Critique my new build: Avoton Based :-)

[hungarianhc]

Hi All!

Switching from a Synology... Really pumped to build my own FreeNAS box. I think I have read all the guides pretty closely so I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. I'll be using the server as a Plex Media Server, a Time Machine backup for 4 Macs, an FTP server, and a BTsync machine for syncing files with other machines.

Motherboard: ASRock C2750D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard (Avoton FTW!)
RAM: 4 x 8GB Crucial Memory Ct102472bd160b 8gb Ddr3 1600 ECC 4x16GB Wintec ECC DDR3 1600 (64GB total)
Case: Lian-Li PC-Q25
PSU: Seasonic ST55F-G 550W Power Supply
Drives: 5 x 4TB drives ~ 3 WD RED 4TB drives and 2 Samsung NAS 4TB drives
USB flash drives: 3 x Kingston DataTraveler Micro 8GB

I'm pretty excited! Looking forward to the feedback!

 

[beemaster]

1. Avoton FTW! Really interesting how well it performs. Post your benchmarks after you build the system.
2. 4 x 8GB = 32GB total :)
3. You don't need 550W PSU. 350W is more than enough.
4. Not much room for potential expansion with that case, it can handle only 7 HDD as I can see.
5. Why do you need 3 usb flash drives?

 

[hungarianhc]

1. Avoton FTW! Really interesting how well it performs. Post your benchmarks after you build the system.
2. 4 x 8GB = 32GB total :)
3. You don't need 550W PSU. 350W is more than enough.
4. Not much room for potential expansion with that case, it can handle only 7 HDD as I can see.
5. Why do you need 3 usb flash drives?

2) Whoops! My mistake on the RAM. I updated it to the RAM that I'll actually be using. I copied an old line item before.
3) True. However, it's not like it will actually use 550W. It will still run at a low power rating. The reason why I chose it is because it has great reviews, but more importantly, is only 140mm deep. I need the clearance in the case.
4) I'm not too worried about that. I only have about 5TB of data right now. This build will give me 12TB usable space. At some point in the future, I can upgrade all the drives to 6TB to expand to 18TB of space. Beyond that, I'll figure it out :).
5) This was in the hardware guide... I believe it's a sticky. One for the OS, one for backup, and one for upgrades, I believe.

 

[beemaster]

2) Whoa. That's a lot of RAM actually. Do you think you really need that much?:) You plan to have 20-30 TB of storage. 32GB of RAM should be more than enough.
Also make sure that RAM is compatible. I couldn't find it here http://www.asrock.com/server/overview.asp?cat=Memory&Model=C2750D4I
Maybe on the Wintec web site? I don't see compatibility section there.

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah.. I have over 40TB, and 32GB of RAM was plenty for me!

 

[hungarianhc]

Thanks for the feedback, all. I kinda wanted 64GB just to max it out, but if you have 40TB of data with 32GB of RAM, and it's working just fine, I guess there is literally zero reason to go with 64GB of RAM... unless would FreeNAS automatically use more of it as a cache?

 

[cyberjock]

FreeNAS will use as much as you give it. But, there's a point at which you won't see much of a benefit. Personally, 32GB is pretty much as much as you'll ever need for home use unless you plan to run VMs from your pool. I'd just drop 32GB in and if/when you need more for performance/epeen/whatever reasons then spend the money.

 

[hungarianhc]

FreeNAS will use as much as you give it. But, there's a point at which you won't see much of a benefit. Personally, 32GB is pretty much as much as you'll ever need for home use unless you plan to run VMs from your pool. I'd just drop 32GB in and if/when you need more for performance/epeen/whatever reasons then spend the money.

Thanks for keeping me grounded. My geek-ness wanted a machine w/ 64GB of RAM. For what I'm doing, I'll see zero benefit in that. Heck, even though I'm replacing a Synology, I'm pretty happy with it right now, and it only has 4GB RAM . I know ZFS needs more RAM so it's not apples to apples, but still.

 

[jgreco]

3. You don't need 550W PSU. 350W is more than enough.

Really? Did he say he was using 2.5" drives and I missed it?

 

[beemaster]

Really? Did he say he was using 2.5" drives and I missed it?

Do you mean 350W is not enough? Why?

 

[c0re]

I know this thread is a month old, but I think you may have a problem. Is that Wintec memory registered or unbuffered? I think Avoton only supports ECC unbufferred memory and that Wintec is ECC Registered.

I believe the only first 16GB ECC unbuffered memory modules will be manufactured by Intelligenet Memory: http://embedded.communities.intel.com/thread/7000 and production should be starting more or less now.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't want you to order $700 of memory that doesn't work with your new build (which should be awesome btw!)

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

what are the 3 usbs for?
I'm pumped by these new atom chips, im gonna get C2558 for a pfsense build soon.

 

[D4nthr4x]

Wish I would have seen this thread. This avaton board is a much better choice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182855

 

[jgreco]

Why? It is a 2758 with laptop DIMM's and half as many ports.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

they have 2758/2558 with regular dimms too. I guess it depends if your using this as a nas or router what ports matter. also these will perform a bit worse because they don't have turbo boost

 

[D4nthr4x]

Why? It is a 2758 with laptop DIMM's and half as many ports.

Ah I just read 5 drives I didn't see the others listed for some reason, mostly price for performance. If you are using 6 or less drives it's better, also the sodimm ddr3 ecc is cheaper than the full size dimms and has been for a while. Also supermicro is a better manufacturer than asrock.

 

[D4nthr4x]

they have 2758/2558 with regular dimms too. I guess it depends if your using this as a nas or router what ports matter. also these will perform a bit worse because they don't have turbo boost

My avaton is set to turbo boost up to 2.6ghz I have the c2758 so that looks like more of a spec sheet limitation than a real limitation.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

My avaton is set to turbo boost up to 2.6ghz I have the c2758 so that looks like more of a spec sheet limitation than a real limitation.

Really? I guess the only difference is the chipset then, sata ports instead of network ports? Either way, these should handle most tasks fine.

 

[Ricky]

Hi,

I'm going to use SuperMicro A1SRM-2558F to build NAS. My concern is the capability of atom CPU. Is it OK to run Plex media server and do some video transcoding work?

Hi All!

Switching from a Synology... Really pumped to build my own FreeNAS box. I think I have read all the guides pretty closely so I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. I'll be using the server as a Plex Media Server, a Time Machine backup for 4 Macs, an FTP server, and a BTsync machine for syncing files with other machines.


I'm pretty excited! Looking forward to the feedback!

 

[Nindustries]

I believe I can do at least 1 Plex decode with my C2750, but haven't tested it thoroughly.