BUILD Build review and some questions

[Floris]

Let me start by saying thanks for the many useful articles and answers that I found here! This is my first NAS build and this forum has been a great help!!

So, down to business now;) I'm building a NAS for home use (me alone) and I think I have found the best hardware, but I need a global review of my selection and I still have a few questions.

Build will be for lots of photo's and movies, running sabnzbd, couchpotato, sickbeard..... I'll Samba share to Windows 8, one HTPC (yet to build) and perhaps Android phone and iPad, all attached to my WD MyNet N900 Gigabit router. It'll run RAIDZ2 with 6x3TB.

Here's my hardware:
Case: Define Mini
Mobo: Supermicro X9SCM-F
CPU: Intel Pentium G2020
RAM: Kingston 16GB 1333Mhz DDR3 ECC CL9 DIMM 2x8GB kit (KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G)
PSU: Be-Quiet! Straight Power E9 450W
HDD: 6x Western Digital Red 3TB
USB: Kingston 100 Generation 3 USB 2.0 stick
USB Adapter: StarTech USB A Female to Motherboard Header Adapter
Surge Protector: Brennenstuhl Primera-Line Surge Protector
UPS: ???????

1. Anything I missed? Compatibility issues, better options, underpowered/overpowered etc...

2. It seems recommended to go for an UPS? I can't really find anything about it, so can I get some recommendations? Its purpose would be to attach my PC (750W), NAS (450W), HTPC (?) and router (?) as well as my monitor (?). I don't care about battery backup time, needs to be one minute or something, so my devices can safely shut down via USB connection to UPS. And do I need the Surge Protector if I get an UPS?

3. Does the PSU fit in the case? Case is m-ATX and PSU is ATX. And is 450W too much? Note: I'll never add more HDD's.

4. This one might be silly: There's two Supermicro mobo's: the X9SCM-F and the X9SCL-F-O. I can get the X9SCL-F-O a lot cheaper, but it has 6x SATA 2 instead of the other 2x SATA3 and 4x SATA2. Since I only use HDD's there's no real need for SATA3, so would I be ok buying the X9SCL-F-O model?

5. Does the G2020 unofficially support 1600Mhz ECC RAM? Because then I'll buy 1600...

 

[Floris]

Hm... anyone?:p

 

[joeschmuck]

As to the SATA speed question, SATA III is not needed at all.
To your RAM speed question, you already have a link to the CPU specs, stick with the specs if you value your data and ensure the RAM is listed to support the MB as I hear SuperMicro MB's can be picky.

And the most important, an UPS. If you value your data get an UPS. Check out my tag line for the one I use and this will get you into the ball park. When you loose power the UPS will signal your NAS to shutdown and this will prevent data corruption. Don't be skimpy on an UPS, it's just as important as a quality PSU and it also contains a surge suppressor.

 

[goudviske]

I upgraded my nas recently to a similar setup as yours,
Initially I was also looking to get a G2020 CPU, because it has ECC support, but I ended up buying an i3 ivy bridge instead, because I wasn't sure the G2020 would work on the board (it probably will), and because I'm not sure the ECC would work with the supermicro board. I found some threads on the internet of people claiming it worked on pentium G cpu's, but decided not to risk it and got the i3 for like 40$ more.

If you're getting the i3 I'd go for a CPU with 1600 Mhz DDR3, most of them are. Also be sure to pick an ivy bridge model (3xxx), they are officially supported for ECC on the supermicro board. Note that to support 1600 Mhz memory, and to support the i3 ivy bridge, your motherboard bios needs to be at rev 2.0 (if I remember correctly), at least it needs to be a certain version. I don't know how that is going to be in regard to the G2020 CPU. Also note that when upgrading the BIOS (I made this mistake) there are 2 steps, after step 1 the CPU & memory are supported, so you think you're in the clear, until you notice ECC support doesn't work, and start fiddling around with a lot of things. It is imported to also run the 2nd part of the BIOS upgrade, this enabled ECC support for me, and probably takes care of other stuff aswell.

Regarding the hard drives, I personally (my opinion, some people have other opinions) would not pay the premium over the green drives, to get one modification (called TLER) which is (again in my opinion) not very useful on a ZFS build.
Regarding the USB, if you get the X9SCM-F board, there is no need to get a "StarTech USB A Female to Motherboard Header Adapter" or similar. It has a type A female USB board on the board directly (I use it too), very handy.
Regarding Surge protector, like joeschmuck has stated, the UPS will also perform that task (descent UPS ofc)