BUILD ITX I3 or DTX ATOM

[Emiliano.87]

Hi, I'm building a FreeNAS home server, and after researching a lot i got stuck with two options. Since I'm new with this I need help deciding wich way I should go.

I already have the case (Lian Li PC-Q08) that fits ITX and DTX form factors motherboards. And a dual port PCIE intel dual port server adapter (link). The thing is I don´t know wich way to go. I'm between this two builds

ASUS P8H77-I + CORE I3 3220

or go with this atom board

ZOTAC NM10-DTX

The thing is, the first one is double the money, but I think it can handle better with the processor power, and max 16GB RAM. In the other hand, the ZOTAC one is cheaper, and it provides an extra expansion slot, so i think in the future if I want to upgrade to a bigger case I get a SATA controller in that slot and go up the number of hard drives. But the thing is the RAM capacity of the board is 4GB.

What should I do?? I'll start with 2x1.5TB and 2x3TB disks and get the other two later. Is it an overkill to get an I3?? What about the power source?? In my country it's hard to get low power ones, I already have one laying around, a pc power & cooling 610W Silencer or something like that, Do I have to buy one with less power or I can run it with that one without wasting electricity??

Thanks for your help

 

[warri]

Hello,

So I've got the Zotac NM10-DTX. The Atom CPU delivers sufficient performance for home usage (max 2 simultaneous users), BUT has some drawbacks. First of all DDR2 RAM - it is very expensive nowadays, and the board is officially limited to 4GB (altough 8GB seem to work as well) - which is the absolute minumum for reliable ZFS. Then I doubt that the CPU is able to handle encryption with sufficient performance. So I would definitely go for an i3 if I had to chose again.

Regarding the power source: 610W seems to be absolute overkill - something around 300W should be absolutely ok. The most power will be used on starting the NAS when all the drives spin up, drives nowadays usually need about 10-20W then (see http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_caviar_green_2tb_review_wd20ears). For 6 drives that would be 120W + mainboard + cpu + fans etc, so probably a worst case maximum of 200W.

 

[joeschmuck]

It really depends on what you plan to do with the NAS. If you plan to stream media content then you should look at the i3 CPU (with the largest heatsink that can fit in your case), an ATOM is good enough for file sharing but not a whole lot more. I strongly recommend that you purchase 16MB of RAM right away (1600 are fine, don't waste your money on faster unless they are cheaper), it will make a difference. As for the power supply, stay away from the cheap ones, you get what you pay for. Look at Seasonic or ZNT in the 300 Watt range, 80 Plus Gold would be nice, Bronze is good. I don't recommend a fanless unit but rather one with a 120 to 140 mm fan, these are close to silent and get rid of heat in the case. Drives are up to you, it depends on what you are using it for. If this is for media and backups, four 2TB drives (~5.7TB in RAIDZ1) might be what you want. This leaves you 2 open SATA ports for future expansion. You might want to use 6 drives at 3TB, or maybe 10,000 RPM drives if you're going for a fast machine, not sure but it's up to you. The WD Red line are good general purpose NAS drives. They are not high speed but they are good for home use. Also the ASUS board has a single PCI 3.0 slot which you could use for expanding your SATA connections for more drives if you like.

 

[Emiliano.87]

I finally went with the asus p8h77-i and the i3. Now I can't decide on RAM. I'm between mushkin Mushkin 997050 (blackline) and Mushkin 997102 (Redline). The red is 8-8-8-24 and $25 more expensive than the 9-9-9-24 black one. Is it worth it the extra money?? both 1600

 

[joeschmuck]

I would recommend the less expensive RAM because the speed difference is minimal and even 1333 RAM would be more than fine. Keep in mind that this isn't a power hungry application. The important part is the amount of RAM you put into the machine. If you can get 16GB you would be set for almost anything except for deduplication. If you want the faster RAM because you may use it in a later project, then that is understandable but with the two choices you gave, it comes down to bragging rights only, the speed difference would only be noticeable in a benchmark test.

Hey, also look for 1.5V RAM vice 1.65V RAM. Lower voltage means lower heat to dissipate. Don't buy 1.35V unless you know you MB supports it.