Hi,

currently i run a:

Inter-Tech IPC 3U-30248 Server Rack ohne Netzteil schwarz

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/Inter-Tech-IPC-3U-30248-Server-Rack-ohne-Netzteil-schwarz_978291.html

 

8GB (2x 4096MB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 DIMM CL9-9-9-24 Dual Kit

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/8GB-Crucial-Ballistix-Sport-DDR3-1600-DIMM-CL9-Dual-Kit_794504.html

 

Mainboard:

H81 Pro BTC

 

Chillin at 1.05 (debian).

 

~ 10TB of storage

 

I want to upgrade (or lets say, buy new)

 

 

Budget <1000€ Without storage.

 

I need some advice for RAM/Mainboard/Server Rack/PSU/raid card, i want to add atleast 12 or more HDDs, like always, low energy and silent. I dont care how loud it is under load and how much energy it takes, but in idle it should be silent and if possible low energy.

 

The current server rack/Mainboard combo is 100% loud, because the fans are at 100% all time. 

 

I dont care 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U.. i have plents of space

 

I want to run plex and debian on unraid. Nothing special, but maybe i add some dockers if i find them useful. If possible send me links to mindfactory or alternate.

 

I always look at the crap on ebay, but it seems its only on first view cheap, because it takes a shit load of power and is loud like a boeing, or am i missing something?

 

EDIT:
 If possible i would like to use F4-3000C15Q-16GVRB RAM (https://www.gskill.com/en/product/f4-3000c15q-16gvrb) because i have 4 sticks a 4 GB(?) leftover from my personal computer. But if youi tell me it makes more sense to buy new, i buy new.

 

 

Edited May 18, 20179 yr by nuhll

Do you need more information? DId i posted at the wrong forum?

Hi -

 

Since I'm in the US it's hard to make recommendations that you will be able to find in Europe.  And what you ask for is challenging.  Generally rack mount setups aren't that quiet - people put them in closets so noise isn't so much of an issue.  And rack mount and eBay almost always means old, noisy, and not very power efficient - but a great value.

 

Both Supermicro cases and motherboards are worth looking at, can you find them locally?

Im sure most things are avaible in us and in europe anyway. Im pretty sure if i buy something used its very inefficient and loud, so probably new is the best way to go.

 

What you mean, which cases and motherboards?

Based on prior experience, availability is pretty different in the US and Europe, and so are the prices.  Just Google Supermicro rack mount cases, or use the Search facility here on the forums - lots of info if you search for rack or rack mount.  Common rack mount chassis brands here are Supermicro, Xcase, Rosewill, Norco, Chenbro, and iStarUSA.

 

Supermicro makes a ton of motherboards, and which one to choose will depend on which CPU(s) you get.  How many Plex streams do you want to support, and will you need transcoding?

Not more then 2, transcoding maybe 1. But my old setup which is fairly low and was even possible to saturate 3-4 current streams (2 transcode)

 

Can you give me some advise on what would be an good option?

I'm not sure what CPU you have now, but you definitely need a new Mobo.  Your current one has one PCIex x16 slot and 5 x1 slots - odd combo.  In order to add all those HDs you are going to need to add SATA controllers and they require x8/x16 slots.

Some cheap celeron..

 

What you would suggest?

It seems like your requirements are an array, a VM and some dockers.  That's not a lot to work with, but this is what I'd do:

 

Whatever rack mount chassis works for you

ASRock C236 WS ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236

16 or 32GB ECC RAM

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V5 SkyLake 3.5 GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1151 80W BX80662E31245V5 Server Processor

Seasonic or Corsair 750w+ PSU with single 12v rail

 

Only MB, CPU and PSU already 700€...

 

Seems way too overkill.

 

Sad i doint get any ideas for my budget. Others seems to be more successful here.

Welcome to the forums. You;ll find we're a friendly and helpful bunch, but we have our limitations in answering questions like this one.

 

In fact, it is one of the hardest questions we get. What server hardware should I buy?

 

The selections are frequently changing, with motherboards coming and going. Most experienced users here HAVE a server, and unless they are planning an upgrade, as not shopping servers to determine which is best motherboard, CPU, etc. We might have some ideas based on other user selected, or monitor features we ourselves think are important, but it is very hard to pick out something for someone else, especially when you factor cost into the equation.

 

First YOU need to understand what you want to do with the server (#VMs and their OSes/purposes, passthrough?, gaming?, target max disks or capacity, #transcodes?,HEVC transcodes?, quiet?, anything else?). And then you need to dig in, understand the offerings, understand the pricing, and put together a configuration made up of real products with links to those products that seem like they would generally meet your requirements. Users here can then react to your selections based on your wants and needs and give you some useful advice. But the first step is yours.

 

In this thread the only one that listed specific products was @tdallen. And you were not happy with his advise, despite the fact that he has spec'ed an excellent unRAID motherboard / CPU combo, very similar to mine in fact. And in or very close to your budget. And then you dissed him. TBH it is very much in line with what I would recommend..

