I would like to use ECC memory and would like to determine what is a robust but relatively low cost solution. I use my Unraid only as a file server and do not use any dockers or transcoding, so my overall memory and CPU requirements are low. (I run just fine with a single core AMD Sempron and 1GB of memory.)

 

My requirements:

1) ECC memory

2) Integrated graphics

3) 6 SATA ports

 

From what I can see on these forums, two approaches are:

 

Intel Xeon build

- Intel Xeon E3-1225 v5 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117612&ignorebbr=1

- SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSM-F-O https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813183013&ignorebbr=1

 

AMD Ryzen build

- AMD RYZEN 5 1400 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113437&ignorebbr=1

- ASUS Prime X370-Pro https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132964&ignorebbr=1

 

I would appreciate any help or description of any pitfalls in this search.

You can run unbuffered ECC RAM on a Pentium, for instance the G3258 (Haswell), G4400 (Skylake) or G4600 (Kaby Lake).  That's more basic NAS territory, a Xeon or Ryzen aren't needed if your your only requirements are a NAS with ECC.  You'll need more memory for unRAID 6, btw - I'd go with 4GB as a starting point.

Thanks for the reply. I did not know those processors also supported ECC. Based on your information, I found the following which seems to work:

 

Intel C236

- MSI C326M motherboard https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130928&cm_re=msi_c236m-_-13-130-928-_-Product

- Intel G4400 processor https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117625&cm_re=intel_g4400-_-19-117-625-_-Product

 

I believe the above meet all of my requirements:

1) ECC memory

2) Integrated graphics

3) 6 SATA ports

 

Did I miss anything?

I don't have any experience with that motherboard but it ought to work - that said, I prefer an Intel LAN chipset if possible. 

Why MSI put a Realtek NIC on a workstation board with a workstation chipset is beyond belief.

 

Realtek is OK for super-budget boards.  There's no excuse on a board like that.

Why not go used?  $200 for quiet workstations xeon that uses ecc from 2012-2013.

 

Lenovo S30

Dell T3600

HP Z420

 

On 8/4/2017 at 8:49 AM, nightanole said:

Why not go used?  $200 for quiet workstations xeon that uses ecc from 2012-2013.

 

Lenovo S30

Dell T3600

HP Z420

 

 

This.  I just picked up a Lenovo S30 with 32GB DDR3 ECC and a E5-1620V2 and a 2TB HDD for $225. 

I am interested in the suggestion for older workstations. However, each of those suggestions seems to have fewer than 6 bays for hard drives. How do you add lots of hard drives to one of those workstations?