Pre-purchase hardware check

[etb]

Please look over my build, am I over thinking this? Do I require this much CPU & RAM? The RAM requirements of ZFS are clear (1GB per 1TB) but the CPU requirements are unclear. If this much CPU isn't required, I have an intel e7400 spare, and would pick up a socket 775 DDR3 board.

I will use ZFS on RAIDZ2. This will be an additional backup target for a vsphere cloud/windows network. Veeam, and regular file-level backups.

6x Samsung F4 2TB
Antec 380W
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1333mhz
MSI P67S-C43
intel g620
NORCO 2U RPC-250 rackmount
$874 before tax/ship

I will recycle a PCIe Broadcom BCM5721 and an old ATI PCI video card. I also have a PCIe Syba 40008, 4 port sata card flashed to JBOD/non-raid if you suggest a motherboard without many SATA headers.

Thanks!

 

[leeleatherwood]

Looks good.

Ive got an Athlon II Dual core at 3.0ghz and I never use more than 50% of 200%... So basically i never use more than half a core. You could easily get away with an Atom board or a Zacate board.

I have 8x Hitachi 5K3000's, Samsung makes nice drives too though.

 

[etb]

Well then! Based on this info I will upgrade my own workstation to a Z68/i7 2600k and recycle my current Q6600/P35 w/ 6x Sata3/8GB DDR2 800 into the FreeNAS box. If my usage with ZFS overwhelms the 8GB, I'll upgrade at that point.

I hated to waste money on a Sandy Bridge setup if it wasn't going to end up in my hot little hands.

Thanks!

 

[Milhouse]

An Atom-class CPU is capable of saturating GigE with ZFS. Recycling an old (and more than capable) CPU might make more sense.

 

[etb]

Yeah, the q6600 is a 2.4ghz Core2Quad w/ 2x4mb L2. It's got the grunt.