January 20, 201610 yr I've been using a HP Microserver N40L as my Unraid box for a few years now but I feel like I've outgrown it now and it's time to put together a new machine. Hoping that the experts on here could give me some advice on the parts list I'm currently looking at, if there's any incompatibilities or if I've missed something: CPU: Intel Xeon Processor E3-1231 v3 Info: Seems like the go to CPU for newer builds. I was considering choosing a lower end CPU like an i3 as a stop gap but the difference is around £100 so might as well take the hit now. Can't see anything else worth buying in this sort of range. Mobo: Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O/ AsRock E3C226D2I/ ? Info: The part I am least sure about. Both of the above boards have been recommended but unsure which is best for my requirements. Also not sure what SAS ports do on the motherboard. Are these effectively additional SATA ports? PSU: 450W Silverstone SST-ST45SF-G Strider SFX Modular 80PLUS GOLD PSU Info: Recommended by quite a few members on here. Only thing is the reviews on amazon say it's quite loud so having second thoughts. Any other recommendations for a quieter/ better PSU? Already have/ bought: Memory: 8GB x 2 Kingston 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram Info: I was using one module in the microserver so I will just buy another stick and use that in my new server. Case: Fractal Node 804 Info: Bought this to use as my main case for my gaming rig but unfortunately it's not silent enough for the bedroom. Will reuse my previous Fractal Define S for the PC and repurpose this for the NAS. Drives: 7 x 3.5" SATA data drives (a mix of capacity and manufacturers) & 1 x 2.5" SATA cache drive Info: Already have these from previous machine. Will upgrade as necessary but unlikely to significantly increase my drive count. Uses: Currently I use the machine to serve media to my Kodi machines in the house, backup a mixture of laptops and desktops, and run any dockers I need. I have done very little transcoding in the past as a result of the hardware restrictions and my own setup, but I will be streaming to mobile devices in the future so the upgrade will come in handy. Virualisation is also something to consider in the future, although not something I will use immediately. The machine will not be entirely hidden away so I would also like it to be as quiet as possible. Budget: ~£500 (but the more money saved the better )
January 20, 201610 yr Mobo: Supermicro MBD-X10SL7-F-O/ AsRock E3C226D2I/ ? Info: The part I am least sure about. Both of the above boards have been recommended but unsure which is best for my requirements. Also not sure what SAS ports do on the motherboard. Are these effectively additional SATA ports? Correct. Depending on the board and your setup, you might need a cable (sas->sata or something similar) to use them, but its just more ports. Looks like either MB will fit, but the ASROCK is mITX, so its very small, and has 6 sata slots. That means you'll need to use the only pci-e slot on it for an additional controller to use additional hdds. While I don't think you'll get to 14 hdds the supermicro can do, it is probably better suited to the case you are already planning to use. (sata port wise). The supermicro also has two pci-e slots (an x8 and x4) which you could use for other expansion, like a video card to pass to a VM/etc (assuming all the hardware supports it). If you ever think that you'll go SMALLER with your server/nas, then get the mITX mb, and scale down your hdd count (by replacing them with bigger capacity). This way, you could also move to a mITX case if you ever needed. I have 5x2tb drives, and 2x1tb drives (and a cache/app drive) and I really want to move to fewer 4/6TB drives, I just haven't budgeted for it yet...
January 20, 201610 yr I'd go with the Supermicro in your case for the reasons mentioned above. Note, the SAS ports will accept a regular SATA cable just fine, they're pre-broken down on the board. I think 00b5 thought they were mini-SAS ports using a SFF-8087 cable, which they do not. With that many drives, powerful CPU, lot's of MB features, and a potential for 1-2 add-in PCIe cards, I'd go with a regular ATX corsair power supply in the range of 650-750 watts.
January 21, 201610 yr Author I particularly like 00b5's idea of building with downsizing in mind. I don't want to have to keep adding hard drives to expand my storage and would like to max out at around 8 drives in my system and had been eyeing the Lian Li Q25B before I re-purposed this Node 804. Therefore, I'll probably go with the Asrock, Xeon and Silverstone SFX. Thank you for the help guys.
January 21, 201610 yr in that case, add a HBA (raid card) to your list right now, since the ASRock only has 6 SATA ports and you mentioned... Drives: 7 x 3.5" SATA data drives (a mix of capacity and manufacturers) & 1 x 2.5" SATA cache drive Info: Already have these from previous machine. Will upgrade as necessary but unlikely to significantly increase my drive count. Forget about using GPU passthrough with this option BTW, since your one and only PCIe slot will be used by the RAID card.
January 21, 201610 yr Author in that case, add a HBA (raid card) to your list right now, since the ASRock only has 6 SATA ports and you mentioned... Drives: 7 x 3.5" SATA data drives (a mix of capacity and manufacturers) & 1 x 2.5" SATA cache drive Info: Already have these from previous machine. Will upgrade as necessary but unlikely to significantly increase my drive count. Forget about using GPU passthrough with this option BTW, since your one and only PCIe slot will be used by the RAID card. Thanks. Any recommendations for the card? Don't think I'll be needing GPU passthrough as from my understanding I only need that if I want to use the virtual machine whilst physically sat in front of the machine? The unit will be run headless and stored in such a way that I won't be able to actually 'use' the machine in this manner.
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