6 Sata ports... 6 3.5'' HDD cages... 16GB of memory. Which configuration should I go?

[Supa]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/exzacklyright/saved/3oJO

What's better to start out with? 6 (2 TB RED disks) or 6 (3 TB RED disks)?

 

[sumsum]

This is depending of how much data you like to store in a first phase.
I started with 6x2TB 2 years ago. Now i'm getting short in space an replace them with WD RED 3TB disks. You always can start with smaler disks an replace them with biger disks later.
ZFS will allow you to expand the volumes.

 

[SweetAndLow]

6x3tb is 10.7tb actual in raidz2 using the 80% rule that leaves you with 8tb. Just do the math and see how much space you need

 

[Supa]

The plan was gonna be to use raidz2. Wouldn't I need 18GB of RAM at least though if I went 6x3TB?

 

[jgreco]

No. It's a rule of thumb, not a hard requirement. You might also note that the guideline doesn't say whether that's 1GB per TB of actual disk space, or usable disk space, which was something I intentionally omitted when I updated that guideline. The expectation is that you would have a minimum of 12GB (1GB per TB of delivered usable space) but that 18GB would be a better number for performance. You should feel fine with 16GB unless you have a heavy load, in which case you should shoot for 24-32GB anyways.

 

[Supa]

Ahh good to know. Thanks jgreco.

I don't think it'll be that heavy of a load. Mainly media (plex), storing of backups, etc.

I really like the mini-itx designs so I'm limited to 6 Sata ports.

Now to figure out when I should pull the trigger. The 3TB reds are on sale for $125 each.

 

[Michael Wulff Nielsen]

I'd take the 3Tb. I have 6 with 16 gigs of ram and the performance is very good. I can saturate the network without thinking about it :)

 

[jgreco]

Also consider that the 4TB may prove cheaper. It is easy to just look at the cost of the drives and go "but... but.. but... price per TB!" but you are encouraged to re-run the numbers and factor in the cost of the NAS itself. You might discover that it is attractive to get the larger storage and just be done with it...