Upon further Research - My FreeNAS Build

[dturner71.dt]

• Xeon E3-1240 v6, 3.7Ghz
• Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan
• Supermicro MDB-X11SSH-F-0 Micro ATX
• 2x Micron 16GB PC4-19200 DDR4-2400MHz ECC Unbuffered CL17 288-Pin DIMM 1.2V Dual Rank Memory Module
  
• 2 x SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 80 Plus Gold 850W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with New HDB Fan
  
• Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Rev. B Mid Tower Computer Case with 6 Fan Controllers (room for 14 drives)
  
• 4 x Nanoxia Deep Silence 140mm 1800rpm Fan Cooling
• 8 x 6TB (Ultrastar 7k6000)
• APC Smart UPS 1000

Bigger power supply for an additional LSI HBA and additional drives.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Chris Moore]

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 80 Plus Gold 850W, Fully Modular, Eco Mode with New HDB Fan

Even if you ended up with 16 drives and two HBAs, you would never need more than a 750 watt PSU and probably not more than 650 and only then at startup. The running load on my system with 16 drives is only 250 watts.
Unless you went with some enterprise grade 15000 RPM drives, but they don't come in 6TB capacity.

 

[Nomad]

Just a bit of note. The WD AE 6tb drives are $150 until Saturday. Unless anyone chimes in with a OMG NO THEY BAD. I think it's the best deal currently.

 

[nightshade00013]

Well they have a short warranty and are rated pretty low on the writes per year.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Understanding-the-WD-Rainbow-674/

I know @joeschmuck was looking at them already but I don't know if he actually pulled the trigger on the purchase.

Personally I would look to something else there HAS to be some sort of a catch 22 on using those drives with them being so cheap. Speculation has been that they may have platters or other parts of lesser quality. I wouldn't be surprised if every drive they make comes off of only a couple lines, one for 7200 rpm, one for 5400 rpm. Then they test them and see what they are best suited for. Fast drives get a black label and slower drives get a different one. Ones that are suitable for certain area's may get a sensor added for anti-vibration. If the CPU and GPU manufacturer's test and put certain chips in a certain bin based on performance I can guarantee that the other vendors will as well.

 

[Chris Moore]

I know @joeschmuck was looking at them already but I don't know if he actually pulled the trigger on the purchase.

No, there was a lengthy discussion about that model in mid November if I recall. The consensus was pretty close to:

OMG NO THEY BAD.

but really they are not a value due to their low specs.

@joeschmuck said that he ended up with HGST 6TB drives @ $160 per drive. Much better value for the money, but that was a sale price.

Even when they are not on sale, the extra money is worth it in my judgement, if you are not willing to look at Seagate Desktop drives.
These are the price king, if you are willing to put a little work into it...
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&ap=y&c3api=1876,{creative},{keyword}&gclid=CjwKCAiA3o7RBRBfEiwAZMtSCaD7hHC--1qVO3SrXAfOXPigFfN2Csp8NxaQv5RJMAMU38Xo0L_utBoCxI8QAvD_BwE&is=REG&m=Y&sku=1261837
Only problem is the bare drive has no warranty, so you have to keep that shell and put it back in if you want to even try to send it in for warranty.
Hey, at NewEgg they are even less, but it is limit 3 and the sale is over in 2 days...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...ekP3z5i-T9-1Y6n-acRoC9IMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Nomad]

I can get unlimited from Amazon for 119. I'm going to make a new build thread and not hijack this one.

 

[dturner71.dt]

I already have the 8 drives as they we're given to me by a friend who installed 10 TB drives. I just need to purchase everything else.

I'll switch my power supply to the 750 model as I don't think I'll have over 14 drives total. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks for everyone's input.

Sorry that we hijacked your thread. The items you had selected for your build look like they will all work fine. Let us know how it comes out or if you have any trouble.

 

[Chris Moore]

2 x SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive

By the way, the two yellow SATA ports on the system board can be used for regular drives, not just the SATA DOM, so you could boot from SSD instead of USB if you were interested in that option. SSD is much more reliable in the long run than the USB drives.

 

[dturner71.dt]

Could I add a ssd on the M.2 slot? I was going to reserve the M.2 for caching, but after reading it's mainly for VMs (which I don't think I'll be doing, and if I do, it will be 1 VM), I'm thinking I may just use it for ssd boot drive. Although it would be single point of failure. Why I had the 2 USB drives as my main boot device.

 

[Chris Moore]

Thoughts anyone?

Sorry to keep chiming back in on this. Did you add all this up and see what the total was? I ask because you can pickup a used enterprise server from eBay for about $1000 that will run FreeNAS like a champ and last another 5 years easy.

 

[dturner71.dt]

I was hoping to get about 5 to 7 years honestly.

