I want to upgrade my storage server, the current internals are lagging behind and I think a more modern motherboard and raid controller(s) will not only work faster but also use less power, something that would be nice for a box that is up 24/7 also I will be using my old main computer as a virtual server-box to get rid of a couple of other boxes that is running all year (cctv and two download boxes) so iSCSI is a feature I want in the new OS My current setup is: Case:Supermicro SC846A-R900B Drives: 20 of the bays are currently in use, drives ranging from 750GB to 2TB CPU: 2X Xenon 2,4GHZ RAM: 2GB Motherboard: Supermicro X5DP8-G2 RAID controllers: 2x 3Ware 9550SX 12-port SATA OS: win7 (I know...) OS HDD: old 320GB disc And that is pretty much it I plan on replacing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, Raid controllers and of course the OS. So far I have been looking at some hardware, but it all seems like a jungle to me at the moment.. The Raid controller I have been looking at is the (aging) 24-port version of the Areca ARC1280ML that one is PCI-express 8X I don't know if it would be better to use two 12-port version of the same/similar card or not. Maybe there is a better (sub $500) card out there somewhere? Is there any performance gain in using a SSD drive for the system disc? What software do I want to use? In the past I have used FreeNAS, OpenFiler and probably others that I don't remember. on the network-side of it I have a Linksys SRW2024 Gigabit managed switch, and I want to know if it would be useful to have a dual gigabit-link between the server and switch? the CCTV and other machines on the virtual server will be transferring quite a bit of data to and from the server all/most of the time. Maybe a direct gigabit link between the two would be better? Any input is appreciated