Unraid Nas (do over)
#1
If you would have to build a new unraid box today , would you choose to go Intel or AMD?

Planning on a 15-16 drive box that will be somewhat upgradeable (hardware wise) to 20-24 drive, so my so my thoughts are go with an intel but the amd seems to be quite alot cheaper. Probably will be running most of the common apps on the server (Sick,couch,plex, mysql etc,) so have been pricing the dual core intel and amd cpus. I already am running a 10 drive amd unraid and have been well pleased with it for running 24/7 over a year.
Now I need more space and have 15-2TB green drives sitting here with a CM 590 case. My thoughts would be to start with this and as the price of 3 & 4 TB drives drop to swap the greens out when I need more space.

Intel List
Motherboard
Add On Controllor card x2
Hotswap drive rack X3
PSU
CPU went with the new i3 for less power consumption.
Memory x2 thought what the hell might as well go for all 16 gigs of it to future proof.
Cost = $1014.90

AMD List
Motherboard
Add in Controllor cards x 2
Hot Swap drive rack x 3
PSU
CPU
Memory
Cost = $768.91

Any thought on which would server better over the long run?
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#2
I would use an Intel G530 if I were building a server today. The i3 is way overkill for unraid IMO. Your two builds are not even in the same league. The MB & CPUs are way far apart in terms of price & capability. It's not really a fair comparison.
HTPC: Win 7 Home 64-bit | MB | CPU | GPU | RAM | Case | PSU | Tuner | HDDs: OS, Media | DVD Burner | Remote
Media server: unraid 4.7 | CPU | MB | RAM | Case | PSU | HDDs: Parity-2TB, Data-2x2TB
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#3
Overkill but nice intel setup. Change for the "T" model of the cpu just as overkill but less power consuming Smile
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#4
(2012-10-20, 14:35)wsume99 Wrote: I would use an Intel G530 if I were building a server today. The i3 is way overkill for unraid IMO. Your two builds are not even in the same league. The MB & CPUs are way far apart in terms of price & capability. It's not really a fair comparison.

I understand the big differance but AMD seems to offer way more options for a lower cost build compared to an intel board. So even if I went with a g530 I save less than $100 on the build and I get a up to date 55 watt cpu. If I ever decide to transcode to multiple clients on the fly the extra hp would help. If the 2 builds are not in the same league, what would be, given that my whole goal would be to eventually lead to a 24 drive server without changing any hardware except maybe a bigger PSU, adding a new case and adding more drives.
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#5
How about using this MB: ASRock H77 Pro4-M
It has 8 SATA ports on-board so you'd only need to get 2 8-port SATA expansion cards to reach 24 drives.

As far as the CPU goes I still say why not go with the G530 or G540? Both are more powerful and cheaper than the Athlon CPU you were considering on the AMD build and while the IVB chips are slightly more efficient I don't think it's worth the extra $$$ to get one now (at least not in this case). I mean realistically we are only talking (at most) a few watts less power use. If there was an IVB equivalent to the G530 then I'd say go for it but right now there isn't. I've seen posts on here where a G530 was used in a server and streaming to 6 clients at the same time. A G530/G540 can be had for ~$40 if you shop around. If you want to step it up for more power go for a G850. Also if you start with a G530/540 you can easily upgrade in the future and you won't be out that much if you find it to be a little underpowered.
HTPC: Win 7 Home 64-bit | MB | CPU | GPU | RAM | Case | PSU | Tuner | HDDs: OS, Media | DVD Burner | Remote
Media server: unraid 4.7 | CPU | MB | RAM | Case | PSU | HDDs: Parity-2TB, Data-2x2TB
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#6
Okay, sort of in your boat except I went a little crazy :-)

I have two Intel servers now but they don't support 3tb drives. After much head scratching I decided to go AMD to upgrade them. $60 mobo and $60 CPU is hard to argue with! I bought 2x HAF 912 and 2x psu as well to turn old parts into holiday gifts, I had spare memory around. Total bill for cases, psu, mobo, CPU, was like $500. Great right?

Well, I kept reading and ended up deciding to go a different way. For starters, I've purchased a Norco 4U case with 24 hot swap bays. NewEgg sent me a 15% off coupon that I posted in the unRAID forums. Case is normally $399 with $35 shipping so the discount was decent. Do the math compared to your case and bays and I think you'll see the value! This is a serious case meant for this kind of usage.

I picked up 3x M1015 SAS cards on eBay, cost shipped was about the same as your proposed cards. I believe these are faster and are supported by ESX and other NAS solutions.

