My FreeNAS build (Budget)

[Appok]

This is what my FreeNAS i just put together as a noob

Intel core i5 2500k (spare CPU laying around)
GA-Z77x-UD3h (Gigabyte Mobo, unable to use ECC - Ram :( )
Corsair Dominator 8GB Single RAM Stick
Just purchased 2x 3TB WD Reds (Damn expensive!) setup as a Mirror for now
NZXT H2 Classic Silent Case (Wicked case! barely hear noise!)
1x 2TB WD Green
1x 750GB WD Green
1x 320GB WD Black
These 3 mix-hhds are setup as a Raidz

I figured i'd use Mirror for now with my Reds as that where my data will mainly be stored for Home use only (Movies,Pictures,Music)

And use the Raidz as a Jail for plugins.

I tried to put a Raidz2 on but i only got like 1.3TB of free space and i needed at least 3 tb so that didn't work out and i didn't want to spend another $300 on drives :( maybe in the future i'll get more

This was a budget build with spare parts i had laying around

So far i'm happy with my setup! I installed Plex media and started watching my movies normally!

I know its best to get ECC Ram and a ECC motherboard but i am unable to find a LGA 1155 socket Motherboard for my i5 2500k without busting the bank

Just thought i'd share :)

If anyone has suggestions for my setup please feel free!

 

[interpeix]

That mix of hard drives ... scary ...

 

[joeschmuck]

I agree, the mix of drives could cause some issues. There is no JBOD with ZFS, if you toss them all together all the drives will look like the smallest drive in the group.

My main thing to say here is to run MemTest86+ for 3 full passes and ensure there are no errors. Since you are running non-ECC RAM, I'd run MemTest86+ every 3 to 6 months to ensure you don't have a RAM failure for you risk loss of data.

 

[Appok]

I just got new RAM sent to me from Corsair, and i decided to delete the mix-hdd and just keep my 2 reds in a mirror and just use that for all my needs for now.

Is it possible for me later on say 6mnths to a year to buy another 2 WD reds 3 TB and extend it?

Oh and i got a secruity e-mail this morning and got a whole list of IP's tring to SSH into my freeNAS :(

so i turned off SSH for now as i dont need to accesss it outside my home network for now

 

[Knowltey]

Doesn't meet minimum requirements.

 

[Appok]

Okay im thinking of just going out and buying some parts again!

Would this be good?

ASUS M5A78L-M LX Plus mATX AM3+ DDR3 AMD 760G 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI SATA2 VGA GBLAN Motherboard (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=67948&promoid=1360)

AMD FX-4300 Quad Core Processor Socket AM3+ 3.8GHZ 8MB 95W Retail Box (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=76935)

Kingston KVR16LE11/4 4GB DDR3 1600MHz ECC CL11 DIMM 1.35V W/TS Memory (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=88595)
I'm going to get 2x those RAM sticks to make 8GB

 

[Z300M]

Okay im thinking of just going out and buying some parts again!
http://secure1.ncix.com/cart/

Would this be good?

I get the message:

"Your shopping cart is empty!"

What you see there is because you are logged in and/or because of cookies on your machine.

 

[Appok]

Yeah sorrry about that i figured it do that, i listed the parts out in the edited post

 

[Z300M]

Yeah sorrry about that i figured it do that, i listed the parts out in the edited post

Although I've bought nothing but AMD motherboards and CPUs for more than a decade and am currently (but I hope not for too much longer) using such a combo for FreeNAS (see my sig.), they do not seem to be regarded highly around here. At least the motherboard you have in mind supports ECC RAM (which mine doesn't), but are you sure that that CPU does? (Perhaps all CPUs compatible with that board do, but I ask because it seems that not all Intel CPUs of the same series do.)

By choosing 4GB RAM modules, you are locking yourself in at half what the board supports. If you add more drives, you may find that your 8GB of RAM is insufficient. I'd give serious consideration to getting 8GB sticks.

And the onboard Realtek NIC is not regarded highly either. I have several machines with Realtek chips, and I disabled them and installed Intel Gigabit cards -- faster too.

 

[Appok]

I picked that CPU as its what Joeschmuck has listed in his Signature and also the same motherboard :p i'd buy a 8GB stick of RAM but its so expensive :S but i might just do it

but i do have a 30GB SSD Cache drive hooked up to the system but currently not using as a cache drive. wouldn't that help me out?

 

[cyberjock]

That motherboard and CPU are far from ideal. AMDs seems to have "special" problems with FreeBSD regularly, and Realtek NIC is not worth spending money on. In addition 8GB of RAM is the minimum. You should go back and do more reading as it appears you are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

 

[joeschmuck]

Seriously, far from ideal? Not in a corporate environment maybe but a home environment its perfectly acceptable. I can't speak to FreeBSD issues but my CPU/MB combination runs FreeNAS just fine, not a single hickup, even with the Realtek NIC. 98MB/sec sustained transfer rates are pretty good. I know you can squeeze a little more out of an Intel NIC but not that much more.

 

[cyberjock]

I only said far from ideal because it has a 7.1 surround sound and some other hardware that is going to use watts for no reason.

Realteks are mixed bag on whether they work or not. Some do, some don't. I care less about the performance and more about "does it work". It's tough to say sometimes without using it. If you have the option of using something that's guaranteed to work and perform well versus something that may not work at all, I'll always recommend the stuff that is sure to work.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head since I'm supposed to be asleep right now. :(

 

[Knowltey]

I picked that CPU as its what Joeschmuck has listed in his Signature and also the same motherboard :p i'd buy a 8GB stick of RAM but its so expensive :S but i might just do it

but i do have a 30GB SSD Cache drive hooked up to the system but currently not using as a cache drive. wouldn't that help me out?

Cache drives should only be used after maxxing out RAM, you're likely to actually hurt performance if you use a cache drive before that point.

 

[Appok]

I'm not concerned about the Realtek NIC since i bought a Intel NIC a few weeks ago because my on board Gigabyte board wasn't supported and im hitting 100+mbs transfer speeds.

 

[joeschmuck]

I agree, 7.1 sound and there are some other things I'm sure will pull a little power but minor. To be honest, I have no idea if the sound even works on the MB. The PC speaker beeps when it needs to, that's good enough for me. And I have to agree that some Realtec NICs are better than others, or some are just crap. I've been lucky so far, both of mine are good performers but I'm certain they would suck if they had a crappy slow CPU.

And I agree with not using a cache drive too. Done my fair share of testing on them and I don't think anyone would see any benefit if they weren't in a busy office environment.