Hi everybody,

I've been reading tons of stuff here and on A/V forum and I think I've come up with the build I want for my first home server creation. Just a little background info...I currently have an HP Media Vault 2120 and love it. I installed two 500gb HD (mirrored) but close to filling it up (new dad taking TONS of pictures and video ). I was looking into buying EX495 but got intrigued by the idea of building one from scratch.

The one problem I've had with my 2120 is that I couldn't figure out how to set it up for remote access. I currently have a domain and did not want to buy another domain from TZO. I didnt know how I could use my existing domain for the remote access. I have to claim ignorance on this part but could not find anything on it.

As for what I want to use this build for...I'd like to store photos and videos and backup 2 laptops. In addition, I'd like to begin using this for streaming purposes. All pretty basic stuff and hopefully on the affordable stuff.

Antec 200 - $50

AMD Athlon II X2-240 Dual Core Processor - $60

Cooler Master Hyper Z600 performance passive cooler for AMD X3 CPU - $65

Corsair 2x2GB DDR2 6400 4-4-4-12 TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX - $130

Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H Motherboard with AMD 785G + SB710 Chipset - $100

2 TB Caviar Green WD - $280

Power Supply - ??? No idea...anybody have any recs?

Approx ~ $685

I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions on components I've listed above. The list above is a combination of several builds that I have come across in while searching for the "right" build. It's a little over my budget but willing to go a bit over for a diy. Sorry for the long post but hope to hear from you!

BTW, this is an awesome forum!

Thanks,
Marc

I would suggest a small fast drive for the system drive in addition to the two 2TB green drives for the storage pool. As for the PSU, any good modular PSU will work. Something like this Corsair HX450W.

thanks for the tip! I'll add that to the list.

Hi lestat832,

You might want to rethink your case and consider a larger case one that can handle more drives to handle future expansion also it will not really increase you bugdet cost all that much because your cost for the Hard Drive is too high so if you tweak the numbers you will still be on budget.

Just give some thought to where you are today and where you will be tomorrow and just make certain you have enough room in your enclosure to grow with your needs. In the end you will save money by not having to purchase external enclosures and cards with Port Multiplier functions which your motherboard might have but I have not reviewed that part but growth in storage capacity should never be over looked. I remember when I thought a 1 TB drive was the beat all and thought that would carry me forever. Today I have 10 TB in just one of my servers and I know once I resume building my movie collection and a few other things that I will be adding more drives.

I think the Antec 1200 is a nice case to consider but if your needs are not all that great then no need.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Your on the right track. I endorse the larger case as I wouldn't build a server that could hold less than 5 or 6 drives. Your motherboard has 6 sata ports for hard drives and I would use the IDE for the dvd drive to keep the faster sata ports free for expansion. Get a powersupply capable of powering 6 drives and the case could use an extra fan. I used a E6500 CPU and it runs great when set to 11X speed at 2.93 GHz. I used the stock fan and it runs very cool when compared to a comparible HP server. I built mine as a test server and I love it. I rebuilt it into a old computer case and I regret it and will reassemble it into a large case with more drive slots for hard drives.

Do not use a slow primary drive. I would use a 500 Gig HD at 7200 RPM and not a slower one and it will affect the speed of the server. Your motherboard is also a 1 gig ethernet which is good.

Most primary drives never get storage on them if you have adequate space for storage on other drives and the speed is the primary issue as the primary drive is the launch platform for storage and also a lot of file comparison to the client computers when comparing the tombstones to file changes on the clients.

Your memory seems a bit fast at 4-4-4-x and may cause you some timing issues. (too fast means more chances for issues) It also runs at 2.1 VDC which will require you to adjust your BIOS to drive the memory at that voltage to get that speed. Make sure you motherboard BIOS is adjustable to allow this memory voltage.

Have fun!

Hmm, I was thinking about building a new server, because my old one is pretty much full - I keep seeing conflicting reports on the ability to use drives over 1TB (ECS A740GM-M motherboard with 4050e dual core CPU) and replacing the two 750GB drives with 1TB drives would not net much increase. If I built a new server with an eye towards Vail, and used 2TB drives, a case liek the ANtec 200 would be nearly perfect. I used that case for my latest desktop, and it works well. Having 'twins' on either side of my desk would be neat. I WAS looking at some of the massive builds with the Norco cases, but that might get a bit spendy even if I only stickin a few drives and expand as I go. Now if I can find a mobo with 8 SATA ports - the Antec 200 would hold 6 drives plus it has a hot-plug SATA bay plus I'd put the system drive in one of the 5.25 bays - that's 12TB, possibly 14 is I just stuff another storage drive in the 5.25 and forget the hot-plug bay. Which beats my existing 4.2TB by a lot. It's taken me a year and a half to fill up this one... decisions, decisions..

Bottom line, the 200 is a darn nice case for something like this, the huge fans move a lot of air without much noise and you cna get 9 drives plus DVD in it, so while it's not huge it still has a lot of storage space. It does such dust because it's wide open, have to clean the front off periodically. Supposedly it takes a pair of 120mm fans in front of the drives, for my desktop with a single drive that would be overkill but for a WHS I'd probably add the fans.

--Randy

rrinker,

If your planning on building a new server nows a great time to start seeing what people post about Vail to find out what works, what doesn't, where the issues are which motherboard, processor and ram configurations work well and which ones do not.

As the days pass people will start posting what I believe will be very interesting information. Now looking at the low end configurations will tell you alot too and with that I think you will find it very easy to find a nice balance for a new server configuration if you chose to build on for Vail.

I for one have 3 servers running one of which I call my test unit which is an HP EX470 MSS with only 2 GB RAM, stock processor and a lonely 500 GB Hard Drive. This is primarily for testing so I can get aquainted with it but I know I will need something more robust which I have in an old HP ProLiant but before I decide to install it there I want to make certain its a nice fit or possibly I might just build a new server and leave the ProLiant running WHS-1 which its doing an awesome job.

Anyway your in a good position for determining a new build because lots of information will soon be available to you which I know will help you build a server thats just right for your needs.

Good Luck with determining your new build hopefully you will share your build experience with everyone here. I know I would be very interested to see what you come up with.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I don't know where you're seeing these so called conflicting reports, but there is no issue with using 2TB drives in WHS. I currently have 24 - 2TB drives in Andromeda and will probably add at least 2 more within the next month or so.

I am also using tons of 1.5 TB and 2 TB drives on three servers with no problems. Again I would not use a 5400 RPM drive as a primary drive as it slows down the server. Use a 7200 RPM. Vail even suggest the use a drive on the primary that is selected not to be used for data storage. (This is possible to set up under Vail) This speeds up the server. In reality, if you have a lot of drives, the primary drive rarely stores any data.

This is true - my system drive has nothing on it and I plan to keep it that way. As for what works/what doesn't work, I should think that once all the bugs are worked out, if it works with Win7/Server 2008 R2 it should work with Vail. Drivers could be an issue with older hardware.
I also realized that I cna use any old mobo and add in one of those 8 port SAS cards with the adapter cables and get 9 drives in the Antec 200 - 6 internal bays, 2 of the 3 external 5.25, plus the hot swap SATA bay. 8 on the card for the pool drives, and 1 running off the motherboard SATA port for the system drive. Should hold me for a while.
I posted pictures of my existing build, I'll be sure to post any of a new server when I get around to building it. If 2TB drives will work in my existing server then I might just throw a couple of them in and repalce the 750GB drives and keep chugging with what I have - although it is slow at times, streaming high bitrate content comes to a halt when disk balancing happens.

--Randy