[COMPLETED] Daniel's Home Setup (**UPDATED 14/01/2016**)


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... one other thought:  In case you're looking at the newer Crucial SSD units, you may notice that you can get an even better price with the new BX series.    My bit of advice:  Spend a bit more and go with the MX200.  The BX series has some compromises that make it a bit slower (probably not a big deal) and also has a lifespan that's about 1/4th of that projected for the MX200 [definitely makes it worth spending more for the MX series  :) ].

 

Ta, I did not know that! It appears I can get good deals on the MX Series and will go with that!!

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=>  Agree with your thoughts on modular power supplies ... once you've used one, that's all you'll ever want to use.    I tend to use Corsair HX and AX units or Seasonic X-series units, but the Antec unit you've selected is fine.

 

 

You gave me pause for thought on the PSU. I did some more reading and those Corsiar HX models have excellent write ups and are supposed to be VERY quiet. That along with your recomendation and that my vendor had 10% off PSU's today made me buy this one:

 

http://www.corsair.com/en-au/hxi-series-hx850i-high-performance-atx-power-supply-850-watt-80-plus-platinum-certified-psu-au

 

I went with the 850W mostly to give myself headroom - and with what I am discussing in the Lounge thread about Video Cards and centralising my appliences in VM's etc I felt it safer to spend a little more on a higher powered unit.

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I'm confident you'll be very pleased with that unit => I've used several HX series 750w and 850w units, and have never been disappointed with them.

 

Just picked it up - had to get in today to get my sweet 10% off. Whoa! You can soooo tell the increase in quality over other units just by the packaging!!! I haven't even removed it from the box yet!

 

=>  The CPU you're considering is an excellent choice.  Has plenty of "horsepower" for anything you might want to throw at it; and supports all of Intel's advanced technologies, so there's nothing you might later decide to try that you'll be restricted from by CPU limitations.

 

Decided to pick up my CPU when I went to get the PSU. Rang ahead and they had the E3-1231v3 in stock - when I get there, nope. So they offered me the E3-1241v3 for a mere AUD $15 more (normally AUD $30 more). I figured I would spend AUD $15 in fuel and not to mention time anyway so I just went for it.

 

Just checked and compared them both. the E3-1241 is "slightly" more powerful but I doubt that it will be even close to noticeable. For those who read this thread and are interested, here is the CPUBoss comparison link: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241V3-vs-Intel-Xeon-E3-1231V3

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Never hurts to have just a bit more "horsepower"  :)

 

I agree it's very unlikely you'll be able to tell any difference.  The 1241 scores 10059 on PassMark, compared to 9565 for the 1231 => a 5% bump.    Certainly worth AUD$15  ($12 US) ... but either processor would have been fine.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi

 

Not wishing to put a spanner in the works, but having bought a very similar setup myself recently, you can't physically fit the Caselabs HDD Cage next to the existing hdd's due to the length of the HX850i.

 

Well, you can, but it doesn't sit quite right and is a very tight squeeze. I will have to fix it to one side only using screws

 

This has upset me no end :(

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Hi

 

Not wishing to put a spanner in the works, but having bought a very similar setup myself recently, you can't physically fit the Caselabs HDD Cage next to the existing hdd's due to the length of the HX850i.

 

Well, you can, but it doesn't sit quite right and is a very tight squeeze. I will have to fix it to one side only using screws

 

This has upset me no end :(

 

I'm working on my build notes right now with more comprehensive notes and pictures but hopefully this will help.

 

It's a bit of a squeeze but you can get it to fit. What you need to do is straighten the small metal lip that's curved and bent over on the bottom drive cage. Then it slots in flush and screws in fine.

 

See photo below.

 

image.jpg

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Could you repeat that again? Didn't quite catch that haha

 

I'll have a look at that way of doing it, looks good. Just bought some more 4x sata cables as there aren't enough for my 14 drives;-)

 

It took me a few minutes to figure out what on earth you were talking about. Glad you didn't "quote" that post. Thanks for pointing it out - I have edited and it is "normal" now.

 

If you need any help on your build before I post all my notes etc (I have a task list a mile long at the moment and work has me working out of hours quite a bit this month) then post or pm and ill be glad to help!

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Could you repeat that again? Didn't quite catch that haha

 

I'll have a look at that way of doing it, looks good. Just bought some more 4x sata cables as there aren't enough for my 14 drives;-)

 

It took me a few minutes to figure out what on earth you were talking about. Glad you didn't "quote" that post. Thanks for pointing it out - I have edited and it is "normal" now.

 

If you need any help on your build before I post all my notes etc (I have a task list a mile long at the moment and work has me working out of hours quite a bit this month) then post or pm and ill be glad to help!

