June 12, 20179 yr Hi, I'm trying to move from a Synology DS213J to build my first unRAID server. I'm prioritizing it being low power/efficient but also expandable in the future as my storage and processing needs grow. For now, it will primarily be used as a NAS (back-up server for important photos/music/files, time machine back-up) and some lightweight docker containers (home automation, pi-hole, mail server). In the future hopefully my use increases (eventually Plex/media sharing but not for a while), so I wanted to create a base system that will work well for now, and over time I can add disks/upgrade motherboard/CPU as needed - without spending *too* much. Here's what I'm planning so far: Case: Rosewill RSV-L4500 - I've got a rack for my A/V gear, which my Synology was already taking up 4U in. This seems good value for the space/future capacity Motherboard and processor: Supermicro MBD-A1SRI-2758F with Atom C2758 - *Overkill but wanted to have multiple NICs for aggregation* Memory: 2x8GB Kingston ECC PSU: EVGA 450 BT Disks: 2x6TB HGST Deskstar NAS - I actually have these already. When the price drops I was planning to get a 3rd to use one as parity and then spread over the other 2 Any feedback or suggestions (especially incompatibility) would be great. Given it's only 2 drives right now, I don't think I need any RAID card or other cables? Thanks!
June 13, 20179 yr Hello and welcome. I think the hardware you've chosen will work fine for a basic NAS with a few lightweight Dockers. You're sort of straddling a line between what you want to do now and what you'll do in the future, though. First, you've got a big case and a nice little power supply. The power supply is a good choice for a couple of drives and a low end processor - but it probably would not be enough if you fill that case up... The Atom based motherboard will take care of basic NAS and a few lightweight Dockers, but you'll wind up needing to replace the whole thing if you want to do more - and it isn't cheap. An Asus Supermicro or ASRock server 1150/1151 motherboard and a Pentium G series processor would actually cost less and have almost twice the horsepower with more expansion options. Last, 16GB of RAM is great - but it really outclasses that motherboard and CPU. I'd be running 4GB on that motherboard for basic NAS duties. Hope that gives you some useful things to think about, let us know if you have questions. FYI, have you done any comparison shopping based on Passmarks ?
June 13, 20179 yr Author tdallen - that's really helpful input. Thank you! Were you thinking something like this Asus P102-M or this Supermicro X11SSl-F, with something like a G4400? I did do some comparison shopping on Passmarks but then got suckered into the all-in-one mobo/CPU combo to make it easier (which may have been a mistake). I see that the Pentium G's are better value for $/efficiency in most cases. Thanks again for any help!
June 13, 20179 yr Since I don't know where you'll be buying or what's locally available (not sure how far-east you are ), I'll link some of the possibilities I'd be looking at: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182820 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813183013 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813599007 I prefer NewEgg for searching, they give a lot more information. Each manufacturer (Supermicro in particular) has several different motherboards that are very similar but with slightly different features, so you have to parse your way through to find the features you want. PCPartPicker can also help with searches. And yes, the G3258 (1150) or G4400/4600 (1151) are great entry level chips. When you have a motherboard you're interested in, search on the forums here for anyone who's used that model.
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