BUILD A1SAi-2750F build? Thoughts/questions

[snix]

Hey all, I've been lurking and researching for a while trying to build my first NAS. It's just going to be running FreeNAS for file serving, storage, and backups - no media streaming or anything along those lines. I have an initial list of hardware and some questions.

Criteria (in order of importance)

1. Doesn't lose my data or corrupt it over time. By far the most important criteria. At the very least this means ECC RAM and reliable trusted hardware with good drivers that won't flip out and dump my data on the floor.
2. Power efficient. If this is going to be on 24/7 it better sip power.
3. Quiet. It would be great if the everything is so quiet that the hard drives drown out the rest by comparison.
4. Runs cool. Kind of goes along with #2 and #3, but I don't want to worry about temperatures even if it's working hard.
5. Hot swap drive bays and otherwise easy-to-maintain hardware. I don't want to mess with it often, but if I do I want it to be quick and easy.
6. Small form factor.

Note that price is not on the list. It's a consideration, but I'm not going to pinch pennies to seriously compromise anything on the list.

Side note: I'm also really tired of buying computer hardware that works great *except* for xyz. As in, there's a part or two that is a huge hassle to get working if you can get it working at all (e.g. the flaky wireless in my otherwise great HTPC Haswell-based motherboard, or the built-in video out that black-screens on startup until I unplug and replug the HDMI). If it's a feature on the box I want it to work without having to jump through a bunch of stupid hoops and waste time figuring out why it's not functioning properly, or wait for some mythical future firmware to maybe fix it. Or worse, get ignored by the manufacturer and never get fully functioning hardware at all. Seems to happen a lot with the pro-sumer leading edge stuff - lots of checking the latest-greatest-feature checkboxes, but cutting corners on cheap parts or crappy drivers screws up the product as a whole.

Initial Hardware Thoughts

A Mini ITX based solution seemed like the best place to start since it was likely to help significantly with criteria #2, #3, #4, and #6. Anyway here's what I'm thinking right now:

• Hard Drives: 4x4TB drives. Initial thoughts leaning toward Western Digital Reds since they seem really popular, but recommendations welcome as I haven't researched much here (yet).
• MB/CPU: Supermicro A1SAi-2750F. I considered a Haswell-based solution but the TDP and feature set of the Avoton boards looked better for what I wanted. With the Avoton I considered an ASRock C2750D4I but there were too many reports of hardware flakiness (e.g. Marvel SATA controller that could fry my data), software/firmware flakiness (e.g. IPMI that doesn't work well), and general weirdness (e.g. extremely high idle power usage in the 50+ watt range). Reading posts by Cyberjock and others on this forum convinced me to go with Supermicro if I want criteria #1 reliably satisfied. The other options just seemed to suffer too much pro-sumer disease.
• RAM: Looking for 16GB or 32GB of compatible ECC RAM (likely 32GB). Supermicro's list of validated RAM for this board is pathetically small. The only one I could find in the wild in 8GB sticks is this Hynix one: http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=D3-16ES8GH. I haven't ordered from superbiiz before so I'm not sure how well I can trust them. I saw a review of the A1SAi-2750F board that used this Kingston RAM: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CUYOGRM/?tag=ozlp-20. But while I trust Amazon I'm not sure how well I can trust the RAM in this mobo since it's not on Supermicro's approved list.
• Case: I've gone round and round on this one. Considered the Silverstone DS380B but then dropped it based on this SPCR review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/SilverStone_DS380 (too much noise/vibration and not good enough cooling-wise). I think I've settled on the Lian Li PC-Q18 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/Lian_Li_PC-Q18). It has stuff I don't need like an optical drive bay but for my criteria it seems to be the best fit since it has 4 hot swap bays and is quiet and cool with good build quality. My only concern is the amount of space available for the PSU.
• PSU: I *want* to use a good gold or platinum Seasonic, maybe even the fanless, but I don't think the Lian Li Q18 case will support it. The Q18 spec sheet says it supports 160mm PSU length, but reviews I've seen online make this seem ... overly optimistic. So I think I'm now looking at the Silverstone 550W ST55F-G. Modular cables and only 140mm length. I just wish it had been reviewed by SPCR so I could have hard numbers on how loud it is.

