Proposed Build Advice

I'm just getting bit by the bug to retire my multipurpose desktop to a full esxi build.  I'd like to get some advice on the build although most of the stuff I've taken directly from other posts.

Components: Some of these items are out of stock at newegg but using the links for reference.  I'm still shopping for the best prices. 

CPU: Intel Xeon Quad-Core E3-1240V2 3.4GHz 5.0GT/s 8MB LGA1155 Processor, Retail BX80637E31240V2?

Motherboard: Supermicro DDR3 1600 LGA 1155 Server Motherboard X9SCM-IIF-O

RAM: Kingston Technology ValueRAM 32GB Kit (4 x 8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 ECC CL11 DIMM with TS Intel Desktop Memory KVR16E11K4/32I

Controller: IBM ServeRAID M1015 46M0831

SAS Expander: Intel RAID Twenty-four port Expander Card RES2SV240

Case: Norco RPC-4224 4U Server Case or SuperMicro SC846TQ-R900B (view thread)

PSU: Corsair Professional Series  HX 750 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold (HX750)

Datastore Drives: Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series  256 GB MZ-7PD256BW and Seagate 4 TB 64MB Cache ST4000DM000

USB Flash: 8GB Kingston (spare parts)

Fans: Noctua NF-P12 Fan 3-Pack and 2 x Enermax Fan Uc-8Eb Enlobal

Parity Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB  ST2000DM001

Data Drives: 20 x Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500423AS 500GB 7200 RPM (spare parts)

Cache Drive: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB

Hypervisor: esxi 5.1

Guest OS: Win 7 (SageTV), Win 7 or Linux (Sab, sb, mysql, etc), unRAID,

Guest OS (testing or playing): Win 8, Mac OS Mountain Lion, Linux

Questions:

1.  I'm on the waiting list for the supermicro deal and received a reply they should have more in 3 weeks.  I'm leaning towards waiting to get the SuperMicro case and modding it instead of going with the Norco 4224.  It seems like a better deal and cheaper in the end. 

2.  Datastore drive - is one 256GB SSD good enough to run 2 moderately active OSs? 

3.  Cables - what cables will I need?  I'm not familiar with the m1015 to SAS expander, so do I need a certain type of cable?

4.  I am planning on using a bunch of 2.5" laptop drives until I can slowly replace them over time or at once if there is a decent enough sale.  I was planning on going with RED drives at some point. 

Thanks for your help. 

Jeff

I just finished building a couple of ESXi servers for customers that are/were very similar to the parts you have listed.

If it were me I would:

1.  Try this ram: https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=D38GE1333H, it should end up being cheaper and I know it works in the board you have picked.

2. Go with the Norco Case

3. Get and ARC-1213 and 4 of these. Put them in a RAID5 in the top row of the norco case and use that as your datastore.

4. Why only a 2TB drive for Parity?  Go with at least a 3TB drive so you don't have to switch it out as soon.

5. The WD black... not worth the price

6. The sas expander will come with some cables.  But which cable you will ultimately need will depend on your case.  If the norco some of these will likely be needed. Or if there are SATA ports on the back instead of SAS connectors then some of these in different lengths form monoprice.

jdc => Have you started this build?    Please post your progress from time-time, as I'm very interested in doing almost the exact same thing later this summer 

Also, are you going to pass-through a video card and use the same system as your primary desktop?

...the cables you need to connect the M1015 and the expander are the same sort of  what you will need to connect to the backplanes....straight SFF-8087 cables

The ones that come with the expander are VERY short...only good to connect the M1015 when sitting right next each other.

Connecting one port of the M1015 to the expander will leave you with 5 Ports (or 20 disks) to connect to the case backplanes.

The 6th backplane, you can connect directly to the second port of the M1015....put the parity drive on this and any SSDs you plan

to employ, because this will be potentially faster than the path via the expander.

Make sure to check the expander FW as well, see: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25412.msg221179#msg221179