BUILD Thoughts and suggestions welcomed for first NAS build

[rawdrumandbass]

Evening all,

After reading through the extensive advice and support on this forum I think I have finally found a build that I am happy with.

However, I tend to overkill with regards to I.T. so would gladly take any feedback. I do like to future-proof where I can though which is probably the reason I overkill.

The main purpose for my build will be to store data, access this data physically and remotely, use with the Plex plugin to stream media across multiple devices and being used as a backup to my other PC's.

I was thinking of running some virtual machines from it but I think this will hog too much memory. I will most likely find new uses for it once I am fully set up and running.

I will be utilising RAIDZ2. RAM will be unbuffered.

So here are my thoughts:

Motherboard: ASRock E3C226D2I Server/Workstation Board
HDD's: WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: WD30EFRX (x6)
RAM: Kingston Technology ValueRam DDR3 1600 MHz ECC DIMM - 8 GB (x2)
Chassis: Fractal Design Node 304 Desktop
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230V3 3.3 GHz Processor
PSU: Corsair RM 550W Fully Modular 80+ Gold Power Supply
CPU Heatsink: Noctua NH-L12 Processor cooler
Fans: Noctua NF-A14 iPPC IP67 PWM 140mm Premium Quality Fan, ZALMAN ZM SF2 Shark’s Fin Blade 92mm Silent Fan Case fan (x2)
USB: Kingston Technology DataTraveler Locker+ G3 8GB with FreeNAS 9.2.1.5

I went quite high went the PSU as I read that utilising 50% will increase working life. However, like I said, I tend to overkill so this may be too high?

Any help would be welcomed. Thanks.

 

[Maturola]

Everything seen to be right on the money, and future proof as you like it.

Personally I would get a Seasonic G series 550W supply instead of the RM however nothing wrong with that, it is just a personal preference.

Same for the processor, I would get the Haswell refresh instead of the old version, (E3 1231 V3), you just have to make sure that the MOBO have the latest BIOS (2.0+). (again nothing wrong with the E3-1230 it is just a personal preference, refresh are a little more power efficient)

 

[rawdrumandbass]

Everything seen to be right on the money, and future proof as you like it.

Personally I would get a Seasonic G series 550W supply instead of the RM however nothing wrong with that, it is just a personal preference.

Same for the processor, I would get the Haswell refresh instead of the old version, (E3 1231 V3), you just have to make sure that the MOBO have the latest BIOS (2.0+). (again nothing wrong with the E3-1230 it is just a personal preference, refresh are a little more power efficient)

Going with the Haswell refresh seems smart. I'll try and get hold of one. Thanks.

What are the reasons for you leaning towards Seasonics? Are they any more reliable?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Ericloewe]

Going with the Haswell refresh seems smart. I'll try and get hold of one. Thanks.

What are the reasons for you leaning towards Seasonics? Are they any more reliable?

Thanks for your input.

Seasonics are typically considered the standard to beat in consumer PSUs, while Corsair's RM 550W are a CWT design, which isn't as good in most cases. Seasonic's build quality should be a notch above CWT, too.

As for the Haswell refresh, you may end up needing a non-refresh CPU to flash the motherboard's BIOS with the latest version before the new CPUs will work.

 

[Maturola]

Going with the Haswell refresh seems smart. I'll try and get hold of one. Thanks.

What are the reasons for you leaning towards Seasonics? Are they any more reliable?

Thanks for your input.

Honestly i had ran Corair supplies without any issues, I got a RM running on my a Minecraft server and it is solid. Seasonic are just overall better quality, they are usually quieter then their equivalents on other brands and very reliables.

the Haswell refresh equivalent of your processor is the E3 1231 V3, I ordered the same motherboard last week, I am on vacation but once I get home I will confirm that BIOS that it is shipping with, it need to be 2.0+ in order to support the H refresh.

 

[madik]

Looks like a good mini-ITX NAS build. If you really want future proof build then you might also consider bigger form factor. There are mATX SuperMicro boards with more SATA/SAS ports and simply better scalability.

 

[rawdrumandbass]

Apologies for the late response but I have been away from my machine.

Seasonics are typically considered the standard to beat in consumer PSUs, while Corsair's RM 550W are a CWT design, which isn't as good in most cases. Seasonic's build quality should be a notch above CWT, too.

As for the Haswell refresh, you may end up needing a non-refresh CPU to flash the motherboard's BIOS with the latest version before the new CPUs will work.

Thanks for the info regarding the PSU's. Having read this and consequently read similar statements elsewhere online, I will go for the Seasonic PSU.

I would hate for the motherboard to not support the processor. So what you are saying is that I would have to buy 2 CPU's to get it fully up and running and then not use the older version? Seems a little wasteful. Or is there another way?

Honestly i had ran Corair supplies without any issues, I got a RM running on my a Minecraft server and it is solid. Seasonic are just overall better quality, they are usually quieter then their equivalents on other brands and very reliables.

the Haswell refresh equivalent of your processor is the E3 1231 V3, I ordered the same motherboard last week, I am on vacation but once I get home I will confirm that BIOS that it is shipping with, it need to be 2.0+ in order to support the H refresh.

Thanks for your input Maturola. Please let me know if the shipped motherboard BIOS supports the H refresh!

Looks like a good mini-ITX NAS build. If you really want future proof build then you might also consider bigger form factor. There are mATX SuperMicro boards with more SATA/SAS ports and simply better scalability.

This has definitely crossed my mind madik. With my current build, I stand to have 12TB of storage. The reason for the build is because I have nearly filled my current 2TB of space. I shouldn't fill the next 10TB too quickly and with IT progressing the way it does, by that time there might be a completely new method of storing data that would render my build obsolete no matter how large I built it. This is my main worry .I suppose it all depends how quickly I fill up my storage. Something which I will have to wait and see I imagine.

Thanks for all your input. As I said before, Maturola, please keep me posted!