replacing my whs machine

[alwu]

i've been running an hp mediasmart server for about 10 years. it has windows home server on it; the 2007 version, not even vail/2011 version. the limitations of that os have been evident for a while. like i'm limited to a 0.9 version of plex and have to run plex classic on my roku. it's starting to run out of space, so rather than add another drive, i'd like to replace it with a freenas server. i think i got my money's worth out of it anyway.

i'd like to have around 10TB of storage. the server will be used to backup my windows computers and run jails for:

• plex media server.
  • minimal transcoding. 99.9% of my streaming is to a roku 3 and i make sure to use movie files that can be direct played. if any transcoding is to happen, it will be content streamed from a plex channel.
• transmission (i might add openvpn + pia. i need look into this more.)
• logitech squeezebox server.

with a lot of my tech, i usually upgrade only when something dies or has aged enough, like my hp machine, so i'm willing to add a little headroom for a system that will last. here's what i'm thinking about getting. it's yet another x11ssm-f based build. nothing special about it.

• CPU: Intel Core i3-6300 Intel Core i3-7320
  • update 6/20/18: no good reason except for 7320 > 6300. :D
• Motherboard: Supermicro - MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
• Memory: Crucial - 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 ECC Memory (CT16G4WFD8213 / MTA18ASF2G72AZ-2G1A1) Crucial - 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 ECC Memory (CT16G4WFD824A)
  • update 6/20/18: faster and found it for cheaper than the comparable 2133MHz part.
• Boot Drive: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive Kingston A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
  • update 6/20/18: cheaper.
• Storage: 6 * Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive Western Digital - Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
  • update 6/20/18: 6 * 4TB would have been way more space than i need. i would likely upgrade or the drives would fail before i filled them up.
  • raidz2.
• Case: Fractal Design - Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case or Fractal Design - Node 804 (Black) MicroATX Cube Case
  • update 6/20/18: node 804 cases were unavailable for a while. the r5 was a backup.
• Power Supply: SeaSonic - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
• Cables: Left angle and right angle sata cables.
  • update 6/20/18: for the drives over the power supply.

 

[Ericloewe]

Looks good.

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600, Intel Core i3-6300, or Intel Xeon E3-1240 V6

• i'm undecided. what will be the best for my usage case?

The Pentium is probably enough, though I'd personally go with the i3 for that extra little bit of headroom.
The Xeon would be overkill.

 

[loch_nas]

Where is the big difference between Pentium g4600 and i3-6300? They both provide HT and the gap between the clock speeds is very small.
Maybe I understand too little, but from my view the next logical step from a Pentium G4600 would be Xeon E3-12xx.

 

[tvsjr]

Personally, I'm a fan of overkill. If you're considering multiple jails, especially processor-intensive ones like Plex, I would opt for a quad-core part. The G4600 and the i3 are both dual-core.

 

[Ericloewe]

Where is the big difference between Pentium g4600 and i3-6300? They both provide HT and the gap between the clock speeds is very small.
Maybe I understand too little, but from my view the next logical step from a Pentium G4600 would be Xeon E3-12xx.

Extra cache and AVX support.

 

[loch_nas]

Ah ok, AVX is the difference. Thanks!

I would not say that 1 MB more cache is worth the extra $.

Which applications in FreeNAS benefit from AVX?

 

[Ericloewe]

I would not say that 1 MB more cache is worth the extra $.

Sure it is, especially with something like ZFS.

 

[LIGISTX]

Just for a datapoint, I run an i3, 20GB of RAM (server backbone I used came with a 4GB stick already....), and currently (and mistakenly, will be corrected soon) 9x4TB WD Reds in RAID Z1 (this will be 10x4 I’m Z2, don’t ask, I Fed up my initial setup).

I am able to run a few VM’s, I have a windows 10 LTSB and a fedora VM, plex, a few other jails, and have similar low encode files (basically I watch most of my content locally at home, so gigabit pipe, no transcode needed) and it screams with plenty of headroom to spare. Even when I do encode when I am away, it’s way more then adequate. I would go with the i3 over the pentium because it’s a little extra umph and still relatively cheap.

The Xeon isn’t a bad choice, and I like you don’t mind spending money on quality parts that will last the long haul, but an i3 fits that category and should be plenty of CPU power for a while to come. IF you end up going off the deep end and doing lots of stuff with the freenas box, you could always upgrade the CPU a few years down the line if the need arises...

