Just before I hit the NewEgg [buy] button

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mark tognella

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Just a very quick review of the hardware.

I have read the ‘FreeNAS Community Hardware Guide,’ and – pretty much just stuck with the recommended hardware as follows:

Intel Xeon E3-1241 v3 Haswell 3.5 GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 80W Server Processor BX80646E31241V3

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600

Crucial 8GB Single DDR3L 1600MT/s (PC3-12800) DR x8 ECC UDIMM 240-Pin Memory - CT102472BD160B

I am going to want to put the SAS ports into IT-mode

I was just about to hit the [buy] button on Newegg when I thought, “maybe I’ll just post on this forum and see if anybody has any opinions. It would be nice to use this as a plex server or run a virtual machine on it.
 

SweetAndLow

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Your going to want 16gb memory if you want to use Plex. What power supply?
Why didn't you go with a skylake/x11 system?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
 

mark tognella

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Your going to want 16gb memory if you want to use Plex. What power supply?
Why didn't you go with a skylake/x11 system?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Oh, that was actually a typo. I was going to order 4 UDIMMS. As for the skylake, I was just picking a processor to match the board. The guide seems to say that the Xeon E3-1241 v3 Haswell 3.5 GHz is the one for that?
 

Stux

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If you want to not limit your growth Go skylake and go E3-1230v5

Skylake supports upto 64GB of RAM. So you might want to consider a single 16GB
 

mark tognella

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Oh, that was actually a typo. I was going to order 4 UDIMMS. As for the skylake, I was just picking a processor to match the board. The guide seems to say that the Xeon E3-1241 v3 Haswell 3.5 GHz is the one for that?
Your going to want 16gb memory if you want to use Plex. What power supply?
Why didn't you go with a skylake/x11 system?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
I guess that is what I am - kind-of - asking. Should I put a better processor in that board, or better processor AND board?
 

SweetAndLow

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You will need a x11 board instead of a x10 board. How many disks do you need the built in SAS controller.

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SweetAndLow

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mark tognella

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Things I care about are IPM, ECC (motherboard and CPU) VT-d, and PCI express slot for a capture card. Thanks for the link. Looks like I have to go back to the drawing board. I have not been in hardware for years, so I have to work the compatibility stuff out slowly. Also, some sort of 'barebones onboard graphics card.'
 

Stux

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IPMI includes barebones graphics card. Depends on your definition of barebones.

8 would be nice. But six would be fine.

The x10sl7 (iirc) supports 14 (8 SAS + 6 Sata), which sounds like overkill :)

Your mention of capture card sends up some red flags.

What are you planning to do?
 

SweetAndLow

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What is this capture card you are talking about? I suspect it's not going to work with freenas.
 

CraigD

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I guess that is what I am - kind-of - asking. Should I put a better processor in that board, or better processor AND board?

The X10SL7-F is a great board, and is the board I use. However it is limited to 32GB RAM.

The newer version of this is the X11SSL-CF board, it supports 64GB RAM, you will need 2 SAS to SATA cables

If I was building a server today, it would be on the X11SSL-CF board with the E3-1230v5 chip

As for your capture card, I assume you are thinking of virtualizing freeNAS on your capture or media center? This greatly increases the chance of data loss

Have Fun
 

mark tognella

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The X10SL7-F is a great board, and is the board I use. However it is limited to 32GB RAM.

The newer version of this is the X11SSL-CF board, it supports 64GB RAM, you will need 2 SAS to SATA cables

If I was building a server today, it would be on the X11SSL-CF board with the E3-1230v5 chip

As for your capture card, I assume you are thinking of virtualizing freeNAS on your capture or media center? This greatly increases the chance of data loss

Have Fun
Thanks for that suggestions. I am going to go over and have a look at that.
 

CraigD

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X11SSL-CF-O and X11SSL-CF are the same board, one of them is in the retail packaging the other is not

If you don't need more than 6 SATA drives buy a cheaper board like the X11SSL-F, if you need to expand later you will need to get an HBA

If you need 9-14 SATA ports without using an HBA, the X11SSL-CF is the board for you

Have Fun
EDITED to add the -F (IPMI)
 
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Ericloewe

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X11SSL-CF-O and X11SSL-CF are the same board, one of them is in the retail packaging the other is not
PEDANTRY ALERT!

Ahem.
The board model is X11SSL-CF. X11SSL-CF-O is the retail-packaged SKU, X11SSL-CF-B is the bulk SKU.
If you don't need more than 6 SATA drives buy a cheaper board like the X11SSL-F, if you need to expand later you will need to get an HBA
These days, I find it hard to recommend the X11SSL-F. The X11SSM-F's extra two SATA ports are very useful, making it the vastly better choice in all but the most cash-constrained scenario.
 

Cicatrize

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These days, I find it hard to recommend the X11SSL-F. The X11SSM-F's extra two SATA ports are very useful, making it the vastly better choice in all but the most cash-constrained scenario.
Seconded. I only use 2 of the 8 ports on my X11SSM-F, but the chipset upgrade alone is worth the extra $20. Also $20 more is the E3-1240v5 (than the 1230, usually). IMO, the 1240 is the best "bang for the buck" Skylake E3.
 

Stux

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Seconded. I only use 2 of the 8 ports on my X11SSM-F, but the chipset upgrade alone is worth the extra $20. Also $20 more is the E3-1240v5 (than the 1230, usually). IMO, the 1240 is the best "bang for the buck" Skylake E3.

Depends if a 4% speed bump is worth $20. Whereas the 1230 is circa 50% faster than the 1220, making it easy to justify.
 

Cicatrize

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Depends if a 4% speed bump is worth $20. Whereas the 1230 is circa 50% faster than the 1220, making it easy to justify.
I see what you're saying, but at this level, getting an extra 100MHz for $20 isn't the norm. Look at the 1270. That's like $75 more than the 1240 for an extra 100MHz.

However, you're right. The 1230 is PLENTY powerful, especially over the 1220. I guess what matters is how much $20 means to you. :)
 

mark tognella

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PEDANTRY ALERT!

Ahem.
The board model is X11SSL-CF. X11SSL-CF-O is the retail-packaged SKU, X11SSL-CF-B is the bulk SKU.

These days, I find it hard to recommend the X11SSL-F. The X11SSM-F's extra two SATA ports are very useful, making it the vastly better choice in all but the most cash-constrained scenario.
Yes, I noticed that when I went looking. The X11SSM-F seems the way to go for me. Luckily I checked with this forum before buying the first board - as this is MUCH better value for money. Is it definitely the case that if I set the BIOS for AHCI (rather than RAID) on this board, I will get a standard JBOD? That is, not really a JOBD RAID0 in disguise, specific to the chip? Haven't worked in infrastructure for many years, but I don't want anything tied to the controller chip. So I would be putting an Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 SkyLake 3.4 GHz LGA 1151 into this board. Any recommendations on RAM? The guide seems to suggest to stay away from Kingston. I will be putting 32gig in it.
 

Ericloewe

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