February 9, 201511 yr I am looking for a new motherboard and CPU for my system that can power a 25-drive system inside my Norco 4224 case (my cache drive is in an expansion slot bay). Current System: Motherboard: ECS A885GM-A2 (5x SATA onboard, and two PCI slots) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135272 CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 460 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103936 SATA Cards: 2x Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS/SATA http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AOC-SASMV8&title=Supermicro-AOC-SASLP-MV8-8-Port-SAS-SATA-Add-on-Card RAM: 8 GB Hard Drives: 20, mixture of 2,3,4, and 6 TB Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX-650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020 I’m thinking about the Xeon E3-1241 v.3 CPU. My server is primarily used to stream movies to two HTPCs in the house, no transcoding necessary, but can foresee both the number of devices in the house growing, as well as possibly wanting to use Plex to transcode to a couple of mobile phones simultaneously. The Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O appears to have 14 SATA slots. I can then use my two AOC-SASLP-MV8 SATA cards in the two PCI-E slots - that would give me the ability to have 30 drives more than sufficient for my needs. But it also means no PCI-E slots free for any future uses - any problems there? The CPU/Mobo combo is currently $470: (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2001880). I can then add 16 GB of ECC RAM for $170: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-148-770 Will this system work? And is there any other comparably-priced configuration that would provide better bang for the buck and still support 25 HDDs? Finally, I suspect my Corsair TX-650 is underpowered - when I bought it, I figured I’d have 20 HDDs max, but as I go past that, I’m wondering if I should bump that up to an HX-750, or even an HX-850. I believe all of my HDDs are currently green, but I may have 1-2 7200 rpm drives - can’t recall. Thank you for any feedback on the CPU/Mobo, or the power supply. Cheers, Carl.
February 9, 201511 yr You can always go with SAS expanders to fulfill growth in the future if the need arises. You can also use a card with a higher density of ports. unRAID supports 26 drives for now, So having 30 SATA slots would leave a number unused. I would also consider how often you change drives, Retiring smaller drives for larger drives may prove to be cost effective vs expanding past 26 or 30 drives. I'm very happy with my MBD-X10SL7-F-O.
February 12, 201511 yr Author Thanks, WeeboTech. I realize that I don't need 30 HDDs, and am unlikely to ever need them, but I want 25, and can't really think of a graceful configuration that will get me there, so I'd rather have 5 unused SATA ports than be under. It sounds like the MBD-X10SL7-F-O is the way to go, so I think I'll go ahead and order it. Cheers, Carl.
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