Using older hardware a good idea?

[Aixelsyd]

I'm considering building a FreeNAS system with an older motherboard/cpu.

SuperMicro X8SIL-F
Xeon x3470
16 to 32GB ECC RAM
(6) 3TB WD Reds. (RaidZ2)
Seasonic 550 power supply
Fractal Design Node 804 case
The boot will either be a flash drive or an SSD hooked up to USB. Probably mirrored.

My usage needs are not that great as right now I have about 4 of 6TB used and this would double the space. I would be using Plex (2 streams at max) with it but the video is already transcoded. It would be used for backups and drive maps from a couple PCs but the usage would be low. I'm also considering a couple jails. Mostly just to have a FreeBSD system handy when I want one to play around on and maybe run a minecraft server for my kids down the road. I don't need a big powerhouse system so that's why I was thinking of going this way.

I just want to know if this would be viable (to me it seems it is but I've never built a FreeNAS system) and see if anyone had advice for making it better.

Thanks for any advice.

Jason

 

[Cicatrize]

I don't think there would be a compatibility issue with FreeBSD with that build, and it's plenty powerful to run storage and a couple jails, depending on what they are, of course.

I know you said the video is already transcoded (I assume you're running "Original" quality or whatever over the network), but just a thought, I don't think the x3470 could handle a couple jails and two 1080p transcodes at the same time.

 

[Spearfoot]

I'm considering building a FreeNAS system with an older motherboard/cpu.

SuperMicro X8SIL-F
Xeon x3470
16 to 32GB ECC RAM
(6) 3TB WD Reds. (RaidZ2)
Seasonic 550 power supply
Fractal Design Node 804 case
The boot will either be a flash drive or an SSD hooked up to USB. Probably mirrored.

My usage needs are not that great as right now I have about 4 of 6TB used and this would double the space. I would be using Plex (2 streams at max) with it but the video is already transcoded. It would be used for backups and drive maps from a couple PCs but the usage would be low. I'm also considering a couple jails. Mostly just to have a FreeBSD system handy when I want one to play around on and maybe run a minecraft server for my kids down the road. I don't need a big powerhouse system so that's why I was thinking of going this way.

I just want to know if this would be viable (to me it seems it is but I've never built a FreeNAS system) and see if anyone had advice for making it better.

Thanks for any advice.

Jason

I built a FreeNAS server using an old Supermicro X8SIE-LN4F and I'm quite pleased with it... especially in light of how inexpensive it was. See 'my systems' below for the gory details.

EDIT: These older systems will draw more power than the newer ones.

 

[Aixelsyd]

That's good to know about the transcodes. I expect the jails to get very little use. When Plex is used it's nearly always just one stream. However you've both given me somethings to think about, both on power usage and processing power. I don't need to hamstring myself for the future. Better to wait and do this right instead of going cheaper and old stuff that could fail quicker.

Thank you!

 

[Kevin Horton]

In theory, the Plex "Optimized Versions" feature can be set up to do background transcoding to create multiple versions of files. This is supposed to allow Plex to pick the correct version of the file to stream later, avoiding the need for real time transcoding, at the cost of the extra storage space to hold the various versions of each media file.

I've never used this feature, so I have no idea if it works as well as it says on the tin. Note: the web page for that feature suggests that it is only available to Plex Pass subscribers, but that seems to be old info. My Plex has the feature, and I am not a subscriber.

 

[Cicatrize]

That's good to know about the transcodes. I expect the jails to get very little use. When Plex is used it's nearly always just one stream. However you've both given me somethings to think about, both on power usage and processing power. I don't need to hamstring myself for the future. Better to wait and do this right instead of going cheaper and old stuff that could fail quicker.

Thank you!

One stream should be fine. I'm not sure how much resources a Minecraft server would take up, but I doubt it'd be much, especially if there's only a few connections.

IMO, this is a fine build, and if you're not currently using FreeNAS, I'd say go for it. If you decide in the future to upgrade the CPU/mobo, you can do that easily. I don't see any risk involved with this build at all. My first FreeNAS system was a mini-ITX mobo and an integrated AMD E-350 with 8GB RAM installed into an old broken PC case. It was fine until I started running Plex on it. Your build will completely destroy that setup. :)

 

[MatthewSteinhoff]

SuperMicro X8SIL-F
Xeon x3470
16 to 32GB ECC RAM

The primary FreeNAS server for our office runs on a Supermicro X8 board with a pair of old Xeon E5645s. As @Spearfoot noted, more power-hungry than a newer setup but not atrocious.

If you've already got your Plex collection in the right format, you'll be fine. You can probably transcode a stream or two without buffering, too. This build will easily last you years.

I have a few large Minecraft worlds in a VM (not under FreeNAS) for the kids. With three or four concurrent players, the server likes 4GB a world. Might be able to get by with less. At 16GB in the server, you might be limited to a couple worlds so you might want to look at getting 32GB if you plan on doing a lot of crafting.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Aixelsyd]

Just wanted to follow up on my build status: I have the following on the way.

SuperMicro X8SIL-F
Xeon x3460 (was supposed to be a 3470 but I got a deal on a MB/Processor so I figured just use it)
32GB ECC Memory
(6) 3TB WD Reds. (RaidZ2)
Seasonic G 750 power supply - I upped it from a 550.
Fractal Design Node 804 case

I also added....

LSI 9211-8i with the cables. This is for the WD Greens I have, (4) 2TB drives (probably another RAIDZ2), and (2) 60GB SSDs I have laying around I'm going to use for jails (mirrored).

I know this won't be speedy but I spent under $200 on the motherboard/cpu/memory and if I get a few years out of it before upgrading that's not so bad. I at least have a good base for the future...

I'm going to stick with 16GB USB flash drives for booting - I'll put a pair in a mirror.

With the 32GB of memory I'll have some room for jails - which honestly won't be much.
-

The one question I have now is there an advantage to spreading the drives across the motherboard SATA ports and the LSI card? Or it the IT mode rely on the CPU, I would think with it being a pass through it would but I wanted to ask. Or is it best to just put all 6 of the WD Reds on the motherboard and the rest on the LSI?

Thanks for all the advice!

Jason