Upgrade or Start Over for new FreeNAS sever?

[NotYou]

Looking to make a switch from 2016R2 over to a FreeNAS server, and looking for some advice. My current long-standing file server consists of

• Supermicro X7DB8-X w/ (1) Xeon 5120 and 8GB RAM
• 3x SAT2-MV8 HBAs for 24 ports
• Norco 4224 24bay (modified)
  
  
• Will be setting up 7x 8TB WD RED drives (into RAID-Z2 for 40GB array), plus 4 x 3TB drives into another array (just because I have them)
• Sole purpose is a home media server, serving content to 5xNUC Media centers and 3xAppleTV's to play. No transcoding, no jails, no other duties just serving files.

I could "upgrade" this to max config (2x Xeon 5460 and 32GB RAM) for about $100 total.. BUT I am stuck with the SAT2-MV8's as the motherboard only supports PCI-X. I think this is a dead end, and instead should put that money towards new motherboard and related components. Correct?

But this is where I'm not sure what best to look for at the moment.. When I price out new Supermicro motherboard + CPU + RAM + HBAs, I seam to be in the $400+ range just for those components. For example, a X10SLH-F + 32GB ram + Xeon E3-1240 + 2x m1215 is almost $450 plus odds and ends to connect everything.

And with that config I would still be limiting me in the future - as the hardest obstacle I'm having with is being able to support the 24 possible bays (either needing 3 x8 PCIe slots (for 3 HBA's) or 2 x8 PCIe slots and 8 SATA ports on motherboard). I'm not enthusiastic about going down the SAS expander path, because of using SATA drives and possibly SSD's in the future.

Maybe it's me, but when I can do a DELL 1U or 2U COMPLETE server for around $200 that even is more powerful, I feel like I'm not looking at the right hardware for this server. Or maybe I am lost in the amount of Supermicro board options (and yes I've looked over multiple guides posted on here, which have great info, but sourcing them sometimes isn't as much fun)

Suggestions?

 

[JohnK]

I'm not enthusiastic about going down the SAS expander path, because of using SATA drives and possibly SSD's in the future.
Suggestions?

I have bought 2 3u servers on EBay with that exact x7 motherboard and immediately ripped it out. Now using it to educate my kids. Surprisingly cheaper to sometimes buy full server rather than empty one.

I’m not sure why you don’t want to do a SAS expander. My backup server has 12x3 and 2x4tb WD Red drives that is connected via SAS expander and it work great.

Also, for your need, you could get away with a cheaper processor like a celeron.or i3. If you want to save money, buy a super micro X9 board. About $30 on EBay.

 

[kdragon75]

Yeah that Xeon is ancient, slow, and little more than a space heater.

 

[NotYou]

Okay so agree I kinda thought that upgrading the existing motherboard wouldn't really be worth investing the money into.

Any recommendations on which motherboard to target and look our for at a decent price for what I want to do with it? Should I be looking for the X9 series, or go ahead and find something in X10 supermicro board? Or would it really not matter too much?

 

[kdragon75]

Okay so agree I kinda thought that upgrading the existing motherboard wouldn't really be worth investing the money into.

Any recommendations on which motherboard to target and look our for at a decent price for what I want to do with it? Should I be looking for the X9 series, or go ahead and find something in X10 supermicro board? Or would it really not matter too much?

The big thing is going to be what CPU you need, that will determine the socket and in turn the board. Its a balance of power efficiency, price, and performance.
Will this just be files on a NAS? do you want to store or maybe run VMs? How many users? Will you need to transcode 4k?

 

[NotYou]

This is solely for file server duties; no VMs (have other servers), no transcoding content, no domain duties, etc. etc... There could be 5-10 clients pulling files from it at any time.

I know I don't need the latest and greatest and most powerful, but I also don't want to get stuck with something that is going to limit me with freenas performance if it's not too much more to spend now.

 

[JohnK]

This is solely for file server duties; no VMs (have other servers), no transcoding content, no domain duties, etc. etc... There could be 5-10 clients pulling files from it at any time.

I know I don't need the latest and greatest and most powerful, but I also don't want to get stuck with something that is going to limit me with freenas performance if it's not too much more to spend now.

I could price out 2nd hand x9, x10 and x11. X11 supports 64gb ram, but for your media streaming 32 gb should be fine. There is not a big difference between x9 and x10, x10 using newer tech, maybe lower power consumption.

What I can tell you is that streaming to 5 devices from my backup server barely raise the usage on the Pentium. (I have used an Atom C2550 in the past and had very much the same experience, if you want to save power.)

Go Xeon if you want to be safe.