Hardware for a new unRAID box

[glenner]

I've been spec'ing out hardware for a new unRAID box. So far, I've come up with this:

1. Fractal Design Define R5 case (regular midtower takes 8 internal drives. ideally I could find a box that has 8 hot swappable drives from the front, but can't easily find something like that).
2. Intel i7-7700 @ 3.6GHz CPU
3. ASUS PRIME B250M-C/CSM Socket 1151 Intel B250 Chipset MB
4. 32GB RAM
5. 2 x 256GB M.2 PCI.E SSD (for redundant cache pool)
6. Corsair AX760 PSU (750W)
7. 2 x 4TB WD Red (new drives) + 6 x 2TB Seagate Barracudas (my old drives)
8. SYBA SATA III 4 Internal 6Gbps Ports PCI-e Controller Card (SI-PEX40064) - MB only support 6 SATA connection. This adds 4 more.

Does this sound about right? This is likely overkill in some areas... but not sure I care. I'd rather have a bit too much under the hood, then find out later I don't have enough.

Box will run unRAID /w SageTV9, Plex, Logitech Media Server, misc apps, and 1-2 Win VMs in dockers.

Any thoughts or anything I'm missing or should do differently?

[Fuzzy]

Check the MB Manual. Sometimes using the M.2 slots will eliminate a bunch of the onboard SATA ports (they might share the same PCIe lanes, so it's one or the other).

[wayner]

The power supply is definitely overkill. If you don't have a discrete graphics card there is no need for a power supply above 500W or even 350W. Your CPU uses (max) 150W including motherboard, RAM, etc. Hard drives use no more than 12W each. SSDs use a couple of watts or so. That doesn't even add up to 300W.

You don't mention if you have already bought any of these components but you would be better off with a full ATX rather than a mATX. For example the B-250 Plus has two M.2 SATA ports on the mobo and one of them supports up to 32Gbps.

[glenner]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Check the MB Manual. Sometimes using the M.2 slots will eliminate a bunch of the onboard SATA ports (they might share the same PCIe lanes, so it's one or the other).

Originally Posted by wayner

The power supply is definitely overkill. If you don't have a discrete graphics card there is no need for a power supply above 500W or even 350W. Your CPU uses (max) 150W including motherboard, RAM, etc. Hard drives use no more than 12W each. SSDs use a couple of watts or so. That doesn't even add up to 300W.

You don't mention if you have already bought any of these components but you would be better off with a full ATX rather than a mATX. For example the B-250 Plus has two M.2 SATA ports on the mobo and one of them supports up to 32Gbps.

Thanks for the feedback. I did go into the store and look at some MB manuals. Sounds like you can setup the M.2 in either SATA or PCIe mode... if you use PCIe you get the faster speed, and it does not consume a SATA port. That's what I'm told, at least on this ASUS Pro board I'm getting... I wonder if most folks who have unRAID are using M.2s and losing SATA ports? Or are they just using regular SATA SSDs for the cache?

I did go full ATX (ASUS PRIME H270-PRO Socket 1151 ATX). Thanks.

I also watered down the PSU to 650W, though the thing with these is the price difference does not change much if you downgrade the wattage a bit. These Corsairs power down the fan when the PSU is running at low load, so it helps in my mind if you overkill a bit here (with noise, MTBF, etc...)? I've updated my specs as below and now ordered these parts... Though I can still make changes if needed:

1. Fractal Design Define R5 case (regular midtower takes 8 internal drives. ideally I could find a box that has 8 hot swappable drives from the front, but can't easily find something like that).
2. Intel i7-7700 @ 3.6GHz CPU
3. ASUS PRIME H270-PRO Socket 1151 ATX
4. 2 x Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2 PCI.E SSD (redundant cache pool)
5. Corsair RM650x 80Plus Gold PSU (650W)
6. 2 x 4TB WD Red (new drives) + 6 x 2TB Seagate Barracudas (my old drives)
7. SYBA SATA III 4 Internal 6Gbps Ports PCI-e Controller Card (SI-PEX40064) - MB only supports 6 SATA connection. This adds 4 more for a total of 10.

[Fuzzy]

you don't 'setup' the M.2 slots to be either PCIe or SATA. That's dependent on what card you stick in it. If it's a PCIe card, it connects to the M.2 slot as PCIe. If it's a SATA card, it connects as SATA. I know my gigabyte board had a table in it that showed what SATA ports would be disabled by populated each slot with either SATA, PCIe x1, or PCIe x4. If your board doesn't, then it may have enough PCIe lanes to handle it all and it won't be a problem. With it being a smaller board, with fewer actual slots than my full-ATX board, it wouldn't surprise me - just thought I'd bring up the possible issue before it surprised you.