BUILD Another build critique - RAIDZ2 for Plex/TM

[tkn]

I started this over at Reddit, but thought I would now seek a bit more input before I started buying.

Goals are a quiet, 6 drive RAIDZ2 system, capable of transcoding two+ streams for Plex in HD, CrashPlan and Time Machine.

Proposed build list

• Case - Lian Li PC-Q25
• MB - SuperMicro MBD-X10SL7-F (updated)
• CPU - Xeon E3-1220V3 (updated)
• RAM - 32GB ECC RAM
• HDs - 6 WD Reds 3TB
• PSU - Seasonic G-450

 

[Z300M]

I started this over at Reddit, but thought I would now seek a bit more input before I started buying.

Goals are a quiet, 6 drive RAIDZ2 system, capable of transcoding two+ streams for Plex in HD, CrashPlan and Time Machine.

Proposed build list

• Case - Lian Li PC-Q25
• MB - ASRock E3C226D2I or SuperMicro MBD-X10SLM-F-O
• CPU - Intel i3-4130
• RAM - 32GB ECC Kingston ValuRAM
• HDs - 6 WD Reds 3TB

Open questions:

• Which MB should I get?
• Should I get a RAID controller like the IBM M1015 flashed to LSI SAS2008?
• What PSU would work best for quiet operation?

If you get the Supermicro motherboard, don't get Kingston RAM: Kingston now has no 8GB RAM modules that they recommend for those motherboards. Stick to the recommendations on Supermicro's own site: Hynix or Samsung or the Supermicro-branded equivalents.

 

[solarisguy]

PSU examples...

In Europe
be quiet! Straight Power E9 400W - BN190
http://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/277

Worldwide
Corsair Builder Series CX430 430W - CP-9020046-WW
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/cx430-80-plus-bronze-certified-power-supply

You would operate such a PSU at 15-33% maximum load, so it should stay very quiet

 

[tkn]

Thanks... anyone able to fill me in on the MB differences? I know ASRock from gaming builds in the past, but not much about SuperMicro. I'll change the RAM up accordingly to mfr specs

 

[Ericloewe]

For the typical FreeNAS server, the Seasonic G-series are probably the best option. I'd recommend the G-450. If you don't mind having a non-modular PSU, the G-360 is slightly cheaper.

If you plan on expanding soon, yes, you should get a controller, but not on a separate card: The Supermicro X10SL7-F is a very popular choice for FreeNAS and it includes an LSI 2308 controller (upgraded version of the 2008, with support for PCI-e 3.0, can also be flashed to IT mode). It's also typically cheaper than buying a motherboard and a controller separately. If you don't plan on expanding in the near future (keep in mind that pools should be kept below 80% capacity), one of the cheaper Supermicro boards is fine. Do take note that the X10SLM-F is often more expensive (for some reason) than the better X10SLM+-F. If the X10SLL-F is much cheaper, it's worth considering, since you don't lose anything particularly relevant for a typical FreeNAS server.

Your CPU might (it's hard to get real data on this) be a bit too slow for 2+ transcoded streams. A Xeon E3 should handle that well. Cheapest one will do, they're basically Core i7s with ECC support, no overclocking and, for the cheaper ones, no GPU - the board has its own basic graphics adapter, so the iGPU is useless.

 

[tkn]

For the typical FreeNAS server, the Seasonic G-series are probably the best option. I'd recommend the G-450. If you don't mind having a non-modular PSU, the G-360 is slightly cheaper.
...
Your CPU might (it's hard to get real data on this) be a bit too slow for 2+ transcoded streams. A Xeon E3 should handle that well. Cheapest one will do, they're basically Core i7s with ECC support, no overclocking and, for the cheaper ones, no GPU - the board has its own basic graphics adapter, so the iGPU is useless.

Thanks - so it seems like the SuperMicro is the way to go based on the inclusion of the controller over the ASRock then. I also changed the CPU to a Xeon per your suggestion.

 

[Ericloewe]

Thanks - so it seems like the SuperMicro is the way to go based on the inclusion of the controller over the ASRock then. I also changed the CPU to a Xeon per your suggestion.

Do you mean the LSI 2308? If so, it's the X10SL7-F that has one. The X10SLM+-F only adds a few minor features to the others. If you mean IPMI, the Asrock has it as well (not sure if it's been working flawlessly, it's been a while since I've seen somebody using one).

 

[tkn]

Do you mean the LSI 2308? If so, it's the X10SL7-F that has one. The X10SLM+-F only adds a few minor features to the others. If you mean IPMI, the Asrock has it as well (not sure if it's been working flawlessly, it's been a while since I've seen somebody using one).

Thanks for that clarification, updated the build list above again.

Anyone have any final suggestions?

 

[solarisguy]

Yes.

Isn't it that the selected motherboard is microATX, while the case allows only mini-ITX ?

 

[tkn]

Good point- the case seems unavailable anyway, so I am currently hunting another.

 

[solarisguy]

Also, for Xeon, 32GB RAM and 6 hard drives, I would be looking at a case that offers way more cooling than the one you had selected. I mean quiet cooling with, for example, ULN fans from Noctua.

 

[Mortadelo52]

In my reading from the forum, I find two things difficult to find, generally: a conclusive recomendation of a desktop case that will quietly hold and keep cooled 6-8 hdds in warm environments, and some e-shop within europe that will carry the supermicro recommended RAM, and the full range of supermicro boards. Once I get that, i am in.

 

[cyberjock]

In my reading from the forum, I find two things difficult to find, generally: a conclusive recomendation of a desktop case that will quietly hold and keep cooled 6-8 hdds in warm environments, and some e-shop within europe that will carry the supermicro recommended RAM, and the full range of supermicro boards. Once I get that, i am in.

