New Build - Please review my parts list


Equilibrium

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Hello,

 

I have been following unRAID's progression for a few years, but I never got around to building my array. It's been a year since I've last viewed the forum so I might be out of the loop. I I will be using the server mainly to stream my DVD and Blu-ray collection to my Home Theater PC, but later on I might assign it other tasks.  I've picked out a few parts to use in my server and I would like a second opinion on my choices. I know that the parts are compatible with each other, but I would like to know if they're good choices for unRAID. One question I have is about the processor. Would you recommend a single or dual core CPU? I'm not sure if unRAID can utilize both cores or not; or whether running multiple services would benefit from the second core. Would I be better off getting a faster single core CPU? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Phase 1 - Basic Setup

 

 

Total = $394.60

 

Phase 2 - Completion

 

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I would swap the motherboard for abit AB9 PRO

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127004

 

Then later on you can add 2 internal 5 port multipliers which wil use the PCIe bus instead of the PCI cards.

You can still go with the promise cards later if you want to. I just can't see using PCI cards when you have PCIe slots available.

 

As nice as that Lian-Li case is, take a peek at the CoolerMaster Centurion 590.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152

 

That and a couple well placed fans will do good.

 

I actually like the coolmax power supply because you can set the fan to a higher speed manually.

I had one in a case that was not ventilated so well and it really helped (until it died.. then I bought another).

 

I'm not sure if unRAID can utilize both cores or not; or whether running multiple services would benefit from the second core. Would I be better off getting a faster single core CPU? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Right now the unRAID kernel does not support SMP, but in the future it may.

If you are concerned about power, the conroe-L is a good choice and will save in electricty. 35W vs 65W.

If you want to insure you can handle more tasks in the future go for the dual core.

 

I have a 2.6 duo core 2 and with cpufreq I run it at 1.6ghz without a problem.

I may end up going with a conroe-l just to save some electricity.

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Thanks for the response! I think you're right about the motherboard, I'll edit my list.

 

Could you give me a link/example of a 5 port multiplier? I picked the promise card just because I read it was compatible with unRAID, but if a PCI express card is better then I'd like to go with that.

 

That CoolerMaster is indeed a nice case, I'll definitely consider it.

 

Power consumption isn't my main concern with regards to the processor. Price/performance was mainly what I was shooting for. I guess I'll look for a faster single core chip. Would a Intel Celeron 440 Conroe-L 2.0GHz be a better choice? Do you know if that Celeron would outperform a single core on the E2160?

 

So you're running with one of the cores disabled/unused?

 

Right now I don't really have any other CPU intensive tasks to run, other than the unRAID OS itself.

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Right now I don't really have any other CPU intensive tasks to run, other than the unRAID OS itself.

unRAID is not a heavy user of CPU.  Most of the time, the cpu is nearly idle.  The biggest bottleneck is bus I/O to the disks and to the network. (and the reason why getting disk i/o off of the pci bus is a good thing)
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I'm considering the use of this http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/ad5sapm.asp when I need to move forward with upgrading.

 

I;ve tested an external port multiplier case and so far ir has proven to work.

I have not gone any further yet.

 

As far as CPU, I was considering the contro-L 2.0 ghz simply because of the lower power usage.

I won a 2.6 ghz duo core 2 for a steal so I'm using that for now.

 

I'm considering the migration of other services to the unRAID server later on when SMP is available so for me it may come handy.

 

The cost of the dual core allendale and the conroe-L are about the same, so purchase according to your needs.

A faster celeron then the conroe-l 2.0 ghz will not buy you much. So either go for the allendale or the conroe-l.

 

You can still use the promise pci cards in the abit ab9 pro. You may be able to get away without using PCI cards and the port multipliers in the future. we'll have to see what the future brings.

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Wouldn't a port multiplier cause a bottleneck when more than one of the external disks are accesed ??  A parity sync comes to mind.... ???

 

I'm sure there would be "some" performance penalty, but compare 5 drives on a PCIe Port Multiplier vs 4 drives on a PCI controller.

Also consider that a single drive's true maximum throughput is around 70~80mb/s.

 

The current PCI standard allows for a 32-bit bus that has a maximum throughput of 133MB/s.

This 133MB/s of bandwidth must be shared between ALL of the PCI peripherals.

 

A single 1x card slot has the possible bandwidth of 250MB/s (per lane), higher than the current shared PCI bus.

The 16x slot has the possible bandwidth of 8GB/s in both directions or 4GB/s in one direction.

 

I know with my 2 drive eSata port multiplier box, I did not see a degradation in parity sync speed in JBOD mode with 2 drives.

I have not tried 5 drives yet.

 

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Since the Abit AB9Pro has those two PCIE 1X slots, I was thinking of just plunking in a pair of $20 Rosewill SiI 3132 2 port controllers...

 

???

 

That's what I would do.

Only thing is... which card, Some of them (SIL based boards) have a raid bios and it says JBOD mode, Which is contiguous across multiple drives. (I.E. like spanning).

Unless unRAID only see's them as individual drives.

They do have another card based on the Jmicron chipset.

 

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Thank you all for the replies!

 

After reading the reviews on the two CPUs and not coming up with any definitive answer as to which would preform better (a single core on the E2160 or the Conroe-L), I guess I'll stick with the Intel Pentium E2160 1.8GHz Allendale processor in hopes of future SMP usage. I'm also still torn on which case is better suited, the Lain-Li or the Coolermaster. (the Lain-Li just looks soo nice! ...even if it's being kept in the closet) For now I'll just use a spare case I have lying around until I can decide.

