NAS Build

[lcdguy]

I am looking at building a NAS server for housing my movies. I won't be building it right away since i am no longer employed as of mid nov. But here are parts i have decided on.

areca arc-1220 - 502.16
Compucase RA455A00 - 151.19
Corsair TX750 - 99.99
Asus P5Q Pro Turbo - 149.99
Intel E7400 - 143.98
DDRII 2GB - 0.00 (i have this from an old build)
Kingwin KF-4000-BK - 164.26
XFX GeForce 8400GS - 44.99

The total cost of the build minus the HDD is around 1300-1400. This will give me a rackmountable 8 drive raid array nas. I am planning on populating it with 8 1TB WD Green. in a either a Raid 5 or Raid 10 i haven't decided yet. if raid 10 maybe by the time i get the cash to build it i can afford 2TB drives. It will probably be running either some form of linux/debian or a nas specific os.

[Shadowmeph]

I have always wondered about NAS builds , do they need allot of power? what I mean is couldn't you just get away with a cpu like Intel 2140 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo and 1 gb ram and a low power psu with a smaller case like a COOLER MASTER Elite 330 ? I am not that familiar with NAS builds but always thought that it wouldn't need allot of power but then again I am new to NAS, which is why I ask these questions

[lowfat]

that arc-1220 is way too much money. You don't need to spend so much on a CPU, as the RAID card does all the storage calculations. So the only thing that the CPU really does is handle network traffic. Buy the cheapest cpu/mobo you can find that has gigabit ethernet. You most definitely do not need a 750W PSU. With 17 HDD's my server didn't pull more than 300W. You also don't even need a dedicated graphics card. You don't even need a monitor hooked up to it once you get the array setup. Just use VNC to remote in to it when you need to do any changes.

Now for the RAID card. Since your network will be the bottleneck no matter what you are using there is no point in spending a ton on a RAID card. IMO try to find a used Perc 5/i on ebay for ~$100. And as long as you buy an nvidia-based chipset (which I would definitely suggest when using a Perc 5/i), they are amazing cards for the money. You can use other boards, but be prepared to spend more time getting them to work. All of this will save you like $600 for zero performance drop. Enough for you to buy bigger HDDs

Also the Kingwin KF-4000-BK are nice, but I had a lot of problems w/ the connectors when using the 3ware SFF-8087 cables. They would never sit all that well on them. Although the person I sold them to has had zero issues w/ the PERC 5/i he is using them with.

[CMetaphor]

lowfat = unbeatable storage guru. anyone else think there should be special ranks for pros of his caliber?

[Shadowmeph]

Originally Posted by lowfat

that arc-1220 is way too much money. You don't need to spend so much on a CPU, as the RAID card does all the storage calculations. So the only thing that the CPU really does is handle network traffic. Buy the cheapest cpu/mobo you can find that has gigabit ethernet. You most definitely do not need a 750W PSU. With 17 HDD's my server didn't pull more than 300W. You also don't even need a dedicated graphics card. You don't even need a monitor hooked up to it once you get the array setup. Just use VNC to remote in to it when you need to do any changes.

Now for the RAID card. Since your network will be the bottleneck no matter what you are using there is no point in spending a ton on a RAID card. IMO try to find a used Perc 5/i on ebay for ~$100. And as long as you buy an nvidia-based chipset (which I would definitely suggest when using a Perc 5/i), they are amazing cards for the money. You can use other boards, but be prepared to spend more time getting them to work. All of this will save you like $600 for zero performance drop. Enough for you to buy bigger HDDs

Also the Kingwin KF-4000-BK are nice, but I had a lot of problems w/ the connectors when using the 3ware SFF-8087 cables. They would never sit all that well on them. Although the person I sold them to has had zero issues w/ the PERC 5/i he is using them with.

wow that one post alone with Googles help I learned allot hehe just goes to show what I don't know that is the type of setup I would love to have.

[lcdguy]

anyway. Thanks for the input. I guess i was being over zealous on this. The reason i went with that case is i want a rack mountable solution. And other than spending around 1k on a rack mount case with a sas expander i can't any other solutions. On the video card front. The issue is i don't have a spare video card. The only card i have is my 4890xt. (which i will need for gaming while the array builds). since the card i chose was only 44 bucks i thought it would be handy to have. and yes i agree on vnc or ssh as the remote client of choice. Now is this perc5/i a sata raid card with atleast 8 ports or is it scsi. Also i am assuming perc is short for what brand. Finally is this card a pci-e or pci-x. If it's latter i have heard that putting in a 64bit pci-x slot into a 32bit pci bus has a tendenacy to tax the system. Any other solutions or replacement parts you can suggest would be greatly appretiated.

[lowfat]

Perc 5/i is a Dell card. It is exactly the same as the LSI MegaRAID SAS 8480E. 8 port. PCIe. SAS (SFF-8484 to 4x SATA cables can be had for like $10).IOP333. Which is the same IOP as the ARC-1220.

PERC 5/i RAID Card: Tips and Benchmarks - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Great thread about it here.

[lcdguy]

ok so i looked up the perc5/i it looks promising. You may have save me $400 bucks :). Here is the revised list of parts.

ASUS M2N68-AM SE2 - 63.99
Perc5/i - $138 flea bay
AMD Athlon 64 LE-1660 - 57.39
2GB G.skill DDR 2 - Already own
Compucase RA455A00 - 151.19
XFX Geforce 8400GS - 44.99
Kingwin KF-4000-BK - 164.26
Data Cables for Raid Card any ideas where to get them.
Corsair VX550W PSU - 114.99

New total - $735 plus 959 for the HDD.

Better ?

[lowfat]

19.69" | 50cm Supermicro SAS to SATA Cable with Sideband For HDD, SFF-8484, Black, SAS Data Transfer Cable (CBL-0175L-01) in Canada - Fast Shipping 1.866.800.8060 or ebay for the cables.

Build seems a lot more reasonable.

[lcdguy]

ok, now that that's settled. onto the job search.