Comparable equipment? Send a link and I'll check it out. TX

 

[Chris Moore]

I was talking about the two SATA ports I circled in red.

 

[dturner71.dt]

Those 2 ports will be part of the 8 x 6TB in the pool.

 

[Chris Moore]

This is actually a fully configured server, except for the drives. You might have to update firmware on the system board or change the firmware in the SAS controller to the IT (initiator target) version but it is a pretty nice package. It would give you almost everything you need right in one package.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro...-2-6ghz-8-Core-128gb-24-Bay-JBOD/372154285756

 

[Chris Moore]

Although it would be single point of failure.

Even a single SSD would have greater endurance than a pair of USB drives, but it is possible that you would have trouble getting FreeNAS installed and booting from the M.2. I am not sure how well that is supported because I have not used it myself.

 

[dturner71.dt]

That system would sell for more in parts than as a whole. It's a bit overkill for what I need it for.

I'm not saying it's a bad deal. Looks like a good deal. Here are my concerns :

1. 30 Day warranty. System may be flaky and not find issues until months later.
2. Would need a dedicated electric circuit to run, as 1200 Watts power supplies installed.
3. Would require a dedicated AC unit as original build would not require same BTU cooling as dual 2650 v2 with 24 drives.
4. Would need a rack or a wall mount rack to install unit.
5. No more closet install. Need to relocate to garage for electric, rack, and ac.

In the end, it would probably be worth it if I could build out a space in the garage and run the 2 network lines back to my switch as long as the unit wasn't flaky.

Now you got me rethinking my build.... :P

 

[dturner71.dt]

Is FreeNAS compatible with the Supermicro X9DRI-F motherboard? Did a search and didn't find it on the forums.

 

[Chris Moore]

Is FreeNAS compatible with the Supermicro X9DRI-F motherboard? Did a search and didn't find it on the forums.

I wouldn't hesitate. It is fairly new hardware, for a retired data-center system. All the components on the board, from looking at the Supermicro site, should be compatible.

Would need a dedicated electric circuit to run, as 1200 Watts power supplies installed.

No. You can run that on a regular circuit. It has those 1200 watt supplies because it was built to accommodate 15000 RPM SAS drives that burn more juice than SATA drives, but you can shove regular SATA drives in the same bay, no problem. The server I am using for my Plex storage has 16 drives and only uses around 250 watts when it is trans-coding video. The rating on the supply is the MAX it will handle, not what it needs to start. I have two servers and three workstations on a single 20 AMP circuit and never had any trouble with it, but I am probably at the limit of what I should put on the circuit to maintain a safety margin.

30 Day warranty. System may be flaky and not find issues until months later.

The servers I have are both retired (different model) but they have been solid. The folks that run the big data centers just retire them after a certain amount of time for something newer and faster because it actually saves them money to have a more efficient system. There was probably nothing wrong with it and this vendor is selling several that are all similarly equipped. Somebody probably retired everything of a certain model or age and now it is being sold off.

Would require a dedicated AC unit as original build would not require same BTU cooling as dual 2650 v2 with 24 drives.

You have a point about dual CPUs potentially putting out more heat, but they will idle down to almost nothing when they are not under load, so I wouldn't expect a lot of heat out of in on the regular and just because it has all those bays doesn't mean you have to fill them right away. Take your time.
I have two servers sitting side by side in my office and the regular house air is fine for me, but I do have a fan to push more cool air into the room and allow the warm air to circulate out. I did not go the route of an additional AC unit, but I know people that do, at least a window unit, but they like it really cold. I keep my house at 77 and the systems and drives stay in a decent temp range internally.

Would need a rack or a wall mount rack to install unit.

No, I stand mine on their side like a mini tower. No problem. They are long though. I did have to change the fans to lower speed fans because the original fans wanted to run at 5000 RPMs and it sounded like a jet was flying through my office.

No more closet install. Need to relocate to garage for electric, rack, and ac.

I would agree that it can't be in a closed space, but I would say that of any build. It needs air flow to keep the drives cool. The ideal temp (in my opinion) for the drives is between 30 and 40 degrees centigrade and the HGST drives you have will put out some serious heat. I have a 16bay chassis full of those at work that run about 5 to 10 degrees hotter than the WD Red drives in the next chassis in the same rack.

In the end, it would probably be worth it if I could build out a space in the garage and run the 2 network lines back to my switch

For me, because of the number of bays and being able to put the drives in and out the front of the chassis without opening it, I have loved having the rack systems. It is definitely something to think about.

 

[nightshade00013]

I see one glaring problem with the 4U server you linked @Chris Moore it's local pickup only. So you have to arrange for someone to pick it up and ship it. Would be a decent deal for someone willing to drive to Dallas though.