Motherboard suggestion

tiste · 30. Januar 2015

Hello guys,
I just wanted to present to you the motherboard I chose for my configuration and its features :

Here it is : ASRock Mini ITX Motherboard FM2A88X-ITX+

Why I chose this one? Because :

1 - It's one of the only motherboards I found (afordable) with 6 x SATAIII (6Gb/s) ports
2 - There is one mSATA port (with the WiFi module in it). I put the WiFi module out in order to plug a micro SSD instead : http://www.amazon.co.uk/KingSp…Solid-State/dp/B00OS1LRWM
3 - There is 2 HDMI ports (one IN and one OUT) for future use like HTPC (XBMC for instance)

The beast :

Just one more things to know (or 2) :
- the CPU chipset was no meaning for me, Intel or AMD, no matter
- the NIC controller might be a little bit capricious with backports kernel, that's why I added an Intel Controller on the PCI-E port because no need of a graphic card here

And one important thing : read the comments made by @davidh2k below !!!

I spent a loooooooot of time lurking and comparing motherboards. I hope I can help at least one of you.
Cheers

davidh2k · 30. Januar 2015

Zitat von tiste

2 - There is one mSATA port (with the WiFi module in it). I put the WiFi module out in order to plug a micro SSD instead : amazon.com/Kingspec-Solid-State-Drive-Tablet/dp/B00MSSEOQ8

On a side note: mSATA SSDs only work in full size mini-PCI Express Slots.

Gruß
David

tiste · 30. Januar 2015

Hi @davidh2k,

I'm sorry but I don't get it...
What do you mean by full size ?
The half size SSD I chose fits very well in this motherboard mini PCI-e slot (mSATA)...

Greetings

davidh2k · 30. Januar 2015

I just wanted to note that only full size mini PCI-E slots work with mSATA SSDs. Half Sized Slots mostly do not work with mSATA SSDs. Not to confuse you but to clarify for others.

Greetings
David

tiste · 30. Januar 2015

OK I didn't know that when I choose that build.
I guess I was lucky because there was not a single issue in view

I love learning everyday.
Many thanks to you, and for the others

davidh2k · 30. Januar 2015

The Celeron NUC (N28...) for example has a half sized mini pic-e slot which is filled with the BT/WIFI Module and you can't run a mSATA SSD in it.

Greetings
David

KM0201 · 30. Januar 2015

Also for anyone else... If you're in the US.. that board is almost $30 cheaper at newegg.com (.99 shipping)

blublub · 30. Januar 2015

Since a NAS runs 24/7 (usually) I would go with server grade HW and ECC memory if you are not on tight budget. It will leave you with more option in the future, i.e. ZFS.

tiste · 30. Januar 2015

Thanks @KM0201, that's good to know for our fellow US users.

And, @blublub, I agree with you but as we are building DIY NAS, I think low budget is a big thing !!

KM0201 · 30. Januar 2015

Zitat von blublub

Since a NAS runs 24/7 (usually) I would go with server grade HW and ECC memory if you are not on tight budget. It will leave you with more option in the future, i.e. ZFS.

I disagree... It's all about need. You can future proof a machine w/o blowing your budget all to hell w/ a server board and ECC. Some people might need a server grade board... I'd imagine most do not. Personally, my NAS isn't on 24/7, so quality consumer boards work just fine for me... ECC? Again, I have zero intention of using ZFS, so what good is ECC going to do me?

Sergio · 30. Januar 2015

Also, if you want to run a media player on it, you'll do a lot of video decoding+rendering. Those things are very memory intensive processes. Then you must take in consideration that those boards usually lack for dedicated video memory, so the one in the mainboard is shared.
If you want to run OMV, we say a NAS solution, you will have process and services running in background that rely on memory. Also, if you run any kind of software RAID, these must be supported by a good amount of memory, depending on the kind of raid.

You see where I'm going.
Say you are seeing your favourite hi-res film, and of course, using some scraping solution for downloading. Just in the action scene of the film, your server decides to do some manteinance on your disks or simply journaling. Sparks will be coming from that rig, and as you didn't use ECC ram, your array was lost.

You are better with a dedicated server+small playing devices, like a Roku or some other. You can get a Roku from ebay from $30 up (I got two) and as the server you can use an old rig you have laying around.
Of course you can use that new board, or some other. My previous E45M1-I DELUXE XBMC machine was a popular board on NAs solutions there.

But I recommend you to stay away from rendering+NAS on the same machine.

Also, I think the SSD link you posted is not for a mSATA one.

tiste · 30. Januar 2015

Yep I agree with the SSD link, it's more like something like that :

I edited the link
Thx

chaseme · 12. April 2015

Thanks for the tips tiste. I had my plans set for a Asrock QC-5000 but came across your thread here. Pulled the trigger on the FM2A88X instead. Now to track down a decent 32G mSATA.

tiste · 14. April 2015

Hi,

Here is mine : http://www.fnac.com/mp21727140…SATA-Solid-State-Disk/w-4

No trouble so far.

Cheers

HellDiverUK · 15. Oktober 2015

For information, this board takes both half-length and full length mSATA SSDs. There's two screw holes present. I'm using that board with a normal Crucial MX100 256GB SSD.

tinh_x7 · 15. Oktober 2015

I'm using this ASUS Z97-A/USB 3.1 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX
And it running good so far for me.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/….1-_-13-132-510-_-Product

What do you guys think?

tekkb · 16. Oktober 2015

Be careful with 3rd party vendors on NewEgg. Ordered something a few weeks back. Was supposed to be 5-8 days and it never showed up. I would only buy stuff that is coming from NewEgg and they have in inventory.

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