Cyberjock, to put into perspective why people choose FreeNAS over other platforms even though they don't live up to the supported requirements (i.e. ECC ram) you have to look at what is available out there in this price range. I got my APEX J2900 pc for $230 which is cheaper than buying a synology equivalent to act as a file server / plex server and provides much more horsepower and more agility for use as something else later (i.e. the good advice about using it to run PFSense as a home/commercial grade firewall). The other flip of the coin to choose FreeNAS over Ubuntu server is the ease of setup. You guys have done a great job in making FreeNAS a turnkey setup! and I highly commend you on that!
Now on twenty-twenty hind sight, I wish your article on suggested equipment had been available and I had came across it when I purchased the APEX pc back in July. I probably could've built an equivalent system with ECC ram, more horsepower, but also my wattage use for around $300. I can see your point in not cutting corners. However, this is where I am at now and I've already spent the $230 on the APEX pc so I feel I have to find a use for it before I can justify spending another $300 on a system to meet the specs FreeNAS requires.
Another point being, "Why use Raid0?" You have to look at intentions. As has been stated on these forums and many others, before you invest in spending money on Raid support (i.e. 1, 5, 1+0, etc..), you should invest in a backup plan. In my case, my next step is to setup an rsync to my old Western Digital NAS. It's only half the size of my FreeNAS box, but I haven't exhausted that size, yet...