Gathering parts for new unRAID system reusing my ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0, AMD FX6300?


Paul_Ber

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A refresh Vishera idles much lower than those old Phenoms.  My FX6300 on an M5A97 LE R2.0 idles at 30W, using a Corsair CS450M 80Plus Gold PSU.  Even a FX8320E will idle sub-50W.

 

What are you using for a video card?  I'm using an old ATI RageXL 8MB PCI, which has a really low power consumption.

 

HellDiverUK,

 

I saw in your post from last fall you use the same MB & CPU combo.

 

I am just starting to put together unRAID 6 on my current system: ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0, AMD FX6300, Nvidia 460 GTX, KINGSTON  SHSS37A240G SATA SSD, 3TB WD Red from a linux box, spare 3TB WD Red.

 

Any tips for the above MB and CPU combo?  All 6 Sata ports will be used up with 2 SSDs and 4 SATA HDs. What is a low cost option & easy compatibility for a SATA card so I can attach my existing DVD drive?

 

So far gathered the following new items:

Fractal Midi R2 case

Crucial MX200 500G SSD for a Cache pool with the existing 240G SSD(does it matter if the Cache SSDs are different sizes?)

5TB WD Red for Parity Disk

3TB WD Red

Corsair RM650X PSU 80 PLUS GOLD

 

Waiting on 2 x KVR16E11/8HB - Kingston 8GB Module - DDR3 1600MHz ECC  Server Premier.

Waiting on StarTech.com USBMBADAPT2 2-Port USB Motherboard Header

Waiting on SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive- SDCZ33-008G-B35

 

Will I be able to do hardware pass-through with the Nvidia 460 GTX video card?  I want to run KODI in the forground, would that be a VM?  Do need a 2nd cheap Video card to be assigned to the boot up?  This is hopefully to replace an Ubuntu KODI system that has no hard drive data protection.  Already lost a Seagate 1.5 TB drive, found out later it was one of those drives from 2009 that needed a new firmware to help with Seagate's bad drives.

 

Also backing up to Crashplan, anyone have tips for unRaid and Crashplan to restore data and possible reorganize the restored backup?

 

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You will need a PCIe GPU, if it's AMD based you won't need another GPU in the mix, but will lose unRAID console when the VM starts. I've had good luck with XFX 5450 cards even with Force Stop.

 

I used the a similar setup in my server (Biostar TA970 instead of an ASUS 970), ended up having to set three cores to the HTPC VM due to no H.265 native decoding.

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You will need a PCIe GPU, if it's AMD based you won't need another GPU in the mix, but will lose unRAID console when the VM starts. I've had good luck with XFX 5450 cards even with Force Stop.

 

I used the a similar setup in my server (Biostar TA970 instead of an ASUS 970), ended up having to set three cores to the HTPC VM due to no H.265 native decoding.

METDeath,

 

The PCIe card is a Nvidia 460 GTX.

 

What do you mean by, "if it's AMD based you won't need another GPU in the mix"?

 

If I use my my Nvidia PCIe GPU, I will need an AMD GPU also?

 

The ASUS M5A97 R2.0 has no integrated GPU.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

 

 

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Yeah,you can pass through an AMD GPU without the machine freaking.  If you pass through a nVidia card, you'll need some other card.  I used a mid-90s PCI ATI RageXL.

 

Won't he also need to pci-stub the Nvidia card?

 

PCI-stub Nvidia card?

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

 

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Yeah,you can pass through an AMD GPU without the machine freaking.  If you pass through a nVidia card, you'll need some other card.  I used a mid-90s PCI ATI RageXL.

 

Won't he also need to pci-stub the Nvidia card?

 

PCI-stub Nvidia card?

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

Depending on if you can get your motherboard to default to PCI graphics you may have to tell unRAID not to load the Nvidia card, much like stubbing a NIC. However, that may not be required as I've never tried this particular configuration.

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I am thinking I will need to get a cheap Video card for unRaid.

