AMD Ryzen 3-based storage/Plex server

[ChrisReeve]

First time poster here, and about to do my first server build.

I've wanted to own a descent NAS-server/Plex-server for some time now. After doing some initial research, I have decided on going for freeNAS with ZFS2, instead of unraid, but I have several questions.

My plan is to use a ASRock X370 Taichi motherboard, paired with an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G APU. I'm choosing to buy new, because of poor availability of used stock in my country, and high import fees.

The reasoning behind the motherboard, is because it supports ECC memory, and it has 10 onboard SATA-6 ports, for a total price of around 170$. I have tried to find cheaper combos, where I buy a cheaper motherboard, and a Host Bus Adapter for equal or less money, without being successful.

Also, I don't know much about compatibility between Host Bus Adapters and the AMD X370 platform.

Full parts list:
Motherboard: ASRock X370 Taichi (10 sata-ports, supports ECC RAM)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G
RAM: 8-16GB (non-ECC or ECC?)
PSU: Corsair CM550X
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 (with 4 extra HDD-trays, bringing it up to a total of 10 bays)
HDDs: 10x WD Red 4TB

I considered 4x8TB disks, but with my budget of about 1000$ for disks, and wanting dual disk failure redundancy, 4x8TB is both more expensive, and gives far less usable storage (16TB vs. 32TB) with ZFS2.

Total price, including disks, shoud be around 1500$ (500$ for the system, 1000$ for disks)

What do you think about this config?

The things I like are futureproofing, stability, price (obviously), and upgradeability. I will be able to (if required) install several Host Bus Adapters, 10GbE-cards etc., down the line, if required.

When it comes to load, it will at most have 2-3 simultaneous users, streaming up to 1080p streams.

Also, can I combine this with a standard VPN (i.e. nordVPN), and have it appear as a network disk remotely?

Edit: What about this HBA? It is very cheap, and if it is compatible with a cheaper X370 board, it might be cheaper overall
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-HP-SAS...h=item21379ff700:g:QDEAAOSwKwVaaL3U:rk:8:pf:0

 

[Chris Moore]

Edit: What about this HBA? It is very cheap, and if it is compatible with a cheaper X370 board, it might be cheaper overall
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LSI-HP-SAS...660088-001-638834-001-Controller/142667151104

That looks to be the same model I am using but you will likely need to update to the latest IT mode firmware.

My plan is to use a ASRock X370 Taichi motherboard, paired with an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G APU. I'm choosing to buy new, because of poor availability of used stock in my country, and high import fees.

This is less than ideal, but I will have to look into your proposal more later.

 

[Yorick]

My plan is to use a ASRock X370 Taichi motherboard, paired with an AMD Ryzen 3 2200G APU. I'm choosing to buy new, because of poor availability of used stock in my country, and high import fees.

The reasoning behind the motherboard, is because it supports ECC memory, and it has 10 onboard SATA-6 ports, for a total price of around 170$. I have tried to find cheaper combos, where I buy a cheaper motherboard, and a Host Bus Adapter for equal or less money, without being successful.

You won't get ECC with that APU. ECC memory will work, but it won't use the ECC features. See https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370 Taichi/#Specification, "For Ryzen Series CPUs (Raven Ridge), ECC is only supported with PRO CPUs." Good luck finding Pro, those are really hard to find - they were meant as OEM-only parts.

A Ryzen 3 2300x (Pinnacle Ridge) will support ECC, and gives you a Passmark of just under 8,700 - enough for four 1080p transcodes or maybe, huge maybe, one 4k transcode.

The drawback is that it doesn't have a GPU, so now you need a tiny GPU to make it work. NVidia sells some for about 40 bucks.

There is a forum thread about using AMD EPYC - the server part - and the performance from that was great. For the desktop CPU, I'm not sure how much experience has been gathered.

You'll also want to think about the NICs on the board you're using, and whether they're supported. For consumer boards, anything Intel or Broadcom I expect to work; Realtek I expect to not work or work poorly.

 

[CraigD]

Other than price why are you thinking AMD?

I'm sure you can buy a fit for purpose recommended FreeNAS system for similar money

The reason you see many servers that are almost identical here is they work

Have Fun

 

[Chris Moore]

The things I like are futureproofing, stability, price (obviously), and upgradeability. I will be able to (if required) install several Host Bus Adapters, 10GbE-cards etc., down the line, if required.

First, the whole idea of "futureproofing" is a marketing line to get you to spend more money on something flashy that costs them less to produce but makes them more money and they are still going to come out with a new model next year. Anyone that says that is just trying to sell you something.
As for "upgradeability", this is a board that is upgradable:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro...GA2011-System-Board-BIOS-Updated/401678513337
That system board has SEVEN expansion slots, most of which are x8 slots and most of the expansion cards you will need to use in a server environment are x8 cards. It is a perfect match for what you really need. If you want to go with a non-server board, you can do that, but it will not be to get anything other than some LEDs and marketing nonsense.

Also, can I combine this with a standard VPN (i.e. nordVPN), and have it appear as a network disk remotely?

There is a guide for setting up a VPN through a jail, but I am not sure if Nord VPN is one of the available options.

