BUILD Another build thread and questions

[Dave-g08]

Hello forum!

I've been a long time reader but finally posting. I've been playing around with freenas on a HP N54l mircoserver and plan on building a new server that will be used for backing up a Mac and Window machines, storage and a Plex server (maximum 2 streams/transcoding at a time). I've pretty much chosen my parts (hopefully correctly!) and have a few questions. I plan to order parts over the next couple of months.

Motherboard: supermicro x10sl7
CPU: i3 4170 or Xeon e3 1231 (overkill?)
RAM: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 ECC UDIMM http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT2KIT102472BD160B-16GB-8GB-Memory/dp/B008EMA5VU
Case: fractal node 804. would anyone recommend installing extra fans?
HDD: WD Red 3TB x 5 in RaidZ2. Current have about 3TB of data, so this should be plenty.
I'm also planning on getting 2 small SSDs (been looking at 120gb sandisk plus), one for boot and one for jails. I've read jails run better on an SSD, is it correct/worth it?. If not I'd get a SSD for the boot device and could get a cheaper motherboard (X10SLL-f or any other suggestions?)
PSU: seasonic G550

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading

 

[DifferentStrokes]

I've got two 6 disk Z2s running in stock Node 804s with no problem. I didn't believe you'd need different/more fans.

 

[nightshade00013]

You should be ok with the i3 for the most part. The one place that will cause slow downs is if you start two streams that need to transcode at roughly the same time. My dual Xeon E5640 really starts cranking when transcoding kicks in and one stream will burst to around 70% use for the first 30 to 45 seconds of a stream dropping down to around 35 to 40% until it has transcoded the entire file. I have in one cpu slightly more umph than the i3 you are looking at so when you start a transcode it will probably utilize the entire cpu for around the first minute to two minutes of a stream and then go into the 50% range is my guess. You should be able to run two streams though but beyond that could cause problems for transcoding. Streams that do not require transcoding however will be a non issue.

Plex will transcode any time that subtitles are being burned in, changing the quality of the file for streaming remotely or if the device/software playing the video can not support the original codec. So that is something to keep in mind as well when you make your decision, if it's mainly going to be on the same net without subtitles and mp4's in h264 you will probably not be doing much for transcoding. If you are going to stream to a mobile phone without WiFi, or use mp4's in h265 as well as some other formats that are not well supported for your media files you will transcode a lot more often.

As far as the jails and being on an SSD it will probably be overkill, if you have a bunch of VM's running in phpVirtualBox then an ssd would be good for their storage.

 

[Dave-g08]

Thanks for the advice DifferentStro and Nightshade00, it's really useful! I think I'll try to stretch to the x10sl7 and Xeon So I'm covered for future expansion and use. I won't bother with a separate ssd for jails. I might also run a 6 disk raid z2 for better performance