 

I like those 2-port Rosewill RC-211 pci-e controllers. I might buy some of those later down the road.

 

 

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From what I've read, you re-flash the card with the bios from the SiL website and it gives you individual drives.... I'll soon know as I ordewred two... I'll be sure to post back  ;D

 

Hey Jim, any news on this? I'm considering the purchase of cards for the i-ramdisk I just purchased.

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Hey Jim, any news on this?

 

They (2) just arrived today... I also hedged my bet and ordered an Adaptec PCIE 4x 4port Raid card....  :o 

 

Flashing the boards was easy once I realised I had to disable the on-board Silicon Image controller...  ;D  I'll try to attach a zip with the BIOS file and Flasher program...

 

Okay, as a baseline I have 6 Seagate 1tb drives, initially all 6 on the ICH8R motherboard controller.... Parity check at the 1% point was about 81 MB/sec.  I moved the last two drives, one on each new card... wow... 87 MB/sec... reflects the reduced load on the ICH8R, and each of the two moved drives had it's own PCIE 1X lane... put both drives on one new controller... ooops  :o down to 66 MB/sec... ouch... two drives on one lane ain't so good!  >:(  Installed the Adaptec in the empty PCIE 16X video card slot (running PCI video).... put both drives on it... 92 MB/sec...  :D  I like it...

 

so......... I'm gonna leave it just like this.... I can put 6 drives on the ICH8R, 4 on the Adaptec, and one on each Rosewill for 12 drives, which goes with my 4 3in2 Kingwins  ;)

 

the other on-board connections will be for the Cache drive and my Slackware boot drive!

 

ciao....

 

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Hi Jim, thanks for the info, Can you post links to the controllers you used?

 

How are you liking the 4 3in2 Kingwins?

Did you remove the fans? I looked into it, it was a bit of a pain, and I decided to go with the I-Star open racks until I really needded the 12 drives.

So with the Kingwins, 12 drives, that should leave a slot open did you block it with tape, put something else there or is it still open?

(maybe you should start another "pimping my rig" thread so we can discuss there in detail).

 

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Hey Jim, any news on this?

 

Okay, as a baseline I have 6 Seagate 1tb drives, initially all 6 on the ICH8R motherboard controller.... Parity check at the 1% point was about 81 MB/sec.  I moved the last two drives, one on each new card... wow... 87 MB/sec... reflects the reduced load on the ICH8R, and each of the two moved drives had it's own PCIE 1X lane... put both drives on one new controller... ooops  :o down to 66 MB/sec... ouch... two drives on one lane ain't so good!  >:(  Installed the Adaptec in the empty PCIE 16X video card slot (running PCI video).... put both drives on it... 92 MB/sec...  :D  I like it...

 

so......... I'm gonna leave it just like this.... I can put 6 drives on the ICH8R, 4 on the Adaptec, and one on each Rosewill for 12 drives, which goes with my 4 3in2 Kingwins  ;)

 

the other on-board connections will be for the Cache drive and my Slackware boot drive! ciao....

 

Great info Jim 8)  Q: For a 16 drive system on an AB9 Pro is this the best setup?: use all 9 internal sata, the 1 external (loop back into case), 4 on an Adaptec in the 16x slot, then 1/ea on Rosewill in the 1x slots?  Or 2/Rosewill or some other config with 2 or 3 on a PM?  Does anyone make a 8 port card that works with unRaid instead of the 4 port Adaptec?

Thanks

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That will work, but for FULL THROUGHPUT, you'' want to use "only" 8 of the onboard ports and the 4 port adaptec gets you to twelve, two Roswell's get's you up to 14... yeah, there are 8 port Raid cards you could use in the 16x slot but they are costly $$$$$$....

 

:)

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That will work, but for FULL THROUGHPUT, you'' want to use "only" 8 of the onboard ports and the 4 port adaptec gets you to twelve, two Roswell's get's you up to 14... yeah, there are 8 port Raid cards you could use in the 16x slot but they are costly $$$$$$....

 

Drop 2 from the onboard?  Are there issues with either the controler for sata8 and 9, or sata7 + esata ? :o

What 8 port cards are supported?  I didn't know unRaid supported any?  I really want a fast parity build  throughput so it might be worth it getting 8 ports using the x16 slot.  I need 16 ports - already have the drives ;D

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Hmm, quick question. If I want to achieve something close to "Full Throughput", how should I connect my hard drives? At the moment I only have 3 disks. Should I connect the parity drive to a different controller than the Intel ICH8R, which is what I have the other two drives connected to? I suppose it doesn't really matter right now. What about in the future when it becomes more populated?

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I have my box set up for 11 data drives and 1 parity drive, plus a cache drive and a "boot" drive for slackware... parity on a Rosewell card in a 1 lane slot... 6 data drives on onboard Intel controller, 4 more data drives on Adaptec 4port 4 lane controller (AAR 1430SA), last data drive on 2nd Rosewell card in a 1 lane slot, Cache drive on onboard jmb controller, boot drive on onboard SIL controller.

 

;D

 

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If you are looking for max throughput (I am) you don't want two drives sharing a single PCIe lane... that's why I use only one channel of the two on the Roswill cards...

 

:D

 

 

So is it ok to use the on-board 10 ports vs 8 in your prev. post?

Along with the 4 using the adaptec + 1/Roswill to get my 16 ports

 

What 8 port cards are supported by unRaid?  (In case I just want to use 8 on-board +8 in the pciex16 slot.

Thanks

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