ECC Memory + AMD

[fede2222]

Hi

I want to make a Freenas Box with ECC, after read the apocalyptic comments on others posts. From the Intel side only Xeon. I read on other sites that some Core i3 support ECC, but it is not sure, some posts says yes and other says no. Because of that i want to made with AMD. And is better for my budget.

Can you recommend me?:
1. ECC Memory
2. Motherboard (with ECC support)
3. Processor(with ECC support, i read that AM2 and AM3 processors support it)

I will put two or three RAIDZ2 pools (6x4Tb HDDs each). Not too much concurrent use, it will be used for Home Storage. Movies, Series, Games ISOS, Downloads (only storage, not the apps running), etc. 6 or 7 PCs will access eventually. I will enable compression, LZ4 or LZJB (i know that will consume more processor).

I begin looking at 990fx Asus Motherboards.
This memory www.kingston.com/datasheets/KVR13E9K2_4I.pdf‎. The only ECC memory that i can get in my country that is not server destinated.

Suggestions?

Thanks

 

[fede2222]

Addendum: For memory i would use 4 DIMMs.. not only 4GB.
4x4GB.

 

[gpsguy]

Search for joeschmuck and look at his forum signature. He recently rebuilt his system with ECC ram and an AMD CPU.


Sent from my phone

 

[fede2222]

Search for joeschmuck and look at his forum signature. He recently rebuilt his system with ECC ram and an AMD CPU.


Sent from my phone

Thanks.. i will check..

 

[fede2222]

Any other suggestions?

 

[cyberjock]

My suggestion would be to not ask people to provide with a hardware list, but for you to come up with your own list and provide that to be critiqued. Most of us senior guys see so many builds every week we aren't about to spend 10 minutes to build you a system. We'll happily look at the list and see if anything appears glaringly wrong, but that's about all you're going to get.

We created the sticky in the hardware section on purpose. Use it. It's a great tool to figuring out what hardware to pick for yourself.

 

[fede2222]

My suggestion would be to not ask people to provide with a hardware list, but for you to come up with your own list and provide that to be critiqued. Most of us senior guys see so many builds every week we aren't about to spend 10 minutes to build you a system. We'll happily look at the list and see if anything appears glaringly wrong, but that's about all you're going to get.

We created the sticky in the hardware section on purpose. Use it. It's a great tool to figuring out what hardware to pick for yourself.

Ok.. i put the list that i made in a moment.

 

[fede2222]

Hardware list

1. Motherboard Asus M4a87ta
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A87T/
+ Supports ECC
+ 6 SATA Ports
+ 3 PCI Exp (2 x1, 1 x16) -> For Controllers
+ 4 Memory Ports

2. Processor: Amd Phenom X4 9750 or 9850
I don't know the impact of compression, in the first post I say that this box will be used for home. Store and rarely used. Movies, Series, Game ISOS, etc. Basic streaming... not more than 3 or 4 clients at same time. And download storage, not the apps running, but destinaton of torrent in progress.

3. Memory. 2x4GB Kingston 1033 ECC
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KVR13E9K2_4I.pdf

4. 6x4TB Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM000. RAIDz2. Lz4 or Lzjb Compression.

Later (when my budget recover) i will add a controller, 2x4GB DDR3 more and 6 more HDDs.

Sugesstions welcome. Thanks

​

 

[cyberjock]

Looks like some good choices to me. That motherboard has a Realtek NIC, so it might not work with FreeNAS(or might just work poorly). So if you install FreeNAS and don't get a network IP right away you'll need to get an Intel NIC to add in. They're about $25 on ebay/newegg/amazon.

 

[Sir.Robin]

Cgevk my signature. The onboard realtek nic's on my mobo's also worked, but i threw in an intel just to be safe.

 

[gpsguy]

Considering that you plan to start with 6x4Tb RAIDz2 and add additional pools of the same size, really need to look at a different mobo.

According to the spec's, the maximum this one will accept is 16Gb. In message #2, I thought you were starting with 16Gb, but in message #8, it sounds like you plan to start with 8Gb and increase it to 16GB after you add another 6x4Tb pool.

I'd look for a mobo that allows for at least 32Gb RAM. And, use 8Gb sticks of RAM.

 

[fede2222]

Looks like some good choices to me. That motherboard has a Realtek NIC, so it might not work with FreeNAS(or might just work poorly). So if you install FreeNAS and don't get a network IP right away you'll need to get an Intel NIC to add in. They're about $25 on ebay/newegg/amazon.

Thanks

Cgevk my signature. The onboard realtek nic's on my mobo's also worked, but i threw in an intel just to be safe.

Thanks... the intel side has a low processing power like the Pentium G2020 and the Xeons high processing power. I read lots, lots of posts, and it just you say. About ECC is difficult to say what combination of hardware works. ECC on non-servers is little nich.
For the AMD side: ASUS is the only that officially says ECC support on his motherboards. MSI and Gigabyte support ECC on some motherboards (i see pics of the ECC config on various post across Internet) but they don't say anything officialy on their site.
The Intel platform is more $$$s (Xeons) that i think it not justify. AMD is the middle processing power that i need and better for my budget. I know that motherboard of ASUS support it because officialy says on the site (at least it says on site... everybody knows what the marketing guys do for sales ). I trust in ASUS...

