BUILD Hardware Review: Intel DH77DF board

[MadSaid]

Hi All,

I have been reading here for a couple of days in order to gain knowledge for my first NAS. I have learned a lot, but still have questions.

But first let me state my purpose for the NAS:

• I will use the NAS for central storage of documents that can be accessed via Laptop and Desktops at home. I will also make backup of these important files on potable disk;
• I will back up my photos that are on my desktop PC;
• I will store my movies and music currently on my PC. They are streamed to my Dune media player.

And requirements:

• MUST: So I want to use the ZFS / RAIDZ1 or 2. I have an excellent working backup process for all my important stuff (photos and docs), but not for my movies and music. It took me a while to rip my DVD/BR and music collection. Don’t want to go to the same again;
• MUST: Currently all clients are Windows based. Dune is using Samba to access media on PC now. In the future I might use XBMC (Linux or Windows Based) for this. Files also need to be accessible for Android tablets;
• MUST: system must be stable, so compatible hardware or proven to work by user experience;
• MUST: I want to have MAX LAN performance on my wired 1Gb lan;
• NICE: Power consumption balanced with performance;
• NICE: support for wake up on LAN;
• NICE: Small enclosure / case.

Given my purpose and my requirements I prefer using hardware on the compatibility list found here.

Processor: Intel G630T for about € 70, because TDP is 35W, although not on the compatibility list. Alternative would be Core I3 2100T for about € 130. I guess people have positive advice on the G630? Also for LAN performance with CIFS shares?

Motherboard: Intel DH77DF for about € 120. This Mini ITX board has 4 Sata ports. According to this recommendation Intel has best LAN performance. According to several posts adding disks later is not recommended. So I don’t plan to add disks (for now at least). Does anyone use this board?

Alternative could be the Asus P8H77-I. This board has 6 Sata ports. It has the Realtek 8111F LAN chip. In the compatibility list I found “The re(4) driver supports RealTek RTL8139C+, RTL8169, RTL816xS, RTL811xS, RTL8168, RTL810xE and RTL8111 based Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet adapters including…”. I guess this is supported correct? People with this board: can you share your experience and LAN performance?

Need to check Wake up on LAN, bus does this require support from FreeNAS?

Hard disks: I plan on using 4 disks of 2TB each. I have a WD WD20EARX 2TB disk. I plan to buy 3 more of those. I suppose this will be OK?

Case: Lian Li PC-Q25B. Nice small case to support up to 7 Disks.

RAM: 8 GB, whatever is recommended in motherboards QVL.

PSU: I will look into PSU I have made final selection on above hardware.

Thanks in advance for helping,

MadSaid

 

[MadSaid]

Update: According to this threat P8H77-I with the the Realtek 8111F LAN chip has issues with FreeNAS 8.2. So for now I have Intel DH77DF without any conformation that it actualy works ok. Any help is welcomed.

 

[tropic]

I have no experience with the Asus board, but I've added RTL8111F support to FN 8.0.4 in the past and had no real problems with the NIC except for WOL. 6 onboard SATA ports is really nice, though.

As for the DH77DF... it's a workhorse. No stability issues, great LAN performance, selectable BIOS power settings, etc. FreeNAS supports the onboard NIC with no issues. 4 SATA ports is the only drawback for me. The Core i3-2105 I'm using was fine powering a 6 x 2TB RAIDZ on a different board, and it's business as usual on this smaller NAS build. It will saturate a GigE link with CIFS if you're transferring larger files. If you buy an i3, go for one with HD2000 graphics if you'd like to cut down a bit more on power consumption.

 

[MadSaid]

ASUS P8H67-I with Realtek 8111E LAN chip

Thanks Tropic,

I have another ITX board that I am considering with 6 SATA ports: ASUS P8H67-I. This one has the Realtek 8111E LAN chip. I assume this will work according to this post. Can someone confirm this?

Also I am thinking to start with 3 disks of 2 TB each in RAIDZ (2 data + 1 parity disks). This will give me about 3.6 TB to work with. According to this article I can extend by adding 3 disks each time. Is my understanding correct?

From this post I have an alternative m-ATX board from intel DH67BL. This one has 5 SATA ports internal and 1 external. I can always add a disk controller when needed.

MadSaid

 

[Stephens]

8111E works at least since FreeNAS v8.0.4 as I use it.

You should read noobsauce80's ZFS primer. In short, a zpool with 2 3x2TB RAIDZ1 vdevs isn't the same as a zpool with 1 6x2TB RAIDZ2 vdev. In the first case, you can lose 2 drives, but only 1 from each vdev. In the 2nd case, you can lose any 2 drives and still be able to access all of your data.

 

[MadSaid]

8111E works at least since FreeNAS v8.0.4 as I use it.

You should read noobsauce80's ZFS primer. In short, a zpool with 2 3x2TB RAIDZ1 vdevs isn't the same as a zpool with 1 6x2TB RAIDZ2 vdev. In the first case, you can lose 2 drives, but only 1 from each vdev. In the 2nd case, you can lose any 2 drives and still be able to access all of your data.

Thanks. I read the slides and it is really well explained. THANK YOU noobsauce80. This guide should be in the manual. This actually confirms my approach to start with 3 disks in RAIDZ1 mode.

I moved away from ITX to m-ATX, because m-ATX is a bit more extendable (board has PCI, PCI-express extension options). The m-ATX case also has plenty room to work in (opposed to the mini-ITX case I was going for).

This is my current HW selection:

Intel Desktop Board DH67BL (B3)
Intel Pentium G630T Boxed
Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9HK2/8G (2x4GB)
Western Digital Green WD20EARX, 2TB (3 disks in RAIDZ1)
be quiet! Pure Power L7 300W
Fractal Design Define Mini

 

[Stephens]

For a 2TB consumer drive, I'd probably use the Samsung HD204UI, which last I checked is on sale at newegg for $100 if you're in the U.S.

I'm not sure what about the slides made you think 2 RAIDZ1 vdevs is "better" than 1 RAIDZ2 vdev with the same number of disks, but at least you're making an informed decision now.

 

[MadSaid]

For a 2TB consumer drive, I'd probably use the Samsung HD204UI, which last I checked is on sale at newegg for $100 if you're in the U.S.

I'm not sure what about the slides made you think 2 RAIDZ1 vdevs is "better" than 1 RAIDZ2 vdev with the same number of disks, but at least you're making an informed decision now.

Thanks again. I will look into the disk. BTW I live in Holland, Europe.

Maybe it is my English, but I don't think that 2 RAIDZ1 vdevs are better. RAIDZ2 is obviously saver.

Please allow me to explain my thought process:
For RAIDZ1 the recommended No is disks is: 2^n + 1 -> 3, 5, 9 etc. disks.
For RAIDZ2 the recommended No is disks is: 2^n + 2 -> 4, 6, 10 etc. disks.

So I have calculated how much space would be enough for me according to my current needs. With 4 TB I expect to have enough for at least 5 years. So I decided to go for 2x2TB + 1 parity. After five years (or earlier if my storage requirements increases dramatically), I can extend with another vdev.

RAIDZ1 vs RAIDZ2 choice. I have an extra backup of all my important stuff (docs, photos etc.) on an external HD. Only movies / music are at risk when a disks fails rebuild in RAIDZ1. The change of a disk failing in RAIDZ1 is estimated low. The chance of another disk failing during rebuild is estimated low. Low x low is very low. No crucial data at risk.

Am I missing something in this logic?

 

[Stephens]

Your logic is fine given there's no crucial data at risk.