Noob mITX Home NAS Planned Build

[Charles Rhoades]

I know...another noob with limited knowledge. Please take a look and let me know where I'm making a questionable choice.

MB: Asrock E3C226D2I
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3
RAM: Kingston KVR16E11/8 ECC DDR3-1600 CL11 1.5v 8GB x2
HDD: WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB x6 in RAIDZ2
PSU: Seasonic SS-650KM (X-650) 80Plus Gold
CASE: Fractal Design Node 304 mITX

 

[jgreco]

Any reason not to go with the E3-1231 V3? Not a big difference, but newer is nicer.

Someone will chime in about Kingston being a bad choice. I don't necessarily believe that, but be aware that Kingston has had compatibility problems in the past.

For the chassis you've selected, the power supply is probably unreasonably large. You won't be powering more than six drives. The typical PSU size for that deployment is a 450W unit. The PSU sizing sticky should explain why. https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.38811/

 

[Charles Rhoades]

I looked at the Intel ARK comparison tool and the two CPU specs are just about identical. I guess you're right, newer would be nicer.
As for the PSU...I know it's overkill, but I have two one year old X-650s on the shelf.
I've heard good and bad about Kingston memory, but I've heard good and bad about almost all brands of memory makers.

Thanks for your feedback

 

[Charles Rhoades]

I do have a question about FreeNAS installation too. A total NOOB question for sure.

When I've built Windows desktops in the past, after install of Windows you go through another install step for drivers...SATA, LAN, Graphics, Sound, USB, etc. When I look at the download page for the Asrock E3C226D2I motherboard, I find all of those drivers to load, but I see none for a FreeBSD OS like FreeNAS. Am I missing something here? Aren't these drivers necessary under FreeNAS?

Here's the Asrock download webpage for the MB: http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C226D2I#Download

 

[jgreco]

I do have a question about FreeNAS installation too. A total NOOB question for sure.

When I've built Windows desktops in the past, after install of Windows you go through another install step for drivers...SATA, LAN, Graphics, Sound, USB, etc. When I look at the download page for the Asrock E3C226D2I motherboard, I find all of those drivers to load, but I see none for a FreeBSD OS like FreeNAS. Am I missing something here? Aren't these drivers necessary under FreeNAS?

Here's the Asrock download webpage for the MB: http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C226D2I#Download

Don't feel bad. Windows sucks. While it is possible to load individual drivers into FreeBSD, the devices on a board like the ASRock board quoted are all extremely standardized devices; Intel ethernets, generic VGA, etc. and FreeBSD automatically scans the system as it is booting to determine what's out there. Nothing on a NAS appliance should be "unusual" hardware.

So the interesting thing is that you can actually pull all the disks and the USB out of an AMD-based FreeNAS box and put it on an entirely different Xeon E5-based FreeNAS box and it'll just work. Possibly needing to reconfigure the network because often there's cheap Realteks on the AMD board and Intel ports on the Xeon board, but that's about it.

 

[Charles Rhoades]

So you're saying FreeNAS contains these "generic" drivers or I have to make sure the new FreeNAS system has internet access to go get them online?
Would the only items on the list I should be paying any attention to at all would be the BIOS and BMC updates?

 

[jgreco]

They're all there. Just the BIOS/BMC updates need to be done.

 

[Charles Rhoades]

Great...thank you.
I need to learn how to do the BMC updates.

 

[Charles Rhoades]

Ok....the E3-1231 V3 is on order, as are the other parts...excepting the off-the-shelf PSU. (which I know is at the max depth for this case. I'll make it work)

It's like any other build...plan it, and hope it comes together, well!