New RAID Server is online

After much hemming and hawing I decided to build a new PC. This PC would incorporate RAID and have lots of space for use as a DLNA NAS when the PS Audio Bridge finally becomes available for my PerfectWave DAC.

Realizing that I'm not a gamer so I went low-ball on the Video card, but I can always upgrade later.

I'm proud of the results. I haven't built my own PC since the mid 90's. Pictures follow. Here's the specs

Case: COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 AM3

CPU; AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Memory: 4 GB of kingston (Easily expanded to 8 GB, max of 16)

Video: GIGABYTE GV-R467ZL-1GI Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x1

System Drives - 2 WD 1 TB Green drives in RAID 1 configuration for 1TB of redundant System storage.

NAS drives - 3 WD 2 TB Green drives in RAID 5 configuration for almost 4 TB of storage (With room for two more drives)

Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-775M 775W

Monitor: Viewsonic VX2739WM  27"

The desk is new and wicked inexpensive. I chose it to fit the monitor and it accommodates my B&W DM601's for nice near-field listening. It does have 4 convenient USB ports right under the monitor.

Amp for the B&W is a NAD C 326 BEE (Highly recommended for those on a budget)

I'm waiting for my Music Hall DAC 25.2 to be modded by Exemplar Audio to use as the source. In the mean time a Nuforce uDac serves as the DAC. In the last day I've ripped 53 CD's to the system (Full WAV), only 3800 some odd CD's to go.

Internal Pictures. I tried to be neat. The case is HUGE with room to grow. Followed by a Picture of the entire system. I'm going to be pissed if the Bridge Sucks, this entire exercise is specifically for use with the bridge.

Drives are cheap, specially the 1 TB models that I used for the System RAID 1. I wanted redundancy more than speed. having 1 TB to work with from the system allows me to work with photos and such without worrying about storage. The RAID 5 array is strictly for Music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hybrys 

Airflow shouldn't matter on a music/browsing computer.

 

@OP

 

What made you go with RAID instead of just backing up a copy (like I do)?

If you look at the specs for the CoolMaster case it would be obvious that airflow isn't an issue, even if I go gaming with a higher end video card and get into overclocking (For overclocking I'd need a much better CPU cooler).

I wanted to have 3-5 TB of storage. If I rip every CD that I own it'll come in at over 2 TB, and I want room to grow (not to mention what I might need if I start ripping my 1200 DVD collection). Once you get over 2 TB backing up with a USB or eSATA drive becomes problematic. I also get lackadaisical with my Backing Up regimen.

Still to tell the truth I am on the lookout for a eSATA enclosure that can hold two 2 TB hard drives so that I can periodically backup my library. The RAID arrays provides a degree of recoverability from hardware failure, but they do nothing as far as Virus recoverability. Ripping 3800+ CD's at about 8 per hour means almost 500 hours spent ripping, a huge investment of time. With that kind of investment it's best to have multiple levels of redundancy; firewall, up to date Anti-Virus, RAID, External Backup,

Using such a NAS RAID box was an option, but building my own offered much greater flexibility, and significantly more power. Plus I got a new powerful PC for less than twice what a Consumer RAID NAS box would have cost.

A four Drive NAS in RAID 5 yields 6 TB (Actually just under 5.6 TB usable) whereas with the PC I built I have the room to expand the RAID 5 array up to 10 TB (Actually 9.3 TB usable). So at today's prices I could expand to over 9 TB for another $420.