First FreeNAS build

[Nuvi]

Hello, I have already started to acquire some of the components, but want to listen to your valuable opinion on the build. I'm on a tight budget and decided to buy a used MOBO + CPU combo on ebay, already stressed the CPU and everything seems fine! I also already bought the case and the RAM.

Motherboard: Supermicro X8STi
CPU: Intel Xeon L5630
RAM: Samsung 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 U ECC - M391B5273CH0-CH9 (listed on supermicro website as tested compatible memory)
PSU: XFX TS 430W
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 + extra intake fan
Boot drive: Don't know yet, inclined towards dual USB mirrored drives but I own a 256GB SDD currently unused which I can either sell, use as a cache drive or as a boot drive.
HDD: Possibly 2x4TB WD RED to start but depends on what I can get on sale

I will be using it to store media, backups and some critical files which I already backup offsite. Maybe one plex transcode later down the line when I own a TV :)

As for the extra SSD I own, the NAS will mostly be accessed from one machine only, and the only NIC on it is from a USB 3.0 to ethernet adapter which doesn't surpass the 90 MBps so I'm thinking there won't be any benefit on using the drive as cache, hence my inclination on selling it. Am I right?

Also which actions should I take in order to try to reduce the change of multiple drive failure? Different manufactures or just different vendors?

 

[danb35]

You don't have enough RAM to begin to make use of an L2ARC device, and 256 GB is really too large for a boot device (it will work fine, but most of it will be wasted). I would have recommended larger RAM sticks, but what you have should work fine for now, at least.

Also which actions should I take in order to try to reduce the change of multiple drive failure?

Use at least four disks in RAIDZ2, rather than two disks mirrored.

 

[Nuvi]

4GB sticks is the most this motherboard supports, I still have 2 sockets free though, would the benefits of an extra 8GB be noticeable?

Use at least four disks in RAIDZ2, rather than two disks mirrored.

Thanks! I'll look into it

 

[danb35]

4GB sticks is the most this motherboard supports,

Strange, but yes, that's what the product page says. Extra RAM is never going to hurt, but for your proposed use it probably isn't needed.

 

[Stux]

In my experience with LGA1366 systems, most were certified with 4GB sticks, but often have been found to work with 8GB sticks after the fact.

If you have an 8GB stick it'd be worth checking.

 

[Nuvi]

I was just now reading about that! I don't currently have an 8GB stick but i'll try to get my hands on one