Is my old computer overkill for NAS?

[Kelvin Su]

Hi Folks,

Well finally decided to upgrade my NAS solution. I have been using a Ready NAS Duo for a few years now, but the performance is pretty disappointing. I think I need to find another solution.

I use my NAS for streaming to a couple of RPI XBMC machines, storing photos, and for a few other random things.

I'm also planning to build a new computer in the near future so i'll have the guts of my existing one to use... But i'm just wondering if it will be a bit of over kill or not. The chip is a Intel Q9550 and it has 4GB of DDR2 RAM. Since the NAS will be always on, I'm thinking it might be a bit too power hungry.

Other option is to build a NAS from bottom up and convert the old PC into a HTPC... your thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[cyberjock]

Well, the CPU would probably do fine performance-wise. But ZFS needs lots of RAM. The minimum recommended is 8GB, which is the maximum you can put on that CPU. So the reality of it is its necessarily a good fit. If you plan to store more than 5-10TB or so of data, you are going to need more RAM. There's no "line" to know when you need more. You'll know because performance will suddenly tank.. badly. I went from over 1GB/sec to less than 10MB/sec when I had too little RAM.

Not to mention, ZFS should only be used with ECC RAM. You should read through the stickies and the manual before going further.

Good luck!