Similar to Threadrunner only because it uses the same motherboard, which I found on Craiglists (along with CPUs and RAM).
| Part | Item | Seller | CAD | USD (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Intel S2600CP4 | Craigslist | $380 | $290 |
| CPUs | Xeon E5-2630 - x2 | Incl. w mobo | ||
| RAM | 64GB DDR3 ECC - 4x16GB | Incl. w mobo | ||
| CPU coolers | Deepcool Gammaxx 400 - x2 | Local PC Shop | $40 | $30 |
| GPU | MSI GTX 1050 | on hand | ||
| Case | Rosewill RSV-L4500 | Amazon | $150 | $120 |
| PSU | Corsair TX750 | on hand | ||
| Cable | 2 molex to 8 pin CPU power adapter | Local PC shop | $10 | $8 |
| Cable | Startech 4x SATA power splitter | Amazon | $8 | $6 |
| SAS HBA | Dell PERC H200 SAS HBA (flashed to IT mode) | Ebay | $33 | $25 |
| Cables | 3FT SFF8087 to SATA (x4) forward breakout cable - x2 | Amazon | $24 | $18 |
| SSD | Samsung EVO 840 500GB | on hand | ||
| HDDs | 15 x 3 or 4TB drives - 45TB with single parity drive | on hand | ||
| TOTAL | $645 | $497 |
Some thoughts on the whole thing
- This was an upgrade for my Unraid box, which use to run an i7 920, 16 GB of RAM and most of the hardware I had ‘on hand’, all in an old gaming PC case.
- Cable management is OK, still might try to improve it. One challenge was the cases’s power/reset wires, which just barely made it to header (top left corner of mobo). I pretty much had to run the wires straight there, with running them under the motherboard the only way to make it look good.
- I took out the fan wall out to make installation and cable management easier with the intention of putting it back in, but I think I might leave it out for ease of access. Everything has been running cool without it (drives ~30 deg C, CPUs ~50 dec C under full load).
- 4 SATA ports on the S2600CP4 are dedicated to an Intel C600 RAID SCU controller, which can only operated in software RAID (or so I’ve read). This means I can’t use these ports with Unraid. If anyone knows a workaround I’d be happy to hear about it.
- The above point is why I had to use the PERC H200, which is fine actually because it is 6 Gbps (the above is only 3 Gbps) and the breakout cables make management easier.
- I bought a cheap 4 port USB 3 PCIE card on ebay (its in the picture, with molex power run to it), but Unraid doesn’t have driver support for it. If anyone knows a trick to get it working, I’d love to hear it.