My current project server is a B85M-G R2.0 with an i3-4130 and 8GB RAM (2x4). It is used as a combination NAS and VM host. It is relatively light duty and the two biggest bottlenecks are RAM and storage space. RAM is a relatively cheap fix, and I have a small pile of drives with nowhere to plug them in.
The DAS build looks like the perfect solution. The one and only PCI slot that can take the LSI HBA is open.
Might swap out the i3 for an i7 while I’m in there.
There is room in the budget to build something fresh, but I feel that I don’t really need extra horsepower at this time. If I’m wrong, the DAS is a nice starting platform and I didn’t break the bank on upgrades for the current machine which I will undoubtedly find a new purpose for.
Anybody see any flaws in that plan?