[Guide] NAS Killer 4.1 supplemental + deals

Thanks- Yes getting an old school cheap VGA display worked for me.

This is Combo 4 listed above in NAS Killer 4.1 on eBay—
American Megatrends v 2.15.1231
BIOS date: 11/16/2018 v 4.6.5.3
TYAN S5512 V8-B14
INTEL XEON E3-1270v2 3.5 GHz

Intel Boot v 1.3.38
Error message: PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable.

Pressed DEL to get into BIOS, now unsure where to disable the fan alarm. Also seems the media check failed, whatever that might mean. I have connected my HDD to the SAS ports and there currently is no SSD or any drives attached to any SATA ports on the motherboard.

I feel I’m almost there… help Obi Wan Kenobi

I never found a fan alarm to disable, despite what others said (all I found was chassis intrusion, which was off when I received mine, and BMC alarm, which was also off)

One person had luck flashing the BIOS back to one of the ones on Tyan’s website (the BIOS flashed on these is 5 years newer and not listed anywhere on the website)

Also try plugging your hdd into the SATA ports not into the SAS port to start and see if that fixes the alarm. You could even try plugging it into the very first SATA3 (blue) port, which is by default set to hdd not sdd (if it is a hdd that is)

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Very loud. You won’t be able to keep it in the current chassis in your living room. Get a cheap atx case with power supply and a quiet fan or two and you will be fine.

Thanks - your advice was reassuring!
Yes I am using the Cooler Master Elite 350 (CMP350) and while it is a tight fit I think I am able to get (11) 3.5” HDD in there. Right now I have (2) 12TB and (2) 8TB all purchased when on sale.

The Arctic Freezer 12 is a bit loud but I suppose it’s only doing its job.

I stopped the fan alarm :rotating_light: by going into BIOS and disabling BMC Alert Beep.

All my HDD are recognized after plugging them all into the SATA 1-5 ports, while I left the SATA 0 port open for an SSD which will arrive later. The SAS ports - how do I use these and plug in SATA HDD? I may have mistakenly assumed I could plug a normal HDD into the SAS port.

Fortunately, I did not have to flash the BIOS. RAM was NOT the issue and all 16GB are recognized. About to install UNRAID Plus (up to 12 drives). Fingers crossed :crossed_fingers:

Thanks for the response.
another question is if I want to use this for NAS (I do have a P290 for Plex), should I build from NK4.0 or one of these servers. Again so concerned about noise and power consumption level.

Guys I bought all the parts recommended including the 32GB combo (chenbro) along with cooler master 350, i2, sata cable. I am a complete newbie here. What are the next steps after I assemble the system to install unraid on it? I have a 8TB red WD and couple of ssds. Do I need to do this ([Guide] Updating your LSI SAS Controller with a UEFI Motherboard) once I assemble before I install unraid? What are the next steps. I did go through the forum posts but no luck as I am not that NAS savvy.

Yes, you should update flash the onboard LSI to IT mode.

You don’t need more than one HDD with unraid technically, but you should really have more than one if you want parity protection.

Keep an eye on these prices so you can add more HDDs for cheap:

Updated a link - Motherboard is now available for $50 instead of $75

So even with Tyan 5512 which has SAS controller and SAS ports on the board do I still need the SAS to SATA cables to hook them up?

No, you need SATA cables. The SAS controller is built in (it just controls the drives) but the drives are connected to the board with sata cables.

Unless you want to use SAS drives, then you have to use the linked SATA->SAS cables.

I made a NAS out of old computer parts (A8-5500 processor, 8gb ram) I had and it has served me well. I’m currently using OMV to serve media around the house and have a couple reverse proxies set up to access my stuff on the go. I’m toying with the idea of upgrading my NAS and doing some more advanced stuff like trying to use zfs, mess around with virtualization, etc.

The guide (and everything on these forums) is incredibly helpful, but I had a quick question about the combos listed in the op. Would something like this be a good option? It’s roughly in the same price range as the options listed, but seems to have a lot more computing power. Am I missing something that would make that a bad choice?

Where would you be putting the hard drives… ?

I knew I was overlooking something, thanks for saving me from feeling like a moron! :rofl:

Thanks for clarifying, so there is no such a thing as SAS ports on a motherboard at least ? only SATA(?)

I’m planning on getting used SAS drives from ebay, I think in your NK 4.0 guide you had mentioned SAS drives are the way to go(since they are significantly cheaper). does this recommendation still hold true?

And since the link you have pinned at beginning of the page regarding the cables are no longer available, would the following(s) product serve the same purpose?

https://www.amazon.com/Goliton-SFF-8482-Connected-Motherboard-Adapter/dp/B01874KQP4/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sas+to+sata&qid=1590273922&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/SFF-8482-Hard-Disk-Drive-Adapter/dp/B079DBR81L/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=sas+to+sata&qid=1590273922&sr=8-10

Hey there, ended up ordering one of the combo 4’s with 32gb ram. Picking up some hard drives and I pretty much have everything else I’ll need. Looking for a decent hot swap option for the N400 case to jam into the 2x5.25 bays and expand it out a bit (and of course, who doesn’t love some hotswap). Thanks a ton in advance, great info and support on here.
p.s. Also, any recommendations between FreeNAS and UnRaid… I’m currently considering a setup on unraid running ZFS.

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Unraid, drop the ZFS!

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Alright, which FS should I go with on Unraid then? My understanding was that ZFS was way overkill and pretty much unbreakable in terms of corruption and data loss (not that I REALLY need that but it’s fun to play with fancy things). Any ideas on drive cages or hotswap bays for that N400 case or any recommendation on cases or bays that don’t cost my rent? Trying to shoot for 8+ bays. Thanks a ton in advance.

Use Unraid’s built in FS and disk management.

I’ll look into drive cage recommendations.

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Sweet, thanks a ton man. I scoured everywhere I could think of looking for something. Best I came up with was a 2x5.25 to 3x3.25 and it was over 60 bucks. I took a look at all the NAS Killer 4.0 recommended cases, but pretty much everything but the N400 was sold out. Really wish I could get my hands on the hot swap Rosewill server chassis or the 15 bay one. Too bad their totally gone everywhere.