Questions about RAM and other hardware

[Johnny Tangstad]

I must first admit I am new to building a NAS server.

And I find that I already have used a lot of time reading up about it in this forum and by using Google. But the amount of information is immense, and I am seing that finding just the right information for my build is hard, partly because it is spread out in a number of threads and forums, and the use of unfamilar terms are quite common, and also there are often contradictig and/or different views about different matters. (Not so much here at this forum, but more when using Google.) Some information just seem very hard to find.

That story aside; thank you, you guys for keeping this project and this forum running! It looks really nice, and thank you for your support!

Here is my new project, I will put focus into the following:

A) Low on power drain
B) Near silent
C) First and foremost a simple automated back up machine/NAS
D) Low on budget (within common sense)
E) Small form factor

I have following questions about RAM and other stuff:

1) On dual channel RAM motherboards, does it make sense to use just one RAM stick instead of two, if one look for less power consumption?
2) There seem to be contradicting opinions about the need of using registered RAM, but as I never seen it as a recommended hardware here at FreeNAS' official building guides, am I right then about that there are just no need for it?
3) May it make sense using DDR3ecc-compatible socket instead of DDR4ecc to save a few bucks, because booth the RAM, CPU and motherboard comes cheaper?
4) HDD question: Does it make more sense to buy three 2Gb HDD's (total 6Gb) and put them to RAIDz rather than buing two 3Gb HDD (total 6Gb) putting them to mirror? (I know of course the first option costs more money, and drains more power.)

For a few PC's to get backed up safely and regularly (I also hope for a funktion close to TimeMachine at the Windows platform), I ask for opinions about if it seems like the following may do the job reasonably good:

5) Does this CPU make sense?: Intel Atom server CPU: C2550
link: http://ark.intel.com/products/77982/Intel-Atom-Processor-C2550-2M-Cache-2_40-GHz

It has 4 cores and uses only 14 watts at tdp. It also has its bigger brother called C2750 wich has 8 cores but it consumes 20 watts.

6) Any opinions about motherboards already soldered one of those chips onto it? For example
link: https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Rack-...?ie=UTF8&qid=1495314770&sr=8-1&keywords=c2550

OR
link: https://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-A...?ie=UTF8&qid=1495314882&sr=8-5&keywords=c2750

7) I assume the power drain in such a system will be much lower than the specs of common PSU's. Does anyone have an opinion wether perhaps it would be sufficient with a real low watt PSU, perhaps even a fanless one?

8) Does anyone have an opinion about what will be sufficient, for a motherboard like that (with the 14 or 20 watt CPU) hocked up with up to 4 WD Red drives?

About the computer case I have been looking at one from Fractal Design, and it is called Node 804. But it seems to be a few trade offs, for example two small fans in the front, and also behind it the airflow seems to be real bad. So the small fans seems to have to work a lot, potentially making unwanted noise. I want a near silent build.

So then I am asking a perhaps near impossible question:

9) Does anyone have suggestions for small cases, that can have at least 4 drives within, and also be quiet and have good air flow?

Whoa! I can see I already made a very long posting. Sorry for that! There is so many considerations, and I am totally new to all of this.

But any help in getting suggestions and directions will be precieved with appreation!


Thank you!

 

[indy]

1) RAM wattage pretty much scales with GB afaik.

2) RDIMMS need an E5 and are not a requirement.

3) You wont miss out on much from the RAM itself, except maybe the ability to use 64GB RAM, but check out other features you get (like the number of SATA ports).
However usually there is not much price difference anyways.

4) RAIDZ1 and two-way mirrors dont offer any redundancy during a rebuild, they are often considered obsolete.
Personally I would do a 6-disk RAIDZ2 for a good balance between reliability/performance/cost and space used on redundancy.
Maybe look into low-capacity disks to fit your budget.

5/6) Looking at TDP does not make much sense for a home-server that will mostly sit idle.
My recommendation: check how much an i3 with a SuperMicro mATX board would cost you.

