BUILD Node 304, AS Rock E3C226D2I, Xeon E3-1271V3 build 'sense check'

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242spot

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Hi all,

I'm looking at building a Freenas for home use and was after a sense check on my research / hardware choice.

I plan to use this as my plex server in conjunction with an Apple TV4 (with Plex app), but also a remote disk for iTunes and time machine backup (multiple macs). On the plex side, I will need the unit to be able to transcode 1080p. One final note, I want to build this once and not have to touch it for years. In this respect, I wanted something medium-term future proof, robust and maybe even 4k compliant.

Here's the parts chosen:

Case: Fractal Node 304 (will fit in my AV cabinet nicely)
Board: AsRock E3C226D2I
CPU: E3-1271V3 (hopefully allowing headroom / buying some future proofing)
Memory: Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B (EEC memory)
PWR Supply: Seasonic SSR-360GP (plus two y pwr splitters to allow 6 drives)
Drives: 4x Western Digital Red 3TB + Two old drives (WD 2TB and 1TB)
Flash Drive: Sata SSD 16gb Transcend MSA370

Related to this build, I have the following questions:

1) Do I have any impending issues with the hardware selection (any mistakes here?, or anything missed out?)

2) I had considered using an i3-4370 CPU. This would save me £135. Will I notice a difference and should I folk out the extra £135 for the Xeon unit? (passmark goes from 5552 for the i3 CPU to 10144 for the Xeon CPU)

3) What's the view on this build and potential future 4k compliance?

4) Maybe a stupid question here, but this is my first ever PC build (always a MAC user), so I have to ask. Does the CPU come with a heatsink / fan for cooling (I think it does, but wanted to check).

5) Considering the smallish case and 6 drives, should I consider upgrading the CPU cooling device. Perhaps something like a COOL MASTER Hyper TX 3??

6) I've been reading about the node power supply fans being two pin and the ASRock boards being three pin. This is pretty foreign to me, but I think the gist of it is that the stock fans will be hard wired on, rather than controlled by the CPU. Could someone give me an idiots guide on this issue and advise of the best course of action during build. I'm wondering whether to change out the fans during build to units that the CPU can control (if this is possible).

Feedback here would be appreciated before I dive in and spend £1k incorrectly.

Thanks
 

solarisguy

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Have you considered the following ?
  1. Noise level of your system (I have no idea how far from your AV cabinet listeners are sitting).
  2. Cooling of the system in a cabinet.
  3. Constraint that more cooling generates more noise, unless different components are used (so for example you may want to replace your two old hard drives with SSDs or WD Red drives).
 

SweetAndLow

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That board has 6sata ports so forget the ssd and just use a usb stick. Don't worry about the cooler and plug the fans into the fan controller that come with the case. This will keep thing plenty cool and you can slow them down.
 

chrisada

Explorer
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2) I had considered using an i3-4370 CPU. This would save me £135. Will I notice a difference and should I folk out the extra £135 for the Xeon unit? (passmark goes from 5552 for the i3 CPU to 10144 for the Xeon CPU)

3) What's the view on this build and potential future 4k compliance?

The rule of thumb seems to be 2,000 passmark score per 1080p stream transcoding. So, the i3 will be handle 2 streams fine, but the Xeon will handle more.

4k transcoding, depending a lot on the bitrate, could need 5,000 passmark score per stream. I'd say go Xeon if that is something you want in the future. Although, it will be a while before 4k content starts to be available, and they will be HUGE. High bitrate 1080p movies are already above 10GB.

4) Maybe a stupid question here, but this is my first ever PC build (always a MAC user), so I have to ask. Does the CPU come with a heatsink / fan for cooling (I think it does, but wanted to check).

5) Considering the smallish case and 6 drives, should I consider upgrading the CPU cooling device. Perhaps something like a COOL MASTER Hyper TX 3??

I just made a very similar build, but with Xeon E3-1231 v3. Same case, same motherboard, same WD Red drives. I used Cooler Master Hyper 212 for the CPU.

I live in hot country (Thailand), the NAS box sits in a roomy cabinet without ventilation. In this setup, the motherboard temperature is always in the 43-45 C. CPU temperature is about the same when idle, and goes up to 55-58 C while transcoding to Plex client or doing large file transfers.

Hope that gave some idea on whether you want/need CPU cooler or not.

