BUILD How is this build for Plex Server, SB, SAB, FTP, NAS Functions

[Jancy]

This would be my first FREENAS build so not sure what to look at. I will also be adding 1 to 2 more 2tb drives at some point.



PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($118.51 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M-HD+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($70.02 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($70.02 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($101.81 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.54 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($90.51 @ Amazon)
Total: $486.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-02 09:44 EDT-0400)

 

[warri]

If you are planning to use ZFS, you'll definitely want a mainboard and CPU which support ECC RAM. And of course some ECC RAM together with that setup.
I'm not familiar with the recent AMD platforms, so if you want to stick to AMD I can't help you there - check other hardware build threads.

Why a SSD? Why only 1 HDD, as this will provide no redundancy for your data at all? Why a 7200 rpm hard drive, as this will produce more heat, noise and generally is not necessary for a NAS?

EDIT: Generally, check the excellent stickies in this section, especially
- So you want some hardware suggestions.
- ECC vs non-ECC RAM and ZFS

 

[cyberjock]

To sum up what warri has said, if you are looking for the cheapest server, you are going to be very disappointed with FreeNAS. It gets more cost effective the more disks and disk space you have.

FreeNAS may not be a good fit for your situation, but only you can truly make that decision.

 

[Jancy]

To sum up what warri has said, if you are looking for the cheapest server, you are going to be very disappointed with FreeNAS. It gets more cost effective the more disks and disk space you have.

FreeNAS may not be a good fit for your situation, but only you can truly make that decision.

What would you recommend other than FreeNAS? Just run Ubuntu or something?

 

[Caesar]

Jancy,

I think the real question is what are you trying to do? If your just looking for a server for Plex, sb, and sab then Ubuntu will work fine for that. There is no reason for you to use freenas unless you plan on using 3 or more hard drives so you can take advantage of the redundancy features.

 

[cyberjock]

What would you recommend other than FreeNAS? Just run Ubuntu or something?

That's strictly a personal choice. There's plenty of options so I don't try to provide much advice outside of FreeNAS. Each has pluses and minuses that can be difficult for users.

 

[SwampRabbit]

There are actually a lot of AMD boards that will run ECC, although usually it won't be specified on websites that sell them, usually the place to go is the manufacturer website and or read the manual that comes with the motherboard.

But like cyberjock said, don't look at it from a "cheapest server" build. You have to buy the right hardware for the intended purpose and ultimately you should buy what you want as you'll be the one using it.

For example that AMD A10-6800K is overkill for use in a server or FreeNAS build in my opinion. It really is NOT intended for it either. For example I personally run a A10-6800K in a highend HTPC, which is where it can shine.

What would you recommend other than FreeNAS? Just run Ubuntu or something?

To add to what Caesar said.

You could run Ubuntu as a file server, I currently run Debian as a file server. But am getting ready to switch to strictly to FreeNAS for my storage purposes to take advantage of ZFS, RAIDz, and FreeNAS in general. My file server runs using a AMD Athlon II X2 (I think it is a 2.9GHz one), 16GBs ECC RAM, and 24TB of storage. It runs great, I have no complaints at all. But this is me and I went into building it for specific purposes.

You didn't say if you have a lot of Linux experience or what your intended purpose for it is.....
But setting up and running a Linux file server will be a lot different that using FreeNAS. You will spend a lot more time setting up Samba/CIFS if you plan to use it for sharing, you'll spend more time configuring PleX too, FreeNAS does make this simpler in some ways. You could run software RAID on a Linux server, but it isn't as user friendly as FreeNAS has things. Also a Linux server is not your daily user install of Ubuntu, when you install for a server you won't have a GUI (unless you tell it to install one, but you shouldn't), so if you are not comfortable using a command line a lot then I would not recommend it either.

Take a look at the thread John McNarsie has for his build, might give you some ideas if you plan to go with FreeNAS.
http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/verify-budget-nas-build.20565/