BUILD New build

[Raf De Smet]

Hello,

After a few weeks of reading I finally came up with a machine for my FreeNAS.

RAM: 16 GB : 2 x 8 GB - DIMM 288-PIN - 2133 MHz / PC4-17000 - CL15 - 1.2 V – ECC
PSU: Seasonic G-550
SSD for FreeNAS: Transcend MTS400, M.2
MB: Gigabyte GA-X150M-PRO ECC
HDD: WD Red => size and qty depending config
Housing: Cooler Master N300
CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 / 3.3 GHz

First of all, I know I'm the devil, proposing a non server board but I'm already going over my budget. I was hoping to build something for 600€ but that seems way to optimistic if you want good and stable components. This config is the cheapest ECC build I could find which is in the end what is most important for me = data integrity.
What are my risks not using a real server grade board next to the power loss on the onboard sound which you obviously don't need?

It's DDR4, could this cause issues for FreeNAS?
Also the motherboard is S1151, I'm not expecting but I want to ask: no compatibility issues?

So I plan for raid Z2(4x2Tb) config or 2 x z1 (6x1Tb) in mirror. If I understand the theory correctly the 2nd would give me the most speed and equal redundancy (given that only 1 disk/mirror fails) than z2, correct?

Would the Z2 config be fast enough for my usage (occasionally streaming 1 HD movie)?
Any advantage in 2 x Z1 in vdev mirror vs just 3 vdev mirrors or is the first not possible?

I would use this system for owncloud to be able to access all family pictures and movies from anywhere.
Maybe I’ll try out plex.
Will wireless connection to the NAS be sufficient for one plex stream?
At this point I'm streaming movies from a desktop wireless to my laptop so I guess if that works I should be fine, right?
The system will not be on 24/7 if this might be any useful info.

Thanks already for the feedback.
Raf

 

[religiouslyconfused]

DDR4 and Skylake are perfectly fine but Skylake might run into issues as it is newer technologies. I would definitely Haswell, if you absolutely want to be guaranteed for compatibility. Wifi to the NAS is ok. You should also look into Lenovo TS140 or Dell T20 as you can get those on sale and there are also deals out there. Haswell is cheaper than Skylake as the Motherboard can be had for less.

 

[DrKK]

Can I ask why you chose this board instead of one of the more server-oriented boards, for example, in the SuperMicro X11 line?

Edit: I guess you answered my question, and I should read more carefully.

I guess I would just say this: penny-wise and pound-foolish is not a recommended way to build a FreeNAS. If it costs you 100 euro more to do it right, really, that's 100 euro very well spent sir.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

So I plan for raid Z2(4x2Tb) config or 2 x z1 (6x1Tb) in mirror. If I understand the theory correctly the 2nd would give me the most speed and equal redundancy (given that only 1 disk/mirror fails) than z2, correct?

When you combine vdevs into a pool they are striped, not mirrored, so I'm assuming your 2nd option means two 3-disk RAIDZ1 vdevs striped together into one pool. If so, the latter is less reliable, both because it can only survive the loss of one drive from each vdev, and because there are more drives. At the same time, it's unlikely you would be able to measure any performance benefit with your planned usage.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Another thing about Skylake is that some boards might use an Intel LAN that is NOT compatible with freenas at the moment. Server boards use the i210 chip which is proven to work with Freenas but a i219 chip is not yet compatible though there might be freeBSD drivers that might require you to compile. Though FreeNAS 10 might eventually support the i219 chip if drivers are available. Some Desktop boards can support ECC with a Xeon but cannot actually take advantage of it. So, try to save up a little more money and try to get server stuff. It will save the headaches and you don't want to be like Linus Tech tips where they use a desktop WS board on a server, though their raid card is what caused their problems.

 

[Raf De Smet]

Can I ask why you chose this board instead of one of the more server-oriented boards, for example, in the SuperMicro X11 line?

Edit: I guess you answered my question, and I should read more carefully.

I guess I would just say this: penny-wise and pound-foolish is not a recommended way to build a FreeNAS. If it costs you 100 euro more to do it right, really, that's 100 euro very well spent sir.

Hello DrKK,

I see your point but if I would go for Supermicro motherboard & Xeon CPU this would be 490 euro vs 190 and my budget is already 30% more than my initial target (which seemed unrealistic). For my purpose it seems like severe overkill...
At the moment it feels like I'm bying me a Rolls-Royce for driving 2 blocks and a bicylce would also do the job.