7/8) I am running a 400W SeaSonic Platinum Fanless with a somewhat demanding system - see signature.

9) Dunno ;)

 

[Ericloewe]

1) On dual channel RAM motherboards, does it make sense to use just one RAM stick instead of two, if one look for less power consumption?

No, but it does make sense to do it in order to ease future expansion.

There seem to be contradicting opinions about the need of using registered RAM

There are no contradicting opionions. Registered DIMMs are a necessary evil, not something desirable. LGA115x systems don't even support them.

3) May it make sense using DDR3ecc-compatible socket instead of DDR4ecc to save a few bucks, because booth the RAM, CPU and motherboard comes cheaper?

Only if you really need to save as much cash as possible. The advantages of the Skylake platform are significant.

4) HDD question: Does it make more sense to buy three 2Gb HDD's (total 6Gb) and put them to RAIDz rather than buing two 3Gb HDD (total 6Gb) putting them to mirror? (I know of course the first option costs more money, and drains more power.)

No, the mirror is better in every way, in practice.

5) Does this CPU make sense?: Intel Atom server CPU: C2550
link: http://ark.intel.com/products/77982/Intel-Atom-Processor-C2550-2M-Cache-2_40-GHz

It has 4 cores and uses only 14 watts at tdp. It also has its bigger brother called C2750 wich has 8 cores but it consumes 20 watts.

No CPU from the last decade uses anything close to its TDP when idling. TDP is a meaningless number to your average hobbyist system builder.

6) Any opinions about motherboards already soldered one of those chips onto it? For example
link: https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Rack-...?ie=UTF8&qid=1495314770&sr=8-1&keywords=c2550

OR
link: https://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-A...?ie=UTF8&qid=1495314882&sr=8-5&keywords=c2750

It helps to read the Hardware Recommendations Guide. ;)

7) I assume the power drain in such a system will be much lower than the specs of common PSU's. Does anyone have an opinion wether perhaps it would be sufficient with a real low watt PSU, perhaps even a fanless one?

You mean a picoPSU? Hell no.
Fanless? Maybe. I guess a Seasonic Platinum 500 would manage reasonably well, but it's not the best of ideas and you'd want airflow through it anyway.

8) Does anyone have an opinion about what will be sufficient, for a motherboard like that (with the 14 or 20 watt CPU) hocked up with up to 4 WD Red drives?

The Resources section really is your friend:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.39/

 

[scwst]

Remember there is a real-world trade-off with mirrors and (say) RAIDZ2 with the six disks mentioned when it is time to upgrade to more storage: A 3 x (mirror) pool can be bumped up with two new disks, while a RAIDZ2 with six disks will have to have them all replaced before you see more storage.

 

[Johnny Tangstad]

No, but it does make sense to do it in order to ease future expansion.


There are no contradicting opionions. Registered DIMMs are a necessary evil, not something desirable. LGA115x systems don't even support them.


Only if you really need to save as much cash as possible. The advantages of the Skylake platform are significant.


No, the mirror is better in every way, in practice.


No CPU from the last decade uses anything close to its TDP when idling. TDP is a meaningless number to your average hobbyist system builder.


It helps to read the Hardware Recommendations Guide. ;)


You mean a picoPSU? Hell no.
Fanless? Maybe. I guess a Seasonic Platinum 500 would manage reasonably well, but it's not the best of ideas and you'd want airflow through it anyway.


The Resources section really is your friend:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?resources/proper-power-supply-sizing-guidance.39/

Nice to have some good advices to lean on.

About your referance to the "hardware requiremets guide" I have already red it. The recomendation is to use a multicore 64 bit processor. And yes, those Atom C2550 and C2750 processors more than fulfils that requirement, as they are 4 and 8 core processors. (They also support ECC and AES-NI) . So instead of asking for viewpoints about it I should perhaps settled with the fact that they are good enough.

About the PSU I hadn't red that thread, thank you for bringing my attention to that. Very informative reading!

I need to do more reasearch and perhaps ask more questions later.

Thank you for your advises!