Planning a server upgrade

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vano411

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About a year ago I threw together some random leftover components I had in my closet and build a FrankenNAS box as an experiment. Now I can't live without one - they are super convenient! So I'm planning on building a proper machine from the ground-up dedicated entirely for my NAS needs.

Here are my planned specs:
  • Case: BitFenix Phenom Midnight Black Mini ITX Tower Case
  • Motherboard: ASRock E3C226D2I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard
  • CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
  • CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
  • RAM: 2x Kingston 8GB Unbuffered ECC DDR3-1600 Memory
  • Storage: 6x Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM
  • PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
If you're wondering why I have the beefcake of a Xeon, it's for Plex transcoding. My NAS is loaded with a ton of old home videos which I've converted from VHS so a lot of family members access my Plex library to watch them. Worst possible case is 4-5 simultaneous streams and I want everyone to be happy.

What worries me here the most is the limited memory capacity of the board. I'm planning on putting the six drives in a RAID-z2 pool (12TB usable) and I'm not sure if I'll run into problems with only 16GB of memory. I would love to use one of the Avoton boards since they can support up to 64GB but those integrated CPU's are weak. Also, I really really really want to stick with the mITX form factor as space is limited.

Think Skylake server might be a saving grace here? I expect them to be releasing mITX boards soon. How likely are those to support 32GB or more?
 

Ericloewe

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You mean this? http://asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#Specifications

Think Skylake server might be a saving grace here? I expect them to be releasing mITX boards soon. How likely are those to support 32GB or more?
Seems like a silly question, since Skylake supports 16GB DDR4 UDIMMs. So, 100% likely.

My NAS is loaded with a ton of old home videos which I've converted from VHS so a lot of family members access my Plex library to watch them. Worst possible case is 4-5 simultaneous streams and I want everyone to be happy.
I can't see an Avoton C2750 struggling to transcode 5 low-resolution streams at once, but you can forget about 64GB of RAM in those things (though I think Crucial has some DDR3 16GB UDIMMs now, but I haven't seen pricing yet...).

I'm planning on putting the six drives in a RAID-z2 pool (12TB usable) and I'm not sure if I'll run into problems with only 16GB of memory.
Well, for heavy Plex usage, I wouldn't like to be stuck with 16GB.
 

religiouslyconfused

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Except those boards are not yet available for some reason.
 

vano411

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Except those boards are not yet available for some reason.
Amazon has it listed but unsurprisingly, it's sold out.

I filled out the Newegg "suggest an item" form. Hopefully they start carrying it since the Haswell series boards were pretty popular. This is the perfect board for a miniature FreeNAS box with transcoding power.
 

religiouslyconfused

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I am interested in the uATX version.
 

religiouslyconfused

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vano411

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Here's a revised parts list:

Motherboard: ASRock E3C236D2I ($249.99)
Memory: 2x Crucial 16GB DDR4-2133 ECC UDIMM ($104.99 x 2)
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V5 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($247.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.44)
Boot Drive: MyDigitalSSD Super Boot Drive 32GB M.2-2242 Solid State Drive ($29.99)
Storage: 5x Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($108.99 x 5)
Case: BitFenix Phenom ($80.99)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W ($74.99)

Total: $1468.32
 

ChriZ

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I would personally prefer the fractal node 304 which seems able to provide better drive airflow. Plus you can go for 6 hdds in order to get the best usable space for your money.
That is if you can use the M.2 slot for a bootable ssd. Not 100% sure but worth checking.
 

vano411

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This case supports six HDDs as well. I like the look of it much more.

Since the M.2 slot is interlinked with SATA_0, I figured I'd use that to boot the OS and the other five for storage. Kinda shying away from a USB drive this time.
 

ChriZ

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Oh, ok...
Didn't know that usage of the M.2 takes away a sata port.
The bitfenix is indeed prettier, but I am not sure about the airflow for the disks.
 

vano411

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I think it'll be fine. Those are not high-RPM disks, plus the Phenom supports up to a 230mm (!!) fan in front to blow cool air right on them.
 

vano411

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Actually a really good airflow design IMO. The power supply is completely isolated - not that it would generate much heat. Looks like the front supports two small 120mm fans or one giant 230mm fan.
 

Bidule0hm

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Not a great design for me... With the fan on the bottom the PSU will suck all the dust and if the PSU fan dies there's nothing else to provide airflow through the PSU so it'll will cook in minutes...
 

vano411

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That's a good point but it's not going to be that bad. The PSU fan doesn't turn on until it's at 25% + load and there's a fan filter down there which is easy to access and clean.

Most ITX cases (Node 304 included) share the same design with the PSU intake being underneath.
 

Bidule0hm

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The PSU fan doesn't turn on until it's at 25% + load

Yep, if there's enough airflow from other fans in the case to cool the PSU...

there's a fan filter down there which is easy to access and clean

Then the filter will be quickly clogged up.

Most ITX cases (Node 304 included) share the same design with the PSU intake being underneath.

Yes, but it's not because almost all cases use this design that it is good... It's not that bad but it's not good either. But it's just my opinion ;)
 

vano411

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Ah, well I didn't mean to imply it's a good design because mostly everyone does it. It's their way of working around the limitations of the form factor and there isn't much in the way of an alternative. I'll just have to keep up on my filter cleaning intervals which I do with my gaming PC.

Still a good point you raised though. Thank you. :)
 

ChriZ

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Well, I have no experience with the phenom case and just googled it in order to see the interior. As it turns out, there are two phenom cases...
Apparently the one I saw was the one which supports uATX mobos and the hdd mounts are not the best IMHO..
But the one in your picture is the micro ITX one which seems to have much better hdd mounts...
So scratch my comment above...
 

Ericloewe

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Not a great design for me... With the fan on the bottom the PSU will suck all the dust and if the PSU fan dies there's nothing else to provide airflow through the PSU so it'll will cook in minutes...
That's why ball bearings are better. When they crap out, you will hear them. :D

And really, on a DC fan, what else is going to fail?
 
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