16GB should be plenty of RAM, I dedicate 1 GB to fedora and 1.2GB to windows, everything is still plenty fast, it saturates my network for read and write, VM’s are plenty snappy considering their RAM allocation, and Plex has no issues at all.

Hope that helps.


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[LIGISTX]

Also forgot to add this. This is the backbone I referred to.

It goes on sale every now and again for 160 dollars. No joke, I got this shipped to my door for under 200 dollars.

I haven’t bought a pre built PC since pre Pentium D (I was ~14 years old when I built my Pentium D machine......) and I bought this in a heartbeat. 200 bucks, for all that! Deal of the century lol.

http://m.tigerdirect.com/products/5...aoDKL5PVCIWNA4MTaXK6InMclfZu6mdRoCnWsQAvD_BwE


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[loch_nas]

Sure it is, especially with something like ZFS.

Thnx again! Good to know.

 

[alwu]

thanks for the responses! i think i'll go with the i3 for the cpu.

 

[alwu]

so 5 months later, i finally got around to building and setting up my freenas. the process was mostly painless and it's up and running. the forums were a great help. any questions i had during the build were answered either by existing forum posts or responses to my posts. many thanks to everyone who helped.

i changed almost all the parts in my original parts list. i updated the op with what i ended up getting and why.

i work in tech and have been working with computers for many years, but it turns out that this was my first build from scratch and it was a fun learning experience. the following are some thoughts and impressions.

i didn't have any problems with the core i3-7320 cpu and the supermicro x11ssm-f motherboard. the motherboard came with bios revision 2.0c and it recognized the cpu.

the node 804 case was a dream to work in. all the surfaces are painted and have smooth edges. no rough edges to cut or scrape your hands on. there was plenty of room to work in. since i'm not using any of the pci-e slots, there's a lot of open space on that side of the case. it seems like a waste, but it’s great for cooling the cpu.

one issue i ran into with the node 804 case was the number of screws that it came with. the parts list in the manual didn't match what i got. the manual shows different screws for the motherboard, 2.5” drive, and optical drive for a total of 32. instead, i got 31 of the same screws. this reviewer saw the same as me. http://www.legitreviews.com/fractal-design-node-804-micro-atx-case-review_139179/2

i followed this thread for connecting the x11ssm-f motherboard headers to the node 804’s front panel. http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/supermicro-x11ssm-f-front-control-panel-with-fractal-node-804.53066

the node 804 manual says to put in a standoff that will go in the middle of the motherboard, but the x11ssm-f doesn’t have a screw hole for it, so I didn’t put in that standoff. in general, make sure the motherboard screw holes have a corresponding standoff and vice versa.

like many others have found discovered, ipmi is a great utility. at first, i thought it would be tricky and i would need to download some software to use it. nope. i plugged an ethernet cable into the ipmi port, logged into my router to see what ip address it got, pointed a browser to that address, and i was in business. the virtual storage ability is really nice too. i didn't have to make a bootable usb drive for the burn-in tests.

for memory testing, i ran memtest86 (no plus) v7.5. you need to boot in uefi mode in order to use the v7.5 tests. i followed this thread to boot memtest86 in uefi mode. http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/has-anyone-figured-out-the-secret-to-booting-memtest86-in-uefi-mode.44879

for cpu testing, i used ultimate boot cd and the mersenne prime test v28.5. i ran the blended test for about 4 hours and the short fft test for over 24 hours. cpu temps were in the mid 60s for the blended test and mid 70s for the short fft test.

during freenas installation, i followed the user guide and selected the serial enabled option since i was using ipmi, but that caused the installation to hang. i was able to install with the other non-serial-enabled option. this is covered in this thread. http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/freenas-11-installation-stops.59619

i connect to my freenas with either a really old pentium win xp machine or a work laptop running win10 associated with my work domain. both had problems connecting to my windows smb shares which i fixed by enabling ntlmv1 authentication.

i'm running plex and logitech media servers and transmission + openvpn/pia.

to-do-list

• get quieter fans. i'm using the fans that came with the case and they're connected to the motherboard fan headers. i have the fan control set to use optimal fan speeds. they're running at full speed most of the time and they're a little loud. the freenas machine is sitting on a wooden file cabinet and is a few inches away from a wall. cpu and hard drive temps are fine but the fan noise is noticeable from even 10ft. away.
• add a ups.