BUILD My first build to host Plex, SAB, SB, and CP

[Matt Morgan]

Good morning,

I am hoping that I can receive some feedback on my proposed build. This is my first build and I would like to make sure I haven't overlooked anything. I would like this NAS to meet my needs, but not go overboard and waste money on things I don't really need either.

This NAS is replacing an old desktop that currently hosts my Plex, SAB, SB, and CP setup. I am looking to support at least 2 simultaneous streams of 1080p. Along with cost, this is the reason I have chosen the AMD FX-8350 CPU. Based on information provided by Plex, the passmark score of 9010 should support potentially 4 simultaneous 1080p streams.

I was considering going with a RAID-Z1 setup. After a lot of reading I'm still not sure if this is a reasonably safe strategy or if I should just pony up the extra $114 dollars and mirror the 2 drives.

Couple questions:

1. I understand that if I go RAID-Z1 (3 drives), in order to expand the storage on that pool, I would only have the option of replacing each of those drives to expand capacity. 3x3TB = 6TB storage on RAID Z1. I could "grow" my pool in the future by swappping each drive for a 6TB drive which would result in 3x6TB = 12TB storage. Is that correct?

2. If I changed my strategy to RAID-1 using 4x3TB drives I would still have 6 TB of usable storage. Does this setup offer any additional options to "grow" my pool in the future? I know I could replace each drive 4x6TB would get me to 12TB of usable storage. Could I also add 2 additional drives to get to 6x3TB drives for a total usable storage of 9TB of usable storage? I hope that made sense. I guess to simplify, I want to know if RAID-1 offers another way to grow the pool other than simply replacing each drive.

Below is my proposed build. My plan is to use ECC RAM (8GB initially with 2 free slots to expand in future). I have chosen the AMD processor for it's high passmark score to cost ratio. If AMD is really a bad choice, I wonder if you could recommend an alternative Intel chipset and motherboard combo.

Thanks so much for any advice!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($70.33 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Wired Network Adapter: Intel EXPI9301CT 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter ($33.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $841.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-23 09:54 EST-0500

 

[Ericloewe]

Drop the SSD and use the cash to get an X10SLL+-F, a single 8GB ECC UDIMM and, at least, an i3 4330 (or higher, don't know exactly how Plex behaves since I don't use it). You also save the time and trouble of the extra Intel NIC.

Do note that it's recommended that you have at least 16GB of RAM when using Plex.

Also, RAIDZ1 is generally a bad idea. Striped mirrors don't make much sense in your case, but RAIDZ2 sure does.

For information on ZFS storage setups, please read Cyberjock's guide (link is in my sig). I can tell you right away that you cannot change vdevs after their creation and you cannot remove vdevs from pools. You can add vdevs and you can grow vdevs by replacing all drives.

 

[Matt Morgan]

Thanks for the feedback. I took your advice and reviewed Cyberjock's guide. Very good read.

I'm now leaning towards RAID-Z2, although I don't think I quite understand it's benefits compared to a straight mirror. I'm guessing it has something to do with distributing the parity across all the drives and that leading to less chance of data loss. I'll do some additional research on that side. My takeaway is that I now should have 4x3TB to yield 6TB storage in RAID-Z2.

I selected the SSD as I had read somewhere that PLEX used some disk space for cache during transcoding. I'll have to see if I can find that again.

Regarding the i3 recommendation, I checked the passmark score and it comes in at 5084. According to Plex you need roughly 2000 pts for each simultaneous transcoded 1080p movie. While 5084 would be enough today, I'd like to add a little buffer should 4K stuff become more mainstream. Could be overkill.

I'll look into other Intel alternatives as well as bump the RAM to 16GB. This is the runaway freight train when it comes to cost, I keep going up and up. :)

Any other feedback would be great!

 

[Ericloewe]

RAIDZ2 vs striped mirrors in a nutshell: Mirrors are faster (more vdevs), RAIDZ2 allows for any two drives to fail and is thus safer.

If you want to aim higher, CPU-wise, you're looking at Xeon E3s.

 

[Matt Morgan]

Okay, I'm starting to get the point that AMD is not the way to go. Looking at passmark scores in the 8,000-9,000 range, I found this CPU, I'm guessing its older:

Xeon X5660

This could be mine for $160, which would be great.

My worry is that this is older tech and I would be wise to just go with the i3 chip now with the mobo you suggested. That chip should be fine for my current use case and should my needs grow, I could swap it out for a Xeon at that time. I know you have already recommended the i3 chip, but I must ask if there is any chance the X5660 would be a better plan at this time? I only ask because it appears to be significantly more powerful on the passmark score (no idea if this really means anything - noob). I just know Plex specs say more passmark = better transcoding (general guideline).

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the X5660. I've updated my build with your suggestions. I stuck with the 8GB of RAM but went to 1 stick. I can't find anything about Plex needing a bunch of RAM. Obviously I know more RAM is better, but if I could postpone that stick for a few months, it could help my rapidly growing bottom line. As I understand it, FreeNAS should be okay with 8GB to start. Then again, maybe I'm shorting myself to save $60. Might not be worth it.

I feel like my head is spinning. :) Thanks for the kind support.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jn8yc
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jn8yc/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SanDisk Ultra Fit™ USB 3.0 Flash Drive ($9.97)
Other: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600 ($169.00)
Total: $1002.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-23 22:29 EST-0500

 

[cyberjock]

Plex will nab 1-2GB of RAM, when idle. So yeah, you need to seriously consider more RAM. We do warn people that memory used in jails should be on top of the 8GB already required for the minimum, so I wouldn't do less than 12GB (of course 16GB makes more sense).

 

[Matt Morgan]

Roger that! 16 GB it is. I've updated my build with all of your terrific advice. I decided to add one more 3TB drive so when I setup my initial vdev I can have it RAID-Z2 with 5 drives yielding 9TB of usable storage. That should keep me for a while. The last thing I am getting hung up on is the case. Any recommendations? I'm not sure how much I need to worry about heat with this build as I don't have much experience to lean on. Now that I am going with 5 drives in RAID-Z2, I'm thinking the ability to hold 10 drives would be great in case I suddenly felt I needed another vdev with another 5 drive RAID-Z2 setup. 18TB sure does sound like a lot of data, but 3TB sounded like a lot of data not too long ago too.

I saw that the Fractal Design Node 804 can hold 10 drives, but it looked like it might be a little cramped. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks so much for your terrific support.

Current Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SanDisk Ultra Fit™ USB 3.0 Flash Drive ($9.97)
Other: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600 ($169.00)
Other: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory ($179.00)
Total: $1116.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-24 11:10 EST-0500

 

[Matt Morgan]

Okay, I have decided on the Node 804 for the case. It seems like a good size and appears to be very flexible with many setups. It can also hold 10 3.5" drives which is the max I think I would go to. The suggested board, which I'm currently rolling with (, supports 6 SATA drives. What is going to be the best way to expand that number to 10 drives? Do I need a different motherboard? I've been doing a lot of reading on this forum, really terrific stuff, but this is something I'm not quite clear on.

Current proposed build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Other: SanDisk Ultra Fit™ USB 3.0 Flash Drive ($9.97)
Other: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory ($179.00)
Other: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600 ($170.00)
Total: $1152.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-25 23:13 EST-0500

 

[Ericloewe]

Well, if expansion is certain in the near future, the X10SL7-F is typically cheaper than an X10SLL-F + an HBA (say, crossflashed M1015).