3 Disk unRAID on ZOTAC Intel Atom 230 + ION board?

[Rajahal]

It is my pleasure to introduce the ZOTAC IONITX-F-E Intel Atom 330 (1.6GHz, dual-core) NVIDIA ION Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo (see revised choice in 2nd post).  Clearly, this thing is intended to be used in an HTPC.  In fact, it is quite similar to Acer Aspire Revo-based HTPC that I recently bought and configured.  The only differences are the slightly beefier CPU (dual core instead of single), the included wifi card, and the presence of a few extra ports, notably three types of audio out in addition to HDMI.  I have no doubt that this board would perform fantastically as a dedicated HTPC akin to my Revo.

 

However, how would it fare in an unRAID server?  Clearly its biggest limitation is its mere 3 onboard SATA ports and very limited room for expansion (only one PCI-e 16x slot).  However, it does have all the other basics - Gigabit LAN, onboard video, etc.  The atom CPU is more than powerful enough for basic unRAID usage, plus it should boast low power draw at all times.  Likewise, the RAM capacity is perfectly adequate.

 

A friend of mine is interested in a low-cost HTPC rig similar to mine.  So here's my latest thought - buy two of these boards and build two systems, one as an HTPC, and one as a small 3-disk unRAID server.  Or possibly buy one of these for unRAID and another Revo to act as the HTPC.  I tend to like the extra audio outputs and built-in wifi on the Zotac board, but the Revo certainly beats it in cost (after you account for the RAM, case, and HDD one would need to build an HTPC out of the Zotac).

 

Other thoughts: does anyone have any good recommendations for mini-ITX boards?  The smallest I've dealt with in the past is Micro-ATX.  Is it possible to get an unRAID-friendly case that would support three hot swap bays?  I would like to make my friend's unRAID sever as 'appliance-like' as possible.

[NAS]

Perhaps...

 

    * New ZOTAC NM10-ITX WiFi & NM10-DTX WiFi

    * Intel® NM10 Express chipset

    * Intel® Atom™ D510 processor (dual-core, 1.66 GHz)

    * Intel® HyperThreading technology

    * Intel® Clear Video (SD) technology

    * ZOTAC NM10-DTX WiFi

          o PCI Express x16 (single lane) expansion

          o PCI Express x1 expansion

          o Mini PCI Express x1 (occupied by WiFi module)

          o 2 SATA 3.0Gb/s

          o 4 SATA 3.0Gb/s w/RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5

          o 1 eSATA 3.0Gb/s

          o 10 USB 2.0 ports

          o Mini-ITX form factor

    * ZOTAC NM10-ITX WiFi

          o PCI Express x1 expansion

          o 2 Mini PCI Express x1 expansion (one occupied by WiFi module)

          o 2 SATA 3.0Gb/s

          o 8 USB 2.0 ports

          o Mini-ITX form factor

    * HDMI (720p) & VGA outputs

    * HDCP compliant

    * Gigabit Ethernet

    * Onboard 802.11n WiFi

    * Microsoft® DirectX® 9 with Shader Model 3.0 compatible

    * OpenGL® 1.5 compatible

 

[Rajahal]

Where are you finding that info?  Newegg doesn't seem to have the ZOTAC NM10-DX.

 

Also, I think I'm changing my choice to this one:

 

ZOTAC IONITX-B-E Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz NVIDIA ION Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo

 

or maybe the same board plus a 90 W power supply:

 

ZOTAC IONITX-B-E Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz NVIDIA ION Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo

 

The single core Atom 230 is still plenty powerful enough for unRAID and for an HTPC application, so there's no reason to waste money on the dual core version.

[NAS]

Sorry i completely never noticed the option for being an HTPC. That changes alot.

 

Definitely ION based then as you can get an on board GeForce GPU. The dual core options apparently make heavy GUIs like Aeon on XBMC much snapper but YMMV. If you dont care about GUIs then only the GPU matters.

[WeeboTech]

Other thoughts: does anyone have any good recommendations for mini-ITX boards?  The smallest I've dealt with in the past is Micro-ATX.  Is it possible to get an unRAID-friendly case that would support three hot swap bays?  I would like to make my friend's unRAID sever as 'appliance-like' as possible.

 

The Supermicro X7SPA L/H/HF ATOM serverboard would make a fine unRAID server.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5133.0

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/ATOM/ICH9/X7SPA.cfm?typ=H&IPMI=Y

 

With IPMI, you can have remote network addressable KVM over IP.

 

[Rajahal]

Agreed.  It seems that there are quite a few different mini-ITX mobos that will work well with unRAID, so I'm now less concerned about the mobo.

 

My attention has turned to finding a case that I like, then designing the rest of the system around that.  Remember, the focus is 'appliance' - to me that means hot swap bays (preferably trayless) are a must.  Also, I would settle for a minimum of 3 disks, and I'll set the max at 6.

 

This is the only case I've found that seems appropriate:

Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX Home Server/NAS Chassis

 

Or perhaps the solution is to just buy something prebuilt, such as these:

Tranquil PC BBS2 Barebones Home Server

Acer easyStore Home Server

 

I'm also wondering, is unRAID really appropriate for a hands-off appliance application?  I figure I would have to tweak it at least a little bit, such as scheduling monthly parity checks to run automatically and add in email notification of a red ball.  I've never used it, but is WHS better for the set-it-and-forget-it type of use?