Motherboard and CPU recommendation

[AVSION]

Hi, i'm new to this forum and freenas, this is my first build and i would like some recommendation on hardware.
I would like to build multi purpose freenas home server, which will support the requirements below, starting with the best system i can afford
with minimum storage and later on add more storage.

Server requirements are:
1. Media
- Rip all bluray using makeMKV & handbrake (move this task from my main computer)
- Use PLEX and Kodi multiple clients streaming at the same time
2. Backup
- HD/UHD Quality digital blurays copies
- HD Music
- Pictures, documents, videos
- All MAC computers and mobile devices
3. VMs for networking, media (not sure ATM but i like to have the option to support)
4. reliable system to last at least 5 years
5. able to multitask all the above
6. At least of 40TB (upgrade later on)

i have done some research in the last few days on this forum and other places and checked what hardware other used, similar to my requirements,
but find it hard to decide on the hardware especially the motherboard, i know i want to go with supermicro, was thinking about X10SRi-F (with the intel Xeon E5 1650 V4) but not sure if this is the best one for me or if there are other features this MB missing that i need.
here is the list i put together to start with.

- Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5 Black Case FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK
- Motherboard: Supermicro X10SRi-F (UP, IPMI, 10 SATA3, 6 PCIe3, 1TB RAM limit)
- CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650v4 (Broadwell-EP 6/12 @ 3.6 - 4.0ghz)
- Cooler: Noctua NH-U9DX i4 (2 x Noctua 90mm NF-B9 PWM fans)
- RAM: 2 x 16GB Crucial EEC RDIMM DDR4-2400
- Boot: 2 x 32GB Sandisk Cruiser Fit 3.0
- PSU: Corsair RMx 1000
- Blu Ray: LG BH16NS55
- Storage: 4 x HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB, 0S03666 (5 year warranty)

base on my system needs can you please check the list above and let me know what you think,
1. Motherboard
a. is that the model i should go for? or there is another model with features to suit my needs or for future upgrade?
b. For performance is it better to use the onboard SATA 3 or better to go with controller /raid pci-e card? and do i need LSI?
2. CPU - is that the model i should go for? to suit the X10SRi-F and able to handle handbrake, streaming and maybe VMs. ( i know it doesn't support LRDIMM type memory is that a big deal? )
3. Chassis - don't have a rack any other suggestions? will sit in my home office.
4. RAM - is that a good choice? or i should go with IM (intelligent memory)
5. Boot- is it better to go with SSD? if so what brand/model?
6. PSU - is that a good choice? or should go for seasonic prime 850w.
7. Storage - is that a good choice?

Thank you in advance

 

[JohnDigital]

I think you are pretty much on target. I love Fractal cases, clean, aesthetic, quiet. I buy the XL versions and put THESE in where the CD drives would go. That gets you up to 14 3.5" drives internally not including SSD. The Evercool cages ship with a little rack to convert the 3.5 slots to 4 SSDs, then I use those to put my SSDs in and they sit on top of my PSU, works out slick. I was going to just put a dab of hot glue to hold them down, but without moving parts, no bother, it works out great. Supermicro boards are the preferred board around here, you basically cant go wrong with one of those and a Xeon chip. If it were me Id go with SSD mirror for boot, and SSD mirror for "jails". Small SSDS for boot, like smallest you can find. 32gb is even too much. You'll notice they are SATA II, but dont worry about that. The main benefit is obviously boot time, and upgrading, once you are booted those small SSDs just sit there. Then, much larger ones for your jails/containers/VM. Samsung seems to be the leader in SSDs ATM. Although Intel is always there too. Just my .02, you will be fine without this, but it doesn't seem that budget is a concern for you, so I would absolutely do it. In the end you may have to pick up an LSI 9211 card to handle the amount of drives, but have no fear, I just grabbed another one on eBay for 60 bucks. But for now, you will be fine with the onboard ports. I think you will have yourself a humdinger. I have never done the Bluray rip/encode using FreeBSD. I do it from a Linux AMD powerhouse and transfer over to FN. Seasonics are good, have used them in the past, but Im on these eVGA Platinum PSU full modular jobbies with 10 year warranties, very happy so far. As far as drives? I say anything but Seagate. Im currently rocking Toshiba X300 5tb drives. Not a single issue. Although Toshiba is in the news and taking a hit because of some shit with the Japanese Nuclear Industry. The only other thing I have for you is to not overlook a decent UPS. Those are about as important as the the other parts. There are verified lists out there that work great. For reference I use a Cyberpower AVRLCD model.. I think this build is all candy.. Cheers bud.

