Advice Needed on First Build

This is my first unraid build, and i need some advice as far as choosing the components

this is waht i have so far:

MOBO: ECS A880GM-M7 (V2.0) AM3 AMD 880G Micro ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135278

CPU: AMD Sempron 145 Sargas http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103888

CASE: Fractal Design Core 3000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352010

PSU: Corsair CX430 v2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394

or should i go with this one:

CPU: Intel Pentium G620 Sandy Bridge http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116399

MOBO: Biostar TP67B+ http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356578

CASE: Fractal Design Core 3000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352010

PSU: Corsair CX430 v2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394

Wich one should i choose since they will be the same price?

Thanks in Advance

You know on ebay there are people selling mobo, cpu and cpu cooler as a combo package for cheaper than you can get them on newegg.  That's why I did for my first unRaid set up.

I bought the mobo, dual core amd cpu, and cooler for $100 shipped brand new.

This is what I got:

NEW AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor

NEW Biostar A760G M2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

NEW Thermaltake Copper AMD RX K8 CPU Cooler + Masscool Thermal Grease

I would got with which ever of the two mobo has the most sata ports.

do you think that the intel cpu would be better?

I did a similar build and my goal was low power so I selected the AMD Sempron 145 and I'm very happy with that decision.

I would think about what you plan to use the unRAID sever for and decide if the Intel is worth the extra 20W, if you care about the power.

On my system I am running SABnzbd, SickBeard, PyTivo & Streambaby and the AMD handles it all without issue.  I don't do transcoding on the unRAID except what is done by pyTivo or Streambaby when necessary so I don't know how well or if it could handle that, I just haven't had the time to test it.

I only have 4x2TB drives now and with them all spinning, Kill A Watt shows 66W.

This is my setup:

CPU: AMD Sempron 145

MOBO: ASRock 880GM-LE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157292

RAM: 2GB Kingston ValueRAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134812

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-430CXV2

CASE: AZZA Helios 910 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517007

HDD: 2xWD 2TB EARX, Hitachi 2TB 5K3000, Seagate 2TB ST32000542AS

HDD CAGE: KingWin KF-4001-BK - http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-Multi-Bay-Internal-Drives-KF-4001-BK/dp/B0042U4DKC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330544043&sr=8-1

Greg

I think intel has better Power performance ratio... And will consume less at idle and have the extra Power when need it

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Greg,

right now i'm only planning on using this for storage.

i have a computer and wd tv live and use that for my movies and tv shows.

still not sure which one to go with intel or amd.

should i go with the intel since its the same price and probably better on the long run?

I think intel has better Power performance ratio... And will consume less at idle and have the extra Power when need it

 

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naxiand is correct - most or all Intel i3's have better power consumption than a Sempron 145 in most scenario's, iirc, especially when idling.

...decide if the Intel is worth the extra 20W, if you care about the power

walnuthead - you may be misunderstanding the TDP rating of cpu's.  A cpu with a TDP of 65w, such as an I3 does not necessarily draw more power than a cpu of 45w, such as a Semperon 145.  The TDP relates better to the max draw when the processor is at full load and is not an indicator of pure power consumption.  I'm far from an expert, so do not take my description of TDP as gospel or anything close to it.

Intel SB really idle "well", even the I5's and I7's idle very close to the same as the I3.  When it comes to power consumption, an I5-2500k would serve unRaid well... not that I'd recommend it for many other reasons. 

Thx JRS

i think i'll go with the intel cpu.

is that motherboard ok for unraid?

paticao - I'm not a fan of that biostar board mostly because it looks like you'd have to add a video card (which takes up one of its few slots) and would negate its primary plus which is its cost and add to your power consumption.

Normally I would say go intel these days, but I'll agree that is not the best mobo in this case.

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...decide if the Intel is worth the extra 20W, if you care about the power

 

walnuthead - you may be misunderstanding the TDP rating of cpu's.  A cpu with a TDP of 65w, such as an I3 does not necessarily draw more power than a cpu of 45w, such as a Semperon 145.  The TDP relates better to the max draw when the processor is at full load and is not an indicator of pure power consumption.  I'm far from an expert, so do not take my description of TDP as gospel or anything close to it.

I understand, this is why I included the Kill-A-Watt reading to show what my power consumption actually is.  My configuration is very close to what was being considered and with 4 drives, this is the power consumption I'm seeing.  The rated TDP of the Intel G620 is 20w higher, that is the info I had and what I stated.

If there is anyone with a similarly configured unRAID server with the Intel G620, it would be interesting to see the differences between these two CPUs.  If anyone is interested I can check the power consumption during some different activities/configurations, like booting, streaming video, no drives attached, no additional apps running, etc.

Greg

i'll go with the intel but now i'll have to find a new mobo.

Thanks everyone for your help

My Intel E6300 dual core HTPC draws 38W at idle. A 2T WD Green drive draws 5.3W when reading and writing. So, in theory, I could connect 4 of these drives to my HTPC and the power draw would be about 60W while reading or writing. I would certainly hope the newer Sandybridge stuff can do even better.

Peter

Just my 2 cents: Kind of an unfair comparison putting a single core and dual core together. Plus unless I'm mistaken, unRAID only utilizes one core, some apps you install could make use of the second core but 90% of the time only one would be used.

I have the Sempron and the ECS 880 motherboard, and both have done exceptionally well. Last night I was streaming a HD movie while sabnzbd was downloading a tv show and running a parity check. Although I don't have exact numbers as to how much power it took or CPU utilization, I can say I never noticed a stutter in the movie, and of course no buffering.

Also I might add that the 880 works well with V5b14. Rajahal has confirmed the onboard NIC doesn't work well with V4.7.