Motherboard / CPU configuration

[Anonymouslemming]

I'm planning to upgrade my existing HP Microserver N54L that currently has 4 x 3TB disks in RAIDZ1 with 16GB of RAM to a self-built build to get some better speed and performance. I'm planning on the following

• SuperMicro X10SL7-F
• Intel i3-4160 CPU
• 32GB Crucial Memory (CT102472BD160B)

Before I go ahead with this, I just wanted to ask a few questions.

Firstly, can I plug SATA-III disks into the SAS ports on the SuperMicro motherboard ? It has 2 x Sata 6Gbps ports and I want to run 5 x 3TB disks in a RAIDZ2 configuration; I'd like avoid the 3Gbps SATA ports.

Secondly, my ARC total access currently looks like

ARC Total accesses: 412.38m
Cache Hit Ratio: 86.68% 357.46m
Cache Miss Ratio: 13.32% 54.92m
Actual Hit Ratio: 83.56% 344.58m

Will this configuration change have a significant performance impact ? I currently use the NAS for:

• Plex (2 - 4 devices simultaneous)
• General file serving and photography / video archive
• iSCSI target for 4 VMs

I'd like to increase the VMs to 6 at some point in the near future.

Thanks,

 

[Ericloewe]

Firstly, can I plug SATA-III disks into the SAS ports on the SuperMicro motherboard ?

Of course.

I want to run 5 x 3TB disks in a RAIDZ2 configuration; I'd like avoid the 3Gbps SATA ports.

There's no reason to do so with mechanical HDDs.

 

[Anonymouslemming]

There's no reason to do so with mechanical HDDs.

Thanks...

Will the i3 CPU and RAM help my performance overall ?

At the moment, I max out at around 40MB/s copying to / from the NAS, and NFS seems very slow from some machines.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Will the i3 CPU and RAM help my performance overall ?

The RAM should help. The CPU might help, if Plex is transcoding.

• iSCSI target for 4 VMs

I'd like to increase the VMs to 6 at some point in the near future.

Striped mirrors are preferred for block storage.