Chosing proper HBA and RAM for home system

[dfad]

Please advice on hardware selection for small home system with following usage:

• Primary purpose is storing a photo/video archive.
• Some part of data should be fast to browse so I think about SAS drives.
• I do not expect that more than 2 users will need access simultaneously.
• It will be build in mid tower case, as I can't place rack server close to home router, and also need low-noise system.

My primary questions are:
1. Which models of unbuffered ECC DDR3 modules could I use with B85M-based motherboard?
2. Is LSI 9272 in HBA mode a good choice for SAS array? If not, what about 9267 or 9265?

Now the details:

I have some unused hardware that I plan to use for it. The core of the system will be MSI B85M-P33 v3 motherboard with i3-4160 CPU. This motherboard does not support registered ECC of course, but I suppose that it can support unbuffered ECC (can someone confirm that?). I plan to start it with single non-ECC 8 GB module and then switch to a pair of unbuffered ECC that this MB could support, so advises on proper RAM modules are appreciated (compatibility page at vendor's website does not provide information on ECC/non-ECC).
If unbuffered ECC is not an option at all for this motherboard, I can consider obtaining better hardware, but would prefer to reuse what I have already. Indeed, I believe that my use case (copying of files from desktop and ensuring that they are ok before deleting on the desktop) does not absolutely require ECC.

OS drive will be standalone SATA HDD, one of those gathering dust in my closet already.

Then I plan to have RAID5 array of 3-4 SAS 3TB drives connected to HBA that is to chose now. As costs of used LSI 9272/9267/9265 do not differ much, I'm thinking about 9272 in HBA mode. Is this good choice for such system? Later, I also might want to add another array of SATA HDDs, using either SATA ports of the motherboard, or same HBA if it will have spare socket.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SweetAndLow]

1. Which models of unbuffered ECC DDR3 modules could I use with B85M-based motherboard?

umm none? I don't think those motherboards support ecc.

2. Is LSI 9272 in HBA mode a good choice for SAS array? If not, what about 9267 or 9265?

how many disks? do you even need an hba?

I think you're choosing a bad motherboard for freenas. It has no ecc support, realtek lan and audio. all of these things are red flags.

 

[dfad]

umm none? I don't think those motherboards support ecc.

I checked MSI website deeper, and they state that some unbuffered ECC modules are supported by this motherboard indeed, particularly few models from Kingston. So it gives me a chance.

how many disks? do you even need an hba?

This motherboard has no SAS support onboard, and I want to start with an array of four SAS drives, 3 TB each. So I assume I need HBA if I want to use SAS. Is there any easier way? I did not work with SAS before so might miss something.
Yes, I mentioned adding SATA array in the future, but I am going to start with SAS.

realtek lan and audio

I agree, Intel LAN seems to be good idea. Well, used single-port Intel PCI-E LAN card costs about $10, and I have unused audio card from Creative as well (is audio really important for FreeNAS?). In the same time, if I had to buy used X79 motherboard with Xeon of approximately same performance, this would cost about $100, plus requires discrete graphic adapter (I have one unused GTX 660 though). So it seems that I save at least $90 if I reuse existing hardware, that I could invest in drives instead. Makes sense?

 

[SweetAndLow]

I checked MSI website deeper, and they state that some unbuffered ECC modules are supported by this motherboard indeed, particularly few models from Kingston. So it gives me a chance.


This motherboard has no SAS support onboard, and I want to start with an array of four SAS drives, 3 TB each. So I assume I need HBA if I want to use SAS. Is there any easier way? I did not work with SAS before so might miss something.
Yes, I mentioned adding SATA array in the future, but I am going to start with SAS.


I agree, Intel LAN seems to be good idea. Well, used single-port Intel PCI-E LAN card costs about $10, and I have unused audio card from Creative as well (is audio really important for FreeNAS?). In the same time, if I had to buy used X79 motherboard with Xeon of approximately same performance, this would cost about $100, plus requires discrete graphic adapter (I have one unused GTX 660 though). So it seems that I save at least $90 if I reuse existing hardware, that I could invest in drives instead. Makes sense?

For experiment if you want but it's going to be a battle. Good luck.

 

[dfad]

but it's going to be a battle

I'm not going to have a battle, I'm trying to stay in a budget for a system that doesn't bring any income and thus I try to reuse as many components as possible while still having a working solution. :)
I really appreciate your opinion and agree that it makes sense to use better LAN card from the beginning. But what did you mean about HBA? Is there any better idea?

 

[SweetAndLow]

I'm not going to have a battle, I'm trying to stay in a budget for a system that doesn't bring any income and thus I try to reuse as many components as possible while still having a working solution. :)
I really appreciate your opinion and agree that it makes sense to use better LAN card from the beginning. But what did you mean about HBA? Is there any better idea?

Freenas does not work well when people try to reuse older systems. If all you have are was drives then you need that hba. I personally would just but new drives. This way you know they have a warrant and should last many many years.

 

[JaimieV]

Unless the SAS drives are out of your bits box, don't bother with paying for SAS drives for a home system. They're useful for multipath systems with two head units (two computers sharing one disk stack) but convey basically no advantage to a home all-in-one box.

 

[dfad]

Just want to post an update to this topic for those who'd find it seeking for something similar.

Finally, I have installed FreeNAS on the following hardware

MSI B85M-P33 v3 motherboard;
i3-4160 CPU that has ECC support itself;
8 GB RAM - tried different modules, details below;
LAN Broadcom 95722 (and disabled onboard Realtek adapter);
2x Intel DC 3500 SSD 80 GB as boot pool (tried 2x Kingston DataTraveler USB but they are extremely slow with current FreeNAS release);
2x ST IronWolf HDD 4 TB as mirrored data pool;
1x Hitachi HDD 500 GB as data pool for specific purposes that do not require any redundancy;
ThermalTake H21 case - really cool baby capable to hold plenty of drives, but MB no bigger than ATX unfortunately;
APC Back-UPS ES 500 with AP9827 data cable;
Some extra case fans for better airflow.

