I'm hoping to start building ASAP.  this will run unraid and a few plugins.  i hope to eventually populate the entire case.  i will do this probably at the rate of a drive a month.  i know this is not an exhaustive parts list, but i want to know if this is a solid foundation and what is recommended that i don't have, but need. 

 

case:  norco rps-4224

 

http://www.ipcdirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=252

 

motherboard:  supermicro MBD-X9SCM-F-O

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182253

 

CPU:  Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117286&cm_re=xeon-_-19-117-286-_-Product

 

RAM:  Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CT2KIT102472BD160B

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148770

 

PSU:  SeaSonic Platinum SS-860XP2 860W

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111

The only thing(s) I can see missing are the SATA cables...    and the drives themselves, of course. You will need a SATA card after adding first 6 drives, but that surely wouldn't be a problem with this motherboard. Other than that the build looks very solid to me. Even if your are going to Plex-transcode multiple streams.

 

Some might say that the PSU is a little bit overkill, but not me. Not for potential 24-disks server.

is there an ideal expansion card?  i know best/ideal/perfect is wildly subjective, but i'm really just looking for something that is going to give me zero headaches and a good balance of price/performance. 

is there an ideal expansion card? 

Is there an ideal car?

 

i know best/ideal/perfect is wildly subjective, but i'm really just looking for something that is going to give me zero headaches and a good balance of price/performance.

 

As one of the most knowledgeable unraiders recently put it - there is no ideal card, but there are two leaders

 

I personally am very happy with my Supermicro cards.

A reflashed IBM M1015 is fairly popular.

 

My only comment would be to buy RAM that is listed on the HCL on the Supermicro website.

Is there a reason to use the older Ivy Bridge Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 over the newer Haswell Intel Xeon E3-1231V3?

Is there a reason to use the older Ivy Bridge Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 over the newer Haswell Intel Xeon E3-1231V3?

I had a problem in ESXi with pass through on a TV Tuner card if I went past a Sandy Bridge processor and bios version.  But personally I would get the Haswell if I didn't have a problem like I mentioned.

Seems very overkill for unraid plus a few plugins in my opinion.

 

You could half the ram, get a Pentium class CPU. this will allow you to upgrade later if need be, but why spend double when you dont need the power?

Is there a reason to use the older Ivy Bridge Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 over the newer Haswell Intel Xeon E3-1231V3?

 

no specific reason, just trying to keep the cost down so i started looking at capable but slightly older hardware.  i'm fully open to suggestions though, and would gladly use newer hardware as long as cost didn't jump noticeably.  what would you suggest i get instead?

I was asking more for my own curiosity for a future build. I'm sure both would be fine.