AMD vs Intel ?

[danzg]

I'm putting together a NAS box, and would like some advice re CPU.

I was going to use an AMD Sempron 140 2.7ghz ($40), but my friend, who built a similar NAS unit, said I should spend the extra $80 or so and get an Intel Core2 Duo E7500 2.93ghz ($120).

Is the Duo worth the extra money? Or will the Sempron suffice?

(This would be with 8GB RAM and 4-8 2TB drives)

thanks!

 

[matthewowen01]

it should work with either, the 140 is about as powerful as the e350 and many users have had success with those. however, the e-350 is dual core and the 140 is only a single core so your mileage may vary.

the 7500 is about 3 times more powerful.

however, I'd go with an AMD Athlon II X2 245, it's over twice as fast as the 140, but not quite as fast as the 7500. but it's only $45. i had a 4450e and it is slightly faster than the 245 but was plenty for my last NAS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933


just reread your post, 8 drives, i would steer clear of the single cores all together.

before you buy, post your system so we can take a look and see if we see any problems.

 

[Tekkie]

If you are thinking of RAIDZ do a search on the forum for the best number of drives to use, as 8 is not it. :)

 

[matthewowen01]

8 may not be optimal but it's not like it's a bad thing. hitting the sweet spot can be nice, but I'm running a raidz2 with 8 disks and there is no smoke billowing from my NAS.

 

[danzg]

however, I'd go with an AMD Athlon II X2 245...

Thank you! Great tip! You just knocked my cost way down.

Here's my final shopping list ... thanks for any feedback!

1. CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX245OCK23GM - OEM
   
2. MOBO: BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
   
3. RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ
   
4. CASE: Fractal Design Define R3 White ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case
   
5. PSU: ENERMAX Tomahawk ETK500AWT 500W ATX12V V2.2 AirGuard, Speed Guard and Safe Guard Active PFC Power Supply

Total (pre-tax&ship) ~ $300

PS: For now it's only going to have 4x2TB drives ... I won't add more til probably a year from now...

 

[matthewowen01]

why are you ordering 3 sticks of ram for a board that can only hold 2?

you can buy 2 of these for 8 GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139046

only $10 more.

 

[danzg]

Doh! Thanks for catching that. I had a 4-slot mobo in there before. Good catch.
How's this one look:
MSI 880GM-P51 AM3 AMD 880G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
or
MSI 760GM-P35 AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
And re the RAM -- support at G.Skill told me the best memory for this CPU would be PC3 10666, not 10600 ... is that valid?

Also -- do you think 3Gb/s vs 6Gb/s SATA matters much (assuming drives are 6) ? I'm assuming no, since 3Gb/s would be enough for GB Ethernet...

 

[danzg]

Update -- to save more money (I really need to keep cost down) I'm thinking to lose the fancy Fractal Design case and go with this:
Rosewill R103A ATX Mid Tower Case with 350W 20+4 pin connector Power Supply
... and get a better case later ... that shaves off another $90 ... which brings my whole 8TB ZFS NAS in at under $500!!

 

[matthewowen01]

ugly, but when it sits in the closest who cares.

I'm looking at the chip for the NIC (Atheros AR8131) and not 100% sure it's supported.

does anyone have this chip working?

i found this saying there is a patch for 8.2 but nothing earlier.

http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/Atheros-9285-amp-Atheros-AR8131-td4265708.html

 

[danzg]

Yeah, I was wondering about NIC chipset ... how do I find out which chipsets are supported under FreeNAS 7 ?
I was looking at http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.2R/hardware.html#ETHERNET
But confused if that is only FreeNAS 8?
And one mobo I was considering has Realtek 8112L, which is NOT on that list ...