New to unRAID - Could use advice

Intro

In the last 6 months, I have set up my first SABnzbd, Couchpotato, Sickbeard, and Plex server.  Right now, I am running everything on my non-backed up gaming rig.  Now that I know how it all works, I'm ready to find a NAS solution.  My friend at work recommended unRAID and after reading through these forums, I am leaning this way.

Here's my proposed build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XbjLf7

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XbjLf7/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($114.97 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock B85M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($56.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($72.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Corsair Force LX Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Green 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($146.06 @ B&H)

Storage: Western Digital Green 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($146.06 @ B&H)

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($74.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $782.03

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-11 22:01 EST-0500

Primary Uses:  SABnzbd, Plex (No more than 3 simultaneous transcodes), Couchpotato, Sickbeard.  It'll be running 24/7 (I hope )

Budget:  Not looking to spend more than $900 on these parts (CPU, Mobo, PSU, 2 HD, 1 SSD, Case, and RAM).  If I'm going overkill on anything in particular, let me know so I can save some $$$

My thought process behind these parts

CPU = It has a fairly high passmark score and other users seem to have good experience with it for similar use cases

Mobo = It has 6 SATA ports, cheap.  I think another unRAID user said there weren't any major issues...

Memory = I've had good luck with Corsair memory in the past, 8 GB seems like a good number

Storage = I'll be buying whatever seems to be cheapest here.  I do want at least 1 SSD to serve as the cache, I will only be buying whatever is the cheapest 4 TB drives for this new build (I have two 1 TB drives around the house that I'll be adding to the array).  There are some people that praise one brand over another, but I just don't see exactly why.

Case = I like the small form factor, another forum post praised the case design

PSU = Again, another forum post praised this one.  45 Amps on the +12V rail seems like more than enough for expanding the HD array in the future.

I also need to buy a unRAID Pro license and pick up a new flash drive.  After I get things set up, I'll look to buy a battery backup surge protector with USB connectivity to keep it safe from the occasional power outage.

Initially, I'll probably stick with the stable unRAID release, but in the future it sounds like Docker is the way of the future with version 6.  Never used it before, but once the devs settle on a final release I'll be glad to figure it out!  Probably won't venture into the virtualization realm anytime soon...

I will be pulling the trigger on parts over Black Friday through Cyber Monday, so I still have a few weeks to ponder on various parts.  Thoughts, comments, suggestions?  I appreciate all the help. 

Hi, some minor feedback -

The Intel Core i3-4130 is fine for transcoding a single 1080p stream, but a little light if you want to transcode more than one stream.  It looks like your media players require transcoding so you might want to upgrade to a 4360 for two streams, or an i5/i7 if you really want multiple.

There's a decent argument to be made for Red drives due to the longer warranty, but people here have used Green drives successfully.

The SSD drive is probably fine for applications but a little small if you want to use it as a cache drive and move large amounts of data.  Consider 250GB if it's cheap.

That motherboard has 4 SATA ports so as some point you will need an additional sata controller.  You have the x16 slot so you should be fine.  I think you'll find a general preference for Intel over Realtek LAN chips here, though I'm using a Realtek without problems.

You might want to consider a board and processor that support ECC memory.  Not a requirement, but worth thinking about for an always on server.

Good luck with your build.

Thanks tdallen,  I will keep my eyes open for an i5, the Red drives, and a larger SSD when I am about to buy.  I found a different motherboard that has 6 SATA ports (ASRock Z97M Anniversary) that is reasonably priced.

I'm not sure about the ECC memory.  I'll have to pick a new processor, mobo, and RAM all of which will be more expensive.  Is there anything that you recommend? It seems like if I make that decision, I'm going to be spending at least another $100 - $200 on the CPU/Mobo/RAM

Here's what I've come up with. I bit over your budget, but if you have a Microcenter near you, it'll bring the price down within range. Honestly, there's no reason to use a SSD for cache in my experience with UnRaid. I have all the apps that you want to use and since the cache drive will remain spun up, there's no reason not to use a HDD.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/84K9yc

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  is on sale at newegg for 69 free shipping and there is 15$ off 50 using gogle wallet and android newegg mobile app.

Fred, I like the 1 TB HDD cache drive idea.  I have an extra 1 TB drive that I was thinking about just adding to the array, but I might just pick up another if I see one on sale. Why did you pick an i7 unlocked processor?  That seems overkill for this application.

Tritron, thanks!  I actually picked up that case earlier this week and its sitting on my dining room table right now    Can't wait to put this thing together

Fred, I like the 1 TB HDD cache drive idea.  I have an extra 1 TB drive that I was thinking about just adding to the array, but I might just pick up another if I see one on sale. Why did you pick an i7 unlocked processor?  That seems overkill for this application.

 

Tritron, thanks!  I actually picked up that case earlier this week and its sitting on my dining room table right now    Can't wait to put this thing together

Ah, I missed where you said plex was only going to run 3 streams max. I went with the i7 mainly because where I am, I have a microcenter and the i7 is only 50 bucks more than what I paid for my i5. I now see that the price of the i5 has dropped as well. You can then save more money and go with an i5.

Right now, I'm using a 6600k and just with SABnzb, NZBdrone, and Couchpotato running, it's averaging about 50 -70% utilization and you throw a plex stream in and it overheats and cuts off. LMAO Without those apps actually running, it can stream about 2 1080p streams but gets super hot and risks cutting off.

I plan on upgrading to a i7 first of the year.

Right now, I'm using a 6600k and just with SABnzb, NZBdrone, and Couchpotato running, it's averaging about 50 -70% utilization and you throw a plex stream in and it overheats and cuts off. LMAO Without those apps actually running, it can stream about 2 1080p streams but gets super hot and risks cutting off.

 

I plan on upgrading to a i7 first of the year.

Reseat your heatsink/fan combination. it should not overheat and shutoff.

Reseat your heatsink/fan combination. it should not overheat and shutoff.

+1

Right now, I'm using a 6600k and just with SABnzb, NZBdrone, and Couchpotato running, it's averaging about 50 -70% utilization and you throw a plex stream in and it overheats and cuts off. LMAO Without those apps actually running, it can stream about 2 1080p streams but gets super hot and risks cutting off.

 

I plan on upgrading to a i7 first of the year.

 

Reseat your heatsink/fan combination. it should not overheat and shutoff.

Already tried that, I have it in a corner inside of a Lian-Li Q25B amd hardly any air flow since I have the supermicro controller in there and a million of cables. I have 7 drives in there and the drive by the psu and cpu/motherboard goes up to about 42c whenever I'm writing to it. The CPU runs at about 50%-70% without a plex stream, when someone streams from outside of the house, it shoots up to about 98% and after about 20 minutes it overheats and cuts off. I can't tell you what the cpu temp is because the AMD APUs have an issue when it comes to systems trying to pull heat temps.

Have you checked the BIOS for fan settings? It might be on "quiet" mode, while you could try it on "performance" mode?

Have you checked the BIOS for fan settings? It might be on "quiet" mode, while you could try it on "performance" mode?

I don't want to hi-jack his thread...but it is definitely not on "quiet" mode. When The processor hits 70%-100%, it sounds like a blower in my room.

Well there is better deal on the case http://www.ebay.com/itm/Norco-4U-Rackmount-Server-Case-w-24-Hot-Swappable-SATA-SAS-Drive-Bays-RPC-4224-/380766987389?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item58a77b247d

There were server case for sale on ebay on 24 bays for 180$ I just dont get the need for hot swap able drives