Given I don't run into severe compatibilty issue which will be a gamble if I read the other comments.
I guess I'll have to re-balance the pro's and con's of having my own build Nas vs off the shelf because it seems to cost more than I was led to believe => my mistake reading stuff like turn "your old desktop into a NAS server" :-o

Thanks for the feedback!
Raf

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Raf,

You can use a Core i3 or pentium cpu in a supermicro board and I was able to checkout a system that fits your needs for under 600 eur.

 

[Raf De Smet]

Raf,

You can use a Core i3 or pentium cpu in a supermicro board and I was able to checkout a system that fits your needs for under 600 eur.

I probably wasn't clear with the budget, that would be all in. If the 600 is with drives I would be curious as which system you've come up with or which site. At this point I was looking in German and Dutch shops but even with std desktop gear and non ECC it was a challenge to get it below 600. Now with ECC and all other higher quality HW I'm @ 800.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

I was able to build it on Amazon.de but I used a Haswell Supermicro board.

 

[Raf De Smet]

I was able to build it on Amazon.de but I used a Haswell Supermicro board.

so I did the exercise on Amazon.de and best I can come up with including 4x1tb drives is this that rounds up to 780 eur:

Can you tell me which components were different in your excercise to end up below 600?
To be honest I don't have any experience shopping @ amazon so it could be that I'm not searching correctly.

WD Red 1TB for NAS 3.5-inch Desktop Hard Drive - OEM by Western Digital
EUR 71,81

Cooler Master NSE-300-KKN1 N-Series N300 USB 3.0 ATX Case by Cooler Master
EUR 47,00

Intel BX80646G3240 G3240 Pentium Dual-Core (3,10GHz, Sockel 1150, 3MB Cache, 53 Watt) by Intel
EUR 57,67

Seasonic SSR-550RM Active PFC G-550 PC-Netzteil (550 Watt, ATX 12V) by Seasonic
EUR 84,42

Supermicro MBD-X10SLQ-B Mainboard LGA 1150 (DDR3 Speicher, 1x PCI-e 3.0, 6x SATA III, 4x USB 3.0) EUR 204,98

Dual Channel Kit: 2 x 8 GB = 16GB 240 pin DDR3-1333 Dual Rank ECC Registered (1333Mhz, PC3-10600, CL9) - 100% kompatibel zu IBM EUR 99,00

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Sorry that was for minus the drives. 600 eur with drives is going to be very hard.

 

[TheKiwi]

The system should work fairly fine. The board does have an actual server chipset, so ECC should work. I'd get one with four DDR4 slots, though. 2 is a bit of a pain if you want to add more later.

 

[Roman]

I was hoping to build something for 600€ but that seems way to optimistic if you want good and stable components.

You probably can't. There are entry tower servers for that purpose from HP, Dell and Fujitsu, which cost less or equal than that amount of money. They all should satisfy the required architecture. Sometimes, server components like CPUs oder motherboards are being sold on eBay for low. I got my Supermicro board for 100 euros and an E3 Xeon 1271V3 for 250 euros, Supermicro chassis w/ power supply for 60 euros. Everything is possible if you know how to accomplish it.

 

[nachte]

Hi Raf,

how is your system running (if allready built)? And where exactly did you buy the parts if you don't mind me asking? (bespaart me een hoop gezoek :) )

 

[k414]

I'm thinking specs were cloudy on these boards when this was posted. I don't really see any issue with the build , it accepts ECC Ram (the model is the GA-X150M-PRO ECC), accepts 1151 XEON processors, ports for expansion (aftermarket Raid/NIC), Intel GbE Lan and it's cheaper? I'd say go for it, this looks like more than adequate.

It's a pretty flexible mother board it seems.

 

[ipc]

Hi Raf,

I would love to hear how the Gigabyte GA-X150M-PRO ECC board performs for you when you get your system up and running. Supermicro boards tends to be quite a bit more expensive in Europe so I can understand your budget concerns.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

I googled the board and it appears to use the C232 chipset, so it seems to work ok. Ethernet chip is the i219-V, but that should be supported soon!

 

[Netrider]

Hi Raf,
According specs in gigabyte, this board only suport ECC correction with Xeon CPU.
Please confirm.

 

[Søren Madsen]

I have asked Gigabyte this very question on their eSupport forum.
I received an answer which states that if a non-xeon cpu supports ecc (and ofc the lga1151 socket) it will work in ecc mode on the x150m-pro ecc.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

I believe the X150M-Pro ECC is actually a C232 chipset, so it does support ECC (with compatible CPU's).