BUILD Cretiques/Suggestions for my Potential Build

[jbbender22]

I'm looking to build a machine to store all my files on. I want something that has the potential to last me many years. Right now, it's just me who is going to be accessing the server. I have a couple different machines, and I don't want to have my data stuck on one machine or another. I'll have everything from MKVs, Photos, music, and various docs. I'll be streaming videos to my Intel NUC every now and then, but mostly this is about having a central place to store all my files. I may edit a photo from time to time as well.

Here's the build I've come up with, and I'd like some feedback:

Motherboard: SuperMicro X10SLH-F-O
Processor: Intel Pentium G3258
RAM: Samsung M391B1G73QH0-YK0 (4x 8GB DIMMs)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini or Possibly the R4
Power Supply: EVGA 220-GS-0550-V1 550W
Hard Drives: 6 x WD Red 4TB RaidZ2

I've tried to read through all the major treads and material available and I think what I have here is solid. I'm not set on the power supply, but it does have good rating and the price is right. I'm thinking I'll start with the Pentium CPU, but am open to upgrading to a Xeon in the future. With me being the only person accessing it, I figured this would be OK.

Right now I'm thinking WD Reds are the way to go, but I've also been considering the HGST Deskstar NAS Drives. They're supposed to be a little faster at 7200 RPM, but I'm not sure if the extra heat/vibration is worth it. I would appreciate some input on that.

I appreciate any constructive feedback!

Thanks in advance!

 

[DrKK]

I'm looking to build a machine to store all my files on. I want something that has the potential to last me many years. Right now, it's just me who is going to be accessing the server. I have a couple different machines, and I don't want to have my data stuck on one machine or another. I'll have everything from MKVs, Photos, music, and various docs. I'll be streaming videos to my Intel NUC every now and then, but mostly this is about having a central place to store all my files. I may edit a photo from time to time as well.

Here's the build I've come up with, and I'd like some feedback:

Motherboard: SuperMicro X10SLH-F-O
Processor: Intel Pentium G3258
RAM: Samsung M391B1G73QH0-YK0 (4x 8GB DIMMs)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini or Possibly the R4
Power Supply: EVGA 220-GS-0550-V1 550W
Hard Drives: 6 x WD Red 4TB RaidZ2

I've tried to read through all the major treads and material available and I think what I have here is solid. I'm not set on the power supply, but it does have good rating and the price is right. I'm thinking I'll start with the Pentium CPU, but am open to upgrading to a Xeon in the future. With me being the only person accessing it, I figured this would be OK.

Right now I'm thinking WD Reds are the way to go, but I've also been considering the HGST Deskstar NAS Drives. They're supposed to be a little faster at 7200 RPM, but I'm not sure if the extra heat/vibration is worth it. I would appreciate some input on that.

I appreciate any constructive feedback!

Thanks in advance!

Here's what I'd say.

6x4TB RAID-Z2 is going to be like a 12.5TB pool or something. (I'd have to do the math, that's just a napkin number). If that's the case, then 4x8GB RAM is mega-super-overkill, especially if you're primarily using it as a static storage server. The system you describe CERTAINLY needs no more than 12 or 16GB, and would probably be fine on 8GB. I'd say you're throwing money away on over-RAMming it.

Also, make sure you get a recent pressing of the mobo with updated BIOS. The G3258 will choke on the v1 BIOS for this board, and you cannot POST the board without a valid CPU SKU, and you'll need to boot to update the BIOS, or, pay SuperMicro to use their IPMI tool for it (which is not free).

Other than that, I like the build just fine. Everyone here recommends Seasonic PSU's, and feels that is money well spent.

 

[DrKK]

Yes, I believe you literally cannot benefit on a static file server with over-RAMming this thing.

 

[Jailer]

I agree with DrKK, that 32GB is overkill for your intended usage. 16GB would be plenty and still leave you room to grow in the future or play with some jails if you choose.

Power supply may be the only thing you might want to research a bit more and that's only because I don't know anything about it. Others with more knowledge may chime in on that one.

Other than that it looks good!

 

[DrKK]

going to be like a 12.5TB pool or something

Yeah, did the math. More like 13.88TB. Sorry if I scared you.

 

[jbbender22]

I really appreciate all the feedback here. I realize the RAM is a bit over kill, but when trying to figure how much was enough, I got a little confused. It seems like I've read it a few different ways.

Here's what I mean, and for explanations sake, let's say there's 4TB of storage.
1.) 1 GB RAM for every 1 TB of storage - I'd need 4GB of RAM
2.) 8GB + 1 GB RAM for every 1TB of storage - I'd need 12GB of RAM
3.) 1 GB RAM for every 1TB of storage, (Minimum 8GB) - I'd need 8GB of RAM

I believe explanation 3 is the correct one, but I'm just verifying.

To add on top of that, when you say 1 GB per TB of storage, are we talking raw drive storage or usable storage?

When I came up with my number, I choose to error on the side of too much RAM because I knew the extra money was easier to forget than all my data.

8GB minimum plus the 24TB in RAW drives is how I came up with 32GB of RAM. Clearing this up for me would be really helpful.

In my case, what I'm hearing is I'll have ~14TB of storage, so 16GB RAM would do the trick.

If 16GB is the better number, would it be beneficial to upgrade my CPU say to an i3-4160 with the slightly higher clock and AES-NI? It's not too much more, and would offer a little future-proofing.

I think I found a better PSU. I'm looking at the SeaSonic S12G S12G-550 550W

Does this seem like a more solid build?

Thanks!

