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New Storage System - Any Thoughts/Feedback?

update.

So SM was out of MB's so i have to wait until Monday so they can restock and ship out my rma MB

also for some off reason provantage decided to send my sas and reverse sas cables from Ca ;ito Oh so then can ship them to AZ.. I dont ask why other then what a waste and i will not get my cables in until Monday.

Past that this weekend i will unbox, mount, customize, create as much as i can so the when the MB shows up all i need to do it mount it, plug in the cards, install the proc and turn it on..

So no word yet if the memory i selected will work in the MB other then Kingston saying it SHOULD work.

More to follow.
 
Thanks for the update mobilecommand.

It will be nice to be able to anticipate any issues I may have. The good news is that I am in CA. Hopefully that means I won't have the 'around the country' shipping issues. :)
 
Hey Guys,

sorry for such a late reply,

I have been sick and having some major issues trying to make custom power cables so i ended up buying a pair from frozen cpu... They cost over 50 ish bucks shipped but after dealing with the crap trying to build my own it's well worth the money imho.

anyways i will have more pics later but i have a screenshot of the post screen with the Supermirco MB with the core I3 running the memory i listed in my posts.

I wont have an os on there for till this weekend but i am pretty sure i am in the clear with the memory.

Mobilecommand

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilecommand/4443696823/
 
Hopefully i don't get nailed for a double post but here it is in all its glory.

Right now i am using a tray for my Os, Will likely get a 2.5 in hd and move the os to it before i am done with it.

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I am running an e6400, stock speeeds 4gig ram for a whs..

its loaded, does dhcp, antivirus, email and downloads..

serves the whole house and grabs recorded tv..

has ps3 media server for the xbox360 (some mkvs)

to note whs will play divx files on the xbox360 with no transcoding. (the box does it now....)

and i i never go over 40%load... even when i backup my dvd collection... soo get the i5 quad core its faster and cheaper and quieter.. also some neat powersaving options..
 
Hi MobileCommand,

Nice choice of hardware. Did those blue molex adaptors come with the Norco?
 
naw.

They are custom made cables from frozencpu.com

they had various colors. I told them what ever since they where out of black at the time of my order.

As i mentioned for me I really struggled with the cables. I talked to cavediver along the way getting tips and tricks but still the connector they used on this cable is a huge pain.

If you plan on building a norco i highly recommend the custom cable route as a bunch of y splitter cables really dont work all that well.

If you think you can tackle the power cable give it a shot or just contact frozencpu.com.

I think when its all said and done the hassle outweights the cost and by the time you are paying for EVERYTHING the end result will be cheaper.. 2 x cables with 10 molex connections.
 
mobilecommand said:
Hopefully i don't get nailed for a double post but here it is in all its glory.

Right now i am using a tray for my Os, Will likely get a 2.5 in hd and move the os to it before i am done with it.
Click to expand...

contrats on getting the SM X8SIL to play nicely with an intel i3

a few questions if I may...

• does the system POST okay?
• is your mobo the 1.02 revision of the X8SIL?
• what make/model of memory did you use
• supermicro SATA cards?
 
Hello,

yes i have posted the box.. you can see that with the 2 screen shots in the 1 post where i have a pic of the post and in the bios.

Yes that is version 1.02 of the Super Micro X8SIL-F

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182211&Tpk=X8SIL-F

When i got the MB it was only 1.01 so i called SM and did a overnight advanced replacement of the Board. It was really easy and no hassles as i am sure they are getting lots of requests for this.

The memory i used is the following part number

KVR1333D3E9SK2/4G

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139040&Tpk=KVR1333D3E9SK2%2f4G

And yes i am using 2x of the SM SAS controller: AOC-SASLP-MV8

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=AOC-SASMV8&title=Supermicro-AOC-SASLP-MV8-8-Port-SAS-SATA-Add-on-Card

If you look on page one i have a complete list of parts, part numbers and and costs.
I also listed the place of purchase.
 
mobilecommand said:
naw.

They are custom made cables from frozencpu.com

they had various colors. I told them what ever since they where out of black at the time of my order.

As i mentioned for me I really struggled with the cables. I talked to cavediver along the way getting tips and tricks but still the connector they used on this cable is a huge pain.

If you plan on building a norco i highly recommend the custom cable route as a bunch of y splitter cables really dont work all that well.

If you think you can tackle the power cable give it a shot or just contact frozencpu.com.

