BUILD Baby's first storage/media/backups/Plex/rando box

Status
Not open for further replies.

vbGvMWpXht4kEm

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
33
I want to build a home box for storage, media, local computer backups, Plex, OwnCloud, and possibly some light VM/Docker down the road. Nothing too demanding, mostly single user.

Due to getting clearance for "around $1000" (CAD), I'm angling toward 6 x 2TB WD Blue ($91.75 @ $0.046/GB). The 3TB WD Blues are more cost effective per GB ($117.49 @ $0.039/GB), but would add $156 to the build vs 2TBs. Usable space of 8TB will be enough for a while, and I'll replace the 2TB drives with larger ones down the road if I need more storage. I'd love to go bigger right away, but saving $150 on drives lets me spend more on other components without a... heated discussion :)

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($149.98 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X11SSL-F-O Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($239.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($125.23 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: 6 x Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($91.75 @ shopRBC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($98.37 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1164.07
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Messages
217
While it will have 8TB's of raw space, you really don't want to use more than 80% of that space, so really you have 6.5~ TB's of space that would be useable.

Your power supply is right on the bleeding edge of cutting it. Go with a 650 watt supply to be safe if you can.

If you can save for 3TB drives and a larger PSU, then do it, otherwise just save for a bigger PSU.
 

vbGvMWpXht4kEm

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
33
Riiight, forgot about the 80% usage, good point.

For the PSU I was going off the TL;DR recommendations in this thread. Having said that, the 550 is only $10 more, so that seems like a reasonable change.
 

ChriZ

Patron
Joined
Mar 9, 2015
Messages
271
Perhaps you can go for a Celeron or a pentium CPU. I think they are enough for your workload.
The saved money can be spend on getting the 3TB drives from the start.
Space is never too much and if you need more, upgrading to bigger disks later, will certainly cost much more than upgrading to a more powerful CPU, should you realise at some point that a Celeron/Pentium is not enough.
 

vbGvMWpXht4kEm

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
33
Right, FreeNAS is mostly clock bound, right? Getting 85% of the perf for 1/2 the cost seems like a good idea.

Do the Skylake Celerons/Pentiums support AES? Edit: from what I can tell, they do
 
Last edited:

vbGvMWpXht4kEm

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
33
Annnd I think that the 450W PSU would be fine, unless WD doesn't consider the spinup current as "peak".

Supermicro X11SLL-F-O: ~25W
1 x 16 UDIMM RAM: ~6W
Celeron: 51W
6 x 3TB WD Blues: ~138W (~23W peak each - source)
Fans: ~30W (I think this is generous for the fans I'll use are each around 3-5W)

Total peak: ~250W
Target size: 312W
Total idle: ~60-80W (rough guess)
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Messages
217
Ah I didn't even notice you were using blues. I would drop those for Reds ASAP.

Usually it's around 2 amps per drive on start up. Assuming 12V that would be around 24 watts per drive.

Fans are usually around 4 watts each, unless your using industrial fans then they can reach 20 watts each.

Your PSU should be fine, but I always suggest a little bigger than the minimum for growth down the road. (HBA's, more drives, network cards, extra fans, etc.)
 

vbGvMWpXht4kEm

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 17, 2016
Messages
33
At this point it's about tradeoffs within a (pre-tax, s/h) budget of "around $1000". I can push that to $1200-$1250, but over $1300 is going to be A Lively Discussion™

My base system is at $530, and I don't think I can trim anything off that without stepping down to an X10 board, and paying more for 2x8GB sticks of RAM.

My options:
6 x 3TB WD Reds (9.6TB usable) for $804
6 x 3TB WD Blues (9.6TB usable) for $702
6 x 2TB WD Reds (6.4TB usable) for $684
5 x 3TB WD Reds (7.2TB usable) for $670

Edit: If I can come up with a compelling story to swing the 3 x 6 Reds, I might be able to pull it off.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top