I am looking for some suggestions on a new motherboard. I have two servers up and running.

 

The first is housed in a Norco 4220, using a Supermicro C2SEE with two SASLP-MV8 cards.

 

The second is housed in a Norco 4224, also using a Supermicro C2SEE but with two Dell PERC H310 boards.  The motherboard only has two PCI-e ports, so I cannot really utilize the case to it's fullest.

 

I would like to replace the second motherboard with something that has 3 or more PCI-e ports to house three PERC cards. I do not want to go too overboard on a new mobo / CPU combination, but, at the same time, want to get something that will last. Any suggestions? I would prefer to stick with Intel and on board graphics.

 

Thank you,

 

Lev

The C2SEE is a tried-and-true motherboard that works very well and very reliably with UnRAID, but is a pretty dated board that may not be a good choice the newest features included in UnRAID v6.    It works very well if you're using UnRAID as a pure NAS, but you're better off getting a newer, higher-performance system if you plan on using VM's, Dockers, and in particular if you want to do real-time transcoding for multiple media streams.

 

Having said that, my media server is a C2SEA-based system that runs v6 nicely -- but I do NOT run any add-ons (Plex, etc.) except for UPS support (w/PowerDown) and Cache Directories.    My server just has a Pentium E6300 (PassMark 1706) ... and I wouldn't want any less power with v6.    If I was building a new server (which I will do later this year) I'd use a CPU with a minimum PassMark of 10,000, although 5,000 would undoubtedly be plenty.

 

Both of your C2SEE boards could have a good bit more "horsepower" than mine, as they support up to the Q9xxx series Core-2 Quad's, with PassMark ratings over 4000  [A Q9650 scores 4275 on PassMark, and can be found on e-bay for $50-$75 if you need to beef up the performance.

 

But the best upgrade is to replace not only the motherboard, but also the CPU and memory with a more current system.    I agree with staying with Intel and on-chip graphics.    What makes the most sense depends on what your use case is =>  Are you using this purely as a NAS?    What add-ons and Dockers do you want to run ... and if these requiring transcoding how many simultaneous streams do you want to support?  Are you planning to build any virtual machines -- and if so do they require device pass-through (e.g. video cards, etc.)?

 

The most robust systems will have ECC memory, Xeon processors, and at least 16GB of memory ... but you may not require all of those capabilities.    [One point, however:  I've never heard anyone complain about having "too good" a system -- but have seen many folks who regretted not building in enough future capabilities.]

 

I am thinking of staying somewhere in the z97 platform with an i5 processor. The system is primarily used as a NAS, but I must admit that being able to run VM, is very appealing. I'm not sure about transcoding.

 

On the 4220 I'm only running owncloud. I'll probably transition that to the new server.

 

I don't mind paying for something that will future proof the system, but I'm not sure if I need to get a Z170 with the latest Gen 6 Intel skylake.

 

I have a few 1150 PCs. One has a G3258 and is running win 10 with no problems. So, should I stick with 1150 /1155 board, and if yes, which one? I'm sure that I'm not the first with a large 24 bay case needing a mobo that will handle up to 3 PCI-E add in cards.

The C2SEE is a tried-and-true motherboard that works very well and very reliably with UnRAID, but is a pretty dated board that may not be a good choice the newest features included in UnRAID v6.    It works very well if you're using UnRAID as a pure NAS, but you're better off getting a newer, higher-performance system if you plan on using VM's, Dockers, and in particular if you want to do real-time transcoding for multiple media streams.

 

Having said that, my media server is a C2SEA-based system that runs v6 nicely -- but I do NOT run any add-ons (Plex, etc.) except for UPS support (w/PowerDown) and Cache Directories.    My server just has a Pentium E6300 (PassMark 1706) ... and I wouldn't want any less power with v6.    If I was building a new server (which I will do later this year) I'd use a CPU with a minimum PassMark of 10,000, although 5,000 would undoubtedly be plenty.

 

Both of your C2SEE boards could have a good bit more "horsepower" than mine, as they support up to the Q9xxx series Core-2 Quad's, with PassMark ratings over 4000  [A Q9650 scores 4275 on PassMark, and can be found on e-bay for $50-$75 if you need to beef up the performance.

 

But the best upgrade is to replace not only the motherboard, but also the CPU and memory with a more current system.    I agree with staying with Intel and on-chip graphics.    What makes the most sense depends on what your use case is =>  Are you using this purely as a NAS?    What add-ons and Dockers do you want to run ... and if these requiring transcoding how many simultaneous streams do you want to support?  Are you planning to build any virtual machines -- and if so do they require device pass-through (e.g. video cards, etc.)?

 

The most robust systems will have ECC memory, Xeon processors, and at least 16GB of memory ... but you may not require all of those capabilities.    [One point, however:  I've never heard anyone complain about having "too good" a system -- but have seen many folks who regretted not building in enough future capabilities.]

 

Here are a few Socket 1150 ATX boards with 3 PCIe x16 slots:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007627 600009016 600438202 600176036

 

An i5 with a PassMark over 5,000 should be plenty for what you've outlined.

 

I agree you don't need Skylake => if I was spending more $$ I wouldn't spend it to move to Socket 1151;  I'd spend it to upgrade to a server class motherboard and a Xeon.    This would give you ECC memory, higher performance, and you could choose a board with IPMI, which would allow completely headless operation.