BUILD MINI-ITX Build Home Use - Photo, Film, Backup and more..

[iRecon]

Hi, my name is Bas, I'm from the Netherlands, and this is my first post on the forum..

Since I'm looking forward to having my own home media server which I can use to backup my precious data, stream HD movies and photographs to my television, play music, etcetera.., i've read a lot about NAS servers lately.

Enough chit chat, here's te build that I'm thinking about:

Casing: Lian Li PC-V358 (black)
Powersupply: be quiet! Pure Power L8 530W CM
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 BLS2KIT8G3D1609DS1S00
Processor: Intel Pentium Processor G3240 64bit (3M Cache, 3.10 GHz) BX80646G3240
Motherboard: ASUS Mini ITX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards H97I-PLUS
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX
Network card: Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive
OS: FreeNAS

Planning to use RAID 1 from start.

Please, fire away at my build, I've still got much to learn.
I've seen discussions stating WD RED drives are better then WD GREEN when it comes to IDLE state, but some say you can alter the IDLE to 300 and it works fine.
Did I overpower some parts, or is it in balance?

 

[anodos]

Get a motherboard that supports ECC RAM, and populate it with ECC RAM. If you get a server motherboards it'll probably have an Intel NIC integrated. I've never heard of 'be quiet!' power supplies and so I can't comment on their quality.

 

[Ericloewe]

Get a motherboard that supports ECC RAM, and populate it with ECC RAM. If you get a server motherboards it'll probably have an Intel NIC integrated. I've never heard of 'be quiet!' power supplies and so I can't comment on their quality.

Dangerous to average typically, with some decent units.

Hi, my name is Bas, I'm from the Netherlands, and this is my first post on the forum..

Since I'm looking forward to having my own home media server which I can use to backup my precious data, stream HD movies and photographs to my television, play music, etcetera.., i've read a lot about NAS servers lately.

Enough chit chat, here's te build that I'm thinking about:

Casing: Lian Li PC-V358 (black)
Powersupply: be quiet! Pure Power L8 530W CM
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 BLS2KIT8G3D1609DS1S00
Processor: Intel Pentium Processor G3240 64bit (3M Cache, 3.10 GHz) BX80646G3240
Motherboard: ASUS Mini ITX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards H97I-PLUS
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX
Network card: Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter EXPI9301CTBLK
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive
OS: FreeNAS

Planning to use RAID 1 from start.

Please, fire away at my build, I've still got much to learn.
I've seen discussions stating WD RED drives are better then WD GREEN when it comes to IDLE state, but some say you can alter the IDLE to 300 and it works fine.
Did I overpower some parts, or is it in balance?

Please read the hardware sticky. Also, please note that anything lower-end than an i3 may possibly not be able to run FreeNAS 10 - this is far from certain, but the extra cost is probably worth it.

 

[iRecon]

Thanks for your replies people. I've read the stickies and I think I'll have to change at least 50% of my configuration to make it ECC compatible and more reliable.

Also a big thankyou to the ones who've took the time to write the stickied posts!

Will post my new configuration based on the new information soon.

 

[iRecon]

Usefull stickies:

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...or-supermicro-x10-lga1150-motherboards.23291/

Updated configuration:

Casing: Fractal design Node 304 Black (€ 70,00)
Powersupply: Corsair CS550M 550W 6x SATA (€ 75,00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024 Meg (€ 195,00)
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 (socket 1155) (€ 220,00)
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-F (€ 175,00)
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX (€ 195,00)
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 (€ 10,00)
OS: FreeNAS (free ;-))

Total cost: € 940,00

I didn't feel quite sure which powersupply to choose. How do I determine what the capacity of the powersupply should be? Corsair is a good brand, right?
Looking forward to your replies!

 

[Fraoch]

Note the board is microATX while the case is mini-ITX. The board won't fit. You may want to move up to the Fractal Design Node 804 to accommodate the board. It's the larger microATX twin of the mini-ITX Node 304.

What are you planning to do with the hard drives? Mirror?

You also might want to add a front fan in the hard drive/power supply chamber of the Node case.

In regards to power supply calculations, 550 W should be plenty. There are lots of online calculators. About the best I've seen is:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Plugging all your values in, I get:

Minimum PSU Wattage:149 W
Recommended
PSU Wattage: *

Given that power supplies are most efficient at 30-50% load, 550 W is more than enough. A 400 - 450 W unit might be better, however 550 W allows room for expansion. That power supply isn't very high quality, you may want less watts but higher quality and efficiency (SeaSonic G-450 or S12G-450, for example). It will be on all the time, gold efficiency may pay for itself.

