Jen's FreeNAS Build. Will It Work?

[JenWest1919]

Hello everyone!

Other than case fans, I feel like I'm missing something. Of course, I'm brand new to this so I wouldn't be surprised if there were problems with the build...

Note: Primary purpose is file storage and video editing/streaming (have so much raw video to edit it has to go somewhere)

HDD's:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...e=Seagate_IronWolf_4TB-_-22-179-005-_-Product
8 x Seagate IronWolf 4TB NAS Hard Drive 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive ST4000VN008

CPU:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...19117630&cm_re=xeon_e5-_-19-117-630-_-Product
Intel Xeon E5-2630 V4 Broadwell-EP 2.2 GHz 10 x 256KB L2 Cache 25MB L3 Cache LGA 2011-3 85W BX80660E52630V4

CPU Cooler:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...08067&cm_re=cpu_cooler-_-35-608-067-_-Product
Noctua NH-U9S 92mm SSO2 U-Type Premium CPU Cooler, NF-A9 PWM Fans

MOBO:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...7557&cm_re=asrock_rack-_-13-157-557-_-Product
ASRock EPC612D8 SSI ATX Server Motherboard Socket LGA 2011 R3

RAM:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA98C5DB9343
Kingston ValueRAM 32GB (1 x 32GB) DDR4 2400 RAM (Server Memory) ECC Load Reduced DIMM (288-Pin) KVR24L17Q4/32I (Intel Validated)

PSU:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151160&ignorebbr=1
Seasonic Flagship PRIME TITANIUM 850 SSR-850TD Active PFC 80 PLUS Titanium 850W ATX 12V 135mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing Fan

CASE:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352031
Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 Black Window High-Airflow ATX Midtower Computer Case

SSD Boot Device:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820250078
WD Blue 250GB Internal SSD Solid State Drive - SATA 6Gb/s 2.5 Inch - WDS250G1B0A

 

[tvsjr]

Looks like a nice start.

Your SSD boot device is substantial overkill... I personally used a pair of 40GB Intel 320s that I had kicking around. You can also find them cheap on eBay. Even if you keep numerous boot images, you won't fill up 40GB.

Are you planning to run jails/VMs/etc., or is this device purely for file storage? If the latter, I'd actually suggest your system is overkill. A nice E3 will be substantially cheaper and do very well for any simple file serving/sharing purposes. If you go this route, I'd suggest using a few dollars of the savings to jump to 64GB RAM... ZFS loves RAM.

 

[Dice]

hello and welcome to the forums.
Build looks solid in general, with the exception of the motherboard which is a workstation m/b aimed for video editing.
I suggest you have a look at the Supermicro lineup.
An X10SRi-F would be a nice fit. http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X10SRi-F.cfm

 

[Stux]

I would suggest looking at the single socket E5's (ie the 16XX not 26XX range)

You've selected a 10 core 2.2 Ghz part which supports up to dual socket motherboards. You may want to consider the Xeon E5-1650 v5, which is a six core part running at 3.6 to 4Ghz.

https://ark.intel.com/products/92994/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-1650-v4-15M-Cache-3_60-GHz

That way you're not paying the multi-processor Intel tax, and you benefit from very high single thread performance

EDIT: you're not planning on using the system as a work-station are you?

 

[JenWest1919]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm planning on using it for video storage and video editing. As in, I have my files/storage on the NAS, and I cut the video files while they are on the nice and export them right back to the NAS. Is that a problem/conflict?

 

[zoomzoom]

As @tvsjr mentioned, the boot SSD needs to only be ~32GB and old Cache SSDs would work great for that. You could do a mirror for the SSD boot device, but it's not needed since SSDs are almost 100% reliable in comparison to USB boot drives.

• If you're super paranoid, a 128GB Samsung 850 Pro (~$100) with a 10yr warranty and a max 2 million hour MTBF, could be used.

 

[tvsjr]

I'm planning on using it for video storage and video editing. As in, I have my files/storage on the NAS, and I cut the video files while they are on the nice and export them right back to the NAS. Is that a problem/conflict?

What sort of video are you planning to edit? Is the only purpose of your NAS to provide a large file store to a single system? Your limiting factor in all this will be your network connection... in video world, 1Gbps doesn't get you much. If you're intending to play with 4K (or even 1080p) in any sort of higher-tier broadcast/professional codec, you're going to need to think about something better than gigabit networking. Or, it may be better to simply attach a large storage array directly to your video editing system, versus building a NAS.

 

[JenWest1919]

So, I'm a little confused. What features/etc will I miss out on by using the MOBO I selected? This MOBO was mentioned: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182928

But going off of the reviews, they ship it out with old BIOS and have to RMA to update it. Not interested in that!

The MOBO I linked to supports 10Gbps. Would that not be fine for video editing? I don't see where video editing would be a problem. Wouldn't drive read/write speeds be a limiting factor?

