Looking for a Motherboard for a Media Server

[GamingDaemon]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking to build a media server that will run Windows 7, and have a whole bunch of storage for Blu Ray and HD DVD movies using RAID 1. I'm having trouble finding a motherboard with 6 SATA slots.

Can someone recommend a solid motherboard with 6 SATA slots that can do RAID? I prefer Gigabyte motherboards if possible.

I am fine with miniATX or full ATX.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Kenmitch]

You don't care which cpu it'll use....Just wondering

Not big on raid yet but I'm thinking of doing something similar also.

Sata port thing is tripping me up. You need 6 ports total?

Not that I'm an expert but it looks like with the new intels that have sata2 and sata3 it's possible to use all 6 in a raid array. Most of the boards have 6 sata's(4xSata2, 2xSata3) and some have an xtra 2 sata3 with a seperate controller.


The Intel RAID controller will allow you to RAID as many drives as you can connect to the Native Intel P67 SATA connectors. I have yet to see anyone hit a bandwidth wall with the P67. The SATA Lanes should run at full rated speeds (I have seen two OCZ Vertex3's in RAID0 average just under 1GB/s performance. My two Corsair P3-128s (RAID0) average 850MB/s on the two Intel 6Gb/s connectors. The P67 PCH has a 20Gb/s connection back to the processor, with the PCIe graphic lanes (16GB/s combined) on their own connection directly to the CPU, bypassing the P67 PCH.

 

[GamingDaemon]

You don't care which cpu it'll use....Just wondering

Not big on raid yet but I'm thinking of doing something similar also.

Sata port thing is tripping me up. You need 6 ports total?

Not that I'm an expert but it looks like with the new intels that have sata2 and sata3 it's possible to use all 6 in a raid array. Most of the boards have 6 sata's(4xSata2, 2xSata3) and some have an xtra 2 sata3 with a seperate controller.


The Intel RAID controller will allow you to RAID as many drives as you can connect to the Native Intel P67 SATA connectors. I have yet to see anyone hit a bandwidth wall with the P67. The SATA Lanes should run at full rated speeds (I have seen two OCZ Vertex3's in RAID0 average just under 1GB/s performance. My two Corsair P3-128s (RAID0) average 850MB/s on the two Intel 6Gb/s connectors. The P67 PCH has a 20Gb/s connection back to the processor, with the PCIe graphic lanes (16GB/s combined) on their own connection directly to the CPU, bypassing the P67 PCH.

Nope, don't care about the processor because it is just going to be a file server, so anything built today from an AMD E-350 to an Intel Core I3-2100 will be able to handle the job. It's the mobo that's tripping me up.

Can you expalin more about the P67 boards please and their Native RAID connectors?

 

[Kenmitch]

This is cut and pasted from the gigabyte mb provided in the link. It should maybe help I guess as it does state you can use all the sata on the intel controller in raid setup.

Chipset: Z68

1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3_0~SATA3_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_2~SATA2_5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices
3. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10
   * When a RAID set is built across the SATA 6Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s channels, the system performance of the RAID set may vary depending on the devices being connected.

1 x Marvell 88SE9172 chip:

1. 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3_6, GSATA3_7) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices
2. Support for SATA RAID 0 and RAID 1

I guess that pretty much would be all the raid info you're wanting? Other than that I guess you could look at the MB manual.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3852#ov

Newegg link for price/reviews

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128500

Not sure if Gigabyte makes any cheaper boards that would work. Paired with a I3-2100 guess it would pack some punch also.

 

[SViscusi]

Is this computer only going to be used as a fileserver? If yes you might want to consider using a server os like Freenas or Open Indiana + Napp-it which will do a better job at managing a file server.

If you want to stick with Windows because you have other tasks or your just more comfortable with it, then you can get a board like this one which says it supports raid over all 6 ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130569

It's not a gigabyte but MSI makes pretty decent boards, I have one in my file-server right now. You can pair it with a Sandy Bridge Pentium or Core i3 for a nice powerful system.

You can go with a zacate baste solution but you'll probably lose that 6th internal sata port. At newegg, only the ASUS is listed with 6 internal ports.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131732

I would personally go with a SB Pentium g620 or g620t paired with an h67 mobo which will fulfill your needs and provide for some expandability at around 150ish.