I am planning to convert a DIY built WHS setup to UnRAID. I have 7 drives that are a mix of 1.5TB and 2TB. Here is my chosen specs:

 

Mobo: GA-890GPA-UD3H

 

CPU: Athlon II X4 610e

 

Ram: 4Gig DDR3

 

Sata: Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

 

Sata Cable: 3Ware CBL-SFF8087OCF-05M SFF-8087 to Discrete Forward Breakout Cable

 

USB Adapter: Koutech USB 2.0 Header

 

Power: Antec 850watt

 

 

My questions are will the processor be good enough, and do I need 4Gigs of ram or is 2 good enough? Also what size cache drive do you guys recommend? I will be copying bluray rips of around 30-40gigs to this system.

My questions are will the processor be good enough,

Any CPU is "enough"  unRAID has been used on just about everything from a Pentium 1 on up.  My 2.2 GHz Celeron based CPU s typically 95% idle, even when serving movies.

and do I need 4Gigs of ram or is 2 good enough?

My older server has 512 Meg. 2Gig is fine.  4Gig will let more sit in the disk buffer memory but certainly not needed if you need it elsewhere.

Also what size cache drive do you guys recommend? I will be copying bluray rips of around 30-40gigs to this system.

I've never used a cache drive.  My write speed to the array is about 30MB/s.  It is plenty for me.  The cache drive only delays the copy of the data to the protected array.  That will typically occur in the middle of the night.  If you are copying from existing drives you might want to not initially assign a parity drive, then you'll get the same types of speed you would if you did have a cache drive.  Then, once most of the data is migrated assign the parity drive before re-allocating any of the older drives with your data.

A quad core CPU is total overkill. You can easily go with the X2 210e, or even a Sempron 145.

 

Which Antec 850 are you planning to use? If it's the TPQ-850, it's a poor choice for unRAID, as it has four 12V rails, each with 25amps. For unRAID, a single rail PSU is preferred. 850W is overkill in any case. The Corsair 650TX has a 52amp 12V rail, which should be plenty for up to 20 "green" drives.

 

Edit: in fact I can only find reference to two Antec 850W power supplies, and both use a four rail system. This is designed to protect high end gaming systems, which use multiple high current video cards. Totally the wrong choice for unRAID, which has very modest power needs other than at startup, when each drive requires up to 3amps of current. Most green drives only require about 2.

.......and if you do decide to use a cache drive later, then the choice of size is simply how many 30 - 40 GB rips are you likely to do in one session? My experience (using AnyDvdHd and ripping to folder structure) takes about an hour per Blu Ray. So, if you reckon you'll spend 8 hrs then 320GB. If you are going to buy a drive for use as a cache, these days anything smaller seems to cost the same money so there is little point in geting anything smaller.

Thanks for your comments.

 

The power supply I was going to use is hte one that was in the WHS, a Antec Quattro 850. I'll look into replacing it.

 

As for the CPU, I agree its overkill but After a day of looking I cannot find anything less than the x4 at 45watts and I wont compromise on wattage.

 

I do have one other question, If I set up using this hardware but leave the SATA controller out can I add the SATA controller latter without much trouble? The reason I ask is the thing is on a 2 week back-order.

You can add the SATA controller later... It will not impact anything.

The Sempron 140 is a single core at 45W, perfectly suited for unRAID.

Yes the Sempron 140 is a 45w part, but I cannot get it locally. As I am canadian there is the border to consider when ordering online. All in all I pefer to get my parts from a local distributor.

NCIX

 

Newegg.ca

 

Not as cheap as the US, but still reasonable.

Yes the Sempron 140 is a 45w part, but I cannot get it locally. As I am canadian there is the border to consider when ordering online. All in all I pefer to get my parts from a local distributor.

 

Are you aware of www.shopbot.ca and www.pricebat.ca

You can get the lowest price in Canada and price-match at NCIX, memoryexpress.com