Can this run freenas?

[alex8099]

Hey guys

So I was just looking around today and thinking about possibly at some point starting a home dedicated server running FreeNAS.

So, will this server run FreeNAS under ZFS?

Specs:
-AMD A6-6400K 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor

-Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler

-MSI A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard

-Kingston Fury Black Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

-Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

-Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive

-BitFenix Phenom M Arctic White MicroATX Mini Tower Case

-Diablotek 350W ATX Power Supply

 

[joeschmuck]

The "A" series CPUs may not run FreeBSD/FreeNAS at this time. If you can use an "FX" series you should be fine, and they typically come with a very good CPU cooler now, at least my FX-4300 did. Also you will want to use ECC RAM and it doesn't need to be any faster than 1333MHz and a MB which supports it. And don't forget an UPS. I'd also recommend a Seasonic power supply, you got the 350W rating correct. The hard drives are up to you, the only bad one is a video hard drive, otherwise anything else is fine, including what you picked.

 

[alex8099]

The "A" series CPUs may not run FreeBSD/FreeNAS at this time. If you can use an "FX" series you should be fine, and they typically come with a very good CPU cooler now, at least my FX-4300 did. Also you will want to use ECC RAM and it doesn't need to be any faster than 1333MHz and a MB which supports it. And don't forget an UPS. I'd also recommend a Seasonic power supply, you got the 350W rating correct. The hard drives are up to you, the only bad one is a video hard drive, otherwise anything else is fine, including what you picked.

Ok so this setup should run a FreeNAS ZFS server?

-AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor
-Biostar A960D+ Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard
-Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
-Asus Radeon HD 5450 1GB Video Card
-BitFenix Phenom M Arctic White MicroATX Mini Tower Case
-Diablotek 350W ATX Power Supply
-Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module

Need the video card cause the CPU and motherboard both don't have onboard video (kinda sucks... It's bringing my price up lol)

 

[joeschmuck]

So I take it ECC RAM isn't important? If that is true and you have read the warnings about using ZFS without ECC RAM, then you should be fine.

Not sure what you mean by the MB and CPU doesn't have video, funny because the MB has two video connections on it. Did you actually look at the MB and download the user manual? I do before I purchase anything.

 

[alex8099]

So I take it ECC RAM isn't important? If that is true and you have read the warnings about using ZFS without ECC RAM, then you should be fine.

Not sure what you mean by the MB and CPU doesn't have video, funny because the MB has two video connections on it. Did you actually look at the MB and download the user manual? I do before I purchase anything.

No I used PcPartPicker and according to them the MB says that onboard video depends on CPU and according to the CPU it doesn't have onboard video either.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/alex809/saved/jfn8TW

Also googled for ECC ram because PCPP didn't have any in the ram list.

http://www.overstock.com/#/7780246/product.html


Edit; as well to be sure about the ram I doubled check it with Crucial themselves and it is indeed ECC ram. http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ct2kit102472bd1339

As well I verified PCPP information on the AMD 4300 processor about the video: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1848216/amd-4300.html

But it appears your correct on the motherboard:https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-A960D+

I didn't realize it had onboard video as PCPP said otherwise. Ok so I'll remove the Video card from the list.

Edit2: I'll have to find different ECC ram as the one above isn't compatible with the biostar motherboard I listed :/

 

[joeschmuck]

All I can say is do your own research, dig into the manufacturers websites and find out for yourself. PCPP is a horrible place to go when you need to design a system with specific hardware requirements.

According to the MB user manual:

Registered DIMM and ECC DIMM is not supported
Integrated in AMD 760G Chipset

So it appears it does not support ECC RAM and it does have onboard video support. Now if I were researching this, I'd find out more about the 760G chipset such as it has an ATI Radeon HD 3000 graphics chip built in, but for this type of project there is one big failure, no ECC RAM support. This MB is not suited for the task.

All this info took me about 10 minutes to locate and read using Google. I downloaded the user manual and scanned it front to back, including the BIOS setup pages. I looked for mentions of ECC and Video or Graphics. Simple.

 

[gpsguy]

Have you seen joeschmuck's signature?

He's using an Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 with an AMD Fx-4300. Both support ECC RAM.

There are several other forum members, who have followed his lead and are using this motherboard.

Ok so this setup should run a FreeNAS ZFS server?

 

[alex8099]

All I can say is do your own research, dig into the manufacturers websites and find out for yourself. PCPP is a horrible place to go when you need to design a system with specific hardware requirements.

According to the MB user manual:


So it appears it does not support ECC RAM and it does have onboard video support. Now if I were researching this, I'd find out more about the 760G chipset such as it has an ATI Radeon HD 3000 graphics chip built in, but for this type of project there is one big failure, no ECC RAM support. This MB is not suited for the task.

All this info took me about 10 minutes to locate and read using Google. I downloaded the user manual and scanned it front to back, including the BIOS setup pages. I looked for mentions of ECC and Video or Graphics. Simple.

I'm using an iPod touch right now to locate things so it takes me a while. The only reason I even selected the FX-4300 was because YOU said it works for the task.

I don't know all that much about PC hardware yet, I'm a software kind of guy, I don't know very much about hardware. Which is the whole reason I came here for support on the matter. I have NEVER built a system but I have worked wirh software for years.

Have you seen joeschmuck's signature?

He's using an Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 with an AMD Fx-4300. Both support ECC RAM.

There are several other forum members, who have followed his lead and are using this motherboard.

I didn't even notice his signature.
But then again I'm using an iPod touch ATM, don't have a computer right now which is why I said possibly later in the future.

I know hardware will have advanced by the time I decide to build one if I do but if I do id like to have some kind of PC parts list that is compatible with each other to go by and learn off of via deep research so I can take my time and learn more about hardware compatibility..

 

[gpsguy]

Here's joeschmuck's signature.

FreeNAS 9.2.1.6-Release | Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 | AMD FX-4300 (3.8GHz) CPU
16GB DDR3 ECC 1333 RAM | Adata PD7 USB Flash Drive | APC Back-UPS Pro BR1000G
Six WD Red WD20EFRX NAS Hard Drives (RAIDZ2, 7.3TB usable space)

Nomally, we'd tell you to check out the stickies on the forum. Especially, this message: http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/so-you-want-some-hardware-suggestions.12276/

Given that you don't know much about hardware and you've never built a system, I'd recommend a prebuilt server. HP sells an inexpensive "Microsever". Depending on the model, they may not have much horsepower, but might be adequate for your needs. All you'd need to do is upgrade the memory and add hard disks. Similarly, iXsystems (developers of FreeNAS), sell hardware. You might be interested in their "mini" - http://www.ixsystems.com/storage/freenas/

 

[joeschmuck]

I agree with gpsguy, since you have no experience with hardware selecting a prebuilt unit might be best for you. It's not that it's difficult to build your own but if you don't have the experience at all then you could accidentally harm a component and that could cost quite a bit of money.

As for my system, it's probably one of the least expensive systems you could build that has lots of horsepower, but it's not the best in my opinion. If I could do it over again I'd want a few more bells and whistles on my motherboard, but those come with more money, quite a bit more.