 

That's good of you, thanks. I'm going to have a crack at it this weekend and will let you know how it goes

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  • 7 months later...

Well thats it. It's been about a year but I am finally happy with my Setup. The Project I set out to achieve is now officially delivered!!

 

I have updated the top 3 reserved posts of the thread with updated Description (Post #1), Photo's of various stages of the build (Post #2) a Consolidation of the posts, discussions etc over the build, configurations and issues that happened throughout the build (Post #3).

 

Thank you to all of those who have helped throughout the Project and a big shout out to garycase for all the help specifically with the Seagate 8TB drive discussions!

 

It has been a wild ride and moving through to v6 of unRAID has just been awesome! Project Complete!  :)8)

 

Already thinking about the next unRAID related Project!

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  • 1 month later...

I have been following this build.  I need to rebuild my Unraid box, it just can't keep up with the new plugins and additional work I am asking from it, specifically the Emby Server plugin.  I think I am going to go with the MB you used, I love the number of SATA ports on the board.  Did the board work out of the box for Unraid 6?  I thought I had read that the bios had to be flashed to make everything work but I might be mistaken.  I am looking at this board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821  with either Xeon E3-1276 v3 Haswell 3.6GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 84W Server Processor or Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 84W Server Processor.  There is only about a $65 difference between the 2 processors. I plan to re-use the 2 x 8GB memory sticks that I just installed in the old machine in hopes of speeding it up.  Wondering if I will see any significant benefit from the 1276.  I also have a Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 8-Port SAS/SATA Add-on Card in the present box that I would reuse if possible to allow at least 16-17 drives for future expansion (using Norco 500SS cages).  I have been running Unraid for about 5 years but I am still a bit of a NOOB in regard to much of the technical information.  It appears that I will not need a discrete video card if I use this board with either of these processors.  Can anyone confirm?  My goal is to be able to smoothly run Emby Server with Kodi in multiple locations in my house, I have had no luck with MsSQL.  Currently I have Emby Server running but when I try to stream movies to Kodi, my Unraid server crashes, pegging CPU usage at 100%.  I have multiple types of video files, including mp4, mkv, avi I am hoping to be able to run as many different types as possible. I look forward to comments.  Sorry if I high jacked this thread, it seemed like the best place to ask these questions.  Thanks.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Well, I sort of got PO'd doing support posts the other day so I decided to do a bit of tinkering this weekend with the server while all those I know are on shift work! And a good time I have had too.

 

For those who follow this thread, I have made some modifications to my setup of the Main Server which will extend the amount of drives I can get into the Fractal Design R5 to 18.

 

Technically, with currently readily available 8TB drives (with dual parity - as of unRAID 6.2) with my configuration below you could easily have in this case:

 

128TB (16 x data drives + 2 x parity drives) - Dual Parity Protected AND 3 SSD Cache Drives

 

What did I do? Well, when I was in there doing some routine maintenance, it dawned on me that the Caselabs add-on cage:

 

http://www.caselabs-store.com/hdd-cage-assy-standard/

 

I had installed on the bottom of the cage with "already" an extra 4 drives (on top of what the case could naturally handle) "could" be mounted where the exhaust fan for the case was. *Light Bulb*.

 

I had 2 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm taking air into the case (over the standard drive bays) and 1 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm taking air out of the case at the back. Plus 1 x Noctua NF-F12 Taking air into the case over the drives mounted in the Caselabs add-on cage at the bottom of the case.

 

So ... I removed the rear GP14 140mm, flipped the Noctua fan on the Caselabs add-on cage (to now exhaust rather than intake) MEANING:

 

2 x Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 140mm taking air into the case (over the standard drive bays) Plus 1 x Noctua NF-F12 Taking air OUT the case PULLING air from INSIDE the case OVER the drives mounted in the caselabs add-on cage (now at the back) and OUT.

 

Well IT WORKED. The cooling in the case is not only better (this is due to the fact that the Noctua fan - albeit a 120mm NOT a 140mm) as the Noctua 120mm is faster and is exhausting air better than the Fractal Design 140mm BUT the draw of the air (from inside the case) over those drives mounted in the Caselabs add-on cage containing the Noctua 120mm exhaust fan is obviously BETTER than the air it could pull from the bottom of the case. For now I have one less fan running too! **

 

** I did add 2 cable ties to attach the Caselabs add-on cage to the grill on the top of the case. This was a bit of a "just in case" thing because of the weight. Probably didn't need it, but it is invisible as you see (or can't see).

