ASUS P9X79 WS

[LFaWolf]

Hi everyone,

I have a lot of experience building PC, but not servers. Currently I have a QNAP NAS running 2x SSD and the performance is quite slow. I am thinking of building a FreeNAS system. Currently I have this motherboard -
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/P9X79_WS/specifications/

From the spec I see that it supports ECC memory but only un-buffered memory (not sure what is the difference). Will any of these ECC memory work? If not, could someone recommend some memory from eBay (I am not very good at reading QVL)?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-M39...031416?hash=item25c7b0a0b8:g:SfkAAOSwo4pYF8Vg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KIngston-8X...986950?hash=item4d52675ac6:g:7pQAAOSwTA9X4DKn
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-64G...409813?hash=item2a79855d95:g:i9MAAOSwUKxYbXov
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hynix-64GB-...280904?hash=item58ecd197c8:g:qMsAAOSw241YbXpD

CPU: LGA2011 i7 Xeon E5-2670 or E5-2680 (I have x2 of both)
Video Card: EVGA GT 710 or another low power GPU (I have quite a few)
PSU: EVGA G2 850 or Corsair RMx 850 (I have both and several other PSUs)
Case: Depends on the motherboard. I have Fractal Design R4/R5, Corsair 750D, etc. Need something that fits.
Drives: WD NAS Red Drives but have not decided on capacity yet

If the above motherboard does not work, I can get an ASRock from Newegg but I would really prefer to use it as I have 3x of them. I prefer the ASrock as it has 3-year warranty compared to SuperMicro, but let me know if SuperMicro has better boards. I don't think I need Dual CPU boards but I do have x2 of either the CPUs above.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157523&ignorebbr=1
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...NodeId=1&N=100007629 600287814 600288062 8000

Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Arwen]

In general, FreeNAS is a server. Thus, we prefer server type boards, (ASrock makes some nice server boards).
One difference is that workstation boards tend to have extra & un-needed I/O, like PS/2 and audio ports. Some
even have less than ideal network ports, (though the Asus board you list has the highly recommended Intel
brand chips).

Further, server boards tend to not need video cards, as they may have IPMI, (aka BMC, iLO, LOM, etc...),
which may include it's own video chip. This IPMI feature allows console and BIOS access remotely through
it's own network port, including graphics. Then you can install the NAS server in a closet or basement, (if
either have good ventilation). Out of sight and hearing, but as long as it's network accessible, perfect.

Your Asus board does include ECC memory and Xeon CPUs. Quite helpful for a server. I can't comment on
the RAM you have listed, other than to recommend ECC.

On the subject of buffered memory verses un-buffered memory. It's a CPU and system board thing. When a
server has more DIMM slots than a single un-buffered memory channel can handle, vendors use buffered
memory. For example, my old dual socket server had 2 memory channels per CPU socket, each with 4 DIMM
slots. Thus, the need for buffered memory. Basically low end servers tend to use un-buffered memory. Just
read the board's specifications and follow what it needs, (un-buffered is probably cheaper if bought new).

 

[neuromaniac]

I have one of those. They run rock solid but I second the motion that the power consumption may be high. You should be able to run FreeNAS without problems. I filled it with these kits:
KVR16E11K4/32I and works fine. Max memory is 64gb.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk

 

[LFaWolf]

That RAM is much more expensive than what I can find on eBay (64GB server ECC are $100). Are there any other memory that will work? As for power consumption, it is not a big deal for me as I will be using a very low power GT 710.

 

[nightshade00013]

KVR16E11K4/32I

Which is not ECC ram and ECC ram is recommended in FreeNAS/ZFS use. It's also Kingston which has been written off for a while.

As for the OP if you already have it and can use the ECC ram that is fine but a server board is ALWAYS better. Once FreeNAS is configured just remove the video card, but make sure that the board only halts on keyboard errors or no errors so it will bypass not having a video card installed. Even not being used it will eat power and as @Arwen said server boards are better suited for this because of that.


Also don't use the ports hooked to the Marvel controller, there have been many issues over the years and not just in FreeNAS/FreeBSD but windows as well.

Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), navy blue
Support Raid 0, 1

I also have to mention that the MAX amount of ram the board will support is 64GB so with 8 memory slots you need to pick up 4 X 16GB sticks or 8 X 8GB sticks if you want to max out. This is especially needed since it is a quad channel board, a single stick would be a complete waste.

 

[LFaWolf]

That Kingston RAM I looked up is indeed ECC. Not sure why you say it isn't? Link - https://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/KVR16E11K4_32.pdf

Okay, I don't mind picking up a server board but will a server board work with any ECC RAM selling on eBay? I think 64GB ECC DDR3 is a good number and they are going for about $100 (Samsung, Hynix, etc). I can do more but it seems overkill.
Choices here but if there is a good tried and true board, let me know please. The server realm is just not my area.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...76&PID=8192570&SID=1187656FOF4976495769017358

 

[neuromaniac]

Yes. It is ECC but unbuffered. Unfortunately both ASUS and Gigabyte X79 WS boards will only take unbuffered ram which is more expensive. It may be cheaper to buy a Supermicro X9S board and ECC ram.

Sent from my LG-H900 using Tapatalk