ESX is where you and I may differ. I bought a Tyan mobo that was over $200 and a Xeon SB CPU for a bit over $200, IVB is poorly supported in this application :-( Memory kicked my ass for a bit over $300 but it's ECC crap for Xeon. FWIW you could do this on an i7 (not a K!), I have an ESX compatible board that works for that but Xeon is how I'm doing this build.

ESX is virtualization software. I'll be using vt-D pass thru to give 2x of the M1015 direct access to a VM running unRAID for 16 drives. The last 8 drives goto running VMs and I have 6x SATA ports in the mobo. I'll be able to run multiple virtual machines while unRAID does it's thing, SAB, Sick, Couch, MySQL, OSX, and whatever else I want to tinker with will be in there.

Yeah, this isn't at your budget point but some of what I did like the adapter cards and the case could be done. You could also run ESX on an i7 2600 if you wanted to try it or just run unRAID alone on whatever you want, this case rocks! It apparently also has room for additional drives internally but I've not yet tried fitting them, I powered my case and CPU just last night..

Check out the Atlas build in the unRAID forums to get an idea as to how this all works. Also, when I powered up the Norco last night I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of noise! They must have changed fans along the production run, with the cover on I think I could even keep it in my office and not mind but YMMV. It's nowhere near as loud as I'd been warned but I'll still put it in a closet.

Hope that gives you some ideas. Not sure it answers your Intel vs AMD but if I weren't going big, collapsing 2x servers into one, and doing VM, I'd be going AMD due to cost. SAB and Sick would be fine on AMD, just maybe a little slower but it's all background so does it matter?

Heh sorry about the novel ;-)
Openelec Gotham, MCE remote(s), Intel i3 NUC, DVDs fed from unRAID cataloged by DVD Profiler. HD-DVD encoded with Handbrake to x.264. Yamaha receiver(s)
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#7
(2012-10-20, 16:33)wsume99 Wrote: How about using this MB: ASRock H77 Pro4-M
It has 8 SATA ports on-board so you'd only need to get 2 8-port SATA expansion cards to reach 24 drives.

As far as the CPU goes I still say why not go with the G530 or G540? Both are more powerful than the Athlon CPU you were considering on the AMD build and while the IVB chips are slightly more efficient I don't think it's worth the extra $$$ to get one now (at least not in this case). I mean realistically we are only talking (at most) a few watts less power use. If there was an IVB equivalent to the G530 then I'd say go for it but right now there isn't. I've seen posts on here where a G530 was used in a server and streaming to 6 clients at the same time. A G530/G540 can be had for ~$40 if you shop around. If you want to step it up for more power go for a G850. Also if you start with a G530/540 you can easily upgrade in the future and you won't be out that much if you find it to be a little underpowered.

I have not seen a motherboard with 8 ports... wow.
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#8
(2012-10-20, 16:33)wsume99 Wrote: How about using this MB: ASRock H77 Pro4-M
It has 8 SATA ports on-board so you'd only need to get 2 8-port SATA expansion cards to reach 24 drives.
I have decided on trying this board along with the g530. Only drawback that I can see is the Realtek 8111E nic which I believe has problem with the Unraid 4.7 but seems to be ok with the new release candiate. Since I will want to go with larger drives in the future I will be loading the release candiate on it anyway. Hoping all works out.

(2012-10-20, 17:43)BLKMGK Wrote: Well, I kept reading and ended up deciding to go a different way. For starters, I've purchased a Norco 4U case with 24 hot swap bays. NewEgg sent me a 15% off coupon that I posted in the unRAID forums. Case is normally $399 with $35 shipping so the discount was decent. Do the math compared to your case and bays and I think you'll see the value! This is a serious case meant for this kind of usage.

I have read the post over at LimeTech and find it quite interesting, but I am not at that point just yet. For right now I just need extra storage. I have seriously thought of the Norco case but that will have to wait until I have my office remodeled so I can have a decent spot for a rack mount. But the time will come and I am afraid that it will arrive all to soon, until then I'll build from my CM590 case.

