CPU + General Hardware Recommendations

[thomas-hn]

Hello,

before writing about my problem I want to mention that I already had a look on some of the discussions here as well as the TrueNAS Hardware Guide. However, it is quite a bit difficult for me to find something suitable to my needs.

Currently I'm running a Non-TrueNAS system based on an Intel Core i5-4690S, 32 GB RAM, Adaptec RAID Controller, and 8x 6TB HDDs. The whole system consumes in the Idle state (drives spinning) around 130 W.

I'm thinking about to change to TrueNAS with a completely new hardware setup. However, my current server acts as a fileserver + host for different VMs.
Here in the forum I found the information that it is recommended to run TrueNAS bare-metal and not on top of an hypervisor. Therefore, my current goal would be using two servers in the future (one for TrueNAS, the other one for Proxmox).

Do you see a chance to run the two servers and get an overall power consumption that is comparable to the 130W I have nowadays?

My wishlist for the new setup is:

• TrueNAS Server
  • Intel CPU (prefered a Xeon)
  • ECC RAM
  • Prefered a Supermicro mainboard
  • HBA
  • NIC with 10 GBit/s
  • HDDS: 4x8TB (RAIDZ2) + 4x14TB (RAIDZ2)
• Proxmox Server
  • Intel CPU (prefered a Xeon)
    • Sufficient for 2-4 VMs + some Docker containers
    • One of the docker containers shall provide Plex (so would be good if the CPU has a low Idle power consumption, but enough power to transcode some (1..4) 4K streams).
  • Prefered a Supermicro mainboard
  • If possible using this system disk-less (to reduce the power consumption), maybe accessing the TrueNAS via Ethernet (iSCSI, NFS).
  • NIC with 10 GBit/s

Do you have any CPU / Mainboard recommendations or tipps for the overall setup?

Thanks a lot in advance,

Thomas

 

[QonoS]

What you have in mind (2 server as described) with 130W is unrealistic.

130W could be possible with a single server running TrueNAS SCALE (debian based) as fileserver and VM host, using GPU passthrough to PLEX for efficient transcoding. Also Intel CPUs with integrated GPU are quite capable of transcoding for PLEX efficiently.

Seek for solutions with a single server if power efficiency is your primary goal.

 

[thomas-hn]

This confirms my fear that the power consumption will increase. To be honest, I do not really want to use TrueNAS SCALE at this early point. It seems that TrueNAS SCALE is in its first versions and not as mature as TrueNAS CORE. I really prefer to not use a system that is in it's infancy and run into problems as well as risk data integritiy.

So, let me direct the discussion here to the next topic from above about suitable hardware.
Which Xeon CPU allows encrypted volumes and 10 GbE without too much power consumption? I already found the information that the TDP is not a good parameter for searching CPUs for low power systems, because a higher TDP-CPU which idles more often could be more efficient.

The scenario would be a simple NAS system with no further VMs. Maybe, running some jails for a print server, Syncthing, as well as a Nextcloud instance.
The system should provide a 10 GbE for the connection to the Proxmox server and, if possible, a second 1 GbE or 10 GbE interface for the connection to the network.

Would you go with an Xeon-D or any better recommendations?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

I am rather fond of the Xeon-D, especially the integrated Mini-ITX boards offered by Supermicro. Check my signature for ideas.
Critics rightfully point out that the bang for the buck you get is not the best. I.e. Xeon-D systems are expensive. But they are powerful and power conserving.

Why not go VMware ESXi plus hardware suited for PCIe passthrough? That way you can experiment with CORE and SCALE to your liking. Virtualising in ESXi has been proven to work well on modern hardware. LSI HBA for SATA disks, NVME SSDs and network interfaces can all be passed to TrueNAS.

 

[QonoS]

This confirms my fear that the power consumption will increase. To be honest, I do not really want to use TrueNAS SCALE at this early point. It seems that TrueNAS SCALE is in its first versions and not as mature as TrueNAS CORE. I really prefer to not use a system that is in it's infancy and run into problems as well as risk data integritiy.

For this reason I am waiting too.
Anyway Patricks propsol is quite good.

Regarding CPU selection I like to add: Althougth Xeon-D are good for the described reasons. Any AMD Zen2 or Zen3 CPU is better considering Performance-per-Watt and they are cheaper. All needed is to disable "Boost" to stay within good Performance-per-Watt regions. These CPUs can even be configured for lower TDP. The 3700X (Zen2, 8C16T) which comes with 65W can easily be set to 45W, or even lower if you like. An AMD Ryzen 3700X + ASRock Rack X470D4U can be bought for around 520€ and it beats any Xeon-D in that price region.