 

[iRecon]

Thanks Fraoch.
I'm planning to use raid 1 but I've heard raid 5 with 3 disks is also possible, would like some advice on that.

Updated configuration:

Casing: Fractal design Node 804 Black (€ 100,00)
Powersupply: SeaSonic G450 450W 6x SATA (€ 75,00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024 Meg (€ 195,00)
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 (socket 1155) (€ 220,00)
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-F (€ 175,00)
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX (€ 195,00)
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 (€ 10,00)
OS: FreeNAS (free ;-))

Total cost: € 970,00

Thanks alot btw for that power supple calculator!
I read on that site the wattage is not the most important aspect in selecting a power supply.
Total amparage available on the +12v rails, +5v rails and +3.3v rails is more important. Could someone explain that to me?

And please, if someone sees something to improve on my configuration above, let me know.

 

[Ericloewe]

Thanks Fraoch.
I'm planning to use raid 1 but I've heard raid 5 with 3 disks is also possible, would like some advice on that.

Updated configuration:

Casing: Fractal design Node 804 Black (€ 100,00)
Powersupply: SeaSonic G450 450W 6x SATA (€ 75,00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024 Meg (€ 195,00)
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 (socket 1155) (€ 220,00)
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-F (€ 175,00)
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Green 3TB WD30EZRX (€ 195,00)
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 (€ 10,00)
OS: FreeNAS (free ;-))

Total cost: € 970,00

Thanks alot btw for that power supple calculator!
I read on that site the wattage is not the most important aspect in selecting a power supply.
Total amparage available on the +12v rails, +5v rails and +3.3v rails is more important. Could someone explain that to me?

And please, if someone sees something to improve on my configuration above, let me know.

If a build needed 500W off the 3.3V Rail (fantasy scenario), a typical 600W PSU (~50W on the 3.3V rail) wouldn't work.
The PSU you chose is fine up to some ~13 HDDs.
That said, I've never seen a PSU calculator that provided reasonable results.

As for your build, any reason why you're going with last-gen components (Ivy Bridge) instead of current-gen (Haswell)?

For information on storage setups, please read Cyberjock's guide (link is in my sig).

 

[iRecon]

If a build needed 500W off the 3.3V Rail (fantasy scenario), a typical 600W PSU (~50W on the 3.3V rail) wouldn't work.
The PSU you chose is fine up to some ~13 HDDs.
That said, I've never seen a PSU calculator that provided reasonable results.

As for your build, any reason why you're going with last-gen components (Ivy Bridge) instead of current-gen (Haswell)?

For information on storage setups, please read Cyberjock's guide (link is in my sig).

I'm glad the PSU is good for my build.
Not yet understanding the 3.3v rail but I will at some time.

I've chosen the components based on the thread of Cyberjock's Hardware recommendations: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/
I've chosen the high end CPU because I'd like to stream video to my pc and such.
And also because he didn't give examples of the i3's middle of the road cpu's, which led me to take the high end for the moment.

Perhaps someone could help me find a good i3 cpu for my config and cut the cost of my build a little bit.
Thanks for the guide, will read it tonight.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm glad the PSU is good for my build.
Not yet understanding the 3.3v rail but I will at some time.

I've chosen the components based on the thread of Cyberjock's Hardware recommendations: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/
I've chosen the high end CPU because I'd like to stream video to my pc and such.
And also because he didn't give examples of the i3's middle of the road cpu's, which led me to take the high end for the moment.

Perhaps someone could help me find a good i3 cpu for my config and cut the cost of my build a little bit.
Thanks for the guide, will read it tonight.

ATX PSUs have 5 different voltages: 12V, 5V, 3.3V, 5VSB (always on, for standby power) and -12V

Certain components need certain voltages (the vast majority uses +12V). No PSU will be able to output its full capacity only on 3.3V and/or 5V, for instance (some do output their full capacity on +12V, though), so if most of the load is at these lower voltages, the PSU has to be a larger one, since it's dimensioned to output mostly 12V with only a bit of 3.3V and 5V.

In practice, any good modern PSU will have no problems whatsoever, since it'll output everything on the 12V rail, where most of the load is.

 

[Fraoch]

I've chosen the components based on the thread of Cyberjock's Hardware recommendations: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/hardware-recommendations-read-this-first.23069/
I've chosen the high end CPU because I'd like to stream video to my pc and such.

Streaming (just playing) or transcoding (converting to a different format, upscaling or downscaling)?

