Seeking Expert Advice: Building a TrueNAS SCALE ZFS NAS with AMD Ryzen PRO and ECC Support

[Neurotic]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning to build my own NAS and would appreciate your insights on my proposed setup. Below, I've outlined my background, use case, and the specifics of the build I'm considering. It will also (hopefully) show that I've done a lot of research before opening up this thread.

Show : Background & Usecase

For several months, I've contemplated purchasing a NAS to secure my personal documents and files, such as old phone backups and holiday photos. These precious memories currently take up around 500GB, accumulated over about 5 years. To future-proof my storage needs, I'm considering 2x mirrored 4TB drives, and upgrade as I go. Currently, my data is encrypted in DeepGlacier, but I'm really want a local, easily accessible backup. Additionally, I plan to use the NAS for hosting HomeAssistant (currently on a Raspberry Pi) and possibly for streaming movies at home - but I might buy a separate giant HDD for this down the road.

Show : Previous Plan & Attempts

Initially, I was leaning towards a budget Synology (DS224+ at 350EUR), but extensive research led me to the idea of building my own NAS. This seemed like a more valuable, upgradable, and enjoyable venture. I gravitated towards a TrueNAS SCALE ZFS setup in ECC corrective mode, aligning with my specific needs. My first attempt involved repurposing an old server (HP ProLiant ML110 Gen5), which turned out to be inadequate for a multitude of reasons. Searching for newer Intel server parts supporting ECC led to a significant cost increase, well beyond my initial budget. Refurbished Intel parts from 2010-2012 were within my budget but lacked in price-performance value.

This is when I decided to look at the AMD counterparts. I found out the "PRO" CPU's of AMD have ECC support as well as graphics chip which would be useful for the initial setup and possibly video transcoding. After lots of research, I also found out some Asrocks motherboards have ECC support: "For Ryzen Series APUs (Picasso, Renoir and Raven Ridge), ECC is only supported with PRO CPUs." [source] Consequently, I devised the following build (also 350 EUR excl. storage):

Motherboard: Asrock B450M PRO4 R2.0
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650G ("Renoir" PRO, as mentioned to have ECC support with the motherboard)
Memory: Kingston Technology KTD-PE426E/8G 8 GB DDR4 2666 MHz ECC
Boot Disk: Mushkin Element 128 GB PCI Express 3.0 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD
Storage Disks: 2x Seagate HDD NAS 3.5" 4TB ST4000VN006 Ironwolf
Case: Antec VSK3000 Elite Mini (just a cheap case with relatively many drivebays 4x 3.5" drive bay + 1x 5.25")

I'm aware that the motherboard has a built-in Realtek network interface, which is not ideal according to my research. Therefore, I plan to include an Intel PCIe NIC to ensure better network performance.

Before finalizing this purchase, I'm reaching out for advice from those experienced with AMD setups. Specifically, I want to confirm that this configuration will function correctly in ECC mode. While the specs and documentation seem to support this, I've encountered mixed opinions online. It's crucial for me to be certain, as once the components are purchased and assembled, returning them might not be an option.

I greatly appreciate any guidance or feedback you can provide. Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Neurotic]

I see there are some formatting errors in the post, which I hopefully will be able to fix once it is approved.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Fixed the formatting errors for you.

I haven't built an AMD-based system personally, so I can't really weigh in on the validity of the build, but you appear to have done a good deal of research here including addressing the Realtek NIC issue.

 

[Neurotic]

I bit the bullet and ordered the parts. It will take about a week before everything arrives, so still fully open to any tips/feedback! I will keep this thread updated as I go, as to possibly inform others who consider going the AMD route.

 

[DigitalMinimalist]

As you write EUR prices: where are you located?

Gigabyte Mainboard MC12-LE0 Re1.0 AMD B550 AM4 Ryzen 5000 4000 3000 Server Board NEU / NEW - Piospartslap

GIGABYTE Mainboard für AMD Ryzen 5000 Series / 4000 Series / 3000 Series P/N: MC12-LE0 Rev 1 x microATX (W244 x D244 mm) NEW / NEU Tec

www.piospartslap.de

Big Thread in STH and HWLUXX in Germany.

I „offered“ 50€ and was successful - not bad for a B550 Server Mainboard…
120EUR for a 4650G

For RAM: go for min 2x16GB ECC, or 2x32GB. ZFS likes RAM :)
I have 4x16GB ECC in my current Asrock Rack X470D4U, but can’t upgrade (most probably I will move the 16GB sticks to the Gigabyte and go with 32GB sticks)