Intro and first build questions

[MightyMango]

Hello everyone,

I have been looking into getting a NAS a little while now to replace my use of Dropbox for transferring files across different operating systems. I am an Actor and filmmaker so I am constantly transferring video files from my on the go machine (Macbook Air) and my main editing machine (Mac Pro) so using Dropbox is really becoming tiresome due to storage limitations. I was also interested in using this NAS as a media streaming server using Plex for transcoding.

I have picked out these parts but I am unsure if I should just go with a Freenas mini as it is cheaper once shipping costs of my build come into play and because the Freenas mini is already configured correctly.

Motherboard and CPU: SUPERMICRO MBD-A1SAi-2750F-O
Ram: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V
Case: Fractal design Node 304
HD: Western Digital Red NAS Hard Drive WD10EFRX 1TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive x4

I was also thinking of throwing in some Noctua 92mm case fans and was also considering a Xeon processor but don't know if it's necessary and I would have to choose a different motherboard for that. I was hoping somebody could help me decide if I should just get the Freenas mini or alter my current build idea to fit my needs.

Thanks for reading my intro and I look forward to learning lots more on my journey for a solid NAS,

 

[Ericloewe]

Hello everyone,

I have been looking into getting a NAS a little while now to replace my use of Dropbox for transferring files across different operating systems. I am an Actor and filmmaker so I am constantly transferring video files from my on the go machine (Macbook Air) and my main editing machine (Mac Pro) so using Dropbox is really becoming tiresome due to storage limitations. I was also interested in using this NAS as a media streaming server using Plex for transcoding.

I have picked out these parts but I am unsure if I should just go with a Freenas mini as it is cheaper once shipping costs of my build come into play and because the Freenas mini is already configured correctly.

Motherboard and CPU: SUPERMICRO MBD-A1SAi-2750F-O
Ram: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V
Case: Fractal design Node 304
HD: Western Digital Red NAS Hard Drive WD10EFRX 1TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive x4

I was also thinking of throwing in some Noctua 92mm case fans and was also considering a Xeon processor but don't know if it's necessary and I would have to choose a different motherboard for that. I was hoping somebody could help me decide if I should just get the Freenas mini or alter my current build idea to fit my needs.

Thanks for reading my intro and I look forward to learning lots more on my journey for a solid NAS,

Your current build is quite close to the FreeNAS Mini, since it's based on the same basic platform.

The memory you chose comes in full-sized DIMMs. You need SODIMMs for this board.

You'll definitely want as much cooling as you can get, especially for the HDDs.

 

[DJ9]

If you just want peace of mind purchasing the FreeNAS Mini along with the the warranty and support, I'd choose that route.

 

[MightyMango]

Your current build is quite close to the FreeNAS Mini, since it's based on the same basic platform.

The memory you chose comes in full-sized DIMMs. You need SODIMMs for this board.

You'll definitely want as much cooling as you can get, especially for the HDDs.

So because it is very close to the specs of the FreeNAS mini I shouldn't see a very big difference in performance between the two. Also nice catch on the ram, completely slipped my mind as I just quickly threw those parts together. And what would be your opinion on choosing a different motherboard and throwing in a Xeon? Or is that a bit overkill for my needs.

 

[MightyMango]

If you just want peace of mind purchasing the FreeNAS Mini along with the the warranty and support, I'd choose that route.

Thanks for your thoughts, so far that's the route I am thinking of going.

 

[Ericloewe]

So because it is very close to the specs of the FreeNAS mini I shouldn't see a very big difference in performance between the two. Also nice catch on the ram, completely slipped my mind as I just quickly threw those parts together. And what would be your opinion on choosing a different motherboard and throwing in a Xeon? Or is that a bit overkill for my needs.

The Atom 2750 is very good for a typical home FreeNAS setup, including transcoding, according to those who have used it. The Xeons (an i3s and Celerons) are better for expandability, though (a lot more PCI-e connectivity).

 

[MightyMango]

The Atom 2750 is very good for a typical home FreeNAS setup, including transcoding, according to those who have used it. The Xeons (an i3s and Celerons) are better for expandability, though (a lot more PCI-e connectivity).

Thus far I don't know how I would use the PCI-E expandability so it's looking like the FreeNAS mini will definitely meet my needs.

 

[Ericloewe]

Thus far I don't know how I would use the PCI-E expandability so it's looking like the FreeNAS mini will definitely meet my needs.

Future 10GbE cards or additional SAS controllers. You'll have to decide if you'll need them...

