Hello, 

I've got an ancient UNRaid build with 4gb RAM, a Gigabyte board and an Athlon X2 processor that desperately needs a refresh. When attempting to restart my array, I've been getting random hangs. I've decided to go to an Intel focus, but I want to save a bit and I am willing to use pre-owned hardware. Will be primarily used as a NAS server, perhaps future exploration with Plex and/or MacOS and Win10 VMs.

I've got 16 gig of ECC RAM swapped out from a 6-core Mac Pro 2013 laying around that I might as well put to use. I've been eyeing an 8-core Xeon E5-2650V2 2.6GHz for a good price on ebay, need a compatible motherboard to match. Any suggestions?

Hi -

 

E5's usually need Registered memory.  I'm not familiar with the Mac Pro, but a lot of entry level ECC configurations use Unbuffered ECC RAM rather than Registered - so best to check the compatibility of what you have with any motherboard.  There are lot of E5 / Socket 2011 threads on the forums, try the Search feature and see gives you any ideas.