Advice on build

[Bags]

Seeking advice, thoughts, opinions on the following build:

Case: Fractal Design Node 304

PSU: Corsair CS550W Gold 550W

Mobo: ASRock E3C224D21 Mini ITX

RAM: 2 x Kingston 8GB 1600MHz KVR16E11/8I EEC

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160

OS Disk: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB

HDD: 6 x WD Red 2TB in RAID-Z2

 

[danb35]

Seasonic power supplies are generally preferred over Corsair. Crucial RAM is preferred over Kingston. You'll do better in terms of $/TB if you go with larger drives, but the 6-disk RAIDZ2 is generally a good configuration. What do you want to do with it?

 

[mattbbpl]

Not all of the i3's support ECC RAM, and there are questions about whether many of those that state they do in ARK actually do. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny that this particular chip does.

 

[danb35]

For what it's worth, @DrKK is confident that Intel now has the ECC support information in ARK sorted out. I'm not sure I share his confidence, but I do think Intel's data is the best we have to go on.

 

[mattbbpl]

For what it's worth, @DrKK is confident that Intel now has the ECC support information in ARK sorted out. I'm not sure I share his confidence, but I do think Intel's data is the best we have to go on.

That's good to know. He would know more than I do, so you're probably safe, TC.

 

[Bags]

Seasonic power supplies are generally preferred over Corsair. Crucial RAM is preferred over Kingston. You'll do better in terms of $/TB if you go with larger drives, but the 6-disk RAIDZ2 is generally a good configuration. What do you want to do with it?

Thanks -- I'll have a look at the Seasonic range and Crucial RAM.

2TB drives is about all I can afford atm; if I need more space in a few years I can replace the array with larger ones.

Predominantly going to use this for file storage, media streaming, remote file serving, downloading

 

[Bags]

Not all of the i3's support ECC RAM, and there are questions about whether many of those that state they do in ARK actually do. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny that this particular chip does.

looks like it does: http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced?ECCMemory=true&MarketSegment=DT

 

[DrKK]

For what it's worth, @DrKK is confident that Intel now has the ECC support information in ARK sorted out. I'm not sure I share his confidence, but I do think Intel's data is the best we have to go on.

I look at it this way. If, after we've pointed out this significant problem to Intel, it is *still* not fixed, then the world is collapsing, and nothing matters anyway. Therefore, I assume it's fixed. :)

 

[Ericloewe]

Also, there's no indication Haswell i3s don't support ECC. So I'm cautiously optimistic as well.

PSU: Corsair CS550W Gold 550W

Consider a Seasonic G-550 instead. Lower-end Corsair is on the sucky side.

RAM: 2 x Kingston 8GB 1600MHz KVR16E11/8I EEC

Most people avoid Kingston out of principle or necessity (or both!), due to their shady practices as of late.

I believe the popular Crucial model from the X10 RAM guide is on your chosen board's QVL, so it's a good option.

 

[Bags]

Also, there's no indication Haswell i3s don't support ECC. So I'm cautiously optimistic as well.


Consider a Seasonic G-550 instead. Lower Corsair is on the sucky side.


Most people avoid Kingston out of principle or necessity (or both!), due to their shady practices as of late.

I believe the popular Crucial model from the X10 RAM guide is on your chosen board's QVL, so it's a good option.

Good advice, thank you

 

[DrKK]

Also, there's no indication Haswell i3s don't support ECC. So I'm cautiously optimistic as well.

I'm more than cautiously optimistic. Like I said, I feel like there are certain things that we have to accept. One of the things I accept, in life, that if Santa Clara HQ has a major mistake pointed out to them on how they've listed their specs for given SKUs, and they say they fixed it, that it's fixed.

 

[DrKK]

Also as for the Kingston stuff, @Ericloewe et al,

100% of the systems I run, run Kingston ECC 4GB DIMMS. I have never had one that didn't work right, everything is fine. Now, it *IS* the case that:

1. Kingston has played fast and loose with some SSD bait and switch stuff that hasn't sat well with many of us, philosophically.
2. Kingston Micro DT thumb drives as boot devices have an obscenely high fail rate, even when sourced from different lots, and different vendors. I myself had a 100% failure rate among like 8 devices.
3. There was an instance where some Kingston 8GB ECC DIMMS did not play nice, and SuperMicro took some of them off the QVL without giving a specific explanation as to why. There has, however, *NEVER* been any issue that I am aware of with any other Kingston RAM products that our users have purchased. I, personally, would buy Kingston 4GB DIMMS with confidence, as appropriate for various use-cases.
   
4. Cyberjock, Eric, and some of the other guys that generally know what they are talking about have been avoiding Kingston. In the past, when all of these guys have agreed that something is to be avoided, they have been proven right 100% of the time, and that is good enough for me. So I have been avoiding all Kingston flash products, and probably won't buy more Kingston ECC RAM anytime soon.

I just wanted to put that out there for new users who may not have seen these discussions in other forum threads here.

 

[Ericloewe]

Cyberjock, Eric, and some of the other guys that generally know what they are talking about have been avoiding Kingston. In the past, when all of these guys have agreed that something is to be avoided, they have been proven right 100% of the time, and that is good enough for me. So I have been avoiding all Kingston flash products, and probably won't buy more Kingston ECC RAM anytime soon.

Flash storage really is in race-to-the-bottom mode right now, so I've been sticking to brands that have proper access to NAND flash (Micron/Crucial / Intel, Samsung, Toshiba / SanDisk). Not so coincidentally, they're also the big players in the enterprise market.

Kingston took the sleazy route and I do hope that bites them in the ass, severely. They're not alone, though. Another brand recently did something very similar (forgot which one, though).

 

[Bags]

Revised component list:

Case: Fractal Design Node 304
Mobo: ASRock E3C224D2I
RAM: 2 x Crucial 8GB ECC (CT102472BD160B)
OS Disk: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB
HDD: 6 x WD Red 3TB
PSU: Seasonic G Series 450W 80+ Gold