BUILD Help with CPU decision

[silverbull]

Hi folks, this is my first NAS build and pretty new to unix like OS also (i'm a windows guy). Got a lot of decisions done pretty easy but stuck mostly on CPU. Building home NAS for general files plus crashplan backup agent and Plex media server, won't need more than two concurrent transcode streams, most transcoding would be down from 1080p. Also want the flexibility to maybe add a seedbox and a few other bits and bobs but nothing major over the NAS and plex duties. Decisions so far are:

Supermicro X11SSM-F
2 x Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CPB 16GB chips
4 x WD red 3TB (wd30efrx) in RaidZ1 (yes I understand why many folks will say go Z2, but I already have all important data with an onsite backup and an offsite with crashplan so loosing the pool will only be a PIA, not a disaster)
2 x old 500GB laptop HDD's I already have as 2 x standalone drives for onsite backups (inc data from the Z pool)
2 x Sandisk cruzer fit 16GB as boot/system drives
Seasonic G-450
Fractal design node 304

Now for the CPU it seems my choices are:
Core i3 6100 - $125
Xeon E3 1220v5 - $210
Xeon E3 1230v5 - $264

I think from what I've read so far the 6100 will do the job, I know for sure the 1220 will do it but it's a big jump in $$ Not knowing freeNas performance the windows guy in me is heading for the 1220, my wallet says the 6100. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Also I included the 1230 price there for a simple question, is the hyperthreading worth the extra 54 bucks for this use case. I think the answer is almost certainly no.

Finally, I already have the two sandisk cruzers but it's starting to fell pretty crappy using them in a system with these specs, is there any value in adding a $48 16GB satadom to the cart or will I never notice the difference except at boot time?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ericloewe]

An i3-6100 or i3-6300 would probably be enough.

Finally, I already have the two sandisk cruzers but it's starting to fell pretty crappy using them in a system with these specs, is there any value in adding a $48 16GB satadom to the cart or will I never notice the difference except at boot time?

The difference at boot is trivial. My low-end SanDisk 120GB SSD doesn't boot appreciably faster than mirrored Toshiba USB drives.

You will notice a difference during updates and miscellaneous boot device operations, like boot environment manipulations.

 

[Dice]

+1 i3-6100

 

[silverbull]

Thanks Eric and Dice, looks like I'll give the 6100 a go. Suppose I can always upgrade and repurpose it if needed. Forgot to mention also that will encrypt some or all data in my pool (depending if I can encrypt just partitions rather than the whole pool) I don't think that would make a difference to the CPU much though.

Also as a matter of interest on the 1220 versus 1230 I've noticed more people mention the 1230, is the hyper threading really of value? Can I guess no for home use but maybe yes for multiuser systems?

 

[joeschmuck]

Try to stay away from the ultra small USB 3.0 devices. They tend to fail prematurely. SanDisk makes a FIT in a USB 2.0 version, these don't generate the heat that a 3.0 device does and will generally live longer.

However since you are only using 4 hard drives for storage, your best option is to buy any cheap SSD and use it as a boot device. The longevity is much better. you could buy a pair and mirror the devices but honestly, just retain a backup of your configuration file (off the NAS) and if you have an issue, just re-install FreeNAS and apply your configuration file.

EDIT: superbiz has the RAM chips for $87 each, delivered. Cheapest I've found.

 

[silverbull]

superbiz has the RAM chips for $87 each, delivered. Cheapest I've found

Nice price but unfortunately I'm in Australia and superbiz no longer ship international :(

 

[joeschmuck]

Sorry about that. Maybe you can find another retailer. The ones from superbiz were bulk so that drives the cost down a bit.

 

[Ericloewe]

Sorry about that. Maybe you can find another retailer. The ones from superbiz were bulk so that drives the cost down a bit.

Well, the DIMM I got last year ended up being bulk, too, and poorly packaged and twice that price you found. So yeah, pretty damn spectacular pricing.

 

[Dice]

Speaking about badly packaged RAM... The other day I received two sticks wrapped in single layer bubble wrap, shipped in an single layer bubble wrap envelop. No rigidity what so ever. Still haven't tested the sticks.

 

[Ericloewe]

That's even worse than mine. At least they put it in the larger box that also had the motherboard box. Though other than that, it was just a crummy static dissipative bag...

 

[silverbull]

Sorry about that. Maybe you can find another retailer. The ones from superbiz were bulk so that drives the cost down a bit.

Yep looks like crucial.com can come through on this one at $91.99 and that's the slightly faster 2400 ram http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/x11ssm-f/CT7982341 :D but the postage to me is $25 :(

 

[joeschmuck]

Yep looks like crucial.com can come through on this one at $91.99 and that's the slightly faster 2400 ram http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/x11ssm-f/CT7982341 :D but the postage to me is $25 :(

Just make sure you run RAMTest86 or RAMTest86+ on the memory for a very long time, to me that's at least 72 hours continuous.

 

[Ericloewe]

Just make sure you run RAMTest86 or RAMTest86+ on the memory for a very long time, to me that's at least 72 hours continuous.

Memtest, not RAMtest. Unless it's a new thing I hadn't of yet...

In any case, definitely check the IPMI logs as you go along. Errors may be corrected and Memtest will happily carry on in obliviousness, if it's not reading the proper registers. The IPMI log will definitely log any ECC errors.

 

[joeschmuck]

Memtest, not RAMtest. Unless it's a new thing I hadn't of yet...

My brain was on holiday.

The IPMI log will definitely log any ECC errors.

I have not done that for myself, I should take a look to see if anything is going on. Damn, I do learn something new almost everyday.

 

[BigDave]

My brain was on holiday.

I have not done that for myself, I should take a look to see if anything is going on. Damn, I do learn something new almost everyday.

Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks;)
From one old dog, to another... :p

 

[Ericloewe]

I have not done that for myself, I should take a look to see if anything is going on. Damn, I do learn something new almost everyday.

It's something I realized the other day, while testing the old server to put it back into service. I'd run memtest86+ for three days or so and all seemed fine - but, of course, the IPMI log was full of ECC errors.

 

[Dice]

I'd run memtest86+ for three days or so and all seemed fine - but, of course, the IPMI log was full of ECC errors.

what the...? :o

 

[Ericloewe]

what the...?

Memtest86+ isn't actually ECC-aware. So, the hardware was correcting the errors as it should, logging everything and, presumably, trying to notify the OS (which, in this case, was not listening).

 

[BigDave]

what the...?

IPMI/BMC firmware bug???

 

[Ericloewe]

IPMI/BMC firmware bug???

Not at all, OS limitations (the OS being Memtest86+, in this case).