So I made a mistake. And a big one. I jumped the gun with my choices for the motherboard, cpu & memory.  My original post has a nice list for a very nice PC, not one that is really good for this purpose.  

The use of ECC capable memory, cpu and motherboard is paramount for a ZFS based storage solution.  So what to do. Already purchased these components and are nice mid-range specs.

Via ebay I purchased a replacement motherboard and cpu. This time I went for a Supermicro board: X11SSL-F

This one is supposed to be better supported. Also via Ebay an Intel Xeon E3-1225 v5, one that also supposed to be sufficient for the purpose. Less cores and threads, but then again I do have the safety of ECC memory.  Via Amazon I ordered 16GB of ECC ram. Again should be more then enough for starters.

But then what to do with the other components. I do like to play the occasional game. Most of my games I got via Steam. So what kind of investment do I need to make to get re-purpose the motherboard, cpu & 64GB Memory I got.

Remember the lost & found shipment? I still have a Cooler Master MWE 650 v3 Gold sealed lying around. So what else do I need?

  • Case: CS-107 A nice small case that can hold the components.
  • Storage: Corsair MP510 480GB M.2 SSD. More then enough storage and fast enough for the occasional gamer.
  • BT Adapter: So I can connect my Sennheiser PXC-550 to the set.

For now I will start with the integrated GPU and see how it performs. And perhaps at a later moment get a nice GPU card. Providing the prices are coming down a bit. I find these really absurd.  I will try and figure a good, affordable one out. And see what I can get.

For the monitor I still have a very nice Dell U2515H as an extra display, should be enough for now.

The stuff is ordered and on it’s way. Will update my site when I have it running again.