New FreeNAS build

[Charlied573]

So, as I mentioned in my intro thread, I'm looking at a box that I can use for media storage, security camera storage, and as a VM box. I use Emby, and the system needs to be able to handle 4 concurrent streams throughout the house at any one time (kids...).

Currently, I have a 42u rack in the basement, and Cat6 run throughout the house, a minimum of 2 lines in each room. I have a 4u RSV-L4000 case with a Seasonic S12G-550W power supply just begging to be used, and 12TB of data that needs a more secure location than it currently has.

I've been waffling between X10 and X11 boards, and even then I'm not 100% sure this is the way I need to go... I'm trying to keep the cost of (new) hardware below $2000cdn, which may be unrealistic. At the very least, I don't want to be spending more than I would need (to get the above functionality).

This is where I'm at:

6x 6TB drives (either ironwolf or WD Red, depending on price. I've always had good luck with Seagate, but my data is currently held on a couple 6TB Reds and I've had no trouble) in RaidZ2

with either :

Supermicro X10SLH-F
Intel Xeon E3-1231v3
2x Crucial 16GB kits (CT2KIT102472BD160B)
Noctua NH-U14S Cooler

or

Supermicro X11SSM-F
Intel Xeon E3-1230v5
32GB DDR4 ECC RAM (so far, I'm having zero luck finding recommended memory for this board)
Noctua NH-U14S Cooler

So, right now if I slapped this into the inbox, I'm running $2870 with tax and shipping. The drives alone are just above 1600 for the cheaper sale option (Seagate Ironwolf). If I moved to WD Red, that would bump the price another $700.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, as I seem to be running in circles here.

Charlie

 

[CraigD]

Either build is great, but the SkyLake build is newer, cheaper, faster, has 8 SATA ports this will max out your case, and it also supports 64GB of RAM

2x16GB Crucial CT16G4WFD8213 is the memory that works with the X11SSM board see @Archaniel build

The expensive cooler is not needed

Have Fun

 

[danb35]

If I moved to WD Red, that would bump the price another $700.

With that cost delta, the decision is pretty obvious. But over $100/drive? That's ridiculous. Are you sure you're comparing to the WD Red, and not to the Red Pro or the Re?

 

[Charlied573]

With that cost delta, the decision is pretty obvious. But over $100/drive? That's ridiculous. Are you sure you're comparing to the WD Red, and not to the Red Pro or the Re?

The WD Reds (at the time of the original search last week) were retailing at $330, as opposed to the Ironwolf's $265; with tax it's about another $75 per drive. My original look was at 8tb drives, the $100 delta was with those - my mistake on that one.

Currently, the Reds are 'on sale' for $297, making the difference a bit more palatable.

 

[iammykyl]

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14121136977
http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-...22-99935.htm?promoid=1599&affiliateid=7474144

 

[Charlied573]

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14121136977
http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-...22-99935.htm?promoid=1599&affiliateid=7474144

Yup! Those are the prices this week. For what I want to do, I'm guessing I'll just have to bite the bullet.

 

[Charlied573]

So, I purchased the following:

X11SSM-F mainboard
Intel E3 1230v5 processor
2x16GB Crucial CT16G4WFD8213 (to start, may double this in the future)
2x Intel SSD 320 series 40GB drives
6x 8TB WD Red drives

I was going to spend more than I wanted anyway, so I bumped up to the 8s, which had a slightly lower cost / TB.

Thanks for the feedback and info!

 

[iammykyl]

Stock cooler? How are the temps?

 

[Charlied573]

Stock cooler? How are the temps?

I'll let you know as soon as all the parts arrive and I have it pieced together :)

 

[Archaniel]

Would love to see the temps on the i3 stock with transcoding on Plex. And also the power consumption. While transcoding my UPS shows load of roughly 60W... would be nice to see how that compares to the i3 as I was looking towards an upgrade for faster buffering ..

 

[Charlied573]

Would love to see the temps on the i3 stock with transcoding on Plex. And also the power consumption. While transcoding my UPS shows load of roughly 60W... would be nice to see how that compares to the i3 as I was looking towards an upgrade for faster buffering ..

Well, everything except the HDDs showed up on Friday, so I pieced the system together and ran through some diagnostics and stress testing. I can definitely let you know how the e3 holds up, temperature wise during transcodes.

Regardless, so far so good; no issues with the RAM, system cycled through the stress test just fine (had a temp alarm with one ISO, but it seemed like the sensor reading was off; when I cycled up an xfce build to keep a closer eye on things, temps didn't go above 75 - higher than I'm used to, but with a stress test and a stock cooler, more than acceptable for the moment). I may still replace that intel stock cooler, my impression of them hasn't changed much in the last 20 years.

At idle, temps are 28c currently.

 

[Charlied573]

Just as an update:

the 6x 8TB reds finally arrived yesterday. I was initially a bit worried due to the condition of the box they came in... but short and long test have now passed. I'm on the fence about whether or not I need to run badblocks right off the hop.

When I get home from work, I'll make that decision and either do it, or finish the setup. Already the NAS box has been sending me delightful emails about how it's having no errors, security messages, output information... honestly, I think it just misses me.

Idle CPU temps have been 25c, under load, up to 40c. Hard drive temps are sitting at 27c.

 

[danb35]

I'm on the fence about whether or not I need to run badblocks right off the hop.

You do.

 

[Charlied573]

You do.

Straight forward response. So it shall be ;)

 

[iammykyl]

Just as an update:
Idle CPU temps have been 25c, under load, up to 40c. Hard drive temps are sitting at 27c.

Thanks for that. Looks good for the stock cooler. What's the sound level like?

 

[Charlied573]

Thanks for that. Looks good for the stock cooler. What's the sound level like?

It's hard to say honestly. When I get near it, I near the fans... but the rack lives under my basement stairs. It's an open space, but everything down there is louder (washer, dryer, dehumidifier as necessary, children, etc.).

That said: 63 hours in, I'm 11% into the third test pattern... without tmux, this would be a loooooooong process. Zero errors so far though - it's nice to be confident in these drives, rather than just thinking 'eh, they should be fine'.

 

[Charlied573]

Almost two months later, but here's the update:

Everything is running beautifully. The box is running a cluster of Minecraft servers, my Emby library, and a couple VMs for other game servers. Speed and stability are great, and it handles 4 simultaneous transcodes with aplomb.