I agree both of those things are relatively hard.

Before I bought my first rackmount case I bought a case from mountainmods.com. They are rather expensive but it kept 37 hard drives cool so I found it to be a very good case! Even though I "downsized" to my rackmount I still keep that case in case I need it someday. ;)

 

[solarisguy]

@Mortadelo52, my Spanish is non-existent, but it looks like you could get, for example, http://www.amazon.es/Cooler-Master-690-III-Midi-Tower/dp/B00DR3BLVO/
I had picked this one on purpose, since it appears to be available in many markets.

You would need to add fans to it. However, if your "room" temperature is above 30°C, you cannot expect miracles ;) If it helps, I can see that inside my case WD Green disk would be at the same position 1-2 degrees cooler than a WD Red one.

You do not have to buy a Supermicro motherboard (I understand that Amazon.es choice does not included the ones recommended here?). Instead, for 6 disks, you can use an Intel server motherboard. They have 6 SATA ports.

 

[Ericloewe]

You do not have to buy a Supermicro motherboard (I understand that Amazon.es choice does not included the ones recommended here?). Instead, for 6 disks, you can use an Intel server motherboard. They have 6 SATA ports.

Buying from Amazon.de is painless and they have a much better selection of components compared to other local Amazons.

In my reading from the forum, I find two things difficult to find, generally: a conclusive recomendation of a desktop case that will quietly hold and keep cooled 6-8 hdds in warm environments, and some e-shop within europe that will carry the supermicro recommended RAM, and the full range of supermicro boards. Once I get that, i am in.

Last time I checked, every Supermicro X10 board I looked for on Amazon.de was available.

 

[Rand]

http://www.sona.de usually carries a broad range of Supermicro boards and related products - if not available they can custom order it for you.

 

[Mortadelo52]

Yes, yes, buying from amazon.de is probably the best option in EU. Coincidentally, they have both x10-slh mobo and samsung 8 gb ecc ram in stock now (at a whopping 105€ per stick, but thats another issue). Still, i may be too a. retentive about temps, but I dont see the common consumer/enthusiast case designed with hdd cooling in mind. They are really variations of the same theme. Of course, when your gpu idles at 75°C, your hd is not a problem, but i see all these cases are built with the hdd slots or cages directly blocking cool air flow, with little or no concern for the hdd surface air getting renewed. As it is mentioned elsewhere in this subforum, intake air is most likely to flow to the sides of the hdd enclosures, more than through. The only brand that shows otherwise seems to be Lian-li, but for that you have to buy a 12 hdd-slot big tower, with a 400€ tag to go with it. Then, I may be exaggerating, but I dont feel comfortable with a poor solution for a 1000€ worth of hardware + all my files. And yes, my living room is now a/conditioned to around 26 °C, because outside is 36°C, and I dont intend to have the nas box in a 24/7 air conditioned room!
The "buy, install and see if your hdd temps are acceptable" route is not my piece of cake

 

[solarisguy]

http://eu.coolermaster.com/es/product/Detail/case/mid-tower-cm690-series/cm693.html will give you case pictures showing that the flow is OK. It is one of the PC cases I am using and it is acceptable. I am just an owner, without any interest in the C-M company.

Couple of points, for a future reference... The first is a general one, a NAS is a storage server. It really requires nice environment: stable and clean power, absence of vibrations, stable temperature and humidity (and there are very specific good ranges for both of them). It is not a whim or some fad or conspiracy. It is the direct result of mass manufacturing of commodity electronic components. I have in my living room a quietly humming (the CPU fan needs to be replaced :D) NAS with more storage, than a medium size company had in all their hard drives at the turn of the century. Would I be able to take that server to the Sahara desert or Brazilian rainforest? A power generator, would not be enough. I would need to take a sizable fridge too, and mount my server inside. I do not know, maybe very soon wine cooler makers will merge with PC case makers, as there is a market to cool storage servers at home.

Particulars about Cooler Master 690 III. I think you can make it quiet enough to keep it in your living room :) :

Air flow is acceptable for up to 7 drives in the 3.5" cage, but I had replaced the front fan with two 14cm ones. Drives can only be properly secured on one sides (at least to my liking), securing the other side would require removal of a front fan . I have replaced the rear fan and added a top fan. I have only 5 drives in the 3.5" cage, and one went up to the 5.25" cage, for you that might not be an option. I did that not only for cooling, but also because only the bottom of 3.5" cage is very sturdy. I am guessing that the top 4 positions in the 3.5 cage were designed and tested only for SSDs.

I am not using WD Green drives, but I did have 3TB ones under a load there (I was transferring data). With the room temperature of 23°C, one in the 5.25" cage that has no fan, was running at 28-31°C (idle 26-27°C). While WD Red 4TB was 1-2°C warmer under the same circumstances. I am using WD Black hard drives, since I am accessing the server via SSH and running various shell tasks. Yes, WD Blacks are fast and I can serve CIFS and do other things. No, it is not a recommended use of FreeNAS (to run shell commands). No, I would not recommend WD Black hard drives for FreeNAS for two simple reasons: they use way more power than Red or Green, and they do not have latching SATA connectors.;)

I had to remove the front grill filter, since it really impeded the air flow. I have a model without a window, but with room for a fan or two fans on the side. The window option is probably for hackers in Alaska

 

[pschatz100]

A Fractal Design Define R4 would be a good choice for a case. It gets excellent reviews and is available in Europe for a reasonable price. The Xeon processor might be overkill - a Core i3 should be sufficient for transcoding two streams. For more advice about processors, I would check the Plex forums.

I bought Crucial memory for my Supermicro motherboard and have not had any problems with it.