e5504 vs. e5620, worth an upgrade?

[Ron Robertson]

Hi all - I have a NAS4Free server running UFS that I'm converting over to Freenas 9.1.1, intending to run ZFS. Base hardware is as follows:

Supermicro x8st3-f motherboard (lsi 8 port, intel 6 port, onboard intel nics)
Currently outfitted with 3GB ECC, about to upgrade to 12GB+
6x3TB Seagate Barracuda disks (running off the intel side)
e5504 cpu, 2.0GHz, Quad Core

I've done plenty of reading (thanks Cyberjock!) about the need for loads of ECC ram, among other things. Hence the planned upgrade to 12GB, and possibly 24GB (this is still a hard number to swallow, but I'm coping). I'm planning on a raidZ2 with the disks, yielding 10TB. I'd like to use encryption on the ZFS pool...and far as I can tell, the e5504 does not have AES-NI.

So the question...is the near $400 I'd lay out for an AES-NI capable cpu worth it over the presently on hand e5504? There's only 400MHz clock speed between the two for samba to make use of, though an e5620 would also add hyperthreading...not sure how useful that is for Freenas. I'm looking at it chiefly for AES.

Second question: is the upgrade to 24GB RAM necessary? I secretly hear the answer already, but I need someone with some experience to tell me it really is.

The machine serves as backup dumping ground (around 400GB on a full run), software install area, documentation, and general "put it there for now" area for our 3-man IT department. We have 150 users, but none of them use the NAS servers directly. It is in a small health care facility however, and thus encryption is a general norm that we are moving toward "just in case" for privacy compliance. In addition, were it to prove quite stable, it likely would be trusted to do more important things.

I have a second identical server that will eventually be migrated as well.

Any help and insight is appreciated.

 

[cyberjock]

A friend's FreeNAS server had the e5504. If you plan to go with encryption, I'd say that a CPU with AES-NI is absolutely necessary. Otherwise expect extremely poor performance from your machine. :(

You could probably get by with 12GB of RAM. I had 12, and I just bought an 8GB stick when I needed more. Going to 24GB+ is probably a bit overkill for you. I'm not sure what configuration of RAM you are currently using is, but you could probably get 2x8GB sticks and drop them in for 19GB and be quite happy for the forseeable future.

For the amount of money you're going to spend on that setup, you could probably get an ivy bridge setup for like $200 more... The x9scm-f is a very good board to start, your RAM should be interchangable with the new board, and you just need a CPU. Mine is the e3-1230v2 and will do anything you could possibly want. Just an idea...

 

[Ron Robertson]

Actually it looks like the price difference is a lot less than $200.

The board+cpu you've suggested comes to $397 on Newegg. Going with the e5620 would have run me $386 by itself. So for $13 I can be on a newer platform, with the attendant increase in raw processing capability (basically would take two e5620 to be on par with the e3 you've pointed out), which is obviously a win, but also gain raw clock speed for samba. No brainer. And I'm going to guess the RAM will be cheaper, since it won't require the triple channel configuration that the old board did (3x1GB), though I may give up a bit of memory bandwidth.

Thanks very much for the input. The board should be a fairly easy swap in to the case, though I'll have to add an ATX power extension. Supermicro is pretty finicky about what boards go in their chassis...even their own.