[BLKMGK]

@BLKMGK - agreed on the CPU, but it is the cheapest Xeon you can buy and it does ECC. I had planned to move my i3-540 to handle ECC, but ended up going with a diff Supermicro mobo that uses another socket. Also, I spent a lot of time and effort getting this build up to this point since first toe into FreeBSD. Virtualization might be something to consider down the road, but about the only reason I keep a Windows VM now is for AnyDVD + EMM.

@blueprint - I will definitely build a dedicated rack in the next house. This FreeBSD build could also be headless outside of initial setup too since I've done all the config and management over ssh once the USB key was unplugged.

Thanks both for you feedback, comments - enjoy the weekend.

Given a choice between an i3 and the Xeon I think you made the right choice although I'm not sure I'd have done it just for ECC. I too have spent a ton of time on my setup so I know what you mean. I like being able to setup stuff to play with and tear it down easily with no impact, it's very nice. FWIW I didn't do it for Windows and only have one Windows VM on it, the other 5 are various flavors or Linux including a Usenet Indexer and an appliance for SAB/Sick/etc., MYSQL, FreeNAS, blah blah. Eventually I'll spin up OSX to play with too. You have hardware enough to run plenty if you choose to do so and it's a nice way to setup and play with OS or software you want to get familiar with. As for going headless - did that Mobo come with IPMI by chance? I know some of the server oriented SuperMicro boards do and my Tyan did as well. IPMI is a dedicated NIC for remote management and allows for a server to be most anywhere while giving you access to the console as if you were there. You also get all sorts of sensor data and can power cycle the machine at will. BIOS screens etc. are also accessible so long as the machine has power - the software to access this is Java.

I swore I'd never have a rack in my home but I can certainly see some utility in it now - Craigslist is full of used ones BTW. My machine is sitting on a dedicated fixture now and will be setup for easier access one of these days. For now it's out of sight and sound so my office is waaaay quieter than it was with multiple NAS and other servers running!

Anyway, you chose wisely with the hardware and it looks good. One thing you might want to look into is the supposed issues with Norco backplanes killing HDD. There's a lengthy thread on the unRAID forums about it and elsewhere. Thus far I'm fine and run a decent number of 3TB drives without issue. I think these cases are great personally...