 

[Jailer]

How do you plan to stream videos to your NUC? Even if you plan on running Plex 16GB should work well for that too.

Your selection of parts looks good.

 

[jbbender22]

How do you plan to stream videos to your NUC? Even if you plan on running Plex 16GB should work well for that too.

Your selection of parts looks good.

I'll be streaming right over the network to XBMC. The NAS shouldn't be doing anything but serving up the file. No encoding on that end. That's how I'm doing it right now with my NUC.

Right now I just have a Windows machine sharing some folders. I also have a test FreeNAS box with copies of various files and it seems to work OK. It's just an i3-3220, and doesn't meet any other hardware recommendations. It was just to test it out. It's been running fine and can stream just fine to my NUC.

What do you think about stepping up to an i3 over the Pentium in the event I end up using Plex?

 

[Jailer]

Still wouldn't be of much benefit since you won't be transcoding streaming it locally to a NUC. But if your future plans call for something other than this then maybe it would be worth while to upgrade but only you can decide the benefit of that one.

 

[jbbender22]

Sounds good, thanks. If that's the case, maybe I should just stick with the Pentium CPU. In reality, if I got to the point where I really needed to upgrade the CPU on that board, I'd just step up to a decent Xeon, like a 1231 or something. If I'm working on photo or video files, I might work on it from the server, but it's it's big enough I'd just use a local copy anyway. With videos in particular, I usually have them on an external HDD anyway, then make backups on the server. If I was really into video I'd be talking 10G NICs on this and my editing machine, and that's going a little overboard for my use case.

 

[DrKK]

Here's what I mean, and for explanations sake, let's say there's 4TB of storage.
1.) 1 GB RAM for every 1 TB of storage - I'd need 4GB of RAM
2.) 8GB + 1 GB RAM for every 1TB of storage - I'd need 12GB of RAM
3.) 1 GB RAM for every 1TB of storage, (Minimum 8GB) - I'd need 8GB of RAM

I believe explanation 3 is the correct one, but I'm just verifying.

Let me take a crack at this.

The answer is that all of these, and none of these, are correct. These things are not set in stone. There are general principles and guidelines that we accept:

"1GB RAM per 1TB of usable pool space, and 8GB of RAM. Take the larger number. If the number is not a convenient memory quantity, then you can round down if it's close by and you're not doing anything fancy. Otherwise, round up." There is no case where we recommend using less than 8GB of RAM, unless you are experimenting with make-believe virtual drives in a virtual machine to learn the system.

So, let's say, you do 6x3TB in a RAID-Z2. That's like 10.7TB of storage or something. So, the options here are essentially convenient amounts of memory that are above 8GB. 8GB itself is close enough for government work. You've got jails and shit? Ok, 16GB. Either way, no one here is going to flip out if you're running 8GB on an 11TB pool.

Let's say you do 3x2TB in a RAID-Z. That's like 3.4TB of storage. Clearly, the 8 GB rule supersedes the 1GB/1TB rule, so you would get 8GB for this system.

Let's say you do 12x6TB in a RAID-Z3. That's going to be like, what, 49TB or something. The nearest convenient amount of RAM to that is 32GB. Sounds good. I'd be comfortable with that, in a static storage environment. Hop it up to 64GB if you're doing something fancy.

You see, these rules are guidelines. As the pool size gets larger, the rule relaxes a bit. If I had a 22TB pool, I'd say "16GB". If I had a 29TB pool, I'd say "32GB". If I had a 50TB pool, I'd say "32GB".

 

[jbbender22]

This really clears things up for me DrKK. I really appreciate your time in explaining this to me. This is my first production build, and I want to make sure I get things right from the get go. I've poked around with FreeNAS on spare desktops with unimportant data, but none of those systems ever met the proper requirements. Like I said before, I'd like this system to last me some time. I think I'll go ahead and go with 16GB of RAM for my build. I might get into some jails down the road, and I'd rather just be ready to go when that time comes. I also appreciate your advice on the MoBo BIOS. I'll be sure to ask about that when I get to ordering the parts.

Thank you to everyone for the advice!

 

[DrKK]

I'll tell you the smartest thing I ever did.

Back in the day, like 2 years ago, when I first start getting into FreeNAS, I quickly became friends with Cyberjock, and talked extensively on the Mumble server and stuff about the product, and what not. But I was still pretty green. I put together a system proposal that made a penny scream. Essentially it was desktop stuff. I just wasn't buying into all the "must be server grade" and "ECC", and I thought the 1GB per 1TB was overstated, etc. In so doing, I probably would have saved $150 on the build. I show what I'm planning to Cyberjock, and he says, patiently:

"Listen, I've been doing this for years. This has been my life for years. It would be pretty stupid to not listen to a subject matter expert, don't you think, to save $150, which is about what you make in two hours. Once you learn as much about this as I know, from experience, you will think back on this and think this is the stupidest thing you ever did, and then you will see that you will buy the equipment I told you to buy in the first place. So you won't save $150, you'll LOSE $700."

And I said, "you know what, you're right. You are a recognized subject matter expert in the community, and if I choose not to take your advice, then I choose to say that I don't trust the community. And if that's the case, why am I even doing this?"

And I bought EXACTLY what he told me to buy. And now that I (almost) know what he knows, man, let me tell you, I would have felt stupid indeed had I gone with my initial plan. And I *would* have wound up just buying new equipment.

My point is that you make a wise choice, asking for, and accepting guidance from the community.

LET THAT BE A LESSON to the other punks out there. jbbender22 knows what he's doing.