BUILD New AMD Build - Advice & Comments Appreciated!

[JuliusMaximus]

I am working on building my first FreeNas server for home use. I was planning on just mirroring the drives (unless convinced otherwise). I don't necessarily want to go RaidZ for simplicity and I would prefer to only purchase 2 4TB drives vs 3. Plus I have read that mirroring can sometimes lead to better performance(?). I am going AMD AM3+ & Asus to support ECC. My plans are to store general files etc (of course with additional backups) as well as streaming from 2-4 devices. Also I am going AMD because of my budget.

As far as the motherboard goes, I am struggling between these two. The M5a78L-M seems like an older board considering the older onboard graphics. I like the fact that the older board is smaller. However the other board seems to be newer with better reviews and faster SATA ports etc..

Mobo: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ AMD 760G + SB710 USB 3.0 HDMI uATX AMD Motherboard
Mobo: ASUS M5A97 PLUS AM3+ AMD 970/SB950 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard
Ram: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B
Proc: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core 3.5 GHz (4.1 GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W FD6300WMHKBOX Desktop Processor
PSU: EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Continuous Power Supply 3 Year Warranty Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready
HDD: 2x WD Red 4TB NAS Desktop Hard Disk Drive - Intellipower SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD40EFRX
Network: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK Network Adapter 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express 1 x RJ45

Other questions:
How is performance with mirroring and freenas?
Are there any other better options out there for an AM3+ motherboard in this price range that supports ECC? I would prefer to stick with standard desktop boards due to cost.
How is this build in general? Any other suggestions?

 

[JuliusMaximus]

After doing some more reading, I have started to reconsider going the AMD route considering unknown future support. If anyone wants to chime in to say "Hey AMD is great go ahead" I may give it a second thought. But I am going to starting putting together a parts list for an Intel build instead. Sorry to clog up the forum! Delete this post if you want

 

[gpsguy]

About to fall asleep. Paging @joeschmuck


Sent from my phone

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Intel is a great choice for FreeNAS

 

[nightshade00013]

AMD really isn't recommended for a couple reasons. Add to that the enthusiast boards and Realtek network which can be hit or miss with USB3 which doesn't play too well with FreeNAS right now and it's just not a good way to start off. You can throw in an intel NIC but the realtek is still going to burn power along with the audio controller and will have more issues when something goofs up down the road.

If you are more worried about initial cost vs power cost the SuperMicro X8DTE-F or X8DT6-F boards with two cpu's are tough to beat IMHO. I benchmarked with a pair of Xeon E5640's and had more CPU power than the overclocked FX8350 I have in my desktop. Add to that the ability to buy cheap 4GB sticks of DDR3 ECC ram and before drives you will be in the 400 range with 48GB of ram if you take your time doing it. You can easily be up and running with 24GB of ram and cheaper cpu's like the E5606 Xeon. It will burn a little more power than a modern system but if you get power for a good rate it won't matter a lot. My dual E5640 with seven 7200RPM drives and one 5400RPM drive and 48GB of ram idles around 185 watts with 9 120MM (2PWM) fans and 2 80MM PWM fans. Same setup transcoding two streams at the same time clocks in at 315 watts and I can easily transcode more.

I built a system with an X8DTE-F and dual E5606's that is in my father's place. Before drives and doubling the 24GB of ram the X8DTE-F in a 1U rack case was 315 shipped. Doubling the ram cost another 51 and then drives at around 140 each for 4TB Reds. This was all at least 9 months ago and some at 12 months ago so some stuff will be cheaper you just have to put the time in to search for it. The parts were used but honestly a server that doesn't get overclocked or abused should be perfectly fine, most of them will have a harder life in your house than they ever did at the farm.

If you are more worried about power use look up an Atom based system. Can be done for fairly cheap and around 60 watts at idle from my understanding though you will have a rough go if you want to transcode anything so you will have to make sure your content is already processed to be optimal for your needs.