First Time FreeNAS'er (Hardware Help)

[Vertecs]

Hi,

Id like to start off by saying im not new to building pc's or networking, What i am new to is Server Hardware.
So let me begin by saying what im wanting to do with a DIY Freenas box, i currently have a 3tb (seagate barracuda 7200rpm) drive along with a 500gb nvme drive and a 1tb ssd. I want to remove the spinning drive and put it into a NAS along with 2 more 3tb Drives (WD Red). Due to other members of my family running out of storage on their mobile devices and laptops i figure now is a good time to look into building a NAS and give each member their own respective area on the NAS. Another requirement is to use it as a Plex server, some of the files i have are .MKV and i stream them to my chromecast etc so it would need to do transcoding for at least 1 1080p stream but preferably 2-3 or maybe even 4k for future proofing so i would pressume i would need a strong cpu.

i have a budget of around £300 - £370 to get a motherboard, CPU and 16gb of ECC memory. the less i

When it comes to motherboard specs i think ECC is the way to go as well as needing at least 4 sata ports on the motherboard (more is a bonus). I would also like it to have a Intel NIC on as i dont really want to have to go and buy a NIC due to a semi tight budget and it also HAS to be able to fit inside a NODE 304 from fractal (so probably mini ITX) as it will be going inside a desk unit

Some of the boards i have been looking at.
ASROCK RACK C2750D4I with the Avaton 8 core (I dont seem to be able to get one in the UK for a reasonable price - Around £370-£450 depending on where it is bought and after import taxes) - this is out of my budget
ASROCK RACK C2550D4I with the Avaton Quad Core (This one i can get for around £290 so is at the very top end of my budget but would still need to get ECC memory)
ASROCK RACK E3C226D2I paired with an Xeon or maybe even an I3 (I dont mind buying a second hand xeon off ebay to save some money, i know i can pick up a E3-1220 v3 for around £70)
ASROCK RACK E3C236D2I paired with a i3 6100 (cant really afford any xeons on the skylake/kabylake platform new or second hand)

Most of these i found while browsing through ebay but i have seen mentioned in a few posts on the forums and on reddit to avoid the ASROCK RACK products due to flaky behaviour and instability, I know supermicro seems to be recommended but i cant seem to find any boards that fit my needs.

Ive also seen a few people post not to run freenas off of a usb stick, which was my plan so im not unsure about wether to buy a cheap SSD for OS, (i was looking at buy a 120gb as a cache but im not sure if it will be of any benefit to me)

As you can see im quite unsure what hardware to buy as i want it to be something that i can use for the next 5-6 years without really having to upgrade it.

So to sumarise my Usage/requirements.

• Centralised storage (typical family use)
• Plex Server - And be able to transcode (1080p - 4k futureproofing)

Hardware Requirements.

• Has to fit into a Fractal Node 304 (Mini ITX)
• Has to have ECC Memory (16gb)
• Has to have at least 4 Sata III ports on board (preferably more for future proofing)
• CPU, Motherboard and Memory fit in a budget of £300 - £370

I am open to any hardware suggestions/combinations that would fit my needs and i dont mind buying certain things second hand to save a bit of money (It is better if it can be bought directly from the UK or EU as import taxes from the US are pretty ridiculous), i also am not set on any particular manufacturer.

A couple questions i have

1. should i look at older perhaps slower xeons over a faster skylake I3,
2. Should i bother with a SDD Cache Disk
3. What are the ASROCK Rack products like reliabilty wise
4. Should i run free Nas of a USB Drive

 

[Stux]

Your limitation is Itx and a requirement for 4 dimm slots (which is a good requirement)

You should look at low-end Xeon D

http://www.wiredzone.com/supermicro...s-embedded-processor-x10sdv-4c-tln4f-10026014

Quad core (8 threads), 4 slots, 128GB ram capacity, 2x gigabit AND dual 10GBIT!!! And 6 Sata and an m2 and pci slot. And a CPU fan.

In your budget, just add ram ;)
So not really.

Use dual USB to boot.

Alternatively, start looking at FlexATX/MicroATX. Because ITX makes everything more expensive.

Also, what's your backup going to be?

 

[Vertecs]

Hi thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately looking at pricing in the Uk for something using that processer is in excess of £470 in the Uk so way out of my budget.

Unfortunately the sizes you suggested I don't believe will fit in a Node 304 I'm pretty sure it's mini-itx only (if anyone's managed to fit anything else in Id like to know what.)

With regards to the back up I was looking at running the drives in raidZ 2drives data 1 parity with snapshotting

 

[Stux]

Hi thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately looking at pricing in the Uk for something using that processer is in excess of £470 in the Uk so way out of my budget.

Unfortunately the sizes you suggested I don't believe will fit in a Node 304 I'm pretty sure it's mini-itx only (if anyone's managed to fit anything else in Id like to know what.)

With regards to the back up I was looking at running the drives in raidZ 2drives data 1 parity with snapshotting

The only 4 slot board that will fit in the case is the Xeon D I linked. (Assuming by 4 slots you mean 64GB+capacity). The avotons have 4 slots but 16GB sticks are prohibitively expensive, limiting you to 32GB.