Outstanding Questions

1. Which RAM? Is superbiiz reliable and I should go with the Supermicro-approved Hynix? Or should I roll the dice on the Kingston?
2. Case/PSU. Has anybody put a Seasonic gold or platinum in the Lian Li PC-Q18 and have it fit without a bunch of hassle? Anybody have experience with the Silverstone ST55F-G and can speak to how loud and/or reliable it is?
3. Hard drive recommendations to best fit my criteria #1-#4?
4. Any other recommendations, thoughts, concerns?

 

[cyberjock]

1. Superbiiz is reliable. Been linked to for years on here for a good reason. ;)
2. Not sure. :/
3. WD Reds are by far the most common here and work very well. They are definitely my first recommendation
4. Nope. You seem to have it pretty down-pat and well understood.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'd strongly recommend against using a fanless PSU. A good PSU is inaudible over the rest of the system and the fan helps keep things cool, which is especially important in such a tight build.

 

[snix]

Well I've been very impressed with how the Seasonic fanless has performed in my mini ITX Haswell HTPC - the system never gets more than lukewarm even when playing games. Point taken though - this build will be even more cramped than the HTPC.

And thanks for the info cyberjock - definitely helps with the confidence that I'm on the right track.

 

[DataMover]

I would second Ericloewe: the PSU will be inaudible over the rest.

Why? You can not expect, that moving around in your living room will result in a sufficient air flow to cool down the Avoton. And 4 spinning disks will heat up the system even more (and give noise).

I have an Supermicro A1SRi-2758F running in a 19" case along with 12 disks (a mixture of WD RED and Seagate NAS disks, that's for your disk recom.) and a Seasonic SS-400L2U. On one hand my system is definitely not like a HTPC - it leaves more room in the case which is good against overheating. On the other hand there are 12, not only 4 disks, giving additional heat. Anyway, even with all disks off power and an open case, the A1SRi-2758F signals overheating after a couple of minutes if running some software. It needs an constant airflow through the CPU heat sink. Running FreeNAS (and some jails) and serving the disks keeps the CPU between 37 and 50 C *WITH* a four-fan-bar running at full speed between the disks and the board.

The good thing: my Seasonic PSU has never turned on its own fan ;)

 

[snix]

If your Seasonic PSU hasn't ever turned on its fan that means you're basically running a fanless then right? ;)

Seriously though, I imagine the airflow through the case (the case's design and fans) are *way* more important than whether or not the PSU has a fan (at least with the excellent PSUs we're talking about with the low power hardware it will be pushing). That's one of the big reasons I ended up picking the Lian Li PC-Q18 case - see the chart at the bottom of this review comparing the temperatures and sound levels of the Lian Li PC-Q18, Chenbro SR30169, Fractal Node 304, and the SilverStone DS380: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1388-page6.html

At the power levels I'm going to be running the PSU shouldn't ever get hot so the fanless should have been fine if it fit. It's all academic though since I went ahead and ordered the parts list in my original post with some WD Reds and the Silverstone 550W ST55F-G PSU (which has a fan). Reviews online for the ST55F-G PSU were good so I went ahead with it.

 

[BlackRugger]

I can second Cyberjock confidence in superbiz.com as a reliable source. It too was the only place I could find the ram supported by my mobo so I ordered from them. Then as I surfed their site I noticed they had the reds at discount price compared to Newegg so picked those up from them as well. Overall great experience and would buy from again.

 

[William Katsak]

Case/PSU. Has anybody put a Seasonic gold or platinum in the Lian Li PC-Q18 and have it fit without a bunch of hassle? Anybody have experience with

I don't know this case, but I just put together a build with this board and an Ablecom CS-M50 and it is sweet. Only quirk is the front USB doesn't plug into the small-pinned USB 3.0 header on the board, so I have to look into this.