First self-build server


Stiibun

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Hi Stiibun 

I am looking at building pretty much the same build, for my first unraid experience. I was wondering if there was a particular reason you didn't go with M2 cache disks? As I read the MB it even has dual M2 slots.
I'm currently looking at the Samsung 860 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD as my cache disk. (with the option of adding a second M2 for more container/VM space).

Did you have to update the bios of the MB before using it with a Coffee Lake Refresh CPU? pcpartpicker warns about that might be required. 

How did you find the 804 case and stock fans in terms of noise level?

Edited by crowdedlight
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Sorry for the late reply, seems somehow notifications were off on my own thread ☺️

 

Actually going for a SATA SSD instead of a M.2 SSD was about the only ‘mistake’ I made, looking back at my first build ever. It was all @testdasi his fault 😁 No in all seriousness he helped me a lot as you can see in the thread, as otherwise I would have made a lot more mistakes. 
But that decision not is lost one, as I plan to build a small always-on server hosting Nextcloud, Bitwarden, Pi-Hole, Homebridge, ... and then the SSD will move to that new small server and will be replaced by M.2 one, which also frees up that SATA port. 
 

I did update the mobo to the latest BIOS and have not had any issues so far. 
 

Case could be more quiet when using Noctua fans for instance, but for the moment I can life with the noise. It’s not loud at all, max 40 DB thereabouts. Fans are connected to the motherboard though and I don’t use the fan hub of the case. Gives me more options to handle fan speed in the BIOS that way. 
 

All in all I’m very satisfied with this build and it should serve me for years to come.

 

Compared to the final part list, i already replaced the parity disk with a 10TB shucked WD Elements drive, so space wise I’m settled for the foreseeable future. Next up will be adding a new 10TB data drive, as I tend to rip a lot of my Blu-rays (re-encode to H.265), so have to go easier on that 😀

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Thank you very much for the reply. :) 
Helps me alot to hear your experience! 

Did you update the bios before installing the cpu, or could you boot and update bios with that cpu? Mainly asking to avoid having to buy a second cpu just to update the bios. 

Yeah, I was considering the noctura fans aswell. But will try the stock first, and then update if I feel like it. Also planned to put in bios and use fan-profiles as you said.

I am also planning to run nextcloud, plex, and possible an VM in the future. Depending on how it goes. 

How was the upgrade of the parity drive? Smooth? As I am planning to start with a 6TB parity drive, but in the future I would probably upgrade or even add a second parity drive as my storage grows. :) 

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Was able to boot with the CPU installed, and then update the BIOS.

 

First I was planning to install Nextcloud and co. on the unRAID server, but since it goes in sleep mode whenever possible I'm opting not to do that as then off course Nextcloud and co. can no longer be reached. In sleep everything is off, except the LEDs on the network port, and then the system only draws 3W from the socket so that's pretty impressive.

 

Updating the parity drive went well, didn't have any issue with it. Followed the excellent video from SpaceInvader One on how to swap a parity drive.

Off course I first ran a preclear with the disk still in the WD Elements case, you never know up front if you received a bad drive or not.

Since I'll probably only use the drive cages build in, so will never go over 8 disks so for me personal I will not be adding a second parity drive.

Edited by Stiibun
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That sounds great! 

Oh, I actually did not realise that was a thing of unraid. I thought the option of making containers and VMs meant it would run idle, and not in sleep. Hmm. I gotta look some more into that! 

Thanks! That does make sense, and glad to know there is a perfect fine video to help :D

Thanks alot for your answers! Helped me tremendously!

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No problem. My setup goes to sleep whenever there's no activity for an hour and the disks are spun down. You can definitively also conserve some energy as unRAID never spins up disks which I doesn't need and hence the reason a SSD cache drive is really handy.

 

Yeah SpaceInvader One has a lot of interesting videos regarding unRAID which helped me out on some questions I had.

Edited by Stiibun
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  • 7 months later...

Hi OP and others. I am thinking of buying this case with an Asus B460m-a mobo, GTX 1660 1-touch OC gddr5 Galax card, and the Intel 10400 CPU. Also got 32gb(2x16gb) Corsair vengeance ddr4 ram and a Corsair non-modular 550w PSU....would this be sufficiently to run approx 4-6 drives at once (prob 2 or 3 3.5's max and the rest would be 2.5's)

 

I have not built a PC before but do consider myself v 'geeky' so hoping this case will be ok to build in?

 

Any feedback would be very very welcome...thanks in advance, Gareth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Still happy with the case and build myself. Cannot give much comments on the parts you picked, but the pcpartpicker website is great to make sure your components are compatible with each other.

 

Only thing I discovered, and that was a bit of given due to the drive cages, is that the last WD Elements 10TB disc I shucked doesn't have any screw holes in the middle of the sides and so due to how the drive cages are constructed that meant I could only secure the disk with two screws instead of four.

 

There is this part at the Fractal Design web site, but is no longer available as most of the cages for which this part is made are no longer fabricated.

I'll look how the disc behaves, because securing it with only 2 screws leaves it a bit 'dangling' on the bottom. Maybe I'll use tie wraps to secure it more later on, but it's not ideal.

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