Decent unRAID starter kit for under $200 - just add drives and and a CPU fan!

[Rajahal]

AMD Athlon II X2 240 + 785G Chipset HDMI Barebones Kit - $199.18 w/ free shipping, $189.18 after $10 MIR

 

Combo includes:

• AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor - Note: No CPU fan included. (a bit overkill for unRAID, but its cheap.  You could always resell it or re-purpose it and get a Sempron 140 instead)
  
• GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard (great mobo for unRAID - GigE LAN, onboard video, and 5 SATA ports)
  
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ (perfectly adequate for unRAID)
  
• RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WRP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Raidmax RX-450K 450W Power Supply (included Power Supply is this one - only 75% efficient, but at least it has a single 12+ V rail)
  

[purko]

AMD Athlon II X2 240 + 785G Chipset HDMI Barebones Kit - $199.18 w/ free shipping, $189.18 after $10 MIR

Looks like that combo is getting bad customer reviews on newegg.

 

[queeg]

FWIW, I have that motherboard running Win7 64bit and I wanted to get another for my unRAID build except I didn't see it on the hardware compatibility list.  I'm really happy with it though.  I have 4GB 1066 G.skill ram on it and for awhile I also had 2GB of Kingston 800 at the same time and the system never missed a beat.  It also unlocked my Phenom II x2 into a quad and it's stable as a rock.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 the ram I have.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680  the cpu I have.

 

If I hadn't already built my unRAID I would seriously look into this.

[Rajahal]

purko, where are you finding these bad reviews?  I don't see them anywhere.

[purko]

purko, where are you finding these bad reviews?  I don't see them anywhere.

Oh, I meant the RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WRP Case from your link up there.  The rest looks good.