Benefits of i3 vs Pentium? Core count/threads question.

[r00tb33r]

Trying to decide what ECC-capable CPU to get. My budget is zero, so everything I pick is over budget, but I need a CPU.

Comparing a Pentium and an i3 of the same architecture, benchmark-wise they perform similarly in single threaded and similarly in total performance, even though the Pentium is 2(2) core(thread) vs i3 2(4). Does FreeNAS, or more importantly the ZFS volume make good use of the extra cores?

Here's my usage scenario:
A 64TB ZFS2, encrypted. One user, me, archiving my data onto the NAS, and occasionally accessing it over SMB, for example playing music files over network.

So I don't know if this scenario benefits by having more than two cores (or one for that matter). This is the title question of the thread. I would appreciate if someone would elaborate. I don't believe the hardware guide actually goes in depth regarding core count.

Secondly, since I would like to encrypt my volume, are AES-NI the instructions of the CPU needed to accelerate it? Are all AES-NI-enabled CPUs adequate or should I be picking something particular?

Insight is appreciated.

(Ignore the specs in the signature, I'm asking regarding a new build.)

 

[Chris Moore]

ZFS2

I am guessing you mean RAIDz2? You appear to need to review the guide:

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/terminology-and-abbreviations-primer.28174/

Secondly, since I would like to encrypt my volume, are AES-NI the instructions of the CPU needed to accelerate it?

Absolutely crucial if you want any reasonable performance although, it is probably best to not encrypt as it can create data loss scenarios. Many people have lost their pool and needed to restore from a backup.

If you would give a bit more explanation about how you intend to use the system, it might be easier to make suggestions.

 

[r00tb33r]

I am guessing you mean RAIDz2?

Correct.

Would you care to contribute to the discussion regarding the topic of the thread?