BUILD New ITX FreeNAS Build - Suggestions?

[rustyfork]

Hello everyone. After being convinced to look into an Intel build with a proper server motherboard, I'm attempting to put together a FreeNAS/ZFS system. Some parts I already own, others I'll need to purchase.

What I've Got:
===========
- Intel Celeron g1820
- 2x4GB Elipda Unbuffered ECC DDR3
-5x2TB Hard Drives
- LianLi itx chassis (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112339)

What I Need:
==========
- mITX motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813151295)

The chassis can support up to 8 drives, so I figured I could use a pcie sata controller to make up for the 2 remaining ports.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms?

Thanks!

 

[camilo suarez]

i think you will need more ram, typical Minit ITX board just allow 16gb, try to go that amount of ram.

 

[DrKK]

That information is not correct.

With 5x2TB of drives, 8GB of RAM will be sufficient.

Supermicro and ASRock both have mini-ITX motherboards for this purpose that we generally recommend. But these have integrated new CPU's. I can't speak for this motherboard that you link. Maybe someone else will.

 

[Ericloewe]

That information is not correct.

With 5x2TB of drives, 8GB of RAM will be sufficient.

Supermicro and ASRock both have mini-ITX motherboards for this purpose that we generally recommend. But these have integrated new CPU's. I can't speak for this motherboard that you link. Maybe someone else will.

ASRock also has a miniITX C226/LGA1150 motherboard, which is more popular around here than the one chosen by rustyfork.

rustyfork, I recommend you read around this forum for information on the ASRocks (and Supermicros, if you're willing to go with Avoton) and decide for yourself if you want to try something less tested.

 

[rustyfork]

Thanks for the input so far, guys. I appreciate all the feedback.

So, if I were to go the AsRock route, is there really any difference between using the C224 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157467) and the C226 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157466) ?

 

[jgreco]

That information is not correct.

With 5x2TB of drives, 8GB of RAM will be sufficient.

It's correct for a different reason: it is better to pick higher density parts because slots are valuable commodities and if you have a two slot board (most of the small format boards) filled with low density memory then you need to pull those parts and THEN install the upgrade, leaving you with two lower density parts which probably cost about the same per GB as the higher density parts. This works out to being about a 50% cost premium. In most cases the use of a single DIMM instead of dual merely slows the system down by a very marginal bit, not significant in a platform that is waiting on network and disk subsystem I/O.

 

[Ericloewe]

Thanks for the input so far, guys. I appreciate all the feedback.

So, if I were to go the AsRock route, is there really any difference between using the C224 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157467) and the C226 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157466) ?

The C226 PCH upgrades the two SATA 3Gb/s ports to 6Gb/s. It may also support more USB 3.0 ports, but don't quote me on that last part.

 

[rustyfork]

Also, I don't know if anyone has had any experience with this board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157419

PROS:
4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB
12 SATA ports

CONS:
Embedded Atom Processor

What do you think? Is the cpu worth it, considering all the extra expandability on an ITX platform?

 

[AlainD]

Use the search function.

But remember that this is a brand new MB with a brand new chip set and build by a brand new server MB builder (since 2013). It's up to you if you trust it for you're data.

 

[Ericloewe]

Also, I don't know if anyone has had any experience with this board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157419

PROS:
4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB
12 SATA ports

CONS:
Embedded Atom Processor

What do you think? Is the cpu worth it, considering all the extra expandability on an ITX platform?

It's popular around here, including in its upgraded version with a C2750 processor (8 cores vs. 4). The Marvell controllers may have quirks, but many use them without problems.

 

[jgreco]

Also, I don't know if anyone has had any experience with this board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157419

PROS:
4 DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB
12 SATA ports

CONS:
Embedded Atom Processor

What do you think? Is the cpu worth it, considering all the extra expandability on an ITX platform?

The Avoton C2750 (different Atom from the same series) is generally half-or-better a low end Xeon in terms of performance but you kind of need to take that with a grain of salt because it also has twice as many cores. Per-core performance is reasonable but not stellar. If single thread performance isn't a primary consideration, the Avoton has a LOT going for it.

 

[rustyfork]

That's very interesting.

So, if I were to run other tasks than FreeNAS on this server - for example, webhosting, ftp server, bittorrent, webcrawler, etc - would the multiple cores begin to show their mettle? While each may be a single threaded process, would they each take advantage of a different core?

 

[jgreco]

Absolutely.

 

[rustyfork]

With all that's been discussed in mind, I am now split on making a final mobo decision:

Do I want to go with a 1150 platform or an Avoton board?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157466
VS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157419

I'm leaning towards the Avoton, mainly because of its expandability:
- 4x DIMM slots
- 12x SATA ports
- Fanless cooling is a plus

But I'm concerned because I'm not sure if the Avoton has the processing power for my needs. I'll be running a number of other services on the server other than a NAS, as I mentioned before (webhosting, webcrawler, ftp, torrent, and possibly some virtualization).
With 1150 I'll be running a g1820 (but can always upgrade if needed).

How does the processing power between these two compare? I've tried google and forum searches, but haven't come up with anything definitive. Also, any other final suggestions/thoughts?