Hello everyone  

 

I'm in the process of selecting components to build my first NAS, it will be with unRAID of course. I hope it's as good as everybody say

 

I already have parts laying around:

- motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. It has 8 S-ATA ports

- RAM: 3GB DDR2 (2x1GB @ 400MHz & 2x512MB@ 333MHz)

- CPU: AMD X2 ATHLON 3800+ (2.0GHz)

- GPU: nvidia passive 7600GS (PCI-E)

 

I currently have 2 1.5TB Hdds (for movies and tvshows) in the PC. One of them is a WD EARS so i'll need to insert a jumper.

 

My list of things to buy: (for a simple 8 hdd NAS)

- unraid pro licence, duh

- pc case: FRACTAL Design R2, which has 8x3.5" bays

- good USB key

- hdds: 3 x 1.5TB WD EADS/EARS (i plan to first put those 3 and build, then add the data from the current PC, finally add the current 2). So my parity disc will be of 1.5TB

- a GB ethernet switch, any recommendation?

- a good PSU. What is the power needed there actually? I was thinking of either buying a FRACTAL Newton R2 650W (it has 8 S-ATA ports, right?) or a Antec TruePower New - 650W / Seasonic M12II 82+ - 620W (both seem to have 9 S-ATA plugs)

 

I get 325W here: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp so it seems that 650W will be fine.

 

A final advice before i order everything? Thanks

 

 

 

I like Trendnet switches, here's a few options:

• 5 Port plastic - I have this one, bought it for $10 on sale
  
• 5 Port metal
  
• 8 Port metal - This one seems like the best value today
  

 

A very nice case you've chosen.  There are certainly cheaper options, but damn that one is nice.

 

You should be able to trust the PSU calculator you used, just pretend like you are using 'high speed 7200 rpm drives' even if you are using green drives.  This will give you some wiggle room to account for the initial power spike during boot.  Also keep in mind how many drives you see yourself using a year from now.  You are starting off with 5 drives, but will you grow to 6? 10? 15?  Buy a PSU that can handle all your planned future expansion.  In most cases a 450W or 500W is sufficient, but if you are breaching 10 drives, you may need the 650W you are looking at.

 

Also, I would recommend a 'green' PSU, such as the Antec EarthWatts or any from the Corsair series.  The Fractal one you linked is green too, so that's fine.  I just expect it is a bit overpriced.

Those cases look even better in the flesh, expensive yes, pretty oh hell yes.

 

The HDD arrangement is the same as my Antec Sonata, 8 HDDs in that close a space, you'd need both fans.

 

For switch reviews their is a good one on smallnetbuilder.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-reviews/30195-8-port-gigabit-switch-roundup

 

From what I remember, they all use the same chipset (Broadcom) and work about the same.

 

 

 

Thanks 

 

Yes the Fractal case do look very nice. Ever since i bought an Antec P182 i understood the importance of not being cheap on the case. 

 

For the PSU i looked at the earthwatt but couldn't find one with more than 6 sata ports. Since the Antec true power has 9 sata plugs, i'd rather spend 20€ more and not need to use some molex-to-sata adaptors...

 

Otherwise it's too bad unraid can't handle the 2 ethernet ports of motherboard, according to what i've read there. This would have prevented me from adding the GB switch and many cables into an already crowded space. =)