Pheran's 32TB FreeNAS build with photos

Bidule0hm

Server Electronics Sorcerer
Joined
Aug 5, 2013
Messages
3,710

Jailer

Not strong, but bad
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
4,974
Also, I'm glad to have company in yellow SATA cable land! Screw black and red, yellow screams "I ordered these just for the server!"

Dang it! I thought all the cool kids were buyin red ones. Now I have to get new cables.
 

HardChargin

Dabbler
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
49
Spearfoot, what CPU cooler are you running. I'm not at all pleased with the factory heatink/fan and am looking for a good cooler to replace it with.

Thanks to Spearfoot's post, I picked up that Hyper 212 evo cooler after stress testing my system (core i3-4170) with the stock cooler (with the Fan Mode on Full Speed) and seeing stable temps of 77 deg C with peaks over 80 C. I've only run a few quick tests thus far, but after installing the Hyper 212, my temps dropped to 60 deg C with peaks of 63 during the same tests which is way better than I had hoped for. Needless to say, that cooler was a great investment in my case as far as getting the temps down. That's even with slightly higher ambient temps during testing. The idle temps didn't seem to drop by much though, maybe a few degrees, but those were/are in the low 30's anyways so I wasn't concerned about it.

Also, I had looked over the installation of the stock cooler as well as removed and re-applied thermal paste. The low idle temps would indicate the cooler was installed correctly though.
 
Last edited:

Jailer

Not strong, but bad
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
4,974
I really like the looks of some of the Noctua hs/fans but their size on the better models worries me a bit on whether or not they will fit. Thanks for the follow up post.
 

Pheran

Patron
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
280
Yeesh, badblocks has been running for 2 days straight now. There's no way I'm going to be able to run that on the final 2 disks, I'll have to settle for a long SMART test. They're running OK on a RAID1 controller though, so I have no reason to believe they have any problems.
 

Ericloewe

Server Wrangler
Moderator
Joined
Feb 15, 2014
Messages
20,175
Yeesh, badblocks has been running for 2 days straight now. There's no way I'm going to be able to run that on the final 2 disks, I'll have to settle for a long SMART test. They're running OK on a RAID1 controller though, so I have no reason to believe they have any problems.
I ran three sets of four passes of badblocks on my 6 WD Reds. 4 at a time. I did 3 sets so that every drive could have the same amount of passes while my (then) only available 4-disk bay was always full with four drives.

So yeah, it was a looooooooong process. :p
 

Cthulhu

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Messages
17
Nice build - coincidentally, I'm doing something really similar for my 8x3TB rebuild in an Fractal Design R4 chassis.
 

Pheran

Patron
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
280
The badblocks finally finished after about 3 days and I initiated a SMART long test after that, but I haven't had a chance to check the output yet. I'm about to go on a business trip so I'll have to wait to do the main FreeNAS config until I return.
 

Vivan

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
24
I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of your posts. I'm going to be building an almost identical machine (6TB drives rather than 4TB) and this is wonderful inspiration.
 

Johev

Contributor
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Messages
103
Dear Pheran, thank you for posting your detailed setup build. I was actually thinking of going with Fractal Define Mini case instead of the R5, however I feel it's a bit old and that the R5 could probably be a better choice. Yours looks very nice.

The only difference is that I am trying to squeeze in a TH enabled CPU, so something like a 1230v3/1231/1240v3/1241, if the budget allows it :). Furthermore I don't initially need that many HDD's, so maybe just 6 - 4TB in RAIDZ2 should be enough.

I have one question, initially you say you have 16GB of RAM, however in one of the pictures you have 4 slots used. Did you feel the need to go with more than 16GB?

Another question would be if you could go back, would you still go for the same power supply? Does it come with 8 SATA cables? When I researched about the Seasonic G 550w version I saw that it comes with only 6 SATA cables.

Many tanks for your reply.
 

Vivan

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
24
Dear Pheran, thank you for posting your detailed setup build. I was actually thinking of going with Fractal Define Mini case instead of the R5, however I feel it's a bit old and that the R5 could probably be a better choice. Yours looks very nice.

The only difference is that I am trying to squeeze in a TH enabled CPU, so something like a 1230v3/1231/1240v3/1241, if the budget allows it :). Furthermore I don't initially need that many HDD's, so maybe just 6 - 4TB in RAIDZ2 should be enough.

I have one question, initially you say you have 16GB of RAM, however in one of the pictures you have 4 slots used. Did you feel the need to go with more than 16GB?

Another question would be if you could go back, would you still go for the same power supply? Does it come with 8 SATA cables? When I researched about the Seasonic G 550w version I saw that it comes with only 6 SATA cables.

Many tanks for your reply.
He actually went with 32GB of RAM - it's 2x2x8.
 

Pheran

Patron
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
280
The only difference is that I am trying to squeeze in a TH enabled CPU, so something like a 1230v3/1231/1240v3/1241, if the budget allows it :). Furthermore I don't initially need that many HDD's, so maybe just 6 - 4TB in RAIDZ2 should be enough.

I have one question, initially you say you have 16GB of RAM, however in one of the pictures you have 4 slots used. Did you feel the need to go with more than 16GB?

Another question would be if you could go back, would you still go for the same power supply? Does it come with 8 SATA cables? When I researched about the Seasonic G 550w version I saw that it comes with only 6 SATA cables.

Many tanks for your reply.

Regarding the RAM, Vivan is correct, I stated that I'm using 2x 16GB kits, in other words 32GB. I'm really happy with the power supply, it has 8 SATA connectors (2x4 cable configuration) so it is able to feed every single drive. After looking around, 450W supplies with 8 SATA are fairly rare. It's easier to find 8+ connectors if you up the wattage, but then the power supply will be less efficient because this system doesn't require that much power. As I mention in the build posts, I did use molex-SATA adapters to power the fan controller and SSD since the drives are taking up all the native ones.
 

Johev

Contributor
Joined
Nov 26, 2014
Messages
103
Dear Pheran, any update on this topic. Latest pictures, benchmarks, etc.? Thanks in advance :)
 

adrianwi

Guru
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,231
A great write up and almost identical to my build, although my cable routing is a lot neater :P
 

adrianwi

Guru
Joined
Oct 15, 2013
Messages
1,231
There are 8 in my R5 now, and although 1 is a cold spare it's cabled for 8. Power will route around the back of the motherboard and only 2 cable ties :D

Think the CPU fan is on a different jumper now too, and the rear fan too. I've also installed a 2nd fan at the front to keep the drives cool. Usually around the 30 degree mark.

download
 
Last edited:

Vivan

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
24
Beautiful. I hope I manage to get mine to look that nice. My setup is pretty much identical - only difference will be that I'm using 6TB drives.
 
Top