When i browsed at the compatibility list i found 2 recommended motherboards : Asus P5B-VM DO and the Super Micro C2SEE. I was thinking of buying one, but then i found out that none of them are available in the netherlands (to old?). Anyway i was wondering wich motherboard i should get then that is recommended and 100% compatible. More sata would be nice so i don't have to use a lot of pci slots for a pci sata card like the SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz. I want to be able to use 20 drives (WD green 2TB) in the future.

 

Here's what i have for now:

 

Case: Lian Li V2000

PSU: Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 850 watt

HDD: 12x Samsung F1 1TB

 

I'm going to use unRAID as a file/media server to connect to my htpc. I guess i don't need a quad core or anything like that in the server. The only thing i should look out for is sata connections and power consumption, so i would really appreciate any advice on motherboard/cpu/memory.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Joey

When i browsed at the compatibility list i found 2 recommended motherboards : Asus P5B-VM DO and the Super Micro C2SEE. I was thinking of buying one, but then i found out that none of them are available in the netherlands (to old?). Anyway i was wondering wich motherboard i should get then that is recommended and 100% compatible. More sata would be nice so i don't have to use a lot of pci slots for a pci sata card like the SUPERMICRO AOC-SAT2-MV8 64-bit PCI-X133MHz. I want to be able to use 20 drives (WD green 2TB) in the future.

 

Here's what i have for now:

 

Case: Lian Li V2000

PSU: Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 850 watt

HDD: 12x Samsung F1 1TB

 

I'm going to use unRAID as a file/media server to connect to my htpc. I guess i don't need a quad core or anything like that in the server. The only thing i should look out for is sata connections and power consumption, so i would really appreciate any advice on motherboard/cpu/memory.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Joey

 

You already found the correct page on the wiki, the Hardware Compatibility Page , which will tell you which boards work best.  Every board on that list has been used/is being used.  My suggestion is the check out the Tested Level Column on the Hardware Compatibility Page and then read the reviews that are given.  A lot of users are starting to use Gigabyte boards, but you have to watch out for the HPA issue, as it could byte you in the but.  The Gigabyte boards work perfectly fine but read op on HPA by using the Topical Index part of the wiki.

 

Short of the two(three) board that are listed as official on the page the others have been tested by users who are currently running unRAID.

I would suspect that many other boards are in use but you really need to do your own testing with them.  It is unfortunate that many of the highly rated boards are falling out of availability.  Maybe LimeTech has a stash of them that they'd be willing to sell (just kidding).

 

I do recommend playing with a test system for a bit before committing to a large hardware purchase - unless you purchase directly from Lime Technology.

 

Rob

After 2 days of searching i think i'm going to order this:

 

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe

processor:    E5300

Memory:      2x 1GB Kingston Valueram ddr2 6400

Video:          Asus Ati HD4650

HDD:            6x Samsung spinpoint F2 1.5TB

 

I think it will be a good combination, i've read some good things about the p5q on this forum.

It depends on the drives you want to support. That Asus board has 3 - PCIex16 slots and 2 - PCIex1 slots but there must be some combination of PCIe lanes allowed for those slots. Still, I'd have to believe you can add enough PCIe to SATA cards to connect 12 more drives on that board.

 

The GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR has 4 - PCIex1 and 1 - PCIex16 which should support 4 2-port SATA2 and 1 4-port SATA2 board and is cheaper. 4 of the 2-port cards would be cheaper than using 2 of the 4-port SATA cards. It's a P45 chipset board so it should be supported too.

 

If you're not looking for high drive counts, then AMD 740G or 780G chipset boards should work fine too. You can get some with a few PCIe slots that will allow some add-in cards.

 

Peter

It depends on the drives you want to support. That Asus board has 3 - PCIex16 slots and 2 - PCIex1 slots but there must be some combination of PCIe lanes allowed for those slots. Still, I'd have to believe you can add enough PCIe to SATA cards to connect 12 more drives on that board.

 

The GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR has 4 - PCIex1 and 1 - PCIex16 which should support 4 2-port SATA2 and 1 4-port SATA2 board and is cheaper. 4 of the 2-port cards would be cheaper than using 2 of the 4-port SATA cards. It's a P45 chipset board so it should be supported too.

 

If you're not looking for high drive counts, then AMD 740G or 780G chipset boards should work fine too. You can get some with a few PCIe slots that will allow some add-in cards.

 

Peter

 

Thanks for your reply, but to be honest i never looked at a Gigabyte board since prostuff1 informed me about some boards with HPA issues. My first thought was to go for a Super Micro board because i read that they are very stable and recommended, however they are very limited available here.

Thanks for your reply, but to be honest i never looked at a Gigabyte board since prostuff1 informed me about some boards with HPA issues. My first thought was to go for a Super Micro board because i read that they are very stable and recommended, however they are very limited available here.

 

OK, just want to clarify the points I made about HPA.  It is something to watch for but in no way effects the operation of unRAID.  Gigabyte makes a very nice board and they seem to work very well with unRAID setups.