Thanks to all!!
The added input made me feel more comfortable with what I am ordering.
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#9
Just an update, I have finished building my new unraid server and am in the process of pre clearing the drives. So far so good.Image

Parts list.
MB Asrock H77 Pro4-M 89.99
Norco SS-500 Hot Swap Rack Moduke 3 x ($89.99) $269.97
Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 PCI Express x4 2 x ($109.99) $219.98
Rosewell 550 Certified Modular PSU 1 x ($84.99)
Kingston 16 GB (4x4GB) 240 DDR3 SDRAM Memory 1 x ($69.99)
Intel Celeron G530 1 x ($48.99)
Western Digital 3 TB For Parity 1 x ($179.99)
Western Digital 320 GB 7200 RPM for Cache 1 x ($64.99)
I had the Cooler Master 590 Case.
Cooling is taken care of by the 3-80 Norco fans and 2-140 fans on the top and a 120 fan in the rear. All side vents have been sealed.
So far running preclear all temps seem good.

Image

Yes I made another hard drive bay so I could keep all the hot swappables open for newer 3 TB drives when I get to full. All total will have 18 drives.
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#10
Harro nice! you must have a lot of data!

It's great to see that the Realtek 8111E NIC is working and most-likely you are using version 5.0-rc8a.
I need to upgrade from 4.7 to that version so I can start using 3TB Hd's...

Cool stuff...
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#11
(2012-11-04, 11:36)Beer40oz Wrote: Harro nice! you must have a lot of data!
It's great to see that the Realtek 8111E NIC is working and most-likely you are using version 5.0-rc8a.
I need to upgrade from 4.7 to that version so I can start using 3TB Hd's...

Thanks Beer.
I do have another 6 drive unraid running with 4.7 on it but as you say I wanted the 3 and larger drive ability. So yes I am running the 5.0-rc8a version. My current unraid server has less than 700 gigs available. With 5 computers backing up daily along with my growing media collection, I needed more space fast.

My main goal was to keep all the Norco Hot swap drive available for upgrading to a 3 TD drive without taking my case apart again.
So I put the 3 TB parity along with the 320 cache drive and a loose 2TB drive I had in the inside.

I read on the LimeTech forums that the parity really should be running off the M/B SATA header. So the 3TB Red drive is connected to the SATA3_0 and the 320 GB Cache to the SATA3_1 on the M/B. The lone 2TB drive in the case is on the last plug of the PCI raid controller card.

Once everything is done I will have 32TB of storage with 3TB parity and 320 cache. If I ever fill that. I can replace all the 2 TB with 3's and have 47TB without opening the case.(leaving the lone 2TB in case)

And I still have 6 open SATA slots on the motherboard yet. LOL
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#12
(2012-11-04, 11:36)Beer40oz Wrote: Harro nice! you must have a lot of data!

It's great to see that the Realtek 8111E NIC is working and most-likely you are using version 5.0-rc8a.
I need to upgrade from 4.7 to that version so I can start using 3TB Hd's...

Cool stuff...


Very cool Harro!

Beer: I just upgraded from 4.7 to 5.0-rc8a since I had a 3TB I wanted to add.
All went smoothly! The only scary part (which is described in the upgrade directions) was when all was done,...my existing network connections to the unRaid shares, would not work.
The upgrade guide explains that you need to run soemthign which assigns new permissions to all shares.

So, existing connections, will need to be disconnected, and then re-established.
I'm in the process of adding a 2TB (which was my Parity) in, replacing a 256G drive.
When done, I add that 256G as my Cache drive which currently is a 120G drive.

I really like the new interface!!

Try it, you'll like it.

(2012-10-20, 21:56)Beer40oz Wrote: I have not seen a motherboard with 8 ports... wow.

I was thinking the same thing.

The only thing is this board states that: Supported only by CPU with integrated graphic
Guess you just have to be careful, since you wouldn't want to add a graphics card.
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#13
Heads up on Norco (specifically the 4224) and 3TB drives. Looks like this guy went to lengths to discover that some 3TB drives draw too much amperage for the backplane and causes magic smoke and loss of data:

http://wsyntax.com/cs/killer-norco-case/
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#14
(2012-11-04, 16:16)ixnu Wrote: Heads up on Norco (specifically the 4224) and 3TB drives. Looks like this guy went to lengths to discover that some 3TB drives draw too much amperage for the backplane and causes magic smoke and loss of data:

http://wsyntax.com/cs/killer-norco-case/

Thanks I will do some research on that once I get to the point of using a Norco case and upgrading to 3TB drives.
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#15
Just an update on the server.
I have all the slots filled now with 2TB drives, with temps running between 28-32c. Cache drive temps running up to 37c. Have Sick, Couch, SAB and Plex Media server all running without a hiccup. I am really loving it and posted some pics of the final webui along with the settings webui.

Final Pic.
Image


Settings Pic.
Image
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Unraid Nas (do over)1