SFF Unraid - Separating XBMC from server

I've finally taken the plunge after putting this off for years!!

The purpose is to have an unRAID box capable of running SAB/SB/CP and Plex Media Server. I have an Acer Revo 1600 running XBMC Live that I've been using for many years now and it plays everything I throw at it quite well. The Revo has always had 2 external USB drives hooked up to it, holding my media. No redundancy! Luckily never had a drive failure.

Thanks to eskro's helpful threads (on the XBMC forums), I settled on creating a SFF unraid box similar to his guide.

updated 10/4/2012
[CASE] LIAN LI PC-Q25B Mini-ITX ($120 + $10)
[MOBO+iGPU] ZOTAC GF6100-E-E AM3 nForce 430 MCP Mini-ITX ($50 + $0)
[CPU]AMD Sempron 130 2.6GHz Single-Core AM3 45W ($30 + $0)
[RAM]Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) KVR800D2N6/2G ($32 + $0)
[MOBO] Asus P8H77 LGA 1155 Intel H77 Mini-ITX ($99 + $0)
[CPU] Intel Ivy Bridge i3-3220T Dual Core Intel HD Graphics 2500 LGA 1155 35W ($129 + $0)
[RAM] Kingston HyperX 2x2GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) KHX1600C9D3K2/4GX ($29 + $0)
[PSU] Corsair Builder Series CX430 V2 430W 80Plus certified ATX12V ($25 after rebate + $0)
[SATA Card] Silicon Image SIL3132 ($12 + $2)
[unRAID] Plus License 5.0-beta14 ($69 + $0)
TOTAL: $481

[HDDs]
2TB Seagate ST2000DL003
2TB Hitachi 5k3000
2TB WD Green WD20EARS
2TB Hitachi 5k3000 Parity
120GB OCZ Vertex II Cache
=5.44TB capacity

I picked the Lian Li Q25B case because it has a SATA backplane. Additionally for the coolness factor. In my teenage years, I built a couple Shuttle-based SFF computers so I'm used to working with little space! I'll outline this thread as I complete the build. I'd love to hear feedback, as well!

Completed pictures:

I hate to rain on your parade but that MB is probably the last one I would have chosen to use. Here is what the unraid hardware guide says about nforce 4 series chipsets/SATA controllers ...

Quote:nVidia nForce series 5 or above (nForce4 or below NOT recommended, except Asus A8N-SLI)

I don't have one and I didn't search the unraid forums for feedback from users who do but that comment alone would be enough to make me stay away from this MB. You may not encounter any problems but I would have invested a few extra bucks to get an AMD chipset.

Also I would have just kicked in the extra few bucks for 4GB of RAM since you are planning on running SAB/SB/CP. It may not make a huge difference but again why not just upgrade now for a few extra $ and save yourself any future headaches?

There are just my thoughts on what I would do if it were my server. Others may disagree but I would hate to spend $300 building a new server only to find out that because I tried to save an extra $10-20 I now have some performance (RAM) or stability (MB) issue.

Thanks for the feedback! I did run across that tidbit of info on the unraid hardware guide.

I figured if Eskro is recommending it, then it should be fine. But everyone is fallible...

There is a thread on the unraid forums that seems to support it.
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.p...0.msg70942

Sticking with the AMD CPU I purchased, is there another compatible mini-ITX board that you'd recommend? Again, thanks for the feedback!

2GB is okay for SB/CP/SAbnzbd... Been running for months and months with 2GB

If you're planning on running a vm, definitely go with 4GB

I am running a single xp(512MB ram) machine and virtualbox is using a total of a little over 1GB ram

aptalca Wrote:If you're planning on running a vm, definitely go with 4GB

As stated, I'm just going to run unraid with the SAB/SB/CP plugin (and probably Plex Media Server too).

I'd be very interested in how setting up SAB/SB goes. I too am running unRAId and have SAB/SB running on my desktop as well as an SQL server for my XBMC machines. I'd LOVE to get SAB/SB moved elsewhere so your experience setting this up will be of keen interest to me. Likewise I'd like to move the SQL server, I have two unRAID so maybe a split between the two would be smart :-) I don't think I have more than 2gig in either machine but if I do this I might upgrade. There's plenty of add-ons for unRAID these days and with no swap it doesn't hurt to pile on the memory - especially at the prices it goes for these days!

Will you be posting your experiences as you go along setting this up?

BLKMGK Wrote:Will you be posting your experiences as you go along setting this up?

Absolutely!

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to run SAB/SB/CP then you will want to install those apps onto a HDD that is not part of the array. It is possible to install them onto a data drive that is part of the array but you'll be stressing the array for no good reason. A lot of people install them onto a cache drive but that requires a paid license. Another method is to have a non-array drive in the server just for these apps. This can be done with the free version. I have a 2.5" drive in my server that I use as a non-array drive and I've loaded SAB/SB onto it. The drive will stay spun up as long as the apps are running which is why I'm using a laptop HDD. There are unmenu packages that pretty much automate the installation for 4.7 and plug-ins for 5.0 and beyond which do the same. It is very simple to get things up and running. If you search the unraid forums you'll find lots of guides stepping you through it.

I like running it on the cache... I have nothing else on the cache, so next time I have a HD failure I can just reassign the cache drive to the dead disk's place and rebuild it right away...