January 7, 201016 yr Hello everyone. I'm planning on building myself a brand new server to replace my not-so-reliable HP MediaSmart and it's limited storage. I'd like some advice on what I should be getting in order to start. CASE Criterias : don't care about the look, room for 6-10 drives, good airflow, as cheap as possible! Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case iStarUSA S-10S 1.0mm SECC/SGCC Pedestal Server Case 5 External 5.25" Drive Bays AZZA Solano 1000R Black / Red Japanese SECC Steel/Metal mesh in front ATX Full Tower Computer Case ENERMAX Uber Chakra ECA5001B Black Aluminum / Steel Trim w/250mm The Antec is more expensive but I've read good reviews about it. MOBO Criterias : compliant with unraid (lol) and at least 4 built-in sata connectors GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard CPU Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor RAM G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) PSU COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply I know I'll also need some accessories such as a CPU cooler and stuff but I'll get to that later. Thanks in advance for your advice!
January 7, 201016 yr AZZA Solano 1000R Black / Red Japanese SECC Steel/Metal mesh in front ATX Full Tower Computer Case I ordered this case last week and should be receiving it today. I will let you know how it works out. CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply I ordered the 620HX model with the modular connectors. It's more expensive, but the fewer cables I have running around my case the better. FWIW, I ordered both these items from zipzoomfly.com because they had free shipping and were a lot cheaper than Newegg, who I use all the time. As a matter of fact, that case is $75 after rebates from them.
January 7, 201016 yr Author Thanks, looking forward to your update. I am in Canada so I need to buy from Canada to avoid stupid custom fees. I just used newegg's link for reference anyway. Once I'm decided, I'll shop for the cheapest deal
January 7, 201016 yr MOBO Criterias : compliant with unraid (lol) and at least 4 built-in sata connectors GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard This mobo has 2 version. I got the Rev2 version. The LAN on this version is using AR8131 chip (Atheros L1C). Make sure to use unraid version 4.5 final. Tom put driver for this chip on 4.5 13 beta. I have been using this mobo paired with celeron E1500 & 2 Kingston 512 mb +/- 3 months now and works great! Although, I only setup basic application and unmenu addon on my server. Nothing fancy. Good luck with your new server!
January 8, 201016 yr Thanks, looking forward to your update. So the case came today, and I have to say, I'm a little mixed. The top fan in my case was completely destroyed, to the point of hanging by its power cord. Even worse, to get to the top fan, you have to remove the front bezel, then the top bezel. That's easy enough, until you get to the top control panel (USB + eSata + On/Off switch). The bezel will try to hang over the side, but the connected cables will not let it, and they will pull against the PCB that is mounted to the top. I had to replug all this when it came loose. Note to self: lay the case on its side before removing the top bezel. However, a quick call to Azza gave me hope. I spoke with Mickey, and he will be shipping an entire top fan assembly tomorrow at no cost. That made me feel a lot better that they were so responsive. The case itself is well built and well designed, with an overload of thumbscrews and plenty of room for components. The fit and finish is top notch. The corners and edges are all rolled. And I am checking to see if I can another HDD cage from them to finish the top3 bays out. I have already test fitted one of the other cages, and it will hold another one. I'm keeping the case for sure. UPDATE: I did confirm that the HDD cages can be purchased separately. From Azza... Yes, it’s $10 for HDD cage and $5 for red LED fan plus $5 shipping fee. Please send a check to: AZZA (USA) Technology Inc., Attn: Accounting Dept 201 Lemon Creek Dr. #B Walnut, CA 91789 Please attach a note to show what you wan to buy. And we will ship the goods to you Thank you AZZA
January 8, 201016 yr Author Can anyone tell me if a CPU cooler is really necessary on such a server, ir is the standard fan sufficient? Although my server will be up 24/7, I will access it "meaning write to it, and read from it" only 2-3 hours per day.
January 8, 201016 yr Can anyone tell me if a CPU cooler is really necessary on such a server, ir is the standard fan sufficient? Although my server will be up 24/7, I will access it "meaning write to it, and read from it" only 2-3 hours per day. Standard fan will work just fine.
