Apologies in advance, I know there are some similar threads on this topic already... But I like having my own thread for stuff like this!
As some of you know my need for vast amounts of redundant storage recently increased dramatically. Sure I've already got a two bay NAS and I could upgrade my pair of 750GB WD RE drives to a pair of 2TB Reds but where's the fun in that? Also it would still be a little on the slow side... Besides, I want a real home server, I've never built one proper, something not just for storage but also for game servers and occasional number crunching - however also ultimately something reasonably power efficient and downright forgettable that justifies its own existence separate from my main rig or my HTPC. So with that in mind, here is my proposed build...
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 - love this case, this whole build is probably just an excuse to use it
HDDs: 3x WD 2TB Reds - for RAID 5 naturally, one in each of the three drive bays in the 304 works well for my OCD and [less importantly] my storage needs
PSU: CORSAIR CX430M - not super attached to this one but it's a new model and it's cheap and it's Corsair so why not?
RAM: G.SKILL (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 - 16GB so I will have plenty of room to play around with the RAM drive mentioned in the subject
Mobo: Intel DH77DF (H77) - not the most thrilling choice but I've built three systems with it so far and its nice enough
CPU: Intel i5-3450S - talked myself into this over the i3-3220 because I accidently bought an extra for work (that I will buy from work at full price! )
OS: Windows Home Server 2011 - missed it in its prime time but still seems like a solid offering for an MS guy
Thoughts? Here are mine... I think I'll be able to sleep at night installing the OS on the array instead of an SSD - we'll have to wait and see. RAMDrive for Minecraft is kind of a silly thing for a server running with only about 5mbps upstream bandwidth but what is MC for if not experimenting? Maybe WHS isn't a great idea? Should I just go with Win8 instead? Will probably get this UPS - seems as good a time as any to finally buy my first one...
Yes, this post uses 7 different smiles, so what?