...to get more drives in there...

[tmp31416]

(i hope i posted this in the right forum)

(oops, nevermind, will re-post in the motherboard forum -- sorry, i was tired)

 

(left it here "just in case" and did cut it down in size)

 

to be able to put in a third supermicro cse-m35t-1b drive cage in my cm 590, i will need to change my motherboard to get more clearance between it and that 3rd drive enclosure (right now, the main power connector is in the way).

 

so, to replace the ga-ma770-ud3 i currently use, i have spotted the msi 880GM-E41, which is more compact, frees up the pcie-16x slot by the virtue of having decent built-in video, has 2 pcie 1x slots and one "oldskool" pci slot.  throw in 6 sata ports and a plethora of built-in i/o leads on the mobo, this appears to be a very acceptable motherboard to use with unraid.  (and, compared to my current setup, i will regain the use of all on-board sata ports -- my current video card has a _very_ big heatsink!)

 

of course, it would have been nice if it had two built-in gigabit nics instead of one, and a second pcie 16x slot.  but, for the price (around 80cad), one cannot complain about the features.

 

so, the question(s) is/are:  anyone around "here" used this motherboard to run unraid?  i was thinking of pairing it with a sempron 140, which i just bought for next to nothing; curious to know if such a combo is used by someone else. 

 

of course , if someone has a suggestion for a tried and tested alternative, i'm all ears.

 

cheers