BUILD Server build....take 2

[PhilInCA]

So I'm new to FreeNAS...well, NAS in general actually. About 2 weeks ago I started looking into getting myself up and running on one of the many NAS options. I researched for only a few days, but after seeing so many references to the N40L and N54L, then seeing that the new version, Gen8, had just recently been released, I decided to pull the trigger on it. Incorrectly, I assumed that the "new improved version" would be a smooth path.

Other than the popularity, what drew me to these microservers was the low power, small size, and I wasn't going to have to go through the pains of making something work on my own. Plug and play right? Wrong. I guess the work you put in yourself pays off, but I was ready to be a little lazy this time. Just make it work for me! Oh well....Nothing worked. I tried for over a week, every night, to get something...anything...to run on this box. Tried FreeNAS first...nope. NAS4Free...nope, OpenMediaVault...nope. Debian Backports...YES...oh wait...nope. Call Newegg...get RMA...box it up...back to the drawing board.

Sorry for the long into...venting.

So I've been doing some reading here, and I've never been good at putting all the hardware fine details together. Last computer build was about 6 years ago. Still running great and serving my needs. Now on to this one.....

I have (2) 3TB WD Red drives. More than enough for me at the moment.
I still have a stick of 8GB memory left of Crucial ECC Ram. I can still send this back if it won't work on what I'm proposing.

So here's what I'm thinking:
Supermicro X9SCM $150
Xeon E3-1230 $225
Define Mini Case $90

Do I need the M1015? If so, no problem.
As for a power supply, I'm lost. Too many options. I know I'm looking for 80+ Gold, but wattage and whether they all work for microATX is confusing me.

Help is much appreciated. I've obviously gotten much of this from the "So you need some hardware advice" thread. Works for me. Didn't plan on this price tag 2 weeks ago, but after the gen8 headache...well, whatever works I guess.

 

[Dusan]

Do I need the M1015? If so, no problem.
As for a power supply, I'm lost. Too many options. I know I'm looking for 80+ Gold, but wattage and whether they all work for microATX is confusing me.

You don't need an M1015, the X9SCM can directly handle up to 6 SATA drives.
Your configuration will consume about 40W idle and probably no more than 100W running full speed, so get a "low" wattage PSU. For example, this is a good choice: http://www.seasonicusa.com/G-series-360.htm
The reason for the "low" wattage is that the 80+ Gold certification requires the PSU to be 88% efficient at 20% of its maximum load. However, the efficiency drops rapidly when you run the PSU at less than 20% load.

 

[PhilInCA]

Thanks for that info. This is the PSU that I was looking at, but I wasn't sure if it would work. I believe this is the one that you were pointing me to.

Seasonic 360W $59

 

[PhilInCA]

I'm having a tough time picking a case, but I believe I'll end up going for this one:

Fractal Design Define Mini $90

 

[PhilInCA]

So is there any possibility that someone can verify I won't have issues with this configuration and FreeNAS? I'm not looking for another headache.

 

[Dusan]

Both the PSU and the case are OK. Another option for the case is:
http://www.supermicro.nl/products/chassis/tower/731/SC731i-300.cfm
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-731I3B
It is not as good looking as the Fractal Design one, but it already comes with an efficient 300W 80+ gold PSU. As an added bonus (being Supermicro) it has all the extra LEDs a Supermicro board can drive (overheat warning, network activity, ...). On the other hand it only has four 3,5" bays (but you cat also put 2 additional HDDs into the 5,25" bays).

 

[PhilInCA]

Looks cool enough to me. And it saves me about $60, which sounds good too. Thanks for that.

Do you see any issues with the Crucial memory? Are there any cables I'll need to buy? Or any other peripherals?

 

[Dusan]

Crucial should be OK, make sure you get DDR3 unbuffered ECC memory. If I remember correctly the Supermicro board comes with 6 SATA cables so you should be all set.

 

[PhilInCA]

Why unbuffered? I've been trying to figure out if the Crucial memory is buffered or unbuffered. It isn't specifically listed anywhere that I can find. However, based on what I'm reading, this is listed as registered server memory, so it's most likely buffered ECC. Which component of the hardware or software has an issue with the buffered aspect? I'm not technical enough at this moment to understand the underlying differences of buffered vs unbuffered.

Thanks for all the help so far too.

 

[Dusan]

The X9SCM board only supports unbuffered memory. It will not work with registered memory.
See: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/xeon/c202_c204/x9scm-f.cfm
[PANEL]Memory Capacity

• 4x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets
• Supports up to 32 GB DDR3 ECC Un-Buffered memory (UDIMM)

Memory Type

• 1333/1600MHz*** ECC DDR3 SDRAM 72-bit, 240-pin gold-plated DIMMs

DIMM Sizes

• 8GB, 4GB, 2GB, 1GB

Memory Voltage

• 1.5 V

[/PANEL]

 

[Dusan]

Here's a list of Crucial modules that will work:
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=X9SCM-F&Cat=RAM (click on Show all compatible Computer Memory)
Compatible Kingston modules:
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/con...fo.asp?SysID=70800&mfr=Supermicro&model=X9SCM

 

[PhilInCA]

It seems as though I've seen the Kingston brand mentioned more around here. It also seems like there are more options.

I'm deciding between these two options. They are within $1 of each other. One is DDR3 1600 and the other DDR3 1333. However the 1600 has a latency of 11 and the other 9. I'm not sure which would be better. Obviously, cost makes no difference.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=W8GE13K
http://www.superbiiz.com/desc.php?name=W8GE16K

 

[Dusan]

You wont see a performance difference between 1333 CL9 and 1600 CL11.

 

[PhilInCA]

Dusan, thanks for all the help. Truly! Build order is complete, and components are on the way.

For anyone else interested, here is the final order and suppliers of my build:
SuperMicro Case/Power Supply $91
Kingston Memory $87
SuperMicro X9SCM-O-F Motherboard $160
Xeon E3-1230V2 Processor $230
(3) Transcend 4GB USB Flash Drives @ $8/each
(2) Western Digital 3TB Red HDD @ $134/each

Total Cost: $860

 

[Dusan]

Oh, I just noticed you ordered one memory module. There's one thing I wrongly considered obvious, so I did not mention it. X9SCM (as almost all boards today) has dual-channel memory bus. This means that to get best performance it is recommended to install memory modules in pairs (the board can access both at the same time). If you want 8GB of memory then two 4GB modules would be the faster configuration (that's why Kingston offers all those "kit of 2" items). It's not that big problem though as the system will still work with a single module (and you can another module later).
For details see page 2-11 & 2-12 in the manual: http://www.supermicro.nl/manuals/motherboard/C202_C204/MNL-1270.pdf

 

[PhilInCA]

Thanks. Yeah, I will be ordering another one in a month or so. My original budget of $500 (Synology) has taken a big turn. So, I'm just postponing that additional purchase. Thanks for pointing that out though.