I'm down to choosing the CPU and Motherboard for my 16-20 drive unRAID system, but I'm weak in this area. I was able to pick up a couple of M1015 LSI controllers that I'll flash to IT mode. So, and this may be a silly question, but aside from the necessary PCIe slots do I need anything special on the Motherboard to support the boards? Also, as I'm trying not to use too much power, what CPU and Motherboard combination would you recommend? (Oh, the use for this system will almost exclusively be as a movie/audio server.)

You should detail what you expect to run on the box, any plug ins, etc, (this helps with what CPU and how much memory) and exactly what cards you need to install (slots, just the two M1015s?). Getting two PCIe x8 slots moves you away from most very low power boards, but I am sure there will be some good choices.

 

If overall power is a focus area, you will also want to closely match your power supply size with your actual usage, ie no 760W running at 180W (yes, I have one doing just that). So, details on the drives as well.

Ok, a little more detail: The primary purpose of this system will be the storage and playback of DVD and BluRay disks over Cat-5e cable to some Dune boxes. There's really nothing else heavy-duty that will be going on, as there's 2 other PCs, 3-4 Android tablets (Nooks, Kendels, and a Dell), and 2 iPads in the house for the 'other stuff'.

 

I'll mention that I've had ReadyNAS servers for 5+ years, and I've currently got a couple populated with 10 3TB WD Red drives (6 & 4). With 1100+ DVD and 300+ BluRay rips I'm running out of space and it's going to cost me at least $1k to move one or both systems to 4TB drives. So for that kind of money on the line I decided to look around for alternatives, and came to the conclusion that an unRAID system with 15+ drives would best suit my needs.

 

So after quite a bit of reasearch I picked up off of eBay a Norco 4224 case and a couple of IBM M1015 PCIe cards (I may get one more later). I now need to populate the case with fans, motherboard, CPU, and PSU. I'd also like to keep the power consumption low as the unit will generally be accessed only a few times a day. I understand that only the drives being accessed need to be spun up, and I'd like to be able to get a board capable of Wake-on-Lan (the Dunes support this).

 

Hopefully, this is the sort of info you were looking for.

With the use of S3/Supend and WOL the energy efficiency of the set-up does not really matter in terms of the electricity bill, doesn't it?

 

TheM1015s will draw a lot power too (approx 7-10W each)...a motherboard where you will be able to fit them all will draw a lot more power as well.

I'd suggest to sell all but one and get an expander instead ... the intel RES2CV240 will fit your needs perfectly.

Then get a small desktop mobo with a Celeron CPU, to drive the M1015, like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138393&cm_re=celeron_1037u-_-13-138-393-_-Product

 

Ford Perfect:

 

- Touche on the S3/Suspend/WOL power minimization.

 

- I like the idea of using an expander with a single M1015 card driven by an inexpensive MB/CPU combo board. I wasn't even aware something like that could be done. I'll look into it.

 

- Hmm. In lieu of an SAS connection to the expander, I wonder if you could use a 4 SATA to 1 SAS reverse splitter off of a MB (assuming they're available) to feed the expander. That would even eliminate the need for the single M1015.

Just so that you know.  There is about a 25% performance penalty using a SAS Expander based on the tests I ran on a 16 drive array using ST3000DM001 drives.  One test was with 2 M1015 controllers the other test was a single cable from an M1015 to an Intel RES2SV240 SAS expander both were done with the same unRAID VM.  It doesn't bother me as I still get close to 100MB/s parity checks at the start dropping to 50-60 at the end.  But that performance loss is acceptable to me because I want as many PCIe slot available for other VMs as I can get.

Just so that you know.  There is about a 25% performance penalty using a SAS Expander based on the tests I ran ... but that performance loss is acceptable to me because I want as many PCIe slot available for other VMs as I can get.

That kind of loss wouldn't bother me in this situation, either, as all of the drives will be WD Red or 5400 rpm and shouldn't push any limits. I'm still curious, though, if I can collapse 4 SATA outputs from the motherboard into a single SAS via a reverse splitter, and feed that into the expander. I'll keep looking.

Just so that you know.  There is about a 25% performance penalty using a SAS Expander based on the tests I ran ... but that performance loss is acceptable to me because I want as many PCIe slot available for other VMs as I can get.

That kind of loss wouldn't bother me in this situation, either, as all of the drives will be WD Red or 5400 rpm and shouldn't push any limits. I'm still curious, though, if I can collapse 4 SATA outputs from the motherboard into a single SAS via a reverse splitter, and feed that into the expander. I'll keep looking.

It might work but that depends on the MB controller.  Maybe Ford Prefect knows if it is possible.  I'm afraid I do not.

...interesting thought...I haven't tried this, but yes, you could try using a reverse breakout....just keep one M1015 just in case..

You could re-use the cable to drive one backplane if it would not work out.