Boot media for new build

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Koala

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Hi all,
I'm looking to build a freenas box. I want to use it for backing up my PCs (in addition to cloud backup) and for recorded TV, so it'll be running Plex and possibly tvheadend. I'm currently looking at the following:
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLH-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3
RAM: 32GB Corsair CT102472BD160B
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 550 GS 80+ GOLD
HDDs: 6x WD Red 3TB WD30EFRX

I had two questions:
1) Is the PSU good enough?
2) Is it possible to have a Samsung PCIe SSD as boot media?

Thanks for your help.
 

sremick

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1) Definitely wattage-wise, although I'm not familiar with using EVGA for anything other than video cards. I have a higher-end Xeon and the same 6 hard drives, and only draw about 40W idle, maybe 105W under full load.
2) I would presume so and don't see a reason why not, but I'll defer to others with experience there.
 

joeschmuck

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With respect to the PCI-e SSD as a boot device, yes you can however many PCI-e cards are not capable to boot. I would instead recommend a PCI-e SATA add-on card, a 2 port version would do fine, and then you will be able to boot without issue. I have actually used this card on my latest FreeNAS project and it works great but you might want to purchase the two port version. Then just purchase a cheap small SSD, whatever has the best sale price. The only SSD I'd stay away from the Patriot Blaze. Yes it promises a lot but I've seen a lot of complaints about it and saving a few bucks isn't worth the pain later down the road. But until you do purchase the SATA add-on card and SSD, you can use a single USB drive (don't use a small USB 3.0 flash drive as some have premature failure likely from heat, get a USB 2.0 Flash drive with 8GB or 16GB, either is fine).

The power supply looks fine however it only has six SATA power connectors. If you go with a SSD as a boot device you will need a 4pin molex to SATA adapter to power the SSD.

So your hardware selection is fine.
 

Koala

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Feb 24, 2016
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Thank you very much for the responses and the SATA card suggestion. I'll have to look in on that.
In other news, I had originally planned to use an X9 card but I switched to an X10 card without noticing it doesn't fit in.the Node 304. Time to start looking for a new case. Good thing I haven't purchased anything yet.
 

joeschmuck

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Good thing you caught that. I personally don't like using small cases when they are packed full of heat producing drives. I like the heavy duty case I have but unfortunately it has a lot of weight to it. A titanium case would be awesome.
 

Koala

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A small case is an easier sell with my wife. "Hey I got a small NAS box!" as opposed to "Hey I got another computer!"
 

joeschmuck

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And a smaller case makes it seam like it cost less ;)
 

Koala

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Exactly. I'm thinking I'll go for the LIAN LI PC-V358B.
 
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