 

I think a new monitor with 2 HDMI inputs too.

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

Why two HDMI inputs? If you're cycling between the two VMs, just get a HDMI KVM as for the keyboard mouse pass through, I'm not sure how to make that work smoothly other than two separate USB controller cards.

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I picked up a 22" monitor on sale as my 17" only had VGA input.  Also picked up a new video card cheap to be for unRaid.  New monitor and GTX 460 for VMs.  Different mouse and keyboard.

 

Still have to take stuff out of my working PC and put it all together.

 

I am just waiting on my 2 x 8GB DDR3 ECC memory.  I hate UPS.  No one was home, tried to get the delivery to a UPS center but by the time it was done it was too late.  Now Monday after work.

 

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

 

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I found Attic Computer in Vancouver had some  8GB Kingston 1600 ECC dimms in stock.  I picked up a pair.  On Monday I will be going to UPS to get my other 2 dimms.

 

Today I took my motherboard, CPU, and 240GB Kingston HyperX SSD out of the old case.  Removed non-ECC dimms.  I put everything together in the new Fractal Arc midi R2.

 

a5ec654c50d77c8956fb265788558653.jpg

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

 

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I think I can answer my own question, checked the LAN transfer rates and am getting around 230Mbps so it must be writing to cache pool first.

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

As long as the share is configured to use the cache, writes will go to the cache drive first. If it is modifying a file already on the array, that will go directly to the array.

 

Make sure to set the mover for a frequency that works for you. I have mine set for every hour due to it being a smaller cache drive and sometimes I write about 150 GB over the course of two hours.

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I found some used PCI video cards: Visiontek Radeon 7000 64MB PCI or some 8MB cards.

 

My motherboard might boot off the PCI slot so that my PCIe card could be used for VMs.

 

Is that card OK or should I find the Rage XL ones?

 

 

Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I pulled out the MSI cyclone GTX460 and replaced with ASUS GTX750ti.  New card only has one power connector vs the old had 2 power connectors.  New card is also thinner.  The MSI had this massive heatsink and fan.

 

I added a Fractal R3 fan to bottom of case in front of the power supply.  Added a Fractal R3 fan to top of case, now there are 2 fans at top.  I also moved down the built-in R2 140mm front fan from top position to bottom of the 2 spots.

 

Anyone ever work with the Fractal Arc midi R2 case?  The front fans have two positions but it appears they have to be both 120mm or both 140mm.  There wasn't the right holes for one 120mm and one 140mm.

 

Transferred data off old KODibuntu system weeks ago, so added that 3TB Seagate to unRAID back then.

 

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  • 2 months later...

hey Paul_BerPaul_Ber...

 

i just bought the MB M5A97 LE R2.0 to use on my first Unraid  server... Do you had any troubles on configuring the Unraid?

 

I saw your question regarding the Unraid getting your 16x PCIe as main video card, how u resolved that? Are u using a VM for gaming ? How is the performance ? is it laggy? freezing ?

 

I'm hoping to install unraid by saturday, so any "lessons learned"will be great for me...

 

thanks a lot

 

regards

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hey Paul_BerPaul_Ber...

 

i just bought the MB M5A97 LE R2.0 to use on my first Unraid  server... Do you had any troubles on configuring the Unraid?

 

I saw your question regarding the Unraid getting your 16x PCIe as main video card, how u resolved that? Are u using a VM for gaming ? How is the performance ? is it laggy? freezing ?

 

I'm hoping to install unraid by saturday, so any "lessons learned"will be great for me...

 

thanks a lot

 

regards

 

If I was buying a motherboard I would get an Intel chip set and CPU that supports VM.

 

I plugged a PCI video card and in bios set to boot from PCI and not PCIe.

 

I have so far not got audio working correctly.

 

 

I also have Video card in the PCIe x16 slot and one in PCIe x8 slot and have a Windows 7 VM and an Ubuntu VM working fine.  Have not tried gaming because I mainly use it for the Plex Server.

 

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