Newbies - making use of existing hardware for TrueNAS

[waterfallbay]

Hi, I have an unused PC that i wish to convert into a NAS running TrueNAS. I am completely new to TrueNAS and is wondering if True NAS can fully support my exisiting motherboard and CPU, they are:

ASUS Aorus Z590 Master
Intel Core i7 10700
64GB RAM

Can TrueNAS recognize all the chips on the motherboard? including the onboard graphics and RAID controller?

Also, I planned to run it with a 8 bay case and create a 8TB x 8 RAID 5 configuration. However the motherboard only have 6 SATA port. Is it possible for me to use an SATA expansion card to acheive what I want to do?

Thanks in advance and i wish you all have a great day.

 

[jgreco]

The Aquantia ethernet on that board is a bit of a tragedy and is unlikely to work well (think: like Realtek).

RAID controllers are not supported in TrueNAS; ZFS is your RAID controller. I'm not sure it actually has a RAID controller, possibly just fakeRAID. If the ports can be set to SATA AHCI, they're probably usable.

Onboard graphics are typically not required on a server, and having it may complicate things.

For the most part, servers are best run on servers for the same reasons that gaming is best done on a gaming system, not a desktop or a Chromebook. Server boards are optimized to the task.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

@waterfallbay : You probably want to start by reading a few of the Resources (a tab at the top of this page) to understand what you're up against. There's also an index of sorts in my signature that discusses this.

In short, it's usually not exactly as easy as one would hope, though gaining understanding along the way and the end result is very much worth the effort if you're into building computer systems.

 

[Etorix]

Hi, I have an unused PC that i wish to convert into a NAS running TrueNAS.

Recycling an old desktop into a NAS is financially attractive, but comes with caveats.
Paradoxically, an even older motherboard could have served you better. More SATA ports to begin with.

Can TrueNAS recognize all the chips on the motherboard? including the onboard graphics and RAID controller?

TrueNAS has no use for the audio codec, and the iGPU only has the BIOS screen and console to display.
Set SATA ports to AHCI mode and ignore the RAID mode.

Also, I planned to run it with a 8 bay case and create a 8TB x 8 RAID 5 configuration. However the motherboard only have 6 SATA port. Is it possible for me to use an SATA expansion card to acheive what I want to do?

"RAID 5" does not exist in ZFS. The functional equivalent would be "raidz1", but it is advised against with large drives because, contrary to expectations, resiliency against the failure of a single drive may not be guaranteed. Better use raidz2.
SATA expansion cards are advised against. To add ports, use a SAS HBA (LSI 9200 or 9300); these are compatible with SATA, the PCIe 2.0 LSI 9200 (2008 controller) is enough for HDDs, and a refurbished HBA may even come cheaper than a new SATA card.
But if 6*12 TB or 6*14 TB still fits within your budget, go for that (as 6-wide raidz2) and do not bother with a SAS HBA.

With x16/x8 + x0/x8 (CPU) and x4 (PCH) slots, your (Gigabyte!) board is somewhat better suited than most desktops. But it lacks SATA ports.
With a better 10 GbE NIC (e.g. Solarflare 7122F, $50 on eBay), possibly a SAS HBA in the other x8 slot, and a comfortable 64 GB RAM (not ECC of course…) it may run reasonably well.
You may proceed with the build as a first venture into the NAS world. But an older board based on C236 or C246 chipset (Supermicro X11SSH or X11SCH; typically comes with 8 SATA onboard) and a matching Core i3 6/7th or 8/9th generation (these i3 do support ECC RAM: no need for a Xeon), and the above $50 Solarflare NIC for 10 GbE would make an even better NAS. If you're serious about NAS building (or get hooked into it…), consider selling the old motherboard to buy server-grade parts.