Choosing a microATX based on ram cost & encryption needs

[luckyal]

Guilty! Total newb here so please be patient.

I was lurking on the Plex subreddit and found a thread that pointed me to a X8SIL-F build. I was kind of intrigued, as it was low powered, microATX size and I can get my 8X8TB WD Reds into the thing. Then I discovered that if I wanted more than 8GB of RAM, I would be paying a lot more than what I would have paid for the mobo+cpu+heatsink/fan+8GB Ram together because it's 2XR8 ram (whatever that means). I'm was told that for basic home NAS with a few plugins like Nextcloud and maybe a VM here and there I wouldn't need more than 8GB anyway. I wasn't convinced, so bought 2X8GB of Micron 2XR8
PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600) Registered ECC ram (who buys RAM first, right?). Anyway, I was doing more digging on the X8SIL-F and found that the XEON x3470 it doesn't support INTEL's AES-NI encryption. So all of this leaves me with three remaining questions:

1. What do I miss out on if I forgo encryption altogether. If I wanted to host some space so a couple of my musician buddies can back up their projects to, can that be done so securely, so that even I don't have access to their files without whole volume encryption?

2. Assuming I need encryption, what kind of a performance hit should I expect vs non-encryption?

3. This seems completely unrelated but....since it appears that RAM cost is all over the board, how can I chose a microATX board that would give me the best all around value RAM+CPU+Motherboard. One important note: I really like onboard SAS and would like to use breakout cable to connect my 8 drives.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

[Inxsible]

That board uses the LGA1156 socket. If you really need the encryption, you can swap out the processor with one of these i5's

https://ark.intel.com/Search/Featur...ssors&SocketsSupported=FCLGA1156&AESTech=true
The most expensive processor in that list costs $42.

As for the best all round value : Buy used -- everything. I got a 1U server with X9SCL-F board, LSI MegaRAID 9260-4i card, 4x500GB Seagate Constellation drives, 4x4GB UDIMM RAM, 350W 80 Plus Gold PSU. All for $200 on craigslist. Now I will be adding more RAM and bigger drives, but I could add that at an opportune time and don't have to rush into it.

 

[Stux]

i5 is generally no ECC. Not sure with that generation

 

[Inxsible]

i5 is generally no ECC. Not sure with that generation

You are right. None of those i5s support ECC RAM. So with that socket, I guess it is AES or ECC :(

 

[Stux]

You are right. None of those i5s support ECC RAM. So with that socket, I guess it is AES or ECC :(

According to this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1156

The Xeon's for that socket are X34xx

Lynnfield http://ark.intel.com/products/codename/29896/Lynnfield

And they don't support AES. Strange that the older i5s do. I'm almost wondering if its a mistake on ARK.

AES-NI was introduced around about those processors...

So, anyway, according to this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_instruction_set

AES-NI was added in Westmere (after Nehalem), and that includes Clarkdale, which seems to be the ones for that socket... and it says all except i3, Pentium and Celeron. Which makes sense. It would make sense to have it in i5 and above, where Xeon is at the top. Does not make sense to have it in the cheap i5, and NOT in the Xeon. Xeons arguably needed it more.

BUT its quite possible Ark is wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

Unless Intel were playing games again and not wanting the baby xeons to compete with the big xeons.

 

[MrToddsFriends]

1. What do I miss out on if I forgo encryption altogether. If I wanted to host some space so a couple of my musician buddies can back up their projects to, can that be done so securely, so that even I don't have access to their files without whole volume encryption?

A possible alternative would be to utilize client side encrypted container files, for example by using VeraCrypt. This way even FreeNAS user root has no read access to those files. Possible disadvantage: AFAIK VeraCrypt uses container files of fixed size (determined at creation time).

 

[garm]

If you want to host other people's things and not have any liability then you need to go for client side encryption. Server side at-rest-encryption would still give you complete access.

Having AES-IN or not should be a separate decision.

For your friends backup take a look at Borg https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
Duplicity http://duplicity.nongnu.org/
Or some other client that will handle both the encryption and deduplication.

 

[Inxsible]

BUT its quite possible Ark is wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

In that case, consider everything I said to be irrelevant. I personally do not have experience with any of those 1156 i5's, so I cannot vouch for it.

I agree that it does seem weird that Xeons don't support AES, but the 6 or so i5s do.

 

[luckyal]

Anyway, so back to my original questions. I now have 32GB of 2RX8 DDR3-1600 Registered ECC Ram (4X8GB). Anyway, I'm about to buy the a X8SIL-F and a X3470, which is a decent CPU for $40. I have a feeling that in the long run I'm going to regret not going with an architecture that supports AES-NI encryption. If so, in terms of getting best value, what other X9/X10 mATX board can I use that ram with and get best of both worlds (encryption and efficiency). My X8SIL-F/X3470 combo will run me about $80, which is a steal. I'm willing to go to $160 if I get AES-NI, similar performance and as good or better power usage.

 

[Inxsible]

I recently bought a 1U Supermicro server with

• X9SCL-F
• Intel Xeon E3 1240 CPU
• Supermicro PSU 350W 80 Plus Gold
• LSI MegaRAID 9260-4i RAID card
  
• 4x4GB ECC Unbuffered RAM
• 4x500GB Seagate Constellation HDDs
• Supermicro chassis - CSE813MTQ

All for $200. And it supports AES-NI and is microATX board. Look on ebay or craigslist and you could find something similar.

 

[luckyal]

I recently bought a 1U Supermicro........Supermicro chassis - CSE813MTQ.....And it supports AES-NI and is microATX board.

I'm really not looking to put a mATX in an ugly chassis. I wan't to take full advantage of the compact size and stick it in a cube like a Fractal Node 804 or similar. Also, I'm looking to shove 8 EACH 8TB WD reds into a box. I.E. I need the connectivity to support it.

 

[Stux]

UNAS810A is a super compact 8 bay hot swap chassis that takes mATX

 

[Inxsible]

I'm really not looking to put a mATX in an ugly chassis. I wan't to take full advantage of the compact size and stick it in a cube like a Fractal Node 804 or similar. Also, I'm looking to shove 8 EACH 8TB WD reds into a box. I.E. I need the connectivity to support it.

Your opinion of an ugly chassis is not shared by all. I happen to like rack mountable chassis. You do you, I'll do me.