Power supply recommendations?

[Wade]

This is my pre build list, any recommendations for a power supply? any recommend changes to the build in general?

Usage will be home file server with plex, S Rage, CP or something similar, nzbget or sab, and probably zonealarm (security cameras)
also possible, a small minecraft server

Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 Motherboard X11SSM-F-O
16GB Module DDR4 2400MHz Samsung M391A2K43BB1-CRC
Fractal Design Node 804 No Power Supply MicroATX Cube Case
Intel Core i3-7100 7th Gen Core Desktop Processor 3M Cache,3.90 GHz (BX80677I37100)
I'll start with 6 hard drives then add 2 later if necessary.

The G series seems kinda dated so I'm looking at the Seasonic focus plus gold 550 as an option

Thanks,

As a side note, my build is getting up there in price for about the same money should I look at QNAP? Or is there more value in building a FreeNAS server? Just looked at QNAP and answered my own question, seems like waaaayyyy more value in FreeNAS.

 

[Inxsible]

You cannot go wrong with Seasonic or Corsair RMx series.

Another option would be to get a rack chassis from Supermicro or Chenbro and they come with their own PSUs. Some chassis also have redundant PSU

 

[Wade]

You cannot go wrong with Seasonic or Corsair RMx series.

Another option would be to get a rack chassis from Supermicro or Chenbro and they come with their own PSUs. Some chassis also have redundant PSU

Thanks, I'll go look now, that's a good idea. Hopefully I'll find something in the $200.00ish range as thats what the node 8 and seasonic will cost.

 

[Evertb1]

I'll start with 6 hard drives then add 2 later if necessary

Do you want to add disks later on to an existing vdev? If that's the case you better at least read the ZFS primer in the FreeNAS user guide. It will save you some headaches.

 

[Chris Moore]

I worry about future disappointment when someone says that they will add another disk later. FreeNAS is not flexible like that.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[Inxsible]

Thanks, I'll go look now, that's a good idea. Hopefully I'll find something in the $200.00ish range as thats what the node 8 and seasonic will cost.

You can find used chassis for around that price -- depending on how many drive bays you are looking for. Supermicros do have a premium attached when it comes to pricing. Other rackmount chassis from Rosewill, Antec etc might do the job for you too if you don't want to spend a whole lot of money. Let us know which way you lean and we can provide links to certain chassis that might fit your criteria.

Also do pay attention to @Evertb1 & @Chris Moore's comments. You need to figure out your RAIDZx or mirror layout before you go out and purchase your chassis/motherboard/PSU etc.

 

[Wade]

Thanks guys.

My FreeNAS box will almost completely be for pleasure and contain very little critical data. So if and when the time comes to add two extra drives I'd back up the small amount of critical data and make a new zpool and vdev from scratch with the additional drives (or all new drives).

After purchasing motherboard, RAM, case, CPU, and power supply I will be so broke I'll have to borrow 10 bucks to by a USB flash drive for my OS. :D

While I am saving for 6 or 8 4TB drives (for RAID-Z2), I'm going to use whatever hard drives I have laying around to get the server up and running. I know very little about FreeBSD, Python, jails and FreeNAS, so this would be a great time to tinker around and learn.

Is RAID-Z2 practical for 6 drives?
Is RAID-Z2 practical for 8 drives?

In other words, is 2 parity drives enough for 4 or 6 drives?

I hope I'm not embarrassing myself :D I need to revisit cyberjock's raid-z tutorial.

 

[Evertb1]

Is RAID-Z2 practical for 6 drives?
Is RAID-Z2 practical for 8 drives?

Yes to both. With 6 or 8 drives in RAID-Z2 you have enough parity for a home server (in my opinion anyway) and find a nice balance between raw space and practical usable space. Of course 8 drives are doing better then 6 drives when it comes to the percentage of usable space.

With 4 drives RAID-Z2 is still accceptable and comparable to a a mirrored configuration when it comes to the percentage of practical usable space.

 

[Inxsible]

When you have 4 drives, I would go with mirrors because

1. More vdevs will give you more IOPS
2. Resilvering will be much much faster because there is no checksum to be calculated
3. The amount of storage space available will be the same compared to RaidZ2

 

[Ericloewe]

When you have 4 drives, I would go with mirrors because

1. More vdevs will give you more IOPS
2. Resilvering will be much much faster because there is no checksum to be calculated
3. The amount of storage space available will be the same compared to RaidZ2

Big disadvantage: Reliability is much lower than RAIDZ2.

 

[Wade]

I know ericloewe is pro X11SSM-F-O over X11SSH-F-O and originally i had my eyes on the X11SSM-F-O but.... the best price for X11SSM-F-O is $196.00 and i can grab the X11SSH-F-O for $148.00

should i jump on that X11SSH-F-O for $148.00? or stick with the X11SSM-F-O?

is the pcie m.2 port on the X11SSH-F-O fast enough to run freenas (my boot disc)?

what is the recommended way to run freenas os on the X11SSH-F-O if i had 8 drives?

a consideration, l'll never go beyond 8 drives (storage) so expanding isnt a deal breaker for me

 

[Chris Moore]

I remember reading that there was some difficulty booting from the m.2 slot.
The speed of the slot is not worth the extra effort for a boot device.
What country are you in?

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[Ericloewe]

I remember reading that there was some difficulty booting from the m.2 slot.
The speed of the slot is not wo

That shouldn't be the case, but it is PCIe-only, so SATA drives won't work.

FreeNAS should boot fine from NVMe.

 

[wblock]

Please continue non-power-supply discussions in another thread with an accurate title so interested readers will find it.

 

[Chris Moore]

The G series seems kinda dated so I'm looking at the Seasonic focus plus gold 550 as an option

Did you make a decision with regard to the power supply or did you want to look at options on a server chassis?
Do you need more input?

 

[pro lamer]

You cannot go wrong with Seasonic or Corsair RMx series.

Are the new series (2018) Corsair RMx reliable too? They are significantly cheaper than previous revisions (at least RM750x which I am considering) (EDIT: significantly cheaper in local stores I checked initially, now I can't even remember the numbers :( Amazon's difference was just $20 a few days ago), parameters seem to be same as before but the lower price and smaller physical dimensions scare me a bit...

 

[Inxsible]

Are the new series (2018) Corsair RMx reliable too? They are significantly cheaper than previous revisions (at least RM750x which I am considering), parameters seem to be same as before but the lower price and smaller physical dimensions scare me a bit...

I'd say they are just as good. They are 80+ Gold rated, so you know the efficiency will be good. Plus they are full ATX, so if they are small in physical dimension but still support full ATX then its good because you will have a bit more room in the chassis for cabling.

 

[pro lamer]

Thank you, @Inxsible, I didn't expect my question to be answered so easily :) EDIT: Maybe the local stores price differences caused my concerns but unluckily I can't remember that numbers (they seem to be different right now :/ The new ones seem to be ~$30 cheaper now in the local stores) or I might have confused some prices e.g. with the white version. Because now I think that $20-30 cheaper might not be a big difference...

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I was worried of a scheme: smaller unit -> less room -> more expensive parts needed and more cooling problems vs the smaller one is cheaper -> worse quality parts.