[PatrickVogeli]

Hi there!

I should be getting some extra money in the next month or 2 (yay!) and, surprisingly, my girlfriend has suggested getting a server! Why? Well, some time ago she said I should download her Desperates Housewifes and I refused saying I didn't have that much space avaible... turns out I made the correct decision

I was thinking of building a 7 to 9 disks machine, which should be plenty of space for some years. I hope finding a case which, out of the box, could hold 8 disks without any adapters. Anyway, the case is not my primary concert, but the rest of the Hardware is. I think I've decided going the Unraid way.

Until now, I've seen the following:

CPU: AMD Sempron 145
Mobo: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3. 6 Sata ports, AM3+ support, integrated graphics, gigabit ethernet.. what else could I need?
RAM: Crucial 2x1GB. I prefer having 2 sticks. Should I maybe get 2x2GB from Kingston?
Power supply: Corsair 600CX 600W. It seems it should work fine with Unraid and quite a few drives, any expert here?

So, would the core of the system be Ok? Anything you'd change, why? Any suggestions are welcome! Oh, I'm in Europe (Germany), so some things may not be as easy to get as in the states, or be way more expensive, so keep that in mind.

Case: still looking, suggestions welcome! I don't need a too fancy case, since I'll be most likely hiden somewhere. To be honest, spending 100€ on a case is on the expensive side.. I'd like to keep it under 60€, if possible. I don't mind the hot plug and stuff like that.. I hope getting the drives in and forget about the server for a while..

Hard drives: no idea here. What should I get? What not? Of course I'd prefer green drives and I'll probably getting started with 2 3TB drives (one parity, one storage). Then I'll start transfering data from my 2TB USB HDDs to the server and, once it's full, mount one of the 2TB and so on. At the end I should end with a maching with 2 3TB drives (1 storage, 1 parity) and 3 2TB one (all storage). I may consider getting a cache drive (500GB is OK?) If it's worth...

Oh, the machine will be used with Sabnzb, but I don't really care if a repaid + extract is done in an hour or in 10, as long as the server can stream while that happens. The sempron still ok?

Thanks to everybody! Looking forward to your suggestions

[Harro]

How about this case?

Thinking the 600 psu is too much for your needs how about this Power supply

I use a 7200/320 gig hd for my cache drive and have my mover script run once a day at 4 in the morning. I have never filled it yet.

[Driver 944]

You could consider this -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157301

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...s-Desktops

The board has 8 sata ports and you can upgrade the processor later if you desire.
I'm no expert, but from what I've read, the G530 uses the same amount of power and it is a dual core for more horsepower for when / if needed.

[aptalca]

As for hard drives, get different brands, models. Green drives (5400rpm) would be much better. Unraid would never really push those drives to their top speeds anyway except for during the preclear. The reason for different models is because if all of your drives are from the same batch, there is a much higher chance that two or more drives will fail around the same time, which might lead to loss of data.

For the cpu, I would recommend the celeron as well. I am using a sempron 145 in mine, but I unlocked it to dual core because I decided (later on) to have virtualbox and airvideo (transcoding) running on there as well and they are cpu intensive. When I built my server almost a year ago, the sempron was the best option in terms of price and power consumption, but I believe the celeron now have better value as they cost just a little bit more, use about the same power, but pack a much bigger punch.

[Beer40oz]

That is what I been hearing too... to go intel for an unraid server.

Either a G530 or a G540 cpu would do....

I have a Sempron 145 and had no problems.

I guess it all depends on preference too.... AMD or INTEL....

For a PSU Antec NEO ECO is trusted for unRAID...

[PatrickVogeli]

Hi there,

Thanks for all the comments

About the NZXT case, it actually looks quite good, I'll have to see if I could get one of those in Europe. The Rosewill PSU is a no go, getting that one in Europe won't be easy!

About the Processor.. yeah, I saw the Intel G530 too, however, it's rated at 65W, while the Sempron is at 45W. I guess if the Intel route is better, a Celeron G465 would be a great option too, rated at 35W. Yeah, I know that the Max. Power Ratings aren't everything, but it's a good starting point on where to look. I doubt I need a dual core CPU, but it may help with all the sab, although I don't really use it that much.

About the Neo Eco PSU... thanks for the advise! They are a bit pricier I see, but I guess it's nearly the most important part and worth the investing, I'll consider that one

[PatrickVogeli]

Hi there!

So it seems that I am ready to pull the trigger to my build. I still haven't decided which software I'll be using, but I'm leaning towards trying Snapraid. Anyway, I'm quite set on the following:

B75 Pro3-M: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B75%20Pro3-M/ Somebody has it running with Unraid, so I should be fine, right?
Intel Celeron G530
2 x 2GB Trascend DDR3-1333

The case I'm still looking arount, the Xigmatek Asgard 381 looks fine though.If you know of some case up to 50€ which is available in europe with lots of HDD slots.. let me know!

The problem I have is deciding which Powersupply I should get. The Corsair CX500 (500W) and CX600 (600W) both have a single rail for 12V. Which one should I get? The maximum will be 12 Drives. I know they may not be the best power supply around, but if you had to choose between these 2, will I be fine?

So, that's it! I hope you can throw in some light! I want to have ordered all parts by tomorrow!

[noggin]

Make sure that any hardware you go for is confirmed to be working in the unRAID forums or hardware wiki. Because unRAID is an OS with all the drivers 'baked in' - you need to ensure you buy stuff that is confirmed to work.

I have a Sempron build for my main Media Server and an HP Proliant Microserver (which was very cheap) as my Recorded TV server - both runnin unRAID (14TB and 8TB of storage respectively)

[PatrickVogeli]

Well, I think I'm ready to pull the trigger:

Corsair PSU:
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.p...ic=17927.0

Mobo:
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.p...ic=22739.0
http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.p...#msg198996

So I'll order the parts

[wsume99]

I think you'll be very happy with the hardware you have chosen. IMO - if you are building a new server the G530 is much better than the Sempron 145 both in terms of power use and raw compute power.

[PatrickVogeli]

Well, actually I ended going with a Celeron G540, as it was cheaper than the 530. Also I got the CX500 PSU, which will be enough for the drives and planning to use.