I’ve been building gaming computers for myself and friends for a few years now. When I wanted to get into servers, I asked around for the basics of what kind of hardware is out there to build with. The folks I was talking to informed me that ‘you don’t build servers, you buy them’ and I was a bit let down. A Dell r270 would be nice but not much fun. Until someone from Serverbuild noticed me asking about it and invited me into this great group of whackjobs 
I built my first Server to function mostly as a NAS with hopes of future Plex streaming and video game hosting. I built what I believe to be a pretty textbook setup, running Unraid, according to the v1.0 guide.
| Part | Item | Seller | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | SuperMicro X8SIL-F, LGA1156 | eBay | $21.08 |
| CPU | Intel Xeon X3470, 2.93GHz 4c/8t | eBay | $19.94 |
| RAM | Kingston 32GB (4x8GB) 2Rx8 DDR3 1333 ECC Registered | eBay | $99.96 |
| Chassis | Rosewill RSV-R4100-4U Rackmount Chassis | Amazon | $74.99 |
| PSU | EVGA 650W BQ, 80+ Bronze, semi modular | Amazon | $50.38 |
| Parity #1 | HGST 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 | BitDeals | $22.99 |
| Parity #2 | HGST 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 | BitDeals | $22.99 |
| Data #1 | HGST 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 | BitDeals | $22.99 |
| Data #2 | HGST 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 | BitDeals | $22.99 |
| Data #3 | HGST 3TB Ultrastar 7K3000 | BitDeals | $22.99 |
| Cache SSD | Silicon Power 512GB SSD, 3D NAND, SATA III 2.5" | Amazon | $49.99 |
| Boot USB | Kingston Digital DataTraveler 32GB, USB 2.0 | Amazon | $5.99 |
| CPU Cooler | Thermaltake Gravity i2 | Amazon | $9.98 |
| Thermal Compound | ARCTIC MX-4 Thermal Compound with Carbon, 4 grams | Amazon | $9.99 |
| SAS Controller | LSI 9210-8i 6Gbps SAS, SATA 8 Ports HBA PCIe Raid Controller Card | eBay | $43.59 |
| SAS Breakout Cables | 2x Mini SAS Cable Connector with SATA power (1 to 4 breakout) | Amazon | $27.18 |
| 80mm Fan | 5x ARCTIC F8 PWM PST | Amazon | $22.99 |
| 120mm Fan | ARCTIC F12 PWM PST | Amazon | $7.99 |
| OS | Unraid Basic | Unraid | $59.00 |
| TOTAL | $618.00 |
So I ended up with a rack mountable, 3GHz 4c/8t server with 9TB of storage and double parity. I’m utilizing the Gigabit networking but haven’t played with IPMI yet.
Drawbacks:
- The CPU cooler blocks one of the six drive bays in this chassis but I don’t mind since I’m only using five full sized ones anyway.
- The front dual USB and LED indicators don’t work no matter how I connect it to the motherboard. It may be mis-wired in the chassis from the factory. Not a big deal since I don’t plan to use them. I’ll leave them broken since I have 2 USBs on the MoBo I/O.
- No room to mount the sixth drive (cache SSD) but I stuck it to the inside of the case with 3M DualLock. Should be fine since it’s not spinning or anything.
I still have a few 80mm fans left over, thermal compound for later builds / reapplying if I take the cooler off, and a whole lot of components that I can utilize in future build should I desire to cannibalize this thing and make something comparable to a NSFW beast.
I’ve gotten it running Unraid on my network and have moved a bunch of files over to it.
Build Porn:
All the components out and ready for pre-assembly inspection
I brought out all my extra monitors, keyboards, mice etc as I got it set up before running headless. My desk was a bit full.
(Edit: Adding more pictures)
All the components installed and operational
Arctic fans happily slaving away
Cache SSD is mounted to the far wall of the chassis
The Fourty Five Drives in a neat stack with room for the CPU cooler
The SAS cables powered by SATA cables were a breeze
SAS controller PCIe card with two SAS breakout cables
Being powered by a semi-modular PSU is nice because I don’t have to deal with unused cables
(End edit)
Now comes all the learning about Unraid, Dockers, VMs, Plex, and all the software. But I’m happy to say that the hardware is done (for now 
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