January 8, 201016 yr Author I'm getting closer, so I haev another question =) I will most likely go with the GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3 mobo, the E5200 CPU and will most likely have 5-6 drives installed. I will probably add 1-2 drives later on. What is the PSU I should get? Is 450W enough? Or is it better to go safe and choose 600W right away? Again : thanks
January 8, 201016 yr Do you plan on running unRAID stock or close to stock (meaning few to no add-ons)? If so, you should be able to cut back on the RAM and CPU with no problems. 1 or 2 GBs of RAM (on a single stick) is plenty, and a single core CPU will be cheaper as well. I'm currently running a single core 2.7 GHz AMD Sempron 140 as my CPU which I like very much, since it is relatively low power (45 W). I do have 4 GBs of RAM installed, but just because I had extra RAM laying around. I've downgraded it to 2 GBs in the past and noticed no performance differences whatsoever. Also, I would recommend spending $20 more and finding a mobo with 6 onboard SATA slots. That means you won't need an add-on card for your initial configuration of 5-6 drives, and your server will be faster during parity building and parity checks. It looks like 450W should be plenty for your setup, but of course you should always consult a PSU calculator just to be certain (just google it). I'm currently using a 380 W Antec EarthWatts in my server, and I'm running 8 individual HDDs.
January 8, 201016 yr Author It should be close to stock as I only plan for it to be a file server. I might add a couple of addons/scripts but right now I'm only thinking about the shutdown script as well as the addon to work with the UPS in case of power failure, that's it. I am really not familiar with AMD cpu's so can I ask you to point me to a MoBo/CPU combo that would be cheap and good? If possible I'd like the MoBo to have 6 SATA ports. Thanks again!
January 8, 201016 yr I was just trying to, but it seems that Canadian Newegg doesn't have nearly the selection that the American side does... I'll look at TigerDirect.
January 8, 201016 yr Author Yeah it's not nearly as complete as the US version... But you can show me the US link, I will shop around later
January 8, 201016 yr This is a very similar board to the one I'm running (I think the only difference is that it has 4 RAM slots instead of just 2): BIOSTAR TA760G M2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $79.99 ($64.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate), free shipping They even have an open box model for super cheap (~$50 after shipping). And as I mentioned before, I'm partial to this processor: AMD Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 45W Single-Core Processor Normally I love Gigabyte mobos, but for unRAID they can cause some headaches. They have a feature called HPA that reserves a small bit of space on the first hard drive connected to it, which effectively changes the size of the drive that unRAID sees. This can cause problems since your largest drive must be your parity drive, so sometimes upgrading and replacing drives becomes more difficult with a Gigabyte mobo. Hence, I go for Biostar which I rank as #2 in terms of quality. I believe some of the newer Gigabyte mobos have the option to disable HPA in BIOS, but I haven't seen it for myself. I would rather just get a Biostar board and not have to worry about it.
January 8, 201016 yr Author Which case do you have Rajahal? I like the Antec Nine/Twelve Hundred but they're expensive. The Cooler Master Elite 310 seems appealing...
January 8, 201016 yr I have the Antec p180 (my truncated unRAID server specs are in my signature below). I really like this case for its cooling power and noise dampening capabilities, but I do have one or two gripes about it. Since it uses drive rails for its 5.25" slots, I can't simply add a 4-in-3 drive bay or hot swap bays to the upper portion of the case without modification (which I don't want to do). So the effective max capacity of the case is 10 drives (4 in the lower bay, 2 in the middle bay, and 4 in the 5.25" bay with the use of 5.25"-to-3.5" converters). So if I were to do it again, I would get a different case. I already had the p180 when I built my unRAID server, I didn't buy it specifically for this purpose. If I were to build a new server right now I would probably go with the Cooler Master Centurion 590. It has as many 5.24" as possible (9) an can be fitted with just as many hot-swap bays. unRAID doesn't support hot swap, of course, but any time a drive died or was upgraded, the replacement process would be so much more simple than what I currently have to do. See the Pimp My Rig thread for some pics of the Centurion 590 filled to the brim with hot-swap bays.
January 8, 201016 yr My pleasure. Here's some (slightly outdated) pics of my server in the Pimp thread: My rig And here's a nice pic of a Centurion 590 filled to the brim with hot-swap bays: The object of my envy ...from WeeboTech's Pimp post
January 11, 201016 yr Author I finally ordered the hardware: Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590 Motherboard: MSI 785GTM-E45 CPU: AMD Sempron 140 HDD: 1x WD Cavier Green 1.5Tb to be used as parity drive RAM: 1Gb Can't wait
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.