Your opinions: Asus P10S-I with Xeon E3-XXXX v5 and 16 GB ECC-RAM

[Bobbi]

Dear visitors,

this will be my first selfmade computer and I want to build something great and robust. :) It should work as a pure and encrypted NAS-system for storing my photographic landscape-works, music and everything else. Probably I want to run some VM's in the future - we'll see! Have you ever tried to build such a compilation? The Skylake-CPU will work since the publication of FreeNAS 9.10 I think?

Especially the mainboard sounds quite interesting:

• CPU-socket: LGA1151, useable with Xeon E3-XXXX v5-CPU's
• Chipset: Intel C232
  
• Memory: 2 slots for Dual-Channel-RAM up to 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) with ECC-support
  
• Expansion: 1 x PCIe x16 Gen. 3
• SSD: 1 x M.2 connector (2242)
• HDD: 6 x SATA III (6 GB/s) ports
• LAN: 2 x Intel I210AT + 1 x Mgmt LAN
• Size: Mini-ATX

Yes, I already know about your recommendations for choosing an ASRock Rack or Supermicro board, but I got that Asus-board for a very cheap price.

I want to use 4 or 5 HDD's in a Lian-Li housing with best possibility for silence (fanless PSU, Noiseblocker-fans, etc.)... For the memory, I would choose two Kingstons 8 GB-modules with ECC (KVR21E15D8) for enjoying the benefits of dual-channel-mode.

Do you have any recommendations for the CPU? Originally I wanted to buy a Xeon E3-1240L because of it's TDP with 25 W. Then I've red this thread and I was shocked about that news - now there should be a replacement with something else!

What do you think about?

I'm very happy about your answers, ideas and opinions! :)

With best regards!
Bobbi

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

How many users? Which sharing protocol? For pure storage, with no jails, but encrypted (are you sure?), I believe an i3 is indicated. Without encryption, a Pentium will do nicely, unless you have lots of users.

Probably I want to run some VM's in the future - we'll see!

Well, this makes a huge difference. This might indicate a hyperthreaded Xeon.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Get a good power supply those fanless ones are not very good. skip the low power cpu, all CPUs use about the same power at idle. Get good fans so you can keep your HDD temps below 40c.

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[Stux]

E3-1230v5 is the best bang for buck if you want a big bang.

 

[Bobbi]

Thanks a lot for your kind answers! :)

How many users? Which sharing protocol?

Right now, probably two users with three devices each person. I would love to use NFS only, but there are also Windows-machines connected. So NFS and SMB will be necessary. Of course, the Xeon would be overkill, but it is also server-hardware...

[...] encrypted (are you sure?)

Why don't you recommend encryption? I thought this is standard nowadays?

Get a good power supply those fanless ones are not very good.

I was thinking about to use a Seasonic Platinum Series Fanless 400W (SS-400FL2). The alternative would be a be quiet! Straight Power 10 400W. Any further recommendations? Unfortunately, 400 W is a little bit too much, but they are even more quiet than those 300 W-PSU's...

skip the low power cpu, all CPUs use about the same power at idle.

Yes! :)

Get good fans so you can keep your HDD temps below 40c.

I think the same - Noctua or Alpenfoehn is planned right now...

E3-1230v5 is the best bang for buck if you want a big bang.

Why especially the 1230? The power consumption of the "stronger" ones should be the same I think? Yes I know, it's all overkill - but if I could get a good price somewhere... :D

Have a very nice day!
Bobbi

 

[Ericloewe]

Why don't you recommend encryption? I thought this is standard nowadays?

1. It's highly unlikely that your stuff is worth encrypting (if it was, you'd be briefed by your handlers on how to handle it)
2. It massively increases the risk of data loss
3. It's a brute-force approach that encrypts the entire drives (it's not ZFS native encryption - yet)

I was thinking about to use a Seasonic Platinum Series Fanless 400W (SS-400FL2). The alternative would be a be quiet! Straight Power 10 400W. Any further recommendations? Unfortunately, 400 W is a little bit too much, but they are even more quiet than those 300 W-PSU's...

Fanless PSUs are a bad idea, period. Any decent PSU is going to be inaudible at the loads you can expect.

 

[Bobbi]

Okay, I understand! Encryption is not mandatory, I just thought that it could be nice in case of theft or something else.

One other question: Do you think it is possible to do a passive cooling for the Xeon-CPU if it is located very close to the air-sucking fan of the PSU? Or better not?

 

[Ericloewe]

Do you think it is possible to do a passive cooling for the Xeon-CPU if it is located very close to the air-sucking fan of the PSU? Or better not?

Possible, yes, but it's not a good idea. Again, even the stock cooler is essentially inaudible for most NAS workloads. A decent cooler (like the 90mm fan Noctuas) would extend the near-inaudible range quite a bit.

