2011 based storage server for unRaid

So yeah…

I have run into more and more problems with my Ryzen 1700x based unRaid server and am looking into upgrading to something server based, on the cheap of course. Also, the 1700x can be used elsewhere more effectively to be fair. So I looked at the Anniversary 2.0 and was intrigued immediately. Now, the only things I will probably carry over from my old build are 12HDDs, 4ssds, 2HBMs, 1GPU and a boot usb drive.

I wanted to go rack mount as for one, it’s easier to get a rack case which has lots and lots of drives and I am in the planning of my rack anyways. Sadly, rosewill and norco is not really readily available in europe, so I would go for an Inter-Tech case. I’d prefer it to be 3u preferably but that is more hassle than it’s worth it seems, as the 3U cases are not supporting ATX Power supplies and are limited on available CPU coolers so yeah… And the NH-D9DX i4 3U is not exactly cheap… But the power supply is the bigger issue.

So my build plan:

  • Supermicro X9DRL-IF (could go E-ATX but couldn’t find anything E-ATX which is not EE-ATX for a reasonable price sadly)
  • 2x Intel Xeon E5-2660 V2. (These seem to be a good sweetspot for me price/performance wise)
  • 4x32 GB Samsung RDIMM PC3-14900L (found a good deal, seems to be a good sweetspot also)
  • Inter-Tech case. Either the 4U4416 or the 3U3416. I’m leaning towards the 4U option, as this supports an ATX power supply. 3U would be “sexier” of course but yeah… Loudness should be okay with this, as both have 120mm fans in the front and regulated 60mm in the back which I could exchange with noctuas if they are too loud.

The power supply is unclear. If I’d go for the 4U case something like a Corsair RM750 probably which has always been rock solid for me. I would run two 9211-8i in there which I can connect directly to the backplanes.

Am I missing something? Or is there better/cheaper/more optimized options? It’s really hard nowadays to get the good 2011 motherboards for a good price I think. I have considered going to the 2011-3 platform but while the CPUs itself are also quite cheap, it’s much harder to get a good motherboard for that platform, not to mention the more expensive ram.

Thank you for reading and helping

Interesting as about 18 months ago I upgraded my old AMD FX 4 core, 4 thread unRaid to the Ryzen 1700x and am still thrilled with it. I have twice the threads and it uses 1/2 the energy. I have about a dozen dockers and 2 SSD cache drives and 4 - 14TB HD. Have a done of dockers, VMs, Plex, etc. I put a Nvdia P400 for transcoding and an old AMD Video card for a VM.
What are you unhappy about in your system?

Well, the memory controller mostly. I think it is the memory controller at least. But the system freezes every so often and I think I have had all other options then the memory. I might try it with ECC ram if it is any better but yeah… the freezes are really not usable.