Questions about doing a New FreeNas install on new hardware

[Bizquick]

First off I'm really not using my freenas server to do much of anything that I believe a small old computer with 4 to 8GB of ram and a linux distro can do.

My current setup is very old and I want to get off it. Just cause the machine is aging to a point where I'm not comfortable attempting updates.

So my old machine is an older Dell T310 with 32GB and the CPU cant support Bhive so VM's are not even possible. But all I use it for is a FileShare and Plex Plugin. the TV's use Roku's and connect to the Plex Server and all my media is on there.
Usable storage is 4TB.

Anyway, I feel my current setup is aging to a point and I want to upgrade to a small degree.
Plus I recently got 4 new 4TB sata enterprise-grade drives and I would like to double my storage.

Now I have a 1 option without spending money. And I wanted to see if it seamed like a OK option for my replacement.
I have a 2016 Generic PC with a intel i5 and 16GB of ram. 4 sata ports and a good Power supply rated at 600W. (It's an ok brand label not a generic one that sometimes comes free in generic cases.) Anyway would this be a okay setup to use for replacing my older dell T310. I just hate the power bill that thing is running. and extra room and noise. my free option the case is a little bit smaller and 1 power supply instead of 2.
Also this is home use for just media files. I do have my windows backup running there to back up my PC. but honestly 90 precent or more of my import data is on the cloud in like google drive or something else. So my risk of loss is not that important.
I have my media files that I feel are important backed up on other external storage devices.
So overall this device is not mission critial and its cerntaly not the end of my life if there was an issue and it died. But I would like this box to beable to run plex a bit better and would be nice to double the storage. the only issue is I can't go past 16GB on this board cause only 2 memory slots and it doesn't seem to like any sticks bigger than 8GB. Now my wife would rather me try to get a small Qnap box to replace it with. But I really dont want to spend the money on that option. If I can make this free one ok. that would make everyone happy.

 

[Chris Moore]

Anyway would this be a okay setup to use for replacing my older dell T310.

I would keep the Dell server as it probably has ECC memory. The newer i5 system doesn't support ECC. Dell servers are very well made. You could simply replace the drives.

and 1 power supply instead of 2.

If the Dell server has two power supplies, it is certainly better than a single power supply and the load is divided between the two. Just because there are two supplies, that doesn't make it take twice as much power.

The only issue is I can't go past 16GB on this board cause only 2 memory slots and it doesn't seem to like any sticks bigger than 8GB.

That is certainly a problem. A big step backward in every respect because it also doesn't support ECC memory.

Now my wife would rather me try to get a small Qnap box to replace it with. But I really don't want to spend the money on that option.

It would not run ZFS which is the main reason for using FreeNAS.

My current setup is very old

A Dell PowerEdge T310 server is not that old.

So my old machine is an older Dell T310 with 32GB

That may appear old when compared to "cutting edge" gaming systems but it is perfectly good for FreeNAS.

and the CPU can't support Bhive so VM's are not even possible.

What model CPU do you have?