 

[MightyMango]

Future 10GbE cards or additional SAS controllers. You'll have to decide if you'll need them...

I'm starting to think I might want those for future proofing so I came up with this build and it turns out to be cheaper than the FreeNAS mini and should be more powerful.

Motherboard:SuperMicro X10SLL-F-O LGA1150
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
PSU: Seasonic G Series 550w
HDD: Western Digital Red 1tb (x4 on sale for $75.99)
Ram: Kingston KVR16R11D4/16HA

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm starting to think I might want those for future proofing so I came up with this build and it turns out to be cheaper than the FreeNAS mini and should be more powerful.

Motherboard:SuperMicro X10SLL-F-O LGA1150
Case: Fractal Design Node 304
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
PSU: Seasonic G Series 550w
HDD: Western Digital Red 1tb (x4 on sale for $75.99)
Ram: Kingston KVR16R11D4/16HA

I wouldn't buy Kingston. It's known to be problematic with X10 motherboards and they've been doing some shady maneuvers lately... The 1.35V kit recommended by Crucial for X10 motherboards is said to work well.

If you're interested, there's also the X10SLM+-F, which is slightly more expensive (10-20 bucks) and adds a few things:

• Two SATA ports upgraded from 3Gb/s to 6Gb/s (Not very useful with mechanical HDDs)
• Two more USB 3.0 ports (mildly useful)
• Second GbE controller gets upgraded to an Intel i210 from Intel's PCH GbE controller (Satisfies OCD and is mildly useful)

 

[Whattteva]

I'm starting to think I might want those for future proofing so I came up with this build and it turns out to be cheaper than the FreeNAS mini and should be more powerful.

Don't know about other people, but everytime I think this way, it never actually works out that way. Usually, by the time you think of upgrading, it's almost always better to just replace the whole thing anyway.
Well, I'm not sure about your upgrade cycle, but I think, on average people upgrade like every 3-5 years. That's more than enough time that all your stuff is either not on the market anymore or it's just really outdated. I mean think about it, would you really want to upgrade something that's already 3-5 years old anyway?

On top of that, I'm one of those people that just like to build something once and forget about it (yeah I'm lazy, lol). But, to each their own, I suppose.

 

[Ericloewe]

Don't know about other people, but everytime I think this way, it never actually works out that way. Usually, by the time you think of upgrading, it's almost always better to just replace the whole thing anyway.
Well, I'm not sure about your upgrade cycle, but I think, on average people upgrade like every 3-5 years. That's more than enough time that all your stuff is either not on the market anymore or it's just really outdated. I mean think about it, would you really want to upgrade something that's already 3-5 years old anyway?

On top of that, I'm one of those people that just like to build something once and forget about it (yeah I'm lazy, lol). But, to each their own, I suppose.

If it's cheaper, that's a potentially big advantage. The potential for future upgrades depends a lot more (for me at least) on the pricing of 10GbE hardware than storage requirements (slow and predictable). It's something everyone has to think through for their use case.

 

[Whattteva]

If it's cheaper, that's a potentially big advantage. The potential for future upgrades depends a lot more (for me at least) on the pricing of 10GbE hardware than storage requirements (slow and predictable). It's something everyone has to think through for their use case.

Makes sense. I guess I should've added a disclaimer that I was speaking more in general. In terms of NIC cards, it is certainly a much more stable component relative to the rest of the build.

 

[MightyMango]

I wouldn't buy Kingston. It's known to be problematic with X10 motherboards and they've been doing some shady maneuvers lately... The 1.35V kit recommended by Crucial for X10 motherboards is said to work well.

If you're interested, there's also the X10SLM+-F, which is slightly more expensive (10-20 bucks) and adds a few things:

• Two SATA ports upgraded from 3Gb/s to 6Gb/s (Not very useful with mechanical HDDs)
• Two more USB 3.0 ports (mildly useful)
• Second GbE controller gets upgraded to an Intel i210 from Intel's PCH GbE controller (Satisfies OCD and is mildly useful)

I might use that then for the extra USB ports

So then the build would be
Motherboard: SuperMicro X10SLM+-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
PSU: SeaSonic G Series 550w
Ram: Crucial CT4486357 16gb ram kit
HDD: Western Digital Red 1tb x4
Case: Fractal Design Node 304

 

[travanx]

The fractal node 304 case is really nice. And very easy to work on. Hard drives aren't too painful to replace quickly. Stock cooling seems pretty good as well. Using this on an overclocked gaming rig.