Streaming doesn't require a tremendous amount of CPU power. Transcoding does - each simultaneous transcode takes more and more power. You will be able to stream with a Pentium, but not transcode. A Core i3 is good for 1-2 transcodes. A non-hyperthreaded Xeon like I have, probably 3-4 simultaneous transcodes. A hyperthreaded Xeon E3-1230, 5 simultaneous transcodes or more.

So how many transcodes are you planning?

And also because he didn't give examples of the i3's middle of the road cpu's, which led me to take the high end for the moment.

I'm not too familiar with the previous-generation CPUs you're looking at, but the current 4XXX i3s are divided into 41XX CPUs with 3 MB of cache and 43XX CPUs with 4 MB of cache. The cache will have a small positive effect on performance, but as you move up the speeds increase pretty dramatically. They can do this while maintaining low heat production because it's still only dual-core. They have hyperthreading which adds two 'fake' cores and makes it multitask better than a non-hyperthreaded Celeron or Pentium but not as well as a true 4-core Xeon.

Over the summer Intel introduced "Haswell Refresh" processors that bump up speeds over their predecessors at no additional cost. They might seem ideal but unfortunately Supermicro is so conservative they don't support them yet.

A nice middle ground is the CPU @Ericloewe is using, the Core i3-4330. It's the first one with 4 MB cache and it's quite fast at 3.5 GHz. Plus it's 'original' Haswell so it's well-supported in Supermicro X10 boards.

You might as well go with 4th generation Haswell CPUs (Core i3-4XXX and Xeon v3) with a Supermicro X10 board. They're a bit faster and should cost about the same.

 

[iRecon]

Updated configuration:

Casing: Fractal design Node 804 Black [Micro ATX] (€ 100,00)
Powersupply: SeaSonic G450 450W 6x SATA (€ 75,00)
Memory: Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2) DDR3 PC3-12800 Unbuffered ECC 1.35V 1024 Meg (€ 195,00)
Processor: Intel Core i3-4330 (socket 1150) (€ 115,00)
Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLL-F [Micro ATX] (€ 200,00)
Hard drives: 2x Western Digital WD Red 3TB WD30EFRX (€ 225,00)
USB (for the OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB USB 2.0 (€ 10,00)
OS: FreeNAS (free ;-))

Total cost: € 920,00

I've changed the processor and motherboard based on the excellent advice you gave me Fraoch.
I also went from WD Greens to WD Reds because it felt better, and doesnt require me to 'tamper' with the settings.

I'm not sure if I understand the concept of transcoding right, but my goal is to stream photo's, videos, music to my TV, iPad, laptop, etc..
So I'd say i just play movies, music and photo's, not transcode them, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've read in the powerpoint from Cyberjocky that it's not wise to use USB sticks as they can be removed by accident whilest the machine is running.
Do you advice using an SSD for installing FreeNas on?

 

[Fraoch]

What are you using to serve the files to play them? Most devices won't transcode at all. You'll know you need to transcode if you have some files that will play in one device but not others, or if the playing device tries to play it but fails with an error about an unsupported format, unsupported resolution, etc.

The i3 will let you transcode a couple of streams if you need to, and the motherboard is upgradeable to a Xeon if you need more power in the future. Plus support for Pentiums in future FreeNAS versions is somewhat in question, so you're well-advised to get an i3.

Regarding USB sticks, your motherboard has a nice feature - a USB socket right on the motherboard. This keeps things internal and protected. However a big change is coming in FreeNAS 9.3 - it will format the boot drive the same as the data drives and allow several versions of FreeNAS to be installed. It also allows the boot drive to be mirrored for redundancy. This lends itself quite nicely to SSDs. Even a cheap 64 GB SSD will be more than enough. I'm using my old Crucial M4. They are getting hard to find, so as a mirror drive I chose a cheap SanDisk SDSSDP-064G-D25. The performance should be similar. The SanDisk Ultra Plus was only a few dollars more but it would be wasted - the performance is more than the M4 so in a mirrored array it would slow down to the M4's speed.

In your situation, starting out fresh, pick a low-capacity SSD, 64 GB or smaller. The performance doesn't need to be all that great, it's really only intensively used on boot and a server shouldn't be booted all that often. You do want a reliable SSD from a reputable manufacturer. In my mind that would be Crucial, Intel, Plextor or SanDisk. I would be leery of A-DATA, Kingston or OCZ.

There are advantages with USB sticks though. It's easy and cheap to keep a spare or one for testing. Plus they don't take up valuable SATA ports that may be better used for your data pool. And a mirrored boot array will take up two!