First Build

I'm new to this and am currently running a terrible backup solution and SMB shares stright on the router. This works but was definetly a temporary solution.

The primary goal is the backup devices on the network as well as stream some video/music, and to have some HDD failure protection.

I guess you can do above on a tighter budget, but I am also interesting in upping the workload in the future if I need additional services.

The main reason I am interested in unraid is to get use of and "merge" External drives I've got lying around to a single location and protect them to some extent.

I want to keep it as far below 1000 USD as possible without it struggling.

I would use at most 6 Drives and the max capacity I would need is 15 -20 TB.

It would be nice to have some flexibility in singel VMs (Windows) and perhaps single stream Plex in the far future.

Applications I would be interested in are DropBox, Transmission, mySQL and some maintanance. Maybe some backup featured apps.

I do have some drives laying around. Some are encased external drives that im planning on taking apart. I will buy at least one new WD RED 4TB.

The additional parts I've been eyeing are:

CPU:

Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015VPX2EO/?tag=pcpapi-20

Motheboard

ASRock Z270M-ITX https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1MOFKZ/?tag=pcpapi-20

Memory

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0123ZCD36/?tag=pcpapi-20

PSU

SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0038T0V8Q/?tag=pcpapi-20

Case

Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352027&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

This is my first build and I'm not sure if there are some other parts I should be considering.

Would appriciate any input on above! 

What is the purpose for the VM? Many people think they need a VM for things like Plex or transmission, with unRAID those can be installed in dockers without the need and overhead of a VM. If that is the case for you, you could drop the system down to just 8GB of RAM, if not, and you are using the VM for something else, then 8GBx2 is a good start.

The Core i3 is probably underpowered for a Windows VM.  While it is 2 cores with hyperthreading you'd be happier with the performance with real cores, I.e. Core i5 or better.  Then again Ashman has you on the right track.  VMs are more expensive to operate than Dockers so maybe Dockers are all you need?  A Core i3 6100 would be fine for unRAID, a Plex stream, and a few Dockers.

I'm in the same boat as you as I have an i3-6100 needing to be used.

I'm leaning toward this ITX motherboard due to it having 8 SATA ports and ECC support:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813599009

When you say max 5 drives are you taking into account Parity and Cache drives?  2 Parity drives, plus 2 cache drives would leave you 4 left for your data.

Let me know what you end up going with for your build.

On 20170220 at 1:06 AM, ashman70 said:

What is the purpose for the VM? Many people think they need a VM for things like Plex or transmission, with unRAID those can be installed in dockers without the need and overhead of a VM. If that is the case for you, you could drop the system down to just 8GB of RAM, if not, and you are using the VM for something else, then 8GBx2 is a good start.

The purpose is to run some windows applications 24/7 that I currently run on a weak Intel ComputeStick.

On 20170220 at 1:35 AM, tdallen said:

The Core i3 is probably underpowered for a Windows VM.

It would still be an upgrade from my current Intel Atom x5 1.44 GHz, that can handle my needs on the Intel ComputeStick (but is struggling)?
Or is this logic flawed as it would have to handle both the unraid + some dockers + this VM?

On 20170220 at 2:29 AM, BradJ said:

When you say max 5 drives are you taking into account Parity and Cache drives?  2 Parity drives, plus 2 cache drives would leave you 4 left for your data.

Well, the case holds 6 drives. Im planning to start with 1 parity drive and 1 cache+VM drive, leaving me with 4 drives. This suits me perfectly.

I would go with at least a quad core i3 or i5 if you can stretch the budget, but that should be sufficient. Anything less than a quad core CPU will not work for a VM.

Big VMs like Windows tend to like dedicated cores under unRAID/KVM.  A Core i3-6100 only has two of them (with hyperthreading).  So you could try the Windows VM with just one CPU and vCPU, or try not pinning CPUs to the VM at all.  But most of the success stories we've heard about involved pinning dedicated CPUs for the VMs - and a 6100 just doesn't give you much to work with.

53 minutes ago, ashman70 said:

I would go with at least a quad core i3 or i5 if you can stretch the budget, but that should be sufficient. Anything less than a quad core CPU will not work for a VM.

9 minutes ago, tdallen said:

Big VMs like Windows tend to like dedicated cores under unRAID/KVM.  A Core i3-6100 only has two of them (with hyperthreading).  So you could try the Windows VM with just one CPU and vCPU, or try not pinning CPUs to the VM at all.  But most of the success stories we've heard about involved pinning dedicated CPUs for the VMs - and a 6100 just doesn't give you much to work with.

Message received. Will look into beefing up the processor and revert. Thanks!

U-turn

Been thinking about this, and seeing that I would only use the VM to replace an already working solution, I will go the other way and only use dockers.

This would push the price down and save me time setting it up.

The new components:

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (same)

Motherboard: ASRock Z270M-ITX (same)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (downgrade)

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case (same)

That's a good solution for unRAID, Plex with 1 stream, and several Dockers.  Over time you may find that the functions you are running in Windows become available as Dockers anyway.

12 hours ago, tdallen said:

Over time you may find that the functions you are running in Windows become available as Dockers anyway.

+1 for sure!  When unRAID was v 4.7 I had the server and a separate 'apps' server. Now I have it all combined into one system (plus Plex Media Server & Plex Media Player). I've been able to reduce 3 systems into 1 without much cost or effort.

I recently did a build using that same case and CPU, using the ASRock C236 mobo. An interesting thing is that the case can take 6 HDDs in the brackets, and has room for SSDs (for cache) on top of that. What I did was to install the SSDs on the outside of the leftmost and rightmost drive brackets - there's enough space between the bracket and side of the case, and there are holes for the screws. Makes for a mess of cables, which I'd like to tidy up some.

I also recommend using a SFX PSU rather than a standard size, and modular too. The case is cozy enough with a Corsair SF450 unit in it, I can't fathom working with a full-size PSU or non-modular cables in there.

had a look at  new kaby pentium g4560?   or the i3 6100T   both with hyper. 

Currently have the 6100T in a family members unraid box and it does fine daily use , havent VM'd librelec yet but will try.

Also i'm about to build a small unraid box for my folks this week  featuring that pentium, budget nas, will experiment with a VM + rx460.

Agree use the SFX psu if you can and get the -L version of silverstones as it has a 120mm fan not 80.   the 80 came on the lower wattage and had alot of noise.

Thanks for the help! took a while but finally got the pieces and got it build:
Ended up going with:

PSU: Small bump up
     Intel - Core i3-7100 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor

Motheboard: as planned
     ASRock - Z270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard

Memory: as planned

     Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory

PSU: thankfully i went with a smaller modular PSU! It sure is a small case.

     Corsair - SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply (with adapter to fit)

On 20170223 at 5:21 AM, bgrantp said:

I also recommend using a SFX PSU

On 20170223 at 0:15 PM, Akio said:

Agree use the SFX psu

Case:

    Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case

Put an assortment of drives in it, and it seems one is dying already. Will look around for answers on that =).