Hi, folks. Since inheriting the engineering IT manager slot (in addition to being the entire QA team.../grumble), I'm the default go-to for just about anything PC related. It's been a while since I've looked at full-up RAID-5 capable systems and figured I would check with you guys for hardware recommendations. It'll be a linux server (probably Mint 15 or 16) running a pretty basic distributed build script for a linux-based embedded app, so no fancy graphics or SSDs or anything strange going on with regards to package support. I'm mainly interested in the choices of enclosure, RAID controller/drives and motherboard/processor that are more geared toward high reliability rather than outright performance.

If nothing else, a good basic list of Stupid Shit To Avoid(tm) would be extremely helpful. I know some of you have pretty broad experience with current PC hardware and y'all are about the most honest bunch on the interwebz.

Thanks,
John