BUILD ASRock E3C222D4U based build..

[JoanTheSpark]

Hi, I think I got some stuff worked out on paper, but can someone with more experience than me (FreeNAS Noob that did read most of the guides I've seen here) comment please?

background:

• I want a small NAS for home use, the usual file sharing, backup, streaming thing with reasonable bang for the buck for 3-4 people. Money wise I'd like to stay within 1k $US for the time being (starting out economic - I dropped the want-best-off-the-shelf-habbit 20 years ago).
• I got some experience with modding and building my own cases and totally dig SMALL
• I would go with a mITX board, but also want upgrade-ability for the CPU and the option to go for more ECC ram than 16GB at the same time.
• IPMI is a must.
• I'm located in Down Under, Queensland (Far North).

parts considered so far:

• ASRock E3C222D4U (mATX)
• Intel Pentium G34?0 (LGA 1150)
• 2x8GB DDR3 ECC (no Crucial in QMVL?)
• 6x 3TB/4TB NAS hdds according to reports or QVL
• some good gold SFX PSU
• Fractal Design Array Mini R2 (modded to take mATX, pls don't worry - I'll cope ;))

questions:

1. does anybody have any experience with this particular board? The one (and only so far) newegg review burns it completely, but I can't imagine ASRock putting a pre alpha board out there?!
   

   This board corrupted my quad port i350 T4 nic and somehow corrupted my firmware on my raid card. I somehow managed to return my raid controller, an asr-5805, to normal. This board will not work with an asr-5805 in any pcie slot. The OS (8.1, server 2012, windows 7), just hangs and never loads no matter what setting I try in the BIOS.

   
   
2. any tips for a SFX PSU that should be considered/should be taken if I 'insist' on SFX?
   (I read about the dangers and I'm willing to take the risk and be 'that guy' if something goes wrong because of the PSU)
   
   
3. I'll ask ASRock asap, but does anyone know why there are no Crucial memory sticks in the QVL for that board? The manual also doesn't specify buffered or unbuffered.. more questions to ask them I guess.
   
   
4. anything I miss?
   
   
5. If I have to drop the ASRock board, is there any Supermicro board in the X10SL-series that would work for me and doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Thanks for reading and commenting. :)

 

[Ericloewe]

does anybody have any experience with this particular board? The one (and only so far) newegg review burns it completely, but I can't imagine ASRock putting a pre alpha board out there?!

People are generally satisfied with ASRock boards, barring specific issues with Marvell SATA controllers (not the case here).

• I'll ask ASRock asap, but does anyone know why there are no Crucial memory sticks in the QVL for that board? The manual also doesn't specify buffered or unbuffered.. more questions to ask them I guess.

Unbuffered. LGA 1150 processors only take UDIMMs.

The QVL for that board is rather small - other boards of theirs have larger lists. Asking can't hurt, they seem to be interested in getting a reputation that can compete with Supermicro.

If I have to drop the ASRock board, is there any Supermicro board in the X10SL-series that would work for me and doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Tons of options. Check the FAQ linked in my sig. It links to a guide to choosing the most appropriate one for your use case.

 

[JoanTheSpark]

OK, just reporting back if people stumble over this in the future...

I went with the following components:

• ASRock MT-C224 (so I don't have to modify the case, but get the CPU/Memory upgrade-ability in this form factor)
• Pentium G3250 (G3450 wasn't available when I was ordering)
  
• 2x 8GB Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B
• 6x 2TB WD Red WD20EFRX
  
• Fractal Design Array Mini R2 (comes with SFX PSU)

I'm very impressed with the ASRock board and it's IPMI functionality. I wouldn't even had to burn the FreeNAS image to USB or CD (I did this first though) as there is an option to remote attach iso files for booting from.. worked first try. Only time I had a KVM on there was to set up the network in BIOS - absolutely cool.
What doesn't work from cold start (only an issue if not running 24/7) is the ability to remotely switch ON, although the interface tells you it succeeded - once it has been running within the last 20 min it usually works though.
The board comes with a CPU cooler backplane pre-attached (M3 threads). You can run with the Intel LGA 1150 stock cooler by pulling out the plastic twist locks and using some M4 washers (M3 washers are a bit to small) and some M3x20 screws - be careful when tightening them as the cooler plastic housing is all you got in regards to springy-ness. Check the back of the board to make sure all bolts stick out equally so the CPU is pressed down equally in each corner.

The case I'm less fond of. Overall it looks nice, but for a professional product it's lacking. The MB standoffs are to thin for my taste (cause they're M3 press-fit studs instead of proper MB stand offs, so lack contact area and if you tighten your screws without care you might do unwanted things to the pcb) - I put M3 washers under my board. The front intake fan assembly is needlessly gappy, so moves some air from inside the case around in circles - I will modify this down the road and use 2x 120mm PWM fans (so outermost drives get better air) instead of the 140mm fixed speed fan that came with the case (that one was stuck and didn't spin by itself btw, works now). The HDD cage orientation and design is also far from optimal, I probably will redesign that as well and hang the drives vertical in there with the connectors reachable from the top & to get better access to the MB.

I couldn't afford the total price for 6x 3 or 4TB drives, although on $/TB they would had been better value - 2TB: 98$/TB, 3TB: 80$/TB, 4TB: 86$/TB.
Also going with 2TB's gives me shorter time spans for resilvering and the easier migration to bigger drives in the future on RaidZ2 (could have went with 4x 3TB for example).

As per OP I'm in Australia, so the board, CPU and memory came via assisted order from NewEgg and the remainder was sourced locally *knocks on wood*.
The system is running the "badblocks -ws" at the moment from the burn in test over here - so fingers crossed all works out well for me ;-)

 

[Fattyfatbox]

Hi Joanthespark,

Sorry to bring an old thread up but I do have a couple of questions.

Im looking at an Asrock board (in Oz too so part selection vs cost isnt great) for an upcoming build and Im curios on something.

The memory you used isnt part of the QVL they have onsite, Im assuming all went well? or was there any issues you came across?
The QVL they have online is a little lacking, was there a reason you went with the crucial? or is it mainly because its recommended here?

Whats your thoughts on the Asrock board now you've been using it for a wee while?


Many thanks

 

[Ericloewe]

The memory you used isnt part of the QVL they have onsite, Im assuming all went well?

It is for the C226 version, which is essentially the same motherboard, but with the C226 PCH. They probably just never bothered to update both lists.