6 Drive Box - Review for me please.

Alright.  Well, while I wait for the Jetway board (maybe I'll wait who knows), I need to pull the trigger on a box so I can have some redundancy (currently at 4.2 GB's of movies, pictures, some mp3's with absolutely no redundancy -- NOT good).

Working this build went through a few changes, at first I went with what you're going to see.  Then I saw the 5K3000 drives were $79.99 after instant savings, BUT -- before you go trying to get one while 5 of them were in my cart, Newegg bounced the price up to $89.99 (yes, I had a few choice words for them...went for a smoke...came back, double checked, still $89.99, accepted it and reverted back to the EARS).  So, no 6Gb drive system for me I suppose.

This is pretty much following Raj's build, albeit, I was able to get it cheaper (by $7 -- and it includes a USB header), not sure where anymore after the 5K3000 debacle, but, yeah.  Please review this for me to ensure I'm not missing anything.  The sooner the better I suppose, seeing that Newegg likes to make me scratch my head for 20 minutes trying to figure out how my cart magically added $50.

Case: Rosewill R101-P-BK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147112

PS: Corsair CX430

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017

Mobo: ASUS M4A78LT-M (NOT the LE -- hopefully I'll be successful in unlocking the other core if not eh well)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131672

CPU: Sempron 140 (no surprise there I suppose)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103698

Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 1333 Dual Channel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134637

Bays: Norco SS-500 (5 in 3) Hot Swappable

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133030

Drives: WD20EARS 2TB (blah blah blah, you all know these by now I'm sure)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514

Cables: BYTECC 20" Straight-Straight Locking (anyone know if these will be problematic in the SS-500?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270328

USB Adapter: Header to Type A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815201028

Fan: 120mm for Front of Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200048

Note: Two SATAII cables are included with the mobo, they are black.  I would like to color code my data drives with the red ones linked above. Then I have a new WD20EARS still in it's ESD bag that I'll be using as a Parity drive (which will be installed in one of the internal 3.5" bays) which will use one of the black cables that come with the mobo.  So red = data, black = parity.  I'm getting big ones just because, never know when they'll get transplanted and would rather have usable lengths in the case that I need them.

$722.32 is what it is right now with 5 drives, hot swappable.  So, assuming I didn't have the 2TB "donor" drive, 8TB.   $90.28 per redundant TB.  Price subject to change (as I well found out).

*Edit:  If all looks well to everyone, I'll use this thread to serve as the actual "build" thread to ensure it follows the guidelines.

I also have a similar, but older 6 drive build. My only suggestion is switching out the power supply. I've read many mixed reviews about the one you mentioned. I actually just swapped out my Antec TruePower 2.0 550 Watt supply for an Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D. Since my idle power is so low, I wanted to drop my max wattage... since you get the best efficiency between 20%-90% load. Anyway, I suggest the EA-430D over the Corsair CX430 and it's pretty much the same price.

I've built several servers with the Corsair 430W and never had a problem with it.  Also, it has a single +12V rail instead of the Antec's dual +12V rail, and it comes with a power cord (which all EarthWatts PSUs do not).  For a 6 drive build the single vs dual rails won't matter much, but the Corsair gives you more expandability later if you ever decide to upgrade.

I do recommend against the Asus motherboard you've chosen.  Read here to see why.  In short, it is very picky about which USB flash drives it will boot from, and it seems to be incompatible with the AOC-SASLP-MV8 card (again, limiting your future expandability).  Instead, I recommend the Biostar A760G M2+ (available on eBay and at chipsdigitalPC, the later being my preferred vendor).

As for RAM, I would suggest a single 2 GB stick as again it offers you more future expandability options.  This is the RAM I use with the Biostar board:

Kingston 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N6/2G

While the locking SATA cables will work with the Norco drive cage, there's really no reason to spend the extra money on them as the locking mechanism won't actually latch to the drive cage or the motherboard.  Also, Monoprice is cheaper.

I personally don't think the 120mm fan is needed as the drive cage has its own 80mm fan.  Certainly won't hurt anything, though.

Crap, where were you 12 hours ago when I placed the order?

Ok, I ordered two of the Biostar's from the eBay seller (I didn't catch that the other place was preferred until later).  As it stands it looks like I'll already be getting the Newegg order before the mobo's from the eBay guy.  Hopefully they will arrive before this weekend, otherwise, it's going to be a long rainy cold weekend indeed..

Crud, the DDR3 I ordered won't do me any good either.. bleh.  Newegg is gonna LOVE me, hammering on their preferred card.. well, atleast for the next 6 months while I pay the balance to $0.. then they'll be mad that they didn't earn interest off me.

It sure feels fun though!  Slowly but surely working towards the $15k limit.. you guys are DANGEROUS and I'm sure my wife would not get along with you guys AT ALL. ;p

On that note. I suppose I'll have to treat her to her favorite prime steak restaurant as well as let her go a little nuts at Gymboree.. otherwise my purchases are nowhere near justified. <grin>

Slowly but surely working towards the $15k limit..

$15k will build you one heck of an UnRaid box... it could probably beat you at Jeopardy too!

Crap, where were you 12 hours ago when I placed the order?

 

Ok, I ordered two of the Biostar's from the eBay seller (I didn't catch that the other place was preferred until later).  As it stands it looks like I'll already be getting the Newegg order before the mobo's from the eBay guy.  Hopefully they will arrive before this weekend, otherwise, it's going to be a long rainy cold weekend indeed..

 

Crud, the DDR3 I ordered won't do me any good either.. bleh.  Newegg is gonna LOVE me, hammering on their preferred card.. well, atleast for the next 6 months while I pay the balance to $0.. then they'll be mad that they didn't earn interest off me.

 

It sure feels fun though!  Slowly but surely working towards the $15k limit.. you guys are DANGEROUS and I'm sure my wife would not get along with you guys AT ALL. ;p

 

Sorry I arrived late.  Don't feel obligated to keep the Asus mobo and DDR3 RAM...Newegg has a fantastic return policy.  Also, why did you buy two of the biostar boards?

Slowly but surely working towards the $15k limit..

 

$15k will build you one heck of an UnRaid box... it could probably beat you at Jeopardy too!

LOL.  It had better come with one hell of a warranty... and it may as well come complete with a divorce decree too.

Sorry I arrived late.  Don't feel obligated to keep the Asus mobo and DDR3 RAM...Newegg has a fantastic return policy.  Also, why did you buy two of the biostar boards?

I really don't know -what- I was thinking when I bought two.  In a slight panic (as I really want to get this thing built before or during this weekend - it's to be horrible weather and being stuck inside with nothing to do is just boring) I grabbed two.

Eh worst case scenario I'll either hold onto it just in case I decide to build another 15 drive (as this original one will likely grow into) or can serve as a spare --- ooor, worse yet really, if one of them is DOA I'll have the other to fallback onto just to get -something- built.

^^ Up there.. that's me being optimistic.

LOL:

You can't report your own post to the moderator, that doesn't make sense!

Well then, in that case, please close this failure of an attempt of me getting a build going please.  I would recommend that NO ONE follow this build as I have it laid out.  Unraid take two about to be posted in a new thread.  Sigh.

LOL:

 

You can't report your own post to the moderator, that doesn't make sense!

 

Well then, in that case, please close this failure of an attempt of me getting a build going please.  I would recommend that NO ONE follow this build as I have it laid out.  Unraid take two about to be posted in a new thread.  Sigh.

 

If you would like this thread removed I can do that for you.

Since it appears you can't "report" your own posts just send a PM to the mods and one of us will get to it.