6) I've been reading about the node power supply fans being two pin and the ASRock boards being three pin. This is pretty foreign to me, but I think the gist of it is that the stock fans will be hard wired on, rather than controlled by the CPU. Could someone give me an idiots guide on this issue and advise of the best course of action during build. I'm wondering whether to change out the fans during build to units that the CPU can control (if this is possible).

You got it right. The Node 304 does have manual fan speed switch on the back (off/medium/high) which I set to high as it's in the closet and I can't hear the noise anyway.
 

chrisada

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Forgot to mention that the setup should be using about 250W of power. I think the sticky post says to double that so the PSU is not straining too much and last longer, so maybe upgrade from the 360W PSU to something a bit higher? It will only pull the power it needs anyway, so it will cost a bit more up front but not affect the power bill.
 

242spot

Dabbler
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Dec 15, 2015
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Great responses, thanks!

@ Chrisada, sounds like your setup is near identical. How loud it your unit? Could you hear it in an enclosed AV cabinet (with rear venting)? Also, what PSU are you using? Any build pics, or advise on build from your learning?

@ SweatAndLow, good point. Is there any advantage to using the Sata SSD over USB.... speed?

Scott
 

Bidule0hm

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chrisada

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@ Chrisada, sounds like your setup is near identical. How loud it your unit? Could you hear it in an enclosed AV cabinet (with rear venting)? Also, what PSU are you using? Any build pics, or advise on build from your learning?

Didn't take pictures, unfortunately. But there are several YouTube videos about building FreeNAS with this case that you can check out.

I use Cosair CX600 PSU, but later found the reviews are not so great. Seasonic seems to be well regarded, so perhaps going up a size there will be good.

I also boot from SATA SSD, so has 5 spaces left for 5x 3TB WD red drives in RAIDZ2. I read more and more recommendation to go with SSD boot over USB, especially since 9.3 comes out.


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

SweetAndLow

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SSD is a better option since 9.3 when you are placing .system on it
.system has been on the boot device since 9.2. The new change with 9.3 is zfs as the root filesystem.
 

chrisada

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You can place .system on the boot device since 9.3 because, as you mentioned it, it is ZFS formatted
Is placing .system on boot device something that happens by default in 9.3 fresh install? Or is that something we have to do ourselves.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

solarisguy

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Is placing .system on boot device something that happens by default in 9.3 fresh install? Or is that something we have to do ourselves. [...]
No, you have to do it yourself. Most users would have USB as their boot device, not SSD, so doing that automatically would be risky.

.system gets placed automatically on the first data volume you create (unless you placed it manually on your boot device first).

It is very long and boring, but I think you should try to read the entire FreeNAS manual for 9.3 at https://doc.freenas.org/ (of course skip parts that not relevant to you, like possibly iSCSI and Active Directory).
 

chrisada

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No, you have to do it yourself. Most users would have USB as their boot device, not SSD, so doing that automatically would be risky.

.system gets placed automatically on the first data volume you create (unless you placed it manually on your boot device first).

It is very long and boring, but I think you should try to read the entire FreeNAS manual for 9.3 at https://doc.freenas.org/ (of course skip parts that not relevant to you, like possibly iSCSI and Active Directory).
Thanks! :) I did try to read the whole thing before doing my first installation. But since I've never used FreeNAS before at that point, many of the details didn't stick in my head and I couldn't relate to them yet.

Reading section 5.6 again, I'm still not sure how to move system to boot SSD. It looks like one can choose a new pool to move system to, but isn't it the case that one cannot create pool on boot device, with the installation filling it up even if the device has much more storage than needed? (Say 128GB SSD)
 

solarisguy

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Thanks! :) I did try to read the whole thing before doing my first installation. But since I've never used FreeNAS before at that point, many of the details didn't stick in my head and I couldn't relate to them yet.

Reading section 5.6 again, I'm still not sure how to move system to boot SSD. It looks like one can choose a new pool to move system to, but isn't it the case that one cannot create pool on boot device, with the installation filling it up even if the device has much more storage than needed? (Say 128GB SSD)
When you are in the System Dataset tab, the option is named System dataset pool and you are given an option in the drop-down menu to select a volume named freenas-boot.
 

chrisada

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When you are in the System Dataset tab, the option is named System dataset pool and you are given an option in the drop-down menu to select a volume named freenas-boot.
Sorry for asking about something I could have just tried out! The NAS box is at home and I'm reading the documentation on my phone. I didn't realize freenas-boot option is available. (can't tell from the screenshot in documentation)

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 
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