Take a look and comment please - first unraid rig


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So after playing in VM environment with unraid for 2 weeks now, I am finally decided unraid is the AIO nas solution for my needs.

 

Primary use will be storage, personal cloud, plex server with 4k hw transcoding, a bunch of dockers (approx 15 of them) and a windows 10 vm.

 

I was not able to find a full ATX case with 4 bays for drives and in desktop orientation, so I need to go with Fractal Design 304 Node.

 

Since this is a mITX case, the MB choice is limited up front. 

My choice for now is ASUS ROG STRIX H370-I GAMING,  it has 6 sata ports and 2 m.2 ports so plenty for my needs.

CPU of choice is currently i5 9400 (not F, nor K).

It will be hooked up with 16gb of 2666 ram and 1tb nvme drive for cache.

Array will consist of 3x8tb drives + 1x8tb for parity drive.

 

I am uncertain whether above mb and cpu are good choice. mITX boards are quite expensive comparing to their ATX equivalent hence the choice is limited for my budget.

The above asus seems decent for my needs and is within budget limits. CPU however is the most difficult choice. I don't want to go above 65W TDP as this is going to be 24h running gear. I was considering last year i7 8700 but apparently it is not impressive on power saving in idle so decided to stick with 9400.

 

Your thought and critique on the above are much appreciated;)

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Idle power consumption should not play any role at all in your purchasing decision.

I have seen people overthinking this several times already in the last couple of months and I'm not sure why.

 

The idle power consumption diff between a 9400 and 8700K is 5W.

5W -> 0.005kW -> 0.005 kWh / hour -> 0.12 kWh / day -> 43.8 kWh/year

  • US average electricity price is $0.12 / kWh * 43.8 kWh / year = $5.26/year
  • UK average electricity price is £0.15 / kWh * 43.8 kWh / year = £6.57/year

If those annual amounts are a concern to you, you have bigger problems to deal with e.g. food and water!

Edited by testdasi
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They are both 65W TDP. Where are you getting the 5W difference from? And never mind the 5W, 6 threads vs 12 threads... doesn't it substantially increase power draw in standard use for the latter? Win 10 VM will be used sporadically - Plex media server and standard storage is main purpose for the rig.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I finally built my first unraid rig.

Many thanks @testdasi recommending 8700 instead of 9400 CPU. This cpu is absolute beast and i think an overkill for my needs but works absolutely beautiful;) Interesting enough under normal/idle usage (15 dockers, 1 plex direct stream) it drains 40-60 watts - which is quite satisfying;)

 

My full components list:

CPU: Intel i7 8700 (used)

RAM: 2x8gb 2600 Crucial CL19

Cooler: ARCTIC FREEZER 34 (poor choice for the below MB)

Cache disk: 1TB ssd p1 crucial nvme (used)

MB: ASUS ROG STRIX H370-I gaming (sold to me as return, so got a great deal on this one alone)

Case: Fractal 304 Node (btw, would not go again with that case in future - too small box for comfortable fitting of all the pieces of hw)

PSU: be quiet! System Power 9 400W 80+ Bronze

 

Array made of 4x*8TB shucked MyBooks - 3 for data, 1 for parity, plus above cache.

 

Because I wanted to save on some dough of the components where practical, I was able to get the above gear for around $750 US not including hdds and unraid licence of course. Which is quite sweet for the sheer performance I'm getting from it.

 

And come to think that about 2 months ago when I was considering getting my first NAS solution I was living in the world of considering Synology 418play. This is like $550 'toy' comparing to what I have now with not much. Thankfully somewhere along the line I discovered that you can have synology system installed on any bare metal machine using Xpenology, which back then sounded like a solution more suited for my needs where I wouldn't be limited by outdated and performance crippled hardware which you find in consumer grade synology boxes. Then by accident I discovered unraid and I knew from the beginning this is solution for my needs. Started to read more and more about the platform ended up in unraid in vm on my macbook;). Vm was fine for testing all my needs and experiencing pros and cons. Spaceinvaderone's videos were paramount in helping understanding many configuration issues and answering rookie's questions.

Got my hardware delivered week ago, now I have finished with transferring all the data from other machines and getting day by day with another docker configuration. So far I have finished plex, unifi and torrent clients. Sonarr/radarr and nextcloud are nrxt in line. Love the unraid experience so far and am glad to join the community;)

 

 

Edited by Januszmirek
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Some tips on building with the Node 304 case:

  • You will notice the cable tying points on the upper frame portion. Use cable ties / zip ties and make large loops on those tying points (instead of typing the cable onto them). Then you use those as routing "holes" to route cables above the motherboard and cooler around the cage. Also work as storage space for those extra long cables that you may have, just loop them around these holes.
  • You can run power cables in between the HDD cages and the PSU if you need things to go the other way.
  • Of course, the usual under-the-motherboard technique still works. Depending your PSU, you can even go under the PSU. And don't forget the space between the drive cages.
  • If you ever need 2.5" SSD, use velcro to stick it anywhere instead of needing to use the drive cage (to save the space for 3.5" HDD)
    • If you want a more secured mount, you can also screw SSD to the outsides of the the left and right cages (i.e. not the middle one as there isn't enough space). May want to put electrical tape on top of the screw heads if they come into contact with the HDD electrical.
  • Tower coolers are a terrible idea with the 304.
    • You can use the included Intel cooler. It's janky but it's good enough in most cases.
    • For a quiet and still low profile cooler, I loved the Noctua NH-L9x65.

 

 

 

 

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