Norco RPC-4216 BR10i Build Questions

[deadon1130]

Hello FreeNAS members,

I first would like to say thank you in advance for any help you can provide. I have spent quite a bit of time doing research to build this box, but have ran into an impasse and need some help.

I am currently building a iSCSI box for ESXi/Home Server Storage using the following hardware:

• 
  Norco RPC-4216

• 
  2X BR10i PCI-e Cards

• 
  2X HP Dual Port Gig NIC's 1x PCI-e for iSCSI traffic

• 
  500W PS

Where I am currently stuck is trying to find a motherboard that can handle these cards:
I need at least 2 PCI-e 1X and 2 PCI-e 8X (I do not want to take a performace hit on the BR10i cards by operating at 4X)
It doesn't matter if its Intel or AMD as I also need to find a cheap proc for the board
I would like it to be able to support 32GB of RAM

Lastly,
I am a huge Newegg fan and have done lots of business with them and am very satisfied. I would prefer to buy there but if you know of another place to get these parts that has similar service I am willing to try them as well.

Thanks again for your recommendations.

 

[BobCochran]

That is a pretty big case that can take a dual processor-sized motherboard. It can probably fit smaller boards too. Try a SuperMicro or Asus motherboard. My RPC-4220 has an Asus dual processor board in it.

Bob

 

[deadon1130]

Thanks for the advice Bob,

Even tho It can hold that type of board I think it would be a little overkill and out of budget since I am just running FreeNAS and shouldn't need the processing power. I am trying to keep the board in the $100-150 range and was thinking a lower power draw Celeron processor?

 

[deadon1130]

Looks like this might be the winner

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4809883&CatId=14

Unless I get a shell shocker deal in the next week or so that blows me away.

 

[BobCochran]

Can that motherboard run ECC RAM? In general, you need ECC RAM. Check the manual for that motherboard carefully.

 

[deadon1130]

Can that motherboard run ECC RAM? In general, you need ECC RAM. Check the manual for that motherboard carefully.

That is a really good question...and my next point of research as since the box is on 24/7 ECC is a must. Basically need to go with a server board for ECC.

 

[cyberjock]

ECC depends on your server intent, the cost, and how much reliability you want.

ECC adds some reliability. How much? Well, if you run your desktop at home 24x7 is it less reliable than you like? If you won't have easy access to the server and its a business use, I'd use ECC. As a home server I don't because I don't consider it worth the cost.

ECC costs more, how much depends on how much RAM you want and what type.

For a business I always recommend ECC. At home I don't unless I have parts that need ECC.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I researched this a bit before. For ivybridge stuff, ECC support is dependent on the cpu, not the motherboard. The only cpus that support ECC ram are XEONs.

For AMD, pretty much everything with a removable cpu supports ECC. I don't think their APUs support ECC but everything else does.

I was about to pony up for ECC (ram/motherboard/CPU) myself but gave up after realizing i didn't 100% need it for my personal use, but understand that some applications need it.

 

[deadon1130]

I researched this a bit before. For ivybridge stuff, ECC support is dependent on the cpu, not the motherboard. The only cpus that support ECC ram are XEONs.

For AMD, pretty much everything with a removable cpu supports ECC. I don't think their APUs support ECC but everything else does.

I was about to pony up for ECC (ram/motherboard/CPU) myself but gave up after realizing i didn't 100% need it for my personal use, but understand that some applications need it.

So this begs the question, how does freeNAS handle/support ECC and what is the benefit/cost ratio?

 

[survive]

Hi deadon1130,

ECC is a chipset-level feature so freenas doesn't need to know about it or support it at all.

If the board supports ECC (almost every AMD proc does) I think it's well worth the extra buck or two that ECC costs for 4GB DIMMs.

Take a look at this: http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/46/78/467819_467819.pdf

-Will

 

[deadon1130]

Hi deadon1130,

ECC is a chipset-level feature so freenas doesn't need to know about it or support it at all.

If the board supports ECC (almost every AMD proc does) I think it's well worth the extra buck or two that ECC costs for 4GB DIMMs.

Take a look at this: http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/46/78/467819_467819.pdf

-Will

Thank you for the quick reply.

So your saying the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 should support ECC? I have been unable to find any info on this at GigaByte's site and their supported memory PDF really sucks because you cannot copy/past the model numbers to see if the RAM is ECC. I will try contacting them to find out EXACT details surrounding this board. I am usually an Intel guy so this is a new road diving into AMD territory.

 

[cyberjock]

ECC is handled by the memory controller. For all Intel i3,5,7s based CPUs the memory controller is on-chip. This was one of the big reasons to upgrade. A performance increase is realized by taking the memory controller onto the CPU versus the motherboard chipset. Because of this change in architecture the CPU is the deciding factor for ECC support. If your motherboard supports a CPU that uses ECC, then you simply need to buy a CPU that supports ECC and ECC memory and your system will run with ECC. The CPU and RAM talk directly to each other now, so the motherboard has no bearing on what is or isn't support with regards to ECC.

Of course, if you have a CPU that is not an Intel iWhatever based then the rules change and the motherboard is the deciding factor.

 

[BobCochran]

Thank you for the quick reply.

So your saying the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 should support ECC? I have been unable to find any info on this at GigaByte's site and their supported memory PDF really sucks because you cannot copy/past the model numbers to see if the RAM is ECC. I will try contacting them to find out EXACT details surrounding this board. I am usually an Intel guy so this is a new road diving into AMD territory.

Brand loyalties are a mistake. Let your decision be guided by what you want to do and what parts offer the lowest cost. For nearly all serious server applications you do need ECC memory.