I think when its all said and done the hassle outweights the cost and by the time you are paying for EVERYTHING the end result will be cheaper.. 2 x cables with 10 molex connections.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind me asking, how much were the custom molex cables?
 
58 bucks priority shipped.

If i had to do em again i would get em a tad longer on the bottom side..

Other then that way worth it imho.

Cannot stress enough how hard they were for me.. i gotta give mad props to cavediver on making his..
 
So my i finally got a hold of a laptop HD since i did not want to mess with mounting a 3.5 inch drive in the system and did not want to waste a hotswap bay for the OS.

anyways i spent more time with the MB and i need to say so far the SM mb exceeded all expectations, lots of options, lots of ports, and i especially love the BMC.. Basically its like a HP ilo or Dell Drac card "remote console".

So i would hands down recommend this MB to anyone looking at doing a home server of any type, esp with the updated board rev that will allow core i3's and i5's to be used.


As far as the install goes it did blue screen after the first reboot "0x000000007b". After doing some digging around it looks like its a controller issue. "

Since i flipped the Sata ports to AHCI mode i am assuming i need to get the driver into the base install "hence the blue screen" so for tonight my plans are to slipstream all the SM drives including the AOC card drives and try the install again.

More to follow.
 
link for custom power cables?
The on i found on frozen CPU only allows for 4 molex connectors. :confused:
 
I sent them an email and followed up the next day with a phone call.

My yahoo based email ended up in the spam bin..

either way i called em, told em what i wanted, showed em pics of cavdivers, and a pic of the sas boards for molex lay out. done.

Phone call / order was less than 5 minutes.

This is what the order looked like from them

Part # Product Description
cus-004 Custom 4 pin Cable

and they charged 23 98 each "i had the cables sleeved for 3.99" so if you don't get sleeving it could be a tad cheaper"
 
So i finally Slip streamed the drivers into the install and its now up and running,

I did get an error about an inf missing off the c drive so i will prob do the install again and see if it clears up.

either way it looks like i am golden for the build/parts and everything else.

i guess i need to test all the sas back planes but not a biggie to get em replaced from norco if i run into any issues

So there ya go... solid build with parts lists and locations.

enjoy.
 
hmm..

maybe i spoke to soon..

i think my norco got dropped in shipment.

Upon installing the drives they did not seem to go in all the easy.

Trying to close the drive shut it 2 locations actually bent the sata connect at almost a 90 degree angle and one of the connectors fell off..

When i look down the drive bay i see the connectors are def not sitting right.

time to phone norco and see if i can get a full set of sas replacements to start :-/
 
For anyone trying to find a 1.02 x8sil-f good luck with egg or super-biiz as they can not guarantee a certain version. I emailed SM on how to recieve a specific rev of this board. They sent me a list of several small, local to SM, businesses. I called them all and received same day shipment and great service from Keny @ Golden Valley Systems...do your own google as i dont want to seem like a sales person.

ps...norco on sale at egg for 349 free shipping and free 1tb hitachi 7200 (i don't have 50 posts for hot deals posting..sorry)
 
Awesome Update mobilecommand. My build has been delayed for about another month due to workloads at work. I don't have a spare moment to spend and I want to make sure I have plenty of time to 'do it right.

Anyways, thanks again for the updates. I feel much more comfortable with the build and I'll post as 'my version' of the build progresses.
 
So Norco wants my case back and they will ship me a new replacement.

Not really on the top of my list since everything got installed cabled etc.

But they have been really good about everything and willing to work with me..

So 2 thumbs up to norco for standing behind their product and making it right no matter who's at fault.

Cannot say that about a lot of companies these days.
 
Oh hey,

Forgot to mention this.

Not sure if its new info or not but the dual power connectors in the norco cases are redundant and you only need to wire 1 side as per the folks at norco.
 
not that it's really relevant to anybody except the performance whores of the data storage world, but ZFS really is something special. I personally like to break down partitions into reiserfs and xfs, depending on their function. reiserfs for the OS, too. ext4 still scares me and ext3 is poopy
 
SinShiva said:
not that it's really relevant to anybody except the performance whores of the data storage world, but ZFS really is something special. I personally like to break down partitions into reiserfs and xfs, depending on their function. reiserfs for the OS, too. ext4 still scares me and ext3 is poopy
Click to expand...

I know its fairly early days for ext4 but any particular reason Ext4 scares you? (Bad experience?)
 
mobilecommand said:
Oh hey,

Forgot to mention this.