 

Come back with a configuration in line with what you are wanting, and you might get better responses. You also might want to look back through the forums, because we get questions like yours a lot, and you may find some good pointers for things others are considering and pros / cons.

My suggestion would be Pentium G4600 (Socket 1151) as the lowest you would want to go and find another ASRock board with the features you want and a case with the expansion you want.  CPU would be around 78€ and a quality motherboard with enough features should be under 150€.  You can't do much better for the price until you go at least i5.  Next jump up would recommend is i5-7500 which is around 200€ and has same single core passmark, but two more cores than the G4600.  Next up from that would suggest i7-6700 or similar which is around 300€.

Important question for me is, what case? Can be 4u.

 

What Raid Card? What PSU? (i dont k now what 12v rail means)

Edited June 23, 20179 yr by nuhll

On 21.6.2017 at 9:55 PM, unevent said:

My suggestion would be Pentium G4600 (Socket 1151) as the lowest you would want to go and find another ASRock board with the features you want and a case with the expansion you want.  CPU would be around 78€ and a quality motherboard with enough features should be under 150€.  You can't do much better for the price until you go at least i5.  Next jump up would recommend is i5-7500 which is around 200€ and has same single core passmark, but two more cores than the G4600.  Next up from that would suggest i7-6700 or similar which is around 300€.

Thanks, does this CPU works with F4-3000C15Q-16GVRB RAM (https://www.gskill.com/en/product/f4-3000c15q-16gvrb) 

For the case, do you want hot swap capability for all 12 hard drives, some of them, or none of them?  A case can go from <100€ to >300€ depending on the luxuries you want.  DDR4 2133 should work in most 1151 motherboards, but suggest you use the QVL tab at the link you gave for the memory to help choose a motherboard.  Power supply I would suggest the Seasonic SS-550RM if you choose a case that accepts an ATX power supply.  RAID card, or HBA, can be as simple as a Dell PERC H310 which can be bought used off ebay rather inexpensively and flashed to IT mode or can be any number of cards which you will find here.    Each HBA will need a x16 PCIe slot that will at least need to run at x8, or a x8 slot.  Each HBA should typically support 8 hard drives.

I dont need hotswap. 

 

I dont really want to buy something and then flash it.... 

Although actual hot-swap is not necessary for unRAID, hot-swap bays are very valuable for another reason. They keep you from rattling wires when adding / exchanging disks. It is extremely common to have drives drop offline when adding or swapping disks because it is very easy to touch an adjacent cable and disrupt it just enough to cause and intermittent connection. And since these situations are often when your server is in a delicate state, this puts your data at risk!

 

I very strongly recommend hotswap cages for this reason. The issue outlined above is the #1 support issue in unRAID.

Hm.. when i need to swap a disk, i can just power off the server and do it. when i plug back and theres a drive missing, i can power off and start again, no problems? right?

5 minutes ago, nuhll said:

Hm.. when i need to swap a disk, i can just power off the server and do it. when i plug back and theres a drive missing, i can power off and start again, no problems? right?

Yes, but that's if the cable doesn't make any contact.  If the cable makes intermittent contact, then you'll have problems during a rebuild.  Entirely up to you, but as @bjp999 stated, loose / intermittent cabling is the #1 problem on any computer.  Just a bad design of a cable, and affects all computer systems equally.

9 minutes ago, nuhll said:

Hm.. when i need to swap a disk, i can just power off the server and do it. when i plug back and theres a drive missing, i can power off and start again, no problems? right?

 

Very true - if the drive drops offline and you see it on power up. Those are easy. The problem happens when you knock a cable slightly askew, and create an intermittent connection. On reboot everything looks fine. You might even start a rebuild and get part way into it, only to have the intermittent cable cause its drive to drop offline. Now you are in an unfortunate situation. Your rebuild stops and you have 2 drives offline. You can recover if you know what you're doing (or ask on the forums and get expert support), but this is easily avoided with hot-swap cages.

 

Did I mention this type of thing happens at least weekly. I've seen 3-4 similar incidents in a day. This is the most common issue we see here.

 

Hot-swap cages mean no need to open the case. Cables are not disturbed at all. Zero chance to touch one by accident. 100% necessary for an unRAID server of any size IMO.

I dont know if i need it. I never had this issue. 

 

But i also think 8-12 drives hot swapable will be much more than ~1000€

You can buy for about $12 a port in US. And its a one time cost.

11 hours ago, nuhll said:

I dont really want to buy something and then flash it.... 

If you get a LSI 9201-16i (for sure since I have them) and probably a LSI 9201-8i controllers don't need to be flashed.  I just stuck my 9201-16i's in connected up drives and booted unRAID and was able to see and use the drives attached without doing any flashing.

I see this for 300-500€ (not usd) here in germany. I think there should be an cheaper version...

 

I will make a new topic, because the situation changed. 

 

Edited November 23, 20178 yr by nuhll