Considering that you plan to start with 6x4Tb RAIDz2 and add additional pools of the same size, really need to look at a different mobo.

According to the spec's, the maximum this one will accept is 16Gb. In message #2, I thought you were starting with 16Gb, but in message #8, it sounds like you plan to start with 8Gb and increase it to 16GB after you add another 6x4Tb pool.

I'd look for a mobo that allows for at least 32Gb RAM. And, use 8Gb sticks of RAM.

Well... yes, you are right... i'm thinking what to do. The other way is to go to 990fx motheboards that support 32GB of RAM. I dont know if the use (home server) will justify the extra cash on motherboard and memory. I will think about it. Thanks for the reply.

 

[gpsguy]

Re-read section 1.4.2 of the manual and the linked post that "describes how RAM is used by ZFS"

Whjle you see your use case as, just a home server, your planned storage arrays are far from typical.

Frankly, I don't care what you buy. I'm just trying to help you avoid a situation, where you need to buy another mobo and RAM, real soon, because you underspec'd your needs to begin with.

I dont know if the use (home server) will justify the extra cash on motherboard and memory.

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah, you've kind of confused me on the RAM thing. I didn't notice you were going with 8GB to start.

If you are going with 6x4TB drives you shouldn't be going with anything less than 16GB of RAM. And if you plan to add more drives later you'd better get a board that support more RAM than 16GB. A good option would be a system that supports 32GB of RAM, buy 2x8GB sticks now and 2x8GB sticks when you get your next 6 drives.

 

[fede2222]

Re-read section 1.4.2 of the manual and the linked post that "describes how RAM is used by ZFS"

Whjle you see your use case as, just a home server, your planned storage arrays are far from typical.

Frankly, I don't care what you buy. I'm just trying to help you avoid a situation, where you need to buy another mobo and RAM, real soon, because you underspec'd your needs to begin with.

Yeah, you've kind of confused me on the RAM thing. I didn't notice you were going with 8GB to start.

If you are going with 6x4TB drives you shouldn't be going with anything less than 16GB of RAM. And if you plan to add more drives later you'd better get a board that support more RAM than 16GB. A good option would be a system that supports 32GB of RAM, buy 2x8GB sticks now and 2x8GB sticks when you get your next 6 drives.

Ok... well so i rearray theserver... i can't afford the budget for change the motherboard and the extra RAM. So, i reuse 2tb disks. The mother will stay the original (16gb MAX) but the arrays will be two of raidz2 (4+2). With 16GB i think thay may be ok. ¿what you think?

 

[cyberjock]

Ok... well so i rearray theserver... i can't afford the budget for change the motherboard and the extra RAM. So, i reuse 2tb disks. The mother will stay the original (16gb MAX) but the arrays will be two of raidz2 (4+2). With 16GB i think thay may be ok. ¿what you think?

Isn't that EXACTLY the same disk space you were trying to use before?

You are failing to recognize the relationship between disk space and RAM.

1TB of disk space should need about 1GB of disk space. You want to use less RAM, then either performance tanks horribly(I've gotten 10MB/sec with insufficient RAM), or you use less disk spae. Plain and simple.

 

[gpsguy]

I *think* he's suggesting 2Tb disks, instead of 4Tb disks.

The OP can afford 4Tb drives, but not the RAM/mobo to support them.

 

[fede2222]

I *think* he's suggesting 2Tb disks, instead of 4Tb disks.

The OP can afford 4Tb drives, but not the RAM/mobo to support them.

The 4tb Drives yes.. with a lot of effort.
The 4tb Drives + the better motherboard + more RAM.. not

Sorry... is to difficult to understand?...

ECC Ram in Argentina is very rare and difficult to get, for that is at high prices. Technology are difficult to import because country control. Only massive market products like low-end motherboards and HDDs pass without problems. But for better technology the prices rises very quickly because difficult to import and dollar control, especially of rare niches like ECC RAM.

If i import the RAM with the dollar control put taxes, plus other expenses is a budget for me. And the taxes control organization of the country controles everyone expenses that is not do it in local currency.

Because all of that the budget for me change more than other people.

In the other hand... If you reply me in bad manner because i'm a noob on Freenas and may be ask stupids questions, and you try to help i accept. But don't fool me...

 

[fede2222]

Isn't that EXACTLY the same disk space you were trying to use before?

You are failing to recognize the relationship between disk space and RAM.

1TB of disk space should need about 1GB of disk space. You want to use less RAM, then either performance tanks horribly(I've gotten 10MB/sec with insufficient RAM), or you use less disk spae. Plain and simple.

I change the disks from 4tb to 2tb.

After: 6 hdss of 4Tb, Now: 6hdds of 2Tb + 6hdds of 2Tb that i currently own = 12hdds of 2tb.

The new setup will be: 2 Pools of "4x2Tb data + 2x2tb parity". 16TB of data aprox.. for 16GB of RAM

Sorry if it wasn't clear

 

[cyberjock]

Ah. Ok. That sounds like a good plan. Performance should be fine in that case. :)

I do realize you aren't English as a primary language, that's why I'm not coming down hard on you for the confusion. I know I butcher sentences on the forum on occasion myself. It's amazing what missing 1 word in a sentence can do.