Your alternative is to go with a skylake mini ITX board from ASRock, which has two slots, but can take dual 16GB sticks for 32GB. The haswell version is limited to 16GB. Far too low.

Or, go with a Xeon D for 128GB limit.

Or, forget about the Node 304.

UNAS810A is about the same size, takes 8 3.5" hot swap drives, and micro-ATX boards

 

[iammykyl]

Best fit for your budget and Node 304 > http://www.morecomputers.com/p/?pid=E3C226D2I>>ASRock&referer=PCPart
alternative > https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B96248O/?tag=pcp0f-21

 

[Vertecs]

The only 4 slot board that will fit in the case is the Xeon D I linked. (Assuming by 4 slots you mean 64GB+capacity). The avotons have 4 slots but 16GB sticks are prohibitively expensive, limiting you to 32GB.

honestly im not too bothered about dimm slots 2 would be fine and i can go with 16gb now and upgrade them both to 32gb in the future if needed which is unlikely

Or, forget about the Node 304.

I already have a Node 304 from a build i dissembled not too long ago part of the reason thats tempting me into build a nas.

Best fit for your budget and Node 304 > http://www.morecomputers.com/p/?pid=E3C226D2I>>ASRock&referer=PCPart
alternative > https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B96248O/?tag=pcp0f-21

i was looking at these but this leads me back to one of my questions, how good are the ASROCK products, i want something thats going to last at least 4-5 years with minimal hardware intervention. I dont want to have to be re doing everything every x months due to hardware failure.

 

[Stux]

Asrockrack are the next best to supermicro. You don't really get a choice since no one else is operating in
This market

 

[Stux]

honestly im not too bothered about dimm slots 2 would be fine and i can go with 16gb now and upgrade them both to 32gb in the future if needed which is unlikely

Only with a skylake system.

 

[Vertecs]

Asrockrack are the next best to supermicro. You don't really get a choice since no one else is operating in
This market

Well i guess ill keep my eyes out for a second hand skylake xeon and go with the ASROCK Board. With regards to ECC Memory are there any manufacturers you would recommend, also what difference does the Unbuffered vs Registered play on freenas?

 

[Stux]

Well i guess ill keep my eyes out for a second hand skylake xeon and go with the ASROCK Board. With regards to ECC Memory are there any manufacturers you would recommend, also what difference does the Unbuffered vs Registered play on freenas?

The choice of unbuffered vs registered depends on what your mobo/CPU requires. Buffered/registered is used to make bigger DIMMs, Ie for DDR4, 32GB+ DIMMs.

Buffered is not supported by the low end platforms. Ie, skylake ;)

I use and recommend Crucial. It's the retail brand of Micron

 

[danb35]

With regards to the back up I was looking at running the drives in raidZ 2drives data 1 parity with snapshotting

RAID is not a backup.

 

[Vertecs]

RAID is not a backup.

I am aware of this I must have miss read I was rather tired at the time of posting, the nas will not really have anything that vital on, anything that is will be backed up to gdrive Dropbox etc I can't really afford to have proper backup solution in place for things like movies raw footage etc, so i figured that running parity and snapshotting would cover me for drive failure, and power outages while they do happen where I live are not that common so I hope freenas can put up with the odd power outage every now and then.

 

[danb35]

power outages while they do happen where I live are not that common so I hope freenas can put up with the odd power outage every now and then.

ZFS is generally pretty good with this, but a proper UPS will negate the problem.

 

[Stux]

I am aware of this I must have miss read I was rather tired at the time of posting, the nas will not really have anything that vital on, anything that is will be backed up to gdrive Dropbox etc I can't really afford to have proper backup solution in place for things like movies raw footage etc, so i figured that running parity and snapshotting would cover me for drive failure, and power outages while they do happen where I live are not that common so I hope freenas can put up with the odd power outage every now and then.

That's a fine backup plan, as long as you have one ;)

 

[iammykyl]

With MiniATX, limited choice and expensive.
All Asrock Rack products.
Socket 1150, max supports RAM only 2 DIMM sots is 16GB (comparison only) > https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...2|13-157-614^13-157-614,13-157-466^13-157-466

Socket 1151, max supported RAM only 2 DIMM slots 32GB > https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...2|13-599-009^13-599-009,13-599-005^13-599-005

If you could sell the Node, get a s slightly bigger case, move up to MacroATX, better choice and less expensive, and more chance finding second hand.

 

[Vertecs]

Ok so ive decided to go with the Asrock E3C236D2I http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#CPU
Would i be better off going with a Xeon e3 1220 v5 or a Xeon e3 1230 v5
im mainly looking at the 1220 as it fits in my budget a bit better, would this be good enough to do what i need or would i be better off going for the 1230 or is that just overkill?

 

[Stux]

If you're interested Maximizing your plex capability you should go for the 1230. Hyperthreading should give you about 60% more encode performance for a lot less than 60% more dollars

 

[iammykyl]

http://www.morecomputers.com/p/default.aspx?pid=e3c236d2i>>asrock&referer=pcpart £209.95 Free shipping. Seen some on eBay, but only about £10 cheaper.
CPU, agree with Stux.