's this one here: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/15/antec_sx1030/index.html . It's an ATX chassis. So it should still fit whatever MB I pick as long as it's ATX or mATX right? - I like the system to be efficient with it's power so I figured I'd opt for the Intel "T" version of the CPUs. Is there any draw back to going this route? - My third requirement is a heavy one. I really want the ability to backup automatically to an external HDD. While I understand SNAP will allow me to mount the drives, is there anything to automate the backup? - Does it make sense for me to keep the i3? i.e. Is that what I will need for the future requirements? Or would a G3220 be sufficient? Those are the main things I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll have more ?s later but keeping it to the major ones for now. Hope everything above makes sense. Thanks so much for taking the time!
April 10, 201412 yr That is indeed an old chassis It'll work fine, although you won't have front panel ports for USB v3, and probably not even HD Audio. But those are minor issues -- the audio probably doesn't matter; and you can always add a 3.5" or 5.25" bay plate with USB3 ports that will connect to a motherboard header. One thing I'd change is the power supply - the CX series is a very low-end unit that I've seen a fair number of compatibility issues with. While Corsair claims Haswell compatibility, you're nevertheless far better off if you use one of their higher-end units. I only use the HX series, but the TX series is also quite good, and a bit less expensive. You do NOT want to scrimp on the quality of your power !!
April 10, 201412 yr ... r.e. you question about using the 4130T => that's fine. It will indeed limit the power draw to a max of 35W for the CPU. HOWEVER ... it's not any more power efficient than the non-T versions when running at lower loads -- which will almost always be the case. So if you want a bit more "oomph" available just in case you run some CPU-intensive add-ons [which you don't plan to do ... but plans sometimes change ] you may want to use the 4130, which has about 15% more CPU "horsepower" when needed.
April 10, 201412 yr r.e. backups ... always glad to see folks who understand the importance of backing up I've written a fair number of thoughts on this here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=31020.0 I don't use a local attached drive (i.e. SNAP) ... but others do and may step in a give you some advice. For as little data as you have (only 7TB of protected storage according to your listed config), you could build a very inexpensive UnRAID Basic server with 3 4TB drives (or even without fault-tolerance ... although the extra protection is probably worth an extra drive). ANY old PC that has 3 SATA ports would work nicely ... you could wake it up via WOL; then do the backup; and then shut it down => as task that could be automated via scripts.
April 10, 201412 yr Author the CX series is a very low-end unit that I've seen a fair number of compatibility issues with. That's great info. I just based it on my wattage reqs and figure that would be enough. Never knew it could cause compatibility issues. It will indeed limit the power draw to a max of 35W for the CPU. HOWEVER ... it's not any more power efficient than the non-T versions when running at lower loads -- which will almost always be the case. Good point. I guess when I read the specs, I was thinking a continual 35W when in fact it's only at max usage. Thanks for pointing that out! That'll let me save a few bucks. r.e. backups ... always glad to see folks who understand the importance of backing up It scares me not to be backed up. I don't get how people can sit knowing they're not covered. But I guess a large number of users are using for movies, etc. Thank you very much, Gary! Those were excellent, excellent answers. I'll wait for a few more days to see if anyone else has something to add before I start finalizing my decisions.
April 10, 201412 yr Author FYI, I also added one more question about the the i3 / G2330 and their ability to cover current and future needs. - Does it make sense for me to keep the i3? i.e. Is that what I will need for the future requirements? Or would a G3220 be sufficient?
April 10, 201412 yr FYI, I also added one more question about the the i3 / G2330 and their ability to cover current and future needs. - Does it make sense for me to keep the i3? i.e. Is that what I will need for the future requirements? Or would a G3220 be sufficient? A G3220 is probably fine for what you're planning, but I'm a big believer in a bit of "headroom" to allow for future expansion, so I'd stay with the i3-4130. You'll have 50% more processing power available than you would with the G3220 for a nominal added cost. I think the i3 is a good tradeoff between going with the lowest cost CPU and spending the $$ to get a high-end Xeon (~ $300 to get double the CPU power of the i3).
April 10, 201412 yr Backing up to external drives is part of my backup strategy. I don't want to backup the whole array, only those things that I can't live without or can't be replaced. This is mostly just the data that gets backed up nightly to the array from other computers, such as my wife's photography, our documents and financials. In addition to backing this up to unRAID, I take a monthly backup of these backups to an external drive and store it at my office. SNAP makes this easier, but it is not critical. Mounting drives outside the array can be done very easily from the command line. I use an rsync script to do the actual copying.
April 10, 201412 yr Author SNAP makes this easier, but it is not critical. Mounting drives outside the array can be done very easily from the command line. I use an rsync script to do the actual copying. Sounds like a manual, automated script seems to be a common path. Was a bit spoiled by ReadyNas having it automatically done for me. Another thing to learn I guess!
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