First unRAID Build | Looking for some help/pointers before buying

[TK2702]

A little over 3 years ago I was bitten by the NAS bug and built myself a Mini-ITX FreeNAS box that was 4x 3TB WD Reds.

 

More recently, that space has been running out so I've been looking at unRAID for its expandability. I've put together a rough build & plan, and was looking to run it by the forums to make sure that I haven't missed anything obvious before pulling the trigger.

 

This is what I have so far in terms of parts (I'm relatively restricted in terms of selection of parts given I live in Australia, our ranges pale in comparison to the likes of US Newegg and so on):

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ ATX LGA1151

RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666

Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2

Power Supply: Seasonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Fully Modular (For it's 8x SATA Ports more than anything)

 

The main purpose of the build is for Storage and a few Dockers (Plex, SABnzbd, etc)

 

The case should allow me to have 14 total drives (8x 3.5 + 6x 3.5 through the 4x 5.25 using a 5-in-3 drive cage) I'm not 100% certain on the drives that I'll buy straight up, but I'll likely stick with WD Reds, hopefully getting at least one 8TB to use as parity plus a SSD to use as a Cache drive.

 

What I plan to do is set up unRAID with enough initial storage to move everything off of the FreeNAS box and onto unRAID. Once all of that is transferred over, decommission the FreeNAS box and add the 4x 3TB to unRAID.

 

I went with the ASRock board for its 10 SATA Ports, which means that when I do eventually go past 10 drives, all I should need is 2 2x SATA PCIe cards, 1 5-in-3 Drive cage and 2 SATA Power Splitters

depending on the cage

 

The only real issue that I can see looking at it is the i5 and 16GB of RAM potentially being overkill but I figured it would be better to overshoot than undershoot

 

I think that covers off everything I wanted to say. Any feedback/pointers if you think I've missed anything would be greatly appreciated

[tdallen]

Looks like a good build to me.  The Core i5 is a good general purpose processor that should handle unRAID, Dockers, and some Plex transcoding if needed.  Transcoding is something to plan for if you want to have more than 1 simultaneous stream, btw.  16GB of RAM is nice and gives you lots of flexibility.  Yes, it sounds like you could get away with an i3 and 8GB... but I don't think you will regret the i5 and 16GB.  That said - you might want to consider ECC RAM.  If you go that route you'd wind up changing out the CPU, motherboard and RAM but it's worth considering for an always-on, fault tolerant server.

 

I'd run a power supply calculator to make sure the 620w power supply is enough for 14 drives and a couple of SATA controllers and a drive cage.  Seasonic is a good brand, though, and it appears to have a single 12v rail which you want.

 

It won't do any good to get an 8TB parity drive unless you also get some 8TB data drives at some point.  I like WD Reds.  Your transition plan sounds right.  Last thought - I know you're planning for a box that can handle 14 drives so there's a temptation to plan for, say, 14 x 4TB.  Personally I like running a smaller number of large drives - i.e. consider populating your system with 6TB and 8TB drives.  Less complexity, less need for SATA controllers, less power requirements, less power splitters, etc.  Worth a thought, anyway.