 

[AVSION]

I think you are pretty much on target. I love Fractal cases, clean, aesthetic, quiet. I buy the XL versions and put THESE in where the CD drives would go. That gets you up to 14 3.5" drives internally not including SSD. The Evercool cages ship with a little rack to convert the 3.5 slots to 4 SSDs, then I use those to put my SSDs in and they sit on top of my PSU, works out slick. I was going to just put a dab of hot glue to hold them down, but without moving parts, no bother, it works out great. Supermicro boards are the preferred board around here, you basically cant go wrong with one of those and a Xeon chip. If it were me Id go with SSD mirror for boot, and SSD mirror for "jails". Small SSDS for boot, like smallest you can find. 32gb is even too much. You'll notice they are SATA II, but dont worry about that. The main benefit is obviously boot time, and upgrading, once you are booted those small SSDs just sit there. Then, much larger ones for your jails/containers/VM. Samsung seems to be the leader in SSDs ATM. Although Intel is always there too. Just my .02, you will be fine without this, but it doesn't seem that budget is a concern for you, so I would absolutely do it. In the end you may have to pick up an LSI 9211 card to handle the amount of drives, but have no fear, I just grabbed another one on eBay for 60 bucks. But for now, you will be fine with the onboard ports. I think you will have yourself a humdinger. I have never done the Bluray rip/encode using FreeBSD. I do it from a Linux AMD powerhouse and transfer over to FN. Seasonics are good, have used them in the past, but Im on these eVGA Platinum PSU full modular jobbies with 10 year warranties, very happy so far. As far as drives? I say anything but Seagate. Im currently rocking Toshiba X300 5tb drives. Not a single issue. Although Toshiba is in the news and taking a hit because of some crap with the Japanese Nuclear Industry. The only other thing I have for you is to not overlook a decent UPS. Those are about as important as the the other parts. There are verified lists out there that work great. For reference I use a Cyberpower AVRLCD model.. I think this build is all candy.. Cheers bud.

Thanks John, appreciate your help, will definitely look at the XL Case with drive cage and will put a tick on the ssd drives instead of the usbs option for FN boot. love the idea of small SSD for VMs. i do need UPS didn't get there yet thanks. my main dilemma ATM is the MB model any suggestions there per my post?

Thank you

 

[JohnDigital]

I think you are right on target. Board and chip look great to me. Im rocking an X8 board and yesteryear Xeon chip and my machine does everything I need it to. I stream to several Raspberry Pi Kodi instances and remote Plex. I have an almost identical board in my office to the one you propose still in the box. I need to buy some hardware for it, but I just havent seen the need for it, my ride is still pimpin. I have yet to run into any overhead issues. My chip and board can be bought on eBay for 60 bucks total. I think it even had RAM in it! Saw one when I was looking for an HBA for my buddy. Not trying to sway you or anything, but im just throwing that out there. For people who just need to serve up media and do some menial tasks, it would work more than fine.

 

[Stux]

Nice board, CPU, PSU & RAM ;)

You should consider more HDs. 6x or 8x, since you can't add disks to a vdev after the fact.

4 disks is Raidz2 results on 50% parity loss

6 disks = 33%

8 disks + 25%

Thus 8 4TB disks nets you 24TB in Raidz2

 

[AVSION]

Nice board, CPU, PSU & RAM ;)

You should consider more HDs. 6x or 8x, since you can't add disks to a vdev after the fact.

4 disks is Raidz2 results on 50% parity loss

6 disks = 33%

8 disks + 25%

Thus 8 4TB disks nets you 24TB in Raidz2

As you can see your build was my favorite i came across so far, thanks for sharing :)

Thats a shame i was hoping to do it in two stages, i guess i'll get more drives.

any comments regarding my questions 1 & 2 ? just find it hard to understand the motherboard and CPU i need.

Thank you

 

[Stux]

The CPU is a high clock speed 6 core hyperthreaded broadwell part.

This is good for hosting a serious SMB server, plex transcoding and VMs.

The motherboard features a pcie16x slot and an intel i350 nic. And 10 Sata ports.

The i350 is good for VMs. The 16x slot allows maximum future io bandwidth.

If you're not interested in the i350 or the 16x slot, there are other UP X10 boards. I forget the number, but one of them has a huge amount of 8x slots which is a good alternative.

They are listed in the hardware recommendations

The primary benefit of the e5/x10 platform is being able to go past 4 cores and 64GB of RAM.

Theoretically, you could replace the CPU with a 22 core part one day.