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I’m going to say anniversary build as well since it was my first foray into server builds and had tons of useful information for selecting and setting everything up.
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Throwing MBP some love here. Obviously some great posts by JDM and others that were already mentioned and that I use frequently, but its the little posts like these that showcase the character of the community and its members. Secondary shout out to mthrboard’s post here that got me out of a jam.
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This is my favorite thread (and discord channel) on the site. There is so much cool hardware out there that people are practically giving away and it’s awesome to see folks think outside of the box to put it to use in their rack. That thread has also caused my crippling addiction to searching ebay for weird old network/server gear.
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No no, I’m boring, not the thread!
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This guide helped me upgrade my old HP Proliant i3 UnRaid box to a full rackmount build in the Rosewill 15 bay chassis. I posted my build here:
Here’s an updated picture of my self-built rack:
Thanks again to this awesome community!
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This post caused me to really dig into the power of Quicksync and was a complete game changer in my system strategies this year. I had previously always used software transcoding. With increased “covid load” on the server, I was hitting the hardware limits of a Plex + Gaming + PVR stack + home assistant + other VMs all in one build. Plex was struggling leading to poor WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). It’s now on a separate micro Optiplex Quicksync box that I got for a song on eBay, and the whole stack is working better than ever! I later got one of the cheap HP Prodesk boxes to put in place at my parent’s place to handle cable video transcodes and it’s been wonderful too. Thanks so much for this site!
Package 1 preferred
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I never intentionally wanted to build a server, but my “trusty” HP EX490 crapped out on me and my cheapass didn’t want to spend that much on a Synology with limited drives. I stumbled on the reddit JDM WAAT forums and read more about these builds and eventually made a Discord account.
Started with a LEGO build for my first setup with an e5620 to replace the HP server, beginning of this year bought the HP 290 intentionally for Blue Iris but replaced that with older G1 i7. Built my first plex box, using access points instead of built in wifi/router combo, and am now in the process of updating the LEGO with a hybrid OTIS build. Not sure if this is the right move instead of a nas killer 4, but this seemed like a decent path.
So far the hardware portions have been the easy fun parts, the software and linux has been the most infuriating since i’m nowhere familiar with any of these things. Using OMV instead of UNRAID as well, which may be compounding my headaches but it hasn’t been terrible.
@JDM_WAAAT and everyone else in the community, just wanted to say thank you for all your help!
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I absolutely love my SNAFU build. Only running 2x E5 2620 v2 CPUs because that’s what was bundled with the board. Figured I’d upgrade them once it was running, but honestly it’s taken everything I’ve thrown at it as is. Would have been stuck still using mobo SATA ports instead of SAS HBAs if it wasn’t for JDM and ServerBuilds. I love this community.
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Can confirm, do have one available.
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Whenever I am down or feeling blue after being a dumb mistake, I sometimes revisit this post to remind myself that everyone makes mistakes. I appreciate a community that’s forthcoming in helping newcomers and veterans alike, and it’s a great sign that the folks on the top can admit their faults, too.
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Love getting these when they are bottomed out. Found some crazy good deals here, cannot have enough storage.
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This was my first foray into server hardware and inspired me to retire my old i7-2700k that was functioning as a NAS/server/HTPC and move to some enterprise-class (also old) gear and it has been fun and a learning experience since then. I’ve asked a lot of dumb questions but this community has been great and with a little patience and digging there aren’t many problems that can’t be solved.
Either package is groovy but I guess I have more use for #2.
Cheers and I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!
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All the work that JDM and the other contributors have done has really helped me in many ways.
Also helped lighten my wallet…
This is my first forum post so I hopefully got the header and link stuff right.
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This post really intrigued me. I didn’t purchase one, but linked a friend to it. He had never heard of serverbuilds.net before but was looking for an affordable DAS that was small form factor. This was perfect for him and I got to help him with the build, which is always fun. I had never touched a DAS before and so it was a learning experience for both of us, but turned out to be extremely simple in fact. I had always wondered how a DAS communicated without a motherboard and such installed. WOW, the HBA LSI card is all you need it seems to be the brains of the outfit. We followed the steps in the guide and with a few small hurdles and user error, we overcame and he now has a little DAS that I am envious of and regretted not purchasing one as well. By far, the most fun build project I was involved in for 2020. Simple, affordable and it taught me something hands on that I had never had the opportunity to work with before!
I do over the phone support day in and day out and love helping people, but helping someone I know personally with something we were both somewhat new to was really great.
I have to add, this was my favorite post of the year, but he Intel CPU transcoding thread was a close second. Super informative and helpful for my Unraid build!
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I dove into by first server build this year with this guide. My build was a fantastic success thanks to all the great knowledge shared here and I’m now running it as my main home file server and media storage, as well as starting to dive into the world of Unraid, Docker, and VMs. It’s now running my Unifi controller, Emby server, a host of other Docker services, and a couple VMs… not to mention sending me down a rabbit hole of other builds (a new pfSense box, a new cold storage backup server, and more).
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290 Owners Thread
I was lucky enough to pick up a 290 in early May before the price shot up. Has been a solid little Plex server and I’m thankful to these forums for turning me on to it.
ITX pfSense Build
My network has become far more complicated over the past 9 months and I need more insight to what’s traveling in and out. I think this guide will come in handy.
Thanks for keeping me busy. Cheers!
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Any of the NAS Killer guides could have been my top choice, but the NAS Killer 4.0 is the one I ended up following along to and building my home server. Works great and so low power I haven’t noticed a difference in power costs.
I eventually plan on upgrading and giving this to a friend who couldn’t seem to get unraid running, but thank you so much for all the guides on this site.
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This was the post that got me into the community. I had been eyeing a NAS for a while, but didn’t want to drop $500 before even thinking about drives.
Seeing everything laid out and proof of others having success, it made me way less nervous to buy used enterprise gear on ebay. So between that and another deal found via the forums, I ended up with all of the hardware I needed, plus 30TB of storage for less than the cost of an empty pre-built. I just need to get around to putting together my post for the completed builds section.
Preference for #1
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This thread helped me up my PLEX transcoding game as well as get a BlueIris NVR set up with quicksync. It’s going great!
My next step is to get my current pfSense on it’s own machine so Pacage 1 would be perfect.
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