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4220 Build


actionfreak

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How does this look? Any other suggestions? It is all copied from Newegg except for the 120m fan wall bracket. thanks

 

 

NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays - OEM

 

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SBE LGA 775 Intel 3210 ATX Intel Xeon/Core 2/Pentium/Celeron Server Motherboard

 

Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8GHz LGA 775 35W Single-Core Processor BX80557430

 

SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS SAS RAID Controller    (x2)

 

NORCO C-SFF8087-4S Discrete to SFF-8087 (Reverse breakout) Cable - OEM      (x4)

 

NORCO C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable - OEM    (x4)

 

Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model  (x2)

 

120mm fan wall bracket for RPC-4224, RPC-4220, RPC-4116, RPC-4020

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"NORCO C-SFF8087-4S Discrete to SFF-8087 (Reverse breakout) Cable - OEM      (x1)"

 

You only need one reverse breakout cable.  Everything else looks good to me.

 

You might consider using a single 2 GB stick of RAM instead of 2 x 1 GB.  This will give you more expandability options in the future, at the cost of a negligible performance decrease.  Also make sure that the RAM is approved for use with that motherboard, SuperMicro is very picky about the RAM it uses.

 

Also, shameless plug: I'm considering selling my Norco 4220 server.

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Thanks. Is there any advantage to getting the 4224 besides the 4 extra drive slots? I was thinking about it but it is $75 dollars from Newegg ($25 shipping difference)... and Newegg is giving away the sliding rails with the 4220.

 

I saw that you might be selling your 4220 but you are just too far away for me to justify I think. What do you want to build next?

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No, I don't find any advantages with the 4224 besides the extra slots.  The cable management is a bit different, but I'm not sure it is necessarily better.  Also, the 4224 currently ships with the 4 x 80mm fanplate (LOUD), and then they will send you the 3 x 120 mm fanplate later (for free, at least).  Still, the new fanplate for the 4220 is only $15, so I think that's a better deal.  The free sliding rails are nice, though I've seen better gifts (mine came with a free Asus server mobo valued at $185, the same one that I have installed in my server).  Still, the rails will come in handy - if I keep my Norco 4220 I'll likely buy or build a server rack at some point.

 

I'm thinking my next build will actually focus on aesthetics over functionality, which is the exact opposite approach that I normally take.  Still, might be a nice change of pace.  I want to use a really nice case, maybe a Lian Li or something from Fractal designs.  I'm also considering making it a 9 drive server using all individual 3.5" to 5.25" hot swap bays, like Weebo's old build.  I know it doesn't make much sense considering the decreased drive density, but for some reason the aesthetics of that just really appeals to me.  At least those hot swap bays are very cheap, and I already have 2 I can use.  So basically I can have 9 bays for just a bit more than the price of a single 5-in-3, and each drive would get it's own bay (so the cooling should be a bit better, even without extra fans).  Throughout the various forms my server has taken and the many prototype servers I've built, I've found that 9 drives (1 parity + 7 data + 1 cache) is just about right for me, given the rate that I accumulate data, upgrade drives, etc.  That would give me 14 TB of space (using all 2 TB drives), which is about double what I currently have.  I'm also considering an i3 for this build, if I can find the parts cheap enough.

 

Then again, I just got a 16 mb internet connection, so maybe my collection will start to grow a lot faster and I might be shooting myself in the foot by giving up my 20 drive server...hard to say.

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A couple of comments, I would not use that motherboard unless you are using the PCIX slots. If you want IPM, I would use the Supermicro X8SIL-F with an i3. If you do not want IPM use a Supermicro C2SEA. They both require DDR3, the X8SIL-F requires ECC.

 

If you want a 775 board, consider the E3300, it idles about the same as the 430 and only costs a little bit more for much more headroom.

 

The SASLP has limited bandwidth, about 420 MB/s shared amongst the 8 drives. The Supermicro SAT2 PCIX card has about 710 MB/s shared amongst the 8 drives. These numbers are from doing a parity check after swapping in a SASLP on my X7SBE. The only difference this will make is that the parity checks will be slightly slower.

 

If it were me starting from scratch, I would choose the X8SIL-F.

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Thanks for the reply ohlwiler.. So you are suggesting a parts list like this? It is the same as my other list except for the change in motherboard, processor, and RAM. It is also roughly the same price.. just 25 dollars more.

 

NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 20 Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS Drive Bays - OEM

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIL-F-O Xeon X3400 / L3400 / Core i3 series Dual LAN Micro ATX Server Board w/ Remote Management

 

SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS SAS RAID Controller  (x2)

 

NORCO C-SFF8087-D SFF-8087 to SFF-8087 Internal Multilane SAS Cable - OEM  (x4)

 

NORCO C-SFF8087-4S Discrete to SFF-8087 (Reverse breakout) Cable - OEM

 

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7

 

Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80616I3530

 

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3S4R9S/2GED

 

 

 

 

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Check the memory that you plan to use as the SM boards are extremely picky.

Thread carefully if it is not in the approved list.

 

I believe that the Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Registered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3S4R9S/2GED is NOT compatible with this board as it is uses memory chips organized in x4.

 

You really do not need registered memory if you are not planning to fill all the slots. The regular ECC unbuffered should be OK and the plus is you can get 4GB for  a little bit more.

 

This one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139041 looks OK as it uses chips x8 and someone already claimed it works in X8SIL-F (check the reviews)

 

This one is even cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139040 and apparently also work in motherboard you plan to use.

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That list looks great after taking in to account what bcbgboy13 suggested. With Supermicro I look at their tested memory and buy off that list.

 

http://www.supermicro.com/xeon_3400/Motherboard/X8SIL.cfm

 

I believe you don't get the benefits ECC unless you use a Xeon processor even though ECC is required. I think the Xeon 3430 is $208 at newegg. The Pentium 6950 is an option instead of the i3 for $100.

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Personally I wouldn't spend the extra money, but not everybody shares my biases. It all comes down to home much you want to spend. The extra power will do no good unless you use your machine to do some heavy lifting like encoding video. The only thing you are buying is a little safety with memory. Faulty memory with unRAID isn't as critical as in a server environment.

 

Personally I would opt for the G6950. You would still have more processor power than 95 percent of us.

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