Hardware Specs for New Build (links included)

[amitkhas]

Hello,

I would like to build a network drive that I can use to store media files (pics, music, videos), and be able to stream 1080p movies from it. I haven't decided yet between RAIDZ and RAIDZ2. I am planing to purchasing 6x 2TB HDDs for a total usable of 10TB (RAIDZ) or 8TB (RAIDZ2).

I'm new to NAS, FreeNAS, RAID, and ZFS, so I'm not 100% sure on what kind of hardware I would need. Here's something I put together. I would like to get some thoughts before I spend the cash.

Note: I wasn't planning on doing any kind of overclocking, unless it is recommended. Thus, I haven't budgeted anything for cooling.

Case: Link N/A
I have an old, cheap ATX case I am planning to use. PSU is top mounted. Has 4x 3.5 bays and 4x 5.25 bays. I was going to get a 5.25 cage so I can insert another 2-4 HDDs. Has a rear 120mm fan, and 2x side panel 120mm fans.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3

CPU: Intel i5 2500K

NOTE: There's currently a bundle deal in which the Motherboard and CPU totals for $220. I was originally thinking Intel i3, but $20 more gets me Intel i5.

Ram: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $28 after mail-in-rebate
I am not sure what kind, or how much RAM would be appropriate. Does DDR2 vs. DDR3 make difference? 8GB sufficient, or 16gb? Need at least 1000 speed? 1333? 1600?

Video Card: None. When streaming to a HDTV, I'll be using a WDTV Live or Logitech Revue. These devices can access shared files on home network and stream them to TV w/ HDMI out.

PSU: SPARKLE FSP530-60GNA 530W
This is actually an old PSU that I have. Hence, price is $0. Purchased 03/31/2005.

HDDs: 6x 2TB Hard Drives.
It seems like there's a rise on HDD prices, so I'm going to hold off until prices become more reasonable. I was thinking brands like WD, Seagate, Samsung, or Hitachi. I am leaning toward 7200RPM, but if it makes no difference, 5400RPM is a lot cheaper. Any advice on this?

Since I have a case and PSU, the cost comes out to $248 + HDDs. This comes out cheaper than the pre-made microservers (i.e. HP microsevers start at $330)

I think I've covered everything. I am of course on a budget, so I'm trying to get the best bang for buck. If you have any recommendations, alternatives, please feel free to comment!

FYI, this will be used for home use. I'll just intermittently write media files to it, and read them when streaming to TV. If possible, it'd be nice if 2-3 people could read simultaneously (i.e. 2-3 people watching separate TVs streaming different media files).

 

[b1ghen]

That CPU is way overkill for your planned usage, spend your money on something else in the build, extra budget could come in handy when drive prices are skyrocketing.
I would also go for a platform with ECC memory support instead, like some ASUS motherboards for AMD. And then maybe an Intel NIC on top of that.

 

[b1ghen]

I haven't tried them myself but the motherboards with Intel C20x chipset seems very interesting for an Intel platform with ECC support, they are supposedly compatible with the new low end Intel CPU's like the Pentium G620 for a very capable low power build without spending an arm and a leg on a Xeon CPU. A bonus with these cards is that they usually have at least one (often two) onboard Intel NIC's already so you don't have to buy a separate one. Don't know about the compatibility with Freenas though, but I'm sure someone on here has tried it.

 

[jgreco]

PSU: SPARKLE FSP530-60GNA 530W
This is actually an old PSU that I have. Hence, price is $0. Purchased 03/31/2005.

You're in error, no other way to say it nicer. There's a definite price associated with that PSU: it's only 65-70% efficient. It's also probably more than you need, which adds to the waste.

Loosely speaking, your CPU maxes out at 95W, your motherboard doesn't eat 100W, four fans at 20W, six HDD's at 90W, these are very loose numbers but you really only need around a 300W supply, and here's the kicker, most of this stuff uses less in energy saving modes.

The early 2000's FSP 550 watt supply probably draws an extra 30 watts baseline, and at (let's say) 66% efficiency needs to burn 450 watts to supply 300 watts. So you might well be using ~~500 watts to provide 300 watts of usable power inside your box.

So what's it cost you to waste 200 watts? Around here, at 13c/kWh, 1700 kWh comes out to $227.76/year.

So if you can get a much more appropriately sized power supply, AND you can get one that's more like 90% efficient, you can save on your electric bill by spending more money on a power supply NOW.

Now my guess is that it's not actually going to cost you quite that much for waste, I picked numbers a little loosely mostly to make a point. But I'd be shocked if you couldn't knock a hundred bucks off your annual electric bill by replacing that supply. Go pricey and buy an energy efficient supply. Your wallet will love you later.

 

[amitkhas]

I would also go for a platform with ECC memory support instead, like some ASUS motherboards for AMD. And then maybe an Intel NIC on top of that.

Does ECC memory make a difference in RAID?

Also, why an Intel NIC? I figured the on-board motherboard NIC would suffice?

For CPU, I may replace it with Phenom II or Athlon II dual core instead. Does L1/L2/L3 cache make a difference?

 

[b1ghen]

The ECC memory is used to avoid soft errors and potential data corruption, there is a reason almost all server platforms use ECC memory. Sure you will probably be fine without it unless you have some very critical data, but even ECC memory is so cheap today that I wouldn't build a new server system without it.

When it comes to CPU I think any of those you mentioned are more than good enough unless you want to do some heavy compression or encryption, then you should probably go for something with more cores. The lack of L3 cache shouldn't make any big difference in my experience. I would possibly even go for one of the low power versions of the Athlon II if they are available to you at a decent price.

Sure the onboard NIC is good enough for basic use, but especially the Realtek NIC's that are most common are not the best performers, if you wan't to be able to use full gigabit speeds an Intel card is the best way to go.

 

[survive]

Hi amitkhas,

Here's my thoughts:

That's way more CPU than you need, but at that price it becomes a tough argument not to get it, especially if it's a bundle deal (those Mircocenter deals are pretty sweet). An i3 is plenty of CPU for a home system.

Don't try to save a couple of bucks using a 6 year old PSU. It's foolish. Get yourself a nice new quality PSU...something like an Antec, a Corsair or a SeaSonic. You are building yourself a nice new system and it's silly to cut corners on this often overlooked part.

Personally I'd get myself a new case. The money you spend on the 5.25 converters will get you half way to a nice new Fractal Design R3 without all the hackynees that goes along with shoehorning a bunch of drives into a case. Remember that those SATA & power cables get bulky real quick in confined spaces, why not start out with something that supports 8 drives by design?

Ram is fine. Get DDR3, you pay twice as much for the same amount of DDr2....assuming you can g buy a board that uses it! No need to get fancy ram, plain old 1333 1.5v will do you just fine.

Personally I'd get a "U" series Gigabyte...pay a little more for the "UltraDurable" line.

-Will

 

[Noodle]

any DDR3 memory should be fine, but if you want take advantage of zfs, get 4x4G, after tuning zfs with large memory, performance improved a lot.

5400RPM or 7200RPM doesn't really matter. For a home server, you want quite, samsung F4 is good one, it's 5400rpm, but performance close/same as most 7200rpm one.

PSU, I'm using seasonic X series, it's little expensive, but really good, very quite.

Since you use it store Movies, raidz should be enough, and you can always use multi copy, turn on checksum for your important data.

Remember, turn off compression and checksum for your movies, especially compression, you will gain nothing but waste CPU cycle on compress and decompress since h.264, mp3 files already compressed.