BUILD First NAS - have build and few questions

[Jimmy G.]

Hi all,

I just joined the forum, but I've been lurking on these forums, r/freenas and r/datahoarder for a while now and I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a proper NAS instead of chain-linking many external HDDs. Currently I have 5TBx1, 4TBx1, 2TBx1, 1TBx1.

My need for a NAS is to have some redundancy and serve files in my house and outside to my friends. There might be also 2-3 streams for Plex and/or Subsonic, OwnCloud, few VMs.

The build that I would like to order in the next few days, unless there are some suggestions here for changes, is the following:

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SL7-F
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230V3 Haswell, 3.3GHz, 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150
Memory: Crucial 32GB (8GB x4) - DDR3
HDDs: HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB (x10) - RAIDZ2
Case: Fractal Design Define R5
Bay Adapters: 3.5 to 5.25 bay adapter (x2)
Boot Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB (x2)
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X650 80 Plus Gold
UPS: Cyberpower 1500AVR

With the above I am hoping to get about 26-28TB usable space.

Few questions:

1. How does the build look? Am I missing anything? The above is all I am ordering, nothing else
   
2. As the MB has only 6 SATA connections, to use the SAS connections, do I need to flash them to IT mode? I was reading on this in the forums but I am not sure I am clear on it yet. Any help or guidance on this is greatly appreciated
3. I saw the threads for the SanDisk Cruzer Fit USBs, any other recommendation instead of this?
4. I might need to order the RAM from the crucial website at a slight premium as I cannot find the 1.35v version elsewhere, any hints where it is sold elsewhere?

In the future I would like to expand the HDDs, but I will either have to switch all of them with 6TB/8TB or move the hardware in a different case.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Rilo Ravestein]

1. How does the build look? Am I missing anything? The above is all I am ordering, nothing else
2. 
   
3. I saw the threads for the SanDisk Cruzer Fit USBs, any other