This machine works fine and satisfies my needs, HDDs run at 30°C that's not bad for desktop case at 25°C around, but I'm also going to install one more fan for SSDs that are at 35°C now. Why I write this post however is an issue with ECC support.

Initially I installed non-ECC Viper Patriot DDR3 module, but ordered non-buffered ECC Hynix module as planned replacement.
Once this ECC module finally arrived, I replaced non-ECC module with it and ran Memtest86 to check whether I really have ECC now.
The results were not too satisfying. SPD chip on new memory module says that it supports ECC, but the module works in non-ECC mode.

Some sources suppose that this MB could enable ECC if Xeon is installed instead of i3, but I do not plan such tests because switching to Xeon means installing discrete graphic adapter, that would mean permanent extra power consumption and occupying the only long PCI-E slot that I could use in better way. Instead I will slowly look for better MB, may be something on 2011 socket and with onboard video.

 

[subhuman]

I do not plan such tests because switching to Xeon means installing discrete graphic adapter, that would mean permanent extra power consumption and occupying the only long PCI-E slot that I could use in better way.

No need for a high-end GPU unless it's accellerating workloads. You can get x8 GPUs. Rated max power consumption of the GT 710 is 19w.

MSI GeForce GT 710 1GB 64-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x8 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card 1GD3H LPV1 - Newegg.com

Buy MSI GeForce GT 710 1GB 64-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x8 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card 1GD3H LPV1 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

This is just an example. You can find other x8 GPUs.

APC Back-UPS ES 500

That's only rated at 300w - will it be enough?

APC Back-UPS ES 500VA - BE500U | APC USA

BE500U - APC Back-UPS ES 500VA | APC USA

www.apc.com

Code:

Run time for load 300W    4m
Output power capacity        300Watts / 500VA

 

[dfad]

You can get x8 GPUs. Rated max power consumption of the GT 710 is 19w.

Sure, there are even some x1 GPUs though they are rare. Anyway, here's wide field for different configurations and I have some time to choose now when my system is working ok.

That's only rated at 300w - will it be enough?

Code:

Run time for load 300W    4m
Output power capacity        300Watts / 500VA

It could be not enough for system start but enough for a system that runs already, it consumes about 200 W in average in current configuration. I have installed new battery and configured my server to shutdown if UPS reports no power for 30 seconds, so I still have some reserve.

 

[subhuman]

If you're satisfied that's all that matters. I just wanted to be sure you were aware that the UPS Magic-Pull-A-Number-Out-Of-Our-Arses isn't equal to watts.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Sure, there are even some x1 GPUs though they are rare. Anyway, here's wide field for different configurations and I have some time to choose now when my system is working ok.


It could be not enough for system start but enough for a system that runs already, it consumes about 200 W in average in current configuration. I have installed new battery and configured my server to shutdown if UPS reports no power for 30 seconds, so I still have some reserve.

Whoa your system consumes 200w? I think you added an extra zero there bud. My 24 drive system consumes 200w. Your system does not, more like 40w probably at idle.

 

[dfad]

40 W would be great. I need to find time to measure it. :) The numbers above are estimation from https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator - they seem to be for a system under some load.

 

[no_connection]

Any ups worth keeping should give you a load reading. What does UPSC say?

Also do you really need a gpu anyway? At worst you could pop one in to trouble shoot boot issues, granted I have not tested but I think FN would still support headless operation. Serial console?

 

[dfad]

Any ups worth keeping should give you a load reading. What does UPSC say?

Which parameters should I check? Here is some extracts from output (I removed device.* and driver.* as not meaningful here):

Code:

battery.charge: 98
battery.charge.low: 10
battery.charge.warning: 50
battery.date: not set
battery.mfr.date: 2004/01/27
battery.runtime: 1905
battery.runtime.low: 120
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 13.3
battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
input.sensitivity: high
input.transfer.high: 138
input.transfer.low: 88
input.voltage: 119.0
input.voltage.nominal: 120
ups.beeper.status: enabled
ups.delay.shutdown: 20
ups.firmware: 801.e5.D
ups.firmware.aux: e5
ups.load: 25
ups.mfr: APC
ups.mfr.date: 2004/01/27
ups.model: Back-UPS ES 500
ups.productid: 0002
ups.status: OL CHRG
ups.timer.reboot: 0
ups.timer.shutdown: -1
ups.vendorid: 051d

Ignore battery.mfr.date, I installed new battery few months ago.

Also do you really need a gpu anyway? At worst you could pop one in to trouble shoot boot issues, granted I have not tested but I think FN would still support headless operation. Serial console?

I believe that this desktop motherboard just would not start without at least one GPU. But I did not check.

 

[no_connection]

ups.load: 25
That should be load in % unless I'm mistaken. So 500VA * 0.25 = 125VA. Or it might be in W but same parameter indicate VA on mine.


ups.load: 11.1
ups.power: 111
ups.power.nominal: 1000
ups.realpower: 89

As you can see mine list both VA (111VA) and W (89W)

 

[dfad]

Thank you for the explanation. Looks excellent for me. I have DSL modem and Wi-Fi router sitting on this UPS as well, and if I have 25% with all this load, I should be Ok, and theoretically this UPS could keep all this load for 16+ min.

With that, I will keep the current settings to shut down if the power is down for 30 sec, because powering the modem and the router has higher priority for me.