First FreeNAS Build

[CheckYourSix]

Hello,

I've been lurking on this forum for a while. This will be my first FreeNAS build, but I have a lot of experience with computers in general. I've finally outgrown the disaster of individual drives I have at home and it's time to build a real NAS. I've read the guides and some other build threads so I think I've got a decent list of components here. Eventually, I'd like to add 10 gig hardware as well.

Case: Fractal Define R5 (with an extra fan)
PSU: SeaSonic Platinum Series SS-400FL2 (Per the SeaSonic calculator on the website, I only need ~270 watts at full tilt, so 400 watts seems like plenty)
Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSM-F
CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 (Kabylake and supports ECC)
Memory: Kingston 32GB DDR4 ECC (2 x KVR21E15D8/16) - I'm not a fan of Kingston at all, but this seems to be the best price. I'd prefer Crucial, but it's very scarce right now
Boot: 2 x SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drives
Drives: 8 x 8TB WD Red (In RAIDZ2, Already purchased)
UPS: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD

I'm trying to make this system last for several years or more. As I said, I'm new to FreeNAS, so I'm open to any suggestions. Some parts will be purchased from Newegg and others from Amazon based on the best price.

Thanks!

 

[Stux]

400W does seem a little small for 8 large drives...

When you spin up 8 drives simultaneously, it will most likely draw at least 25W for each drive, sometimes up to 36W. That's 200W right there. Add in 120W for the CPU, motherboard RAM... (CPUs run full-tilt at start too)

I would normally go for a 550W in a system this size. And I'm a fan of the Corsair RM550x, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...4&cm_re=corsair_rm550x-_-17-139-144-_-Product (10$ cheaper than the Seasonic 400W on Newegg, and has a 10 year warranty. They are nearly platinum efficiency at low usage levels)

You could consider using a little Intel Optane M.2 as a boot device instead of the 2x USBs. Will probably be more reliable/faster and possibly about the same cost.

With you on the Kingston. After trying to get crucial for 60 days I had to settle on a Kingston kit :(

Other than that, looks good. Enjoy :)

 

[Chris Moore]

All of that looks good, but if you can find a deal on a used Supermicro chassis with hot-swap drive bays, it will make your life much easier in the future. I picked one up for only $150 and it came with redundant power supplies and all the drive trays. I just pulled out the old system board and fans, put in my new board and fans and it has worked like a champ. Makes changing drives out much easier.

I know it probably sounds like overkill now, but a good server chassis can last more than a decade and over time the features it brings really make things nice.

 

[nightshade00013]

Unless the board you are looking at is cheaper you would be better off with the non LN4 version https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C236_C232/X11SSH-F.cfm

Basically you lose a couple lan ports but also probably drop the price as well. Four lan ports will only do some good if you buy or have hardware that supports LACP and even then only using the very latest version of SMB will it actually do any good for a single client. Save the money and get your 10G networking a little sooner if you plan to do that route.

 

[Chris Moore]

If I had the money for it, I would buy this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro-AMD-Operton-6134-8-core-8GB-RAM-3U-Server-/182713859035

 

[Chris Moore]

Unless the board you are looking at is cheaper you would be better off with the non LN4 version

Or, did you need four network ports for some reason?

 

[CheckYourSix]

Or, did you need four network ports for some reason?

The price difference between the non LN4 version and the LN4 version was about $5, so I figured why not. After looking at it a little more, I realized the X11SSM-F is a better choice (also $20 cheaper) and I've updated the original post to reflect that.

 

[CheckYourSix]

If I had the money for it, I would buy this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro-AMD-Operton-6134-8-core-8GB-RAM-3U-Server-/182713859035

The only problem with it is the space/noise. I don't have enough room for a 3U or 4U system at the moment. Plus, I don't think I'll be adding drives to this for a long time. If I do, I can always upgrade to a SM chassis then and repurpose the R5.