How much does it cost for each of the SATA expansion card and how many drives are supported per card?

The mobo I am using is a server board that uses PCI-X raid card. There are PCI-E version. Raid cards start at around RM400-1k+. Mine support 8 drives per card.

Try to google for fileserver build in either engadget or anandtech (cant rmb which RSS i read it from), it's more towards home user build than server eccentric user. Not much people know how configure and maintain them.

I have a workstation desktop, dell precision or something.. brought from office. Gonna dump it edi.. Kinda slow and difficult to upgrade due to the registered ECC RAM

I still don't get what's the differences between a workstation and a home desktop

As expected it would be quite pricey but considering that you're using a RAID with parity, the cards might do a better job at calculating the parity rather than depending on the processor itself. Nice rig and file server you have there.

The difference is not huge if you're with the lower end workstation but if you're spending for the higher end workstation which depends on your work requirements then the workstation will be quite different than a home desktop. Usually workstations would not be overclocked or not allowed to be overclocked so it uses more expensive parts like Xeon or dual Xeons for more performance. ECC RAM is also one of those server specific kind of parts but not too important to the regular user. Also you would more likely to find rendering type GPU like the Quadro/Firepro with workstations and gaming type GPU with home desktops.

Mind if I ask, basically what do you store there.
I just googled around and found tha unraid is powered from USB Drive, will it be stable since I know some USB flash drive will overheats after long term

Do you use any UPS?
Thanks

IF you want to see more pictures of file servers like these, head to Hardforum and look for the Storage section.

Unraid runs from USB. You need to get a decent usb key and submit the GUID when purchasing the pro key. The USB drive is just to boot up the OS, nothing much gets written into it while the server is running.

I archive everything in there - Media, documents, and etc. Since everything is protected, I just toss everything in there and use SSD for OS drive. Just think of it as a mini SAN. One thing that I'd hoped unraid would be able to do in the future is support lan teaming. There's still some wait time with gigabit connection. Fiber costs too much and isn't very practical for home use.

My server is in my rack, with an APC rackmount UPS + Network controller card that triggers everything connected to the UPS to shut down automatically

I would assume your OS running on the kingston pendrive (Didn't read till the last post)

I'm building my network farm and hyper-v farm as well. Saving money now.

This post has been edited by loonsave: Sep 13 2011, 10:39 PM

change my cooling to wc hahaha...

Why your GPU no waterblock ah?

may i knoe how much is wc system?

^

a good one cost >RM800. Unless you want it just for your CPU, then RM600.

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Added on September 15, 2011, 6:29 pmI believe cause it is not a reference-designed card

This post has been edited by TechnoG: Sep 15 2011, 06:29 PM

my gpu no block yet llaa

Walao?! Need reference-designed GPU only can put WB at GC?! WATDAPHUCK?!

WC GPU isn't mandatory, it's mainly to kill the noise. Performance boost from OCing the GPU isn't very significant.

I scare of Overheating lol~ Besides it's looks cool and people will at your Rig Like I did on yours

Contributing to the thread...

Yup. You think companies like EK, Swiftech got the time to custom build a block for different layouts?

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Added on September 17, 2011, 11:35 amretro-ish
that's a nice keyboard and mouse. Let me guess..A4Tech and Logitech?

This post has been edited by TechnoG: Sep 17 2011, 11:35 AM