Not sure if its new info or not but the dual power connectors in the norco cases are redundant and you only need to wire 1 side as per the folks at norco.
Click to expand...

Good Info!

I tried searching a manual on Norco's site that would explain this but nothing. I had assumed that was what the dual molex were but, wasn't 100% sure.

Check out my pics for mounting a 3.5" drive - here
 
hey just wanted to post a quick update.

I just got my new case from Norco "since i had to rma my old one"

Almost done with the reinstall but i did make time to test out most of the hd bays.

They work like a champ with no issues what so ever.

So props to Norco for standing behind their product and making things right.

This is def a great buy.
 
They never really said..

I have to assume the case was bent in shipping as i sent the sas boards back and then they requested the case.

When i was running into issues the first night i did see some of the sata connectors were just not lining up correctly.

I may have torqued the case enough when i was installing the 120mm fan board but i take alot of care working on systems so highly unlikley but i guess possible.

When i was building the systems this time around i did not want to press my luck so i only installed 2 of the 3 bottom mounting screws since i had to put a decent amout of pressue to make the 3rd scew line up.

This is something i did not have to deal with the first time installing it in the case so i guess take it for what it is.. Either way i dont think the 3rd screw getting installed will make any difference and does not seem to be effecting air flow.
 
Thanks for all the updates mobilecommand. I'm about ready to pull the trigger on this. Any final updates. Anything that you would change now that you have everything in your hot little hands?

Thanks again.....
 
For the most part i think the core i3 is the way to go, the SM MB is amazing and its worth the RMA if you get the wrong version.. IF you want custom power cables go to frozen cpu and save yourself time, money and frustration trying to make your own.

Since its not totally off the ground i wish i held off on the 1tb drives to get 2tb drives but since they are mostly unused i will offer them to friends and family at a good price and replace with 2tb drives.

The case is really sharp and i did scratch the hell out of my table and you can see that in one of the pics so make sure you have a table cloth of bed sheet below the case as you are building

the 120mm fan board is really good and replacing the fans with 80mm panaflo's and 120mm scythe's are the way to go.

All in all if you follow my build list to the T I feel you will have an amazing system.

I think the only thing i would end up changing if i had to do it again would be the HSF.

The HSF covers 2 of the memory slots so if i ever decide to upgrade the memory when vail is released i will have to get a new hsf.

last but not least shop around. look at the vendors i have listed and use Google shopping and figure out your total cost after shipping... you may find a cheaper item else where but they will get you on shipping so watch out.
 
So....just out of curiousity, which HSF would you go with if you 'had it to do over'.

Once again....thanks for all the sage advice!
 
If you use an i3, you can use the stock cooler FYI. If you aren't trying to run at 100% CPU and 100% GPU all day long, the stock cooler is going to be overbuilt for the i3-530/ i3-540.
 
:mad:

my SM X7SIL still hasn't arrived

I ordered it three months ago!!!
the service i have received from the UK SM reseller has been shocking

may now consider a MSI H57M-ED65
 
The Supermicro suggestion v. MSI comes down to IPMI 2.0. Think about it this way, with IMPI 2.0 you don't need to hook up a CD/DVD, keyboard, mouse, monitor, ever. Even to change BIOS settings. You can also do things like turn on/ off a server remotely (i.e. remote power cycling). The MSI board doesn't have it. Most AMD boards for Socket AM3 don't have it.
 
Asposium said:
maybe not, but it still looks a nice board
i don't intend running an xeon CPU
probably an i3 or i5
heck, i won't even use ECC memory



Stock on hand?
does that mean the UK distro has stock coming?
did a google search earlier and it seemed some places were getting stock 5th May
Click to expand...

Mentor has them in stock, available now. The IPMI/IKVM is really useful if you are going to run you server headless (No need tor Optical drive or KVM after justing typing IP into bios).
 
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pjkenned said:
The Supermicro suggestion v. MSI comes down to IPMI 2.0. Think about it this way, with IMPI 2.0 you don't need to hook up a CD/DVD, keyboard, mouse, monitor, ever. Even to change BIOS settings. You can also do things like turn on/ off a server remotely (i.e. remote power cycling). The MSI board doesn't have it. Most AMD boards for Socket AM3 don't have it.
Click to expand...

IPMI 2.0 is a killer feature IMO
 
I second using stock HSF,

i still have mine kicking around if need be.

doubt it will come to that as i don't ever see needing more than 4 gig of memory on this file server.
 
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