 

[tvsjr]

So, I'm a little confused. What features/etc will I miss out on by using the MOBO I selected? This MOBO was mentioned: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182928

The Supermicro boards tend to be very well supported from a driver perspective. There are also lots of people using them on here... which means better support should you have challenges.

The MOBO I linked to supports 10Gbps. Would that not be fine for video editing? I don't see where video editing would be a problem. Wouldn't drive read/write speeds be a limiting factor?

It would, unless you're editing something horribly unreasonable (uncompressed 16-bit 4:4:4 4K comes to mind). Just make sure you have 10gig capable gear throughout.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Pool layout will probably be the most important part for video editing. Then networking. For best results you will want to run a bunch of mirrored vdevs. Basically giving you 16TB usable space.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Stux]

Pool layout will probably be the most important part for video editing. Then networking. For best results you will want to run a bunch of mirrored vdevs. Basically giving you 16TB usable space.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Not necessarily. Although it's editing, sequential performance is probably key. Combined with lots of ARC/l2arc

Some commercial video editing arrays allow you to create two arrays, one with the outer half of the disks for high performance and one with the inner half for bulk storage.

Technically this is possible with FreeNAS.

 

[JenWest1919]

Thanks again for the responses. The video is just GoPro/Action Cam type stuff.

Does this MOBO look good/compatible?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182958

 

[Dice]

Does this MOBO look good/compatible?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182958

re:

hello and welcome to the forums.
Build looks solid in general, with the exception of the motherboard which is a workstation m/b aimed for video editing.
I suggest you have a look at the Supermicro lineup.
An X10SRi-F would be a nice fit. http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X10SRi-F.cfm

 

[JenWest1919]

re:

I looked at that one and commented on it here:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/jens-freenas-build-will-it-work.55109/#post-384068

"But going off of the reviews, they ship it out with old BIOS and have to RMA to update it. "

Any advantages to that particular one over the one I just linked to?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...6&PID=8192570&SID=1187656FOF40289121258856381

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRA-O ATX Server Motherboard LGA 2011-3 Intel C612

 

[Dice]

Sorry about that, I missed your reply.
Regarding BIOS, I'd consider using another retailer and test my luck. Worst case - is it something particularly different about flashing the E5 boards to the E3s?
Comparing the boards the SRA emerges as a desktop heavy duty WS vs a true server board. Here is why:

The SRA lacks IPMI. IPMI is <a godsent>, if you havent had any experience with it yet, I tell you, once you go IPMI and get use for it, you wont get another bord without it.
The SRA has audio. - what? Cannot be used with FreeNAS.
The SRA features i210-AT network vs the superior i350-AM2. Might not play into your use case.
That tells me something about intended use cases.

The SRA would probably be a superior choice for a quad GFX video editing rig.
Other than that, I don't expect any server location to benefit from additional jazz (meant in all senses).

 

[JenWest1919]

Sorry about that, I missed your reply.
Regarding BIOS, I'd consider using another retailer and test my luck. Worst case - is it something particularly different about flashing the E5 boards to the E3s?
Comparing the boards the SRA emerges as a desktop heavy duty WS vs a true server board. Here is why:

The SRA lacks IPMI. IPMI is <a godsent>, if you havent had any experience with it yet, I tell you, once you go IPMI and get use for it, you wont get another bord without it.
The SRA has audio. - what? Cannot be used with FreeNAS.
The SRA features i210-AT network vs the superior i350-AM2. Might not play into your use case.
That tells me something about intended use cases.

The SRA would probably be a superior choice for a quad GFX video editing rig.
Other than that, I don't expect any server location to benefit from additional jazz (meant in all senses).

Thanks for the detailed information! In that case, I'm wondering if there's something along the lines of the board you recommended (including something more expensive) that I could buy without having to worry about a possible RMA...

 

[Stux]

But going off of the reviews, they ship it out with old BIOS and have to RMA to update it. "

FWIW, I ordered mine over six months ago from newegg, and it had the new BIOS.

Find it hard to believe newegg is keeping old stock around for that long.

 

[JenWest1919]

FWIW, I ordered mine over six months ago from newegg, and it had the new BIOS.

Find it hard to believe newegg is keeping old stock around for that long.

Thanks for letting me know. The review from April 6 cites the old BIOS, so IDK. Also, this board is 1Gbps and I believe I'd be better off one with 10Gbps?

 

[Stux]

Thanks for letting me know. The review from April 6 cites the old BIOS, so IDK. Also, this board is 1Gbps and I believe I'd be better off one with 10Gbps?

I think you'd be better off with 10gbps too. There are other options with 10gbe built in.

Try looking into the Xeon D boards from SuperMicro as well. As soon as you add 10gbps and a high end multi-core CPU they begin to get very interesting. They have the CPU and 10gbe embedded on the board... so the boards are expensive... but no extra CPU, 10gbe hardware or CPU cooler (if you get a + model which includes a small cpu fan)

 

[JenWest1919]

I seem to be having issues finding a suitable board. This one looks like it might do, although I've never heard of these processors before? https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/D/X10SDV-12C-TLN4F.cfm