 

[harald.weiss.357]

How many users? Which sharing protocol? For pure storage, with no jails, but encrypted (are you sure?), I believe an i3 is indicated. Without encryption, a Pentium will do nicely, unless you have lots of users.

Well, this makes a huge difference. This might indicate a hyperthreaded Xeon.

Yes that is true - I have stocked up to 32 GB pretty fast for use of VMs and it does work - my freenas with more power is housed in a Dell tower case and I love the Xeon for its power. I recommend not run to many VMs as they can impact the NAS quite a bit especially if you put full HD Media on it a VM can make the difference between playable or not playable (if used as plex media server which I think does a good job).
I also would be careful using encryption on the drives because it can be a mess to get back in working condition if the encryption has lost a key (or you) or worse does no longer detect a drive in a worse case scenario. Should not happen but it can. Encryption/Decryption also takes a lot of power on the CPU side and memory.
Unless you store real sensitive stuff do avoid it I would say.
I hope that my Comments are helpful to you and it helps you to get the best out of freenas :)
Greetings Harald (from Germany)


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[Bobbi]

Possible, yes, but it's not a good idea. Again, even the stock cooler is essentially inaudible for most NAS workloads. A decent cooler (like the 90mm fan Noctuas) would extend the near-inaudible range quite a bit.

Thanks a lot for your great help!

I'm a bit worried about the noise of the whole system. My problem is: Inside my Lian-Li-chassis (PC-Q25) there is only a free space of 80 mm height available for the CPU-cooler (between mainboard and PSU). Because of that, the CPU-fan is blowing directly into the (upright mounted) PSU. Now, if the PSU itself also has a fan, there could be some terrible noise because of the turbulent airflow between those fans...

This problem is well visible here:

Image-source: http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy332/RuffeDK/Rufs Rig/20130511_112636_zpsf795eaab.jpg

Description: Indeed, the PSU is not mounted in this picture, but you can see the free slot for upright mounting the PSU in the left wall. The fan of the PSU will directly face towards the CPU-fan.

Lian-Li itself writes the following: Using Standard ATX PS/2 PSU: Standard ATX PS/2 power supply unit with cooling fan, it can be facing the motherboard which are passive cooled.

Because of that, I'm just thinking about to select one of those options:

1. Either use a fanless PSU and use the exhausting air from the CPU-fan for cooling the PSU itself...
2. ... or use a passive cooled CPU and suck up the warm air with the PSU-fan.

I hope you can understand my worries - what do you think about?

With best regards from Germany!
Bobbi

 

[Ericloewe]

Thanks a lot for your great help!

I'm a bit worried about the noise of the whole system. My problem is: Inside my Lian-Li-chassis (PC-Q25) there is only a free space of 80 mm height available for the CPU-cooler (between mainboard and PSU). Because of that, the CPU-fan is blowing directly into the (upright mounted) PSU. Now, if the PSU itself also has a fan, there could be some terrible noise because of the turbulent airflow between those fans...

This problem is well visible here:

Image-source: http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy332/RuffeDK/Rufs Rig/20130511_112636_zpsf795eaab.jpg

Description: Indeed, the PSU is not mounted in this picture, but you can see the free slot for upright mounting the PSU in the left wall. The fan of the PSU will directly face towards the CPU-fan.

Lian-Li itself writes the following: Using Standard ATX PS/2 PSU: Standard ATX PS/2 power supply unit with cooling fan, it can be facing the motherboard which are passive cooled.

Because of that, I'm just thinking about to select one of those options:

1. Either use a fanless PSU and use the exhausting air from the CPU-fan for cooling the PSU itself...
2. ... or use a passive cooled CPU and suck up the warm air with the PSU-fan.

I hope you can understand my worries - what do you think about?

With best regards from Germany!
Bobbi

The CPU fan is blowing onto the heatsink, not the other way around.

 

[Bobbi]

The CPU fan is blowing onto the heatsink, not the other way around.

Oh no, what a stupid newbie-question... :D Thanks for that hint!

So you think there won't result any problems if there is only a small space of air between those two fans? Some airstream-noise or something else? I don't have any experiences about that, just the simple common sense...

 

[Ericloewe]

My opinion, after sitting through Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics courses, is that the simplest, cheapest way of figuring out if there's noise is to try it out. My guess is that it won't be a problem.

 

[Stux]

Okay, I understand! Encryption is not mandatory, I just thought that it could be nice in case of theft or something else.

One other question: Do you think it is possible to do a passive cooling for the Xeon-CPU if it is located very close to the air-sucking fan of the PSU? Or better not?

Good PSUs only use the fan above a certain draw, for example, my 1000W PSU is fanless below 400W

 

[SweetAndLow]

This case looks like it's going to cook the top 2 drives. They don't get any air flow as far as I can tell? Probably not the best case or figure out how to get some air up there.

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