BUILD Need advice on an ATX Motherboard & PCIe SATA/SAS Cards

[theEmbark]

Looking for a solid but affordable atx board that will support 20 drives + as well as decent PCIe sata/sas cards. I have a LSI 9260-8i RAID card but I was planning on using software raid although I honestly don't know if I should use hardware vs. software. I'd like to spend under $50 a card if that is possible. I will only need 3.

I have an antec 1200 I am going to mod with 4 http://www.moddiy.com/products/5%2din%2d3-Device-Module-Hard-Disk-Cage-SAS{47}SATA-Expander-Enclosure.html I don't want to crowd the case to much but the built in fan for each cage should keep things cool enough.

Also looking for ATX motherboard suggestions!

Thanks for the help,
Kevin

 

[JDCynical]

I have a LSI 9260-8i RAID card but I was planning on using software raid although I honestly don't know if I should use hardware vs. software

Don't use this card, it will only lead to tears. Get an HBA.

There doesn't appear to be an IT mode firmware for that chipset, making it a ticking time bomb for your data. FreeNAS is ZFS software 'RAID' only. Hardware cards don't really have a place any longer with FreeNAS.

I suggest you read the 'confused by that LSI card' thread in the top level of this hardware sub-forum, it should answer most, if not all, potential questions.

 

[theEmbark]

Don't use this card, it will only lead to tears. Get an HBA.

There doesn't appear to be an IT mode firmware for that chipset, making it a ticking time bomb for your data. FreeNAS is ZFS software 'RAID' only. Hardware cards don't really have a place any longer with FreeNAS.

I suggest you read the 'confused by that LSI card' thread in the top level of this hardware sub-forum, it should answer most, if not all, potential questions.

Thank you for your reply, I got the card in a bundle my thoughts were to sell it if I couldn't use it so looks like ebay here it comes :d. I will check out the sticky and see what further info I can find.

Thanks again,
Kevin

Edit: what about motherboards? any suggestions? looks like the IBM ServeRAID M1015 is the way to go. Costs a little more than I wanted to spend but quality vs. quantity is preferred.

 

[JDCynical]

Edit: what about motherboards? any suggestions? looks like the IBM ServeRAID M1015 is the way to go. Costs a little more than I wanted to spend but quality vs. quantity is preferred.

The M1015 is a popular choice as it's usually less expensive than the 'real' LSI 9240-8i, it just needs to be cross-flashed with the LSI IT firmware (instructions on how to do this are plentiful).

Motherboard, around these parts, Supermicro is very popular as they have proven to be stable and Just Work(tm). Which one depends on your choice of CPU and if you want the built-on KVM/IPMI (which is highly recommended for headless operation). For 20 drives, I would imagine that you are going to need something with multiple PCIe slots, which eliminates most, if not all, of the mini-ITX boards out there. Something like the X10SSL-F-O, here on Newegg would probably fit the bill. Alternately, there are some SM boards (the model numbers escape me at the moment) that have the HBA built-on to the board already, which might make the overall cost less expensive vs buying multiple stand-alone HBA's.

Certain ASRock boards are also proving to be decent as well for small form factor builds.

 

[theEmbark]

The M1015 is a popular choice as it's usually less expensive than the 'real' LSI 9240-8i, it just needs to be cross-flashed with the LSI IT firmware (instructions on how to do this are plentiful).

Motherboard, around these parts, Supermicro is very popular as they have proven to be stable and Just Work(tm). Which one depends on your choice of CPU and if you want the built-on KVM/IPMI (which is highly recommended for headless operation). For 20 drives, I would imagine that you are going to need something with multiple PCIe slots, which eliminates most, if not all, of the mini-ITX boards out there. Something like the X10SSL-F-O, here on Newegg would probably fit the bill. Alternately, there are some SM boards (the model numbers escape me at the moment) that have the HBA built-on to the board already, which might make the overall cost less expensive vs buying multiple stand-alone HBA's.

Certain ASRock boards are also proving to be decent as well for small form factor builds.

Thanks again for the reply,

Built on KVM/IPMI would be really nice :D. CPU doesn't matter much to me - I prefer Intel over AMD but am looking for a cost effective solution. Probably going to run a Intel Pentium G3220T. Hoping the dual core will be enough to power.

I do have a bunch of 1366 socket CPUs laying around any atx boards that would support the older chip? Form factor just needs to be Micro ATX / ATX / Mini-ITX.

Any additional information is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[theEmbark]

I may change out my case for something that will support e-atx because motherboard options seem to become more abundant at that price. How about the SuperMicro Motherboard X8DTI-F?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[JDCynical]

How about the SuperMicro Motherboard X8DTI-F?

That would work, there is at least one other forum member using one of those, but it only supports Xeon chips and uses more power than newer stuff.

 

[theEmbark]

Xeon isn't a big deal. That's part of the reason I picked it because I have a bunch of Xeon CPUs laying around the house.

Power is a good point. I guess I'm trying to gauge how much this machine is going to cost to run 12-16 hours a day. Any good way to calculate this?

Based on a couple calculators power consumption looks to be around 400watts so probably get a 550watt PSU. Any way to convert this to energy cost or just a rough guess even?

Thanks again,
Kevin

 

[Kevin Horton]

Based on a couple calculators power consumption looks to be around 400watts so probably get a 550watt PSU. Any way to convert this to energy cost or just a rough guess even?

400W as an average consumption sounds pretty high to me, but you might hit that during startup, as the CPU and fans run at full blast and all 20 disks are spinning up, etc.

If this is for home use, it'll likely spend most of its time idling, at much lower power consumption. As a point of reference, my five disk SuperMicro X10SL7-F system with G3258 CPU consumes 57W when at idle (disks spinning, but no significant system demand, so CPU and fans at idle). WD specs suggest my drives consume 3.3W each at idle.

How much are you paying per kilowatt hour of electricity?

 

[Sakuru]

For the box I just built at home I went with an X9SCM-O off of eBay that came with 32 GB of RAM and an E3-1220 V2. That combo was $325. For my HBA I grabbed a Dell H310 from eBay for about $55 and crossflashed it to 9211-8i P20 IT. Works great so far.

 

[theEmbark]

Thanks guys,

Price per kilowatt is $.11 here so I know it's not going to break the bank just trying to get an idea before I put the system in. Might dictate spending more or less on the mobo.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Kevin Horton]

At $.11 per kilowatt hour, you'll be very close to $1/year for every watt of continuous consumption. I.e., a 100W device would cost very close to $100/year.

The number of fans you need to cool this thing, and how fast they must run will be a big variable if you use 20 drives.

 

[theEmbark]

Thanks for your input! That's very helpful!

Fans will be the "X" factor. I'm thinking about going with 2.5" drives as they tend to run quieter and I should need less fans to cool more.

I've been shopping this particular unit. http://m.newegg.com/Product?itemNumber=N82E16817995115&Keyword=Athena Power BP-SAC31225AVL