New Unraid build with "server grade" materials


pr3dict

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Hi all,

 

I have been back and forth trying to research this area of computing and it has been very eye opening as well as tiring.

 

I currently have a Windows machine running an i7-4790 that is my NAS, media server, and a client pc for media playback.

 

 

....I wanted to split the duties of this machine and create a dedicated NAS and have my media server and client be on the same machine but after reading speaking with a friend of mine that visualizes everything I decided to go down the path that many follow here.

 

He currently does not use Unraid but I'm coming from a flexraid build so this look like my best option.

 

what kind of hardware I should look for to use my 4790. I'm looking for quality LGA1150 motherboard that has multiple Ethernet chipsets.

 

budget I would say is somewhere between 1k and 2k.

 

12-16 hd bays. I have 4 3tb WD red drives and I have 4 4tb WD red drives waiting to be bought.

 

What do you all recommend? I am having a hard time finding the right hardware info for this build and I would surely like to get the ball rolling as having everything the way it is now is not working too well.

 

I want to rackmount this and have a hard time figuring out power supplies, backplanes, sas expanders etc. etc.

 

Any help is totally 100% appreciated

 

 

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Norco is the most common solution for a high capacity rack mount case, though Rosewill, Ark Chenbro and iStarUSA has some options.  Supermicro and ASRock are the most common solutions for "server grade" motherboards with features like ECC RAM, IPMI, and multiple NICs.  You may have to hunt a bit, though.  "Server Grade" boards commonly support Pentiums, Core i3s, and Xeons - but not necessarily Core i5/7 since they don't support ECC RAM. There are some boards out there that do (for instance http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157466 ) but they're less common.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

When I look at something like : http://www.norcotek.com/product/rpc-2212/

 

How do I know what power supply to get vs one of the super micro ones you would find on ebay that have the redundant power supplies. Also how do I know if the backplane and sas connectors are good as well?

 

I dont really understand how to connect these types of setups to a power supply and mother board. I know I need an HBA or 2 but when it comes to how that fits into the whole setup I am unsure.

 

It stinks I cant use the i7 because it would do a great job with the few VMs I need to make. It also has hardware transcoding which the xeons do not have. Unless someone can tell me a better solution I don't see what else I should do.

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It stinks I cant use the i7 because it would do a great job with the few VMs I need to make. It also has hardware transcoding which the xeons do not have. Unless someone can tell me a better solution I don't see what else I should do.

I didn't quite follow that either... The i7 would make a great CPU for unRAID if you want to use it. It doesn't, however, have any hardware advantage over a Xeon for transcoding.  If you want to use the i7 you'll need to pick up one of the relatively few "server grade" motherboards that support it, or one of the many 1150 desktop boards that are available.  I'd say more than 80% of people create their unRAID server with desktop components rather than server grade, but we started the discussion with server grade because that's what your post title referred to.

 

Regarding the Norco, I'm not an expert so my best advice would be to use Trurl's How to search the forum post for Norco and see what others have to say.

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Sorry for the confusion... I was saying I couldn't use the i7 because after looking at super micro boards that support the cpu it was limited on selection for the features I thought I needed.

 

At the end of the day I guess I could just use any board and add pcie boards to support any extra features I may need.

 

As for the i7 being better then a xeon counterpart for transcoding, that is definitely the case. The consumer versions of these chips have quicksync and from my understanding that hardware feature makes transcoding quicker...

 

I just need to make sure that I can put 12 drives in a rack mount server and it work correctly with the right parts for the job. It's been troublesome finding the right "quality"  stuff.

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Sorry for the confusion... I was saying I couldn't use the i7 because after looking at super micro boards that support the cpu it was limited on selection for the features I thought I needed.

 

At the end of the day I guess I could just use any board and add pcie boards to support any extra features I may need.

 

As for the i7 being better then a xeon counterpart for transcoding, that is definitely the case. The consumer versions of these chips have quicksync and from my understanding that hardware feature makes transcoding quicker...

 

I just need to make sure that I can put 12 drives in a rack mount server and it work correctly with the right parts for the job. It's been troublesome finding the right "quality"  stuff.

Quicksync is available in Xeons as well as desktop processors based on Intel's guide here:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/guides/xeon-servers-quick-sync-video-guide.pdf

 

 

Quicksync is tied to whether the processor has built in Video not the type of processor I would guess.

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I currently use emby right now...

 

Ok, so lets go through this list.

 

Case: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-12-Bay-Server-X8DTN-SC826A-R800LPB-Mini-I-Pass-Chassis-Rail-Kit-/152063305164?hash=item2367ade5cc:g:FJsAAOSw8aNXF~J~

or

http://www.norcotek.com/product/rpc-2212/

 

Motherboard: Any 1150 that can fit in the case.

 

CPU: my i7-4790

 

All the other stuff though: So If I go with the supermicro that comes with power. OK, check. If I go with the Norco - I need a power supply with a high amperage 12v Rail.

 

HBA card I understand I can use 2 pcie cards and that will work. Now what about the whole connecting the power supply to the cards and also connecting the HBAs to the hard drives? How does that all work?

 

 

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So I think I finally am starting to understand my issues haha. It 100% has to do with this case thing. It is hard to find a motherboard that doesnt require ecc memory.

 

I have found this one: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C220/X10SAE.cfm

 

but it doesnt have any 2U cases listed...

 

I want to use the following for my case: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2U-Supermicro-12-Bay-Server-X8DTN-SC826A-R800LPB-Mini-I-Pass-Chassis-Rail-Kit-/152063305164?hash=item2367ade5cc:g:FJsAAOSw8aNXF~J~

 

BUT how do I connect the hard drives to the sas controllers I need to install on that motherboard. I dont think the backplane in that will work and I can't find anywhere how to replace it or what kind I need.

 

 

 

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