First time build advice


Bizmo

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Hi y'all

 

I am completely new to unRAID and am trying to put a system that is at the budget end but is still capable of performing as a plex/couchpotato/sonarr server.

 

I currently have a 2009 Core 2 duo Mac Mini running as this in my home.

It has the ability to have 2 2.5" drives which are both 1tb and are full. I use it mainly in the house to stream two one of two apple TVs or an iMac. But it is also used at two other addresses in who connect to it over the internet. As well as this it is nice to be able to use via my iPad or iPhone when I am away from home. The content on it is mainly 1080p films in the region of 10-13gb a go. My internet connection is 200down 12up and the NAS will be connected via Cat 5e.

 

Due to the fact it is full and the fact it is struggling to transcode to other addresses. I am looking to upgrade the server, I was originally looking at buying a more up to date Mac Mini and a synology but now think I'm going to go for an unraid server which see me better in the future, is more updatable, cheaper and does everything in one box.

 

I currently have narrowed it down to the bellow specs, I have 2 x 2TB WD Blue drives which I will use in it and will buy at least one WD RED 2TB, with the idea of eventually having 6 drives, so I can have 4 with dual redundancy, giving me 8TB to begin with with the option of upgrading them to 4TB later down the line if necessary. I could potentially have a cache SSD to improve performance but not sure I will need this and I would have to sacrifice space or redundancy.

 

Am I in the right ballpark and are there any suggestions?

I chose the CPU, MoBo and RAM as good enough but at the cheaper end of performance.

The case as it looks nice and could sit on a bookshelf.

The PSU for reliability, quietness and economy, being on 24/7.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£159.76 @ More Computers)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£109.44 @ CCL Computers)

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£48.99 @ Ebuyer)

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£64.00 @ CCL Computers)

Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£110.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)

Total: £493.18

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-15 22:40 BST+0100

 

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Firstly, be careful with sellers on pcpartpicker. Some list items with prices but actually are out of stock if you follow the link. Don't assume what you see is what you are going to pay.

 

Power Supply:

(1) this is too high power for the spec. PSU usually has low efficiency under very low load so unless you actually need it, don't go overboard.

(2) This PSU is 160mm long. It fits the case but you WILL have a hard time working with it in the Fractal 304, especially with cable management. Get something 140mm long instead - you will be thankful once you have all 6 drive bays populated.  ;)

 

Storage:

Dual parity is currently still in beta so if that's what you are after, you will have to use unRAID beta and live with (more) bugs.

I recommend getting a cheap SSD for cache. It just makes unRAID seem a lot snappier.

 

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Ace, is there a PSU that you recommend?

 

I'm happy with single parity for now - guess will have to wait for full dual parity support but that's fine as I don't have money to buy all the drives I want straight away anyway

 

I'm using the Silverstone Strider Platinum 550W (ST55F-PT) for my unRAID server. It's 140mm long, 80+ Platinum and got a good review from Jonnyguru. It's also only £85. Longevity is a lot harder to judge but presumably a branded PSU tends to last long.

 

If you are adventurous though, get an SFX PSU (e.g. Silverstone Strider Gold 450W SFX (ST45SF-G) for even more space saving. However, the SFX standard is a mess so there's no way to know for sure if it would mount properly in the Fractal 304. It will fit as it's small but you might have to resort to velcro tape.

 

I'm not promoting for Silverstone, btw, it just happens to have something available on pcpartpicker.

 

 

A little tip for the Fractal 304. Buy a SATA power to MOLEX adapter (plug into SATA power cable to power a MOLEX device <-- be careful not to buy it the other way round) and use it to connect your SATA power cable to power the fans using the case built-in fan controller. They cost 2 quids on Amazon but as a Add-on item.

 

Most PSU SATA power cable will have 4 output plugs but the Fractal 304 has 6 bays. So you are likely to have a spare SATA power which you can use to power the fans. That saves you having to plug in (and tidy) a separate MOLEX power cable. Space is such a premium in the Fractal 304, you will be able to tell the diff not having to use an additional power cable.

 

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If you are adventurous though, get an SFX PSU (e.g. Silverstone Strider Gold 450W SFX (ST45SF-G) for even more space saving. However, the SFX standard is a mess so there's no way to know for sure if it would mount properly in the Fractal 304. It will fit as it's small but you might have to resort to velcro tape.

 

 

Silverstone supply an adaptor that allows their SFX to fit a standard ATX PSU hole, so there's no reason why it wouldn't.  In fact, it's probably ideal for that case, like it's ideal for the LianLi PC-Q25.

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Think i'm going to go for that SFX PSu and the mount, trying to save some money here and there looking at some used CPUs as there are some 4570 under 100 on eBay but obviously that would require a CPU cooler, any recommendations for a good quiet one?

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Think i'm going to go for that SFX PSu and the mount, trying to save some money here and there looking at some used CPUs as there are some 4570 under 100 on eBay but obviously that would require a CPU cooler, any recommendations for a good quiet one?

 

Stock intel HSF is cheap and quiet enough. Upgrade later when you have more cash.

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Think i'm going to go for that SFX PSu and the mount, trying to save some money here and there looking at some used CPUs as there are some 4570 under 100 on eBay but obviously that would require a CPU cooler, any recommendations for a good quiet one?

You are not overclocking so if money is a concern, just stick to stock Intel cooler. It's good enough.

If you are buying used which does not come with a cooler, you can check out the Noctua (see my sig). It punches above its weight and very quiet.

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