 

IN ADDITION this means I can ALSO mount ANOTHER Caselabs add-on cage with an additional 4 drives (and an additional Noctua 120mm Fan to draw air in from the bottom of the case) as was the original state (as I know it fits) and thus increasing the disk capacity of the case!

 

Have a look at a picture of the before short, the after a shot AND conceptually what it would look like with 2 of these Caseloads add-on cages in it in the future!

 

I LOVE this Fractal Design R5 Case!!! What a purchase it was! Happy Days!

 

BEFORE:

 

IMG_0680.jpg

 

AFTER:

 

IMG_2313_copy.jpg

 

FUTURE:

 

IMG_2313.jpg

 

Well, there it is. A little break for me from surfing the forums for Easter and I stumble on this nice little idea.

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That's a SLICK mod ... "hanging" the cage from the top not only adds 4 drives to the capacity, but it LOOKS really nice  :)

 

The airflow is clearly excellent as well.    I've used the R4 and R5 cases for a couple of builds for friends ... I may very well have to get myself one as well now  :)

 

... although I'd be oh-so-tempted to just load it up -- and buying 18 8TB drives just might get the wife a bit concerned over my sanity  8)

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you for posting all of this, I am now planning to migrate my setup into an R5 with that caselabs bracket.  I am sure this is a stupid question, but how are you powering all of the SATA drives?  I have been using a DS380 with the backplane powered by 2 molex, so I am just wondering how I am going to get 14 (or more!) SATA power connectors.  Are you using some sort of power-splitting cables?

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Thank you for posting all of this, I am now planning to migrate my setup into an R5 with that caselabs bracket.  I am sure this is a stupid question, but how are you powering all of the SATA drives?  I have been using a DS380 with the backplane powered by 2 molex, so I am just wondering how I am going to get 14 (or more!) SATA power connectors.  Are you using some sort of power-splitting cables?

 

In the DS380 (Backup Server) I do the same as you with an SFX modular PSU:

 

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G 450W SFX Form Factor Power Supply - ST45SF-G.

Manufacturer: http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=342

 

In the R5 (Main Server) I use a modular PSU with many power cables:

 

PSU: Corsair HX850i 80 Plus Platinum 850W Power Supply

Manufacturer: http://www.corsair.com/en-au/hxi-series-hx850i-high-performance-atx-power-supply-850-watt-80-plus-platinum-certified-psu-au

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  • 1 year later...

Dear "danioj",

 

I am in the process of assembling a home NAS based on UNRAID.  I have my Supermicro x10SL7-F, Xeon 1241 V3 and 16Gb of Crucial RAM (great minds think alike...), but am confounded as to which motherboard drivers/utilities I should update from Supermicro prior to installing UNRAID.  I'm given to believe UNRAID is Linux-based, but haven't a clue if either or neither the "RedHat" or "SUSE" OS's Supermicro wants me to choose from (the ONLY Linux choices it provides) is appropriate.  I'm guessing I need the correct drivers to run UNRAID (duh!).  Can you recall how you proceeded and share your wisdom with a neophyte who knows nothing of Linux, UNRAID and too many other worthwhile things to mention?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Most sincerely,

 

Bill Walker 

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2 minutes ago, WMW said:

Dear "danioj",

 

I am in the process of assembling a home NAS based on UNRAID.  I have my Supermicro x10SL7-F, Xeon 1241 V3 and 16Gb of Crucial RAM (great minds think alike...), but am confounded as to which motherboard drivers/utilities I should update from Supermicro prior to installing UNRAID.  I'm given to believe UNRAID is Linux-based, but haven't a clue if either or neither the "RedHat" or "SUSE" OS's Supermicro wants me to choose from (the ONLY Linux choices it provides) is appropriate.  I'm guessing I need the correct drivers to run UNRAID (duh!).  Can you recall how you proceeded and share your wisdom with a neophyte who knows nothing of Linux, UNRAID and too many other worthwhile things to mention?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Most sincerely,

 

Bill Walker 

All drivers supported by unRaid are included in unRaid.  (IE: You have to recompile the OS to add any custom drivers of your own).  The only thing you ever really need to do is ensure that your motherboard has the up to date BIOS.

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  • 2 months later...
On 27/03/2016 at 6:21 AM, danioj said:

 

BEFORE:

 

IMG_0680.jpg

AFTER:

 

IMG_2313_copy.jpg

 

FUTURE:

 

IMG_2313.jpg

 

Hi danioj, hoping you can help. I've mounted the hdd cage on the back of the tower, as per your 'after' image, and have fitted a  Noctua NF-F12 fan. The thing is, it's making a lot of noise intermittently, i.e. It sounds like it speeds up and then slows down again??! I have wired it to the motherboard. 

 

Appreciate your help on this

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