More details on the system board I linked above:
https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X9SRL-F.cfm

EDIT:
Be aware that I am not bashing on AMD. I don't play favorites. Here is a link to a successful build using AMD:

Successful Build with AMD Epyc and Supermicro H11SSL-i
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...cro-h11ssl-i-do-freenas-11.63854/#post-490815

You'll also want to think about the NICs on the board you're using, and whether they're supported. For consumer boards, anything Intel or Broadcom I expect to work; Realtek I expect to not work or work poorly.

ASRock X370 Taichi happens to have a Intel i211AT network interface. That should be fine, but it still has many other flaws as a server board including integrated (useless) WiFi, Bluetooth, 7.1 channel HD audio... Seriously, just look at how they praise the Audio, and FreeNAS can't use it at all:

 

[ChrisReeve]

Chris Moore: Thank you for some good feedback. I dont have to use AMD, no. My main concern is price (vs. Performance), stability, and the fact that it has to fit in a standard ATX case, since I already have the case and power supply. Upgrading with a 1050-series GPU for hardware acceleration, and a HBA later down the line is no problem.

If I can find a cheap 2011-cpu for the server board you linked to, that could be a great idea. That being said, If a board has useless features (but still is a cheap and reliable option) that is fine by me. (I.e. Onboard audio on the ASRock board, as long as it doesnt lead to stability issues, i wouldnt care).

Assuming I go for the supermicro board you linked to in your post, are HBAs just plug and play? And do I have to pick a specific brand for compatibility?

 

[ChrisReeve]

What about the board you linked to, with a Xeon E5 1620? That is as cheap, or cheaper than my AMD solution, and it has a passmark score of about 9000. That CPU is also about 40 usd, which ends up being significantly cheaper than my AMD option.

Plus, I get all the benefits of upgradeability and stability from server hardware.

 

[CraigD]

Assuming I go for the supermicro board you linked to in your post, are HBAs just plug and play? And do I have to pick a specific brand for compatibility?

If in IT mode, yes, If not it will need to be flashed

If the BIOS of the motherboard has been updated the E5 1600 v2, and E5 2600 v2 series chips will also work (v3 will not)

The X9SRL-F board can support huge amount of RAM, and IPMI support

Have Fun

 

[ChrisReeve]

Can I flash the bios without a cpu, or should I have a v1 cpu ready in case the board needs to be flashed? (Or just ask the seller, I guess)

 

[Yorick]

Upgrading with a 1050-series GPU for hardware acceleration

I’d expect the ability to use a discrete GPU for hw transcode in FreeNAS will never be implemented. Built-in Intel on chipsets that support it is in the works, but discrete GPU is such an extreme corner case that all discussion of it so far swiftly reached agreement not to bother.

 

[ChrisReeve]

I see. If I install a different OS, it would still be technically possible?

I just ordered the supermicro board, and a Xeon E5 2630L v2.

Still looking for RAM, and want some tips before ordering. Any brands I should try to get, and the board already have 10 SATA ports. Assuming I’m okay with a 9-disk pool, and a SATA boot drive, this would be possible without a HBA? I.e. all ports are usable for a free as software raid config? I see some of the ports are on different controllers, and some are SATA 2, but 3Gb/s should be plenty for a WD red disk, I would assume.

 

[Yorick]

I see. If I install a different OS, it would still be technically possible?

The Plex page on it is a little ambiguous on that point for Windows. The overall message though is that they support Intel QuickSync. I'd keep an eye on the Plex roadmap. https://support.plex.tv/articles/115002178853-using-hardware-accelerated-streaming/

As for SATA ports, that's right. ZFS implements its own striping, no controller-based RAID is needed or wanted. You can combine ports from different controllers in a single vdev. Whether that's best practice is a question I can't answer; for home use, certainly, there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[ChrisReeve]

Sweet. What about RAM compatibility?

The only use I care about today (this might change down the line), is to get a lagre network attached drive, with at least some drive fail protection, and to run my PMS.

I have been trying to figure out what kind of write/read speeds I can expect, but I keep finding different numbers. A lot of users are complaining about speeds down towards 30-40MB/s. Im planning on using 4TB WD Reds, which are not shingled, and seems to average above 120MB/s both read and write. I want to at least saturate my 1GbE ethernet setup. Can I expect this to happen with ZFS2 running on 9 disks, with a Xeon E5 2630L v2?

 

[ChrisReeve]

Update: I ordered two of these kits:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/192819935480

8 DIMMs, total capacity of 32GB. I think I should be fine with less than 32GB, but at 24$ per 4x4 kit, I figured I could just buy 8 in case a few of the dimms turn out to be dead.

The setup has now changed to the following:
Motherboard: Supermicro X9SRL-F (155$)
CPU: Inte Xeon E5 2630L v2 (39$)
RAM: 8x4GB Actica 1333MHz ECC (48$)
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 (110$)
PSU: EVGA or Corsair 550W (45$)
HDDs: 9xWD Red 4TB (1000$)
BOOT SSD: Old Intel 180GB SATA SSD I have from a previous build

I will NOT be using any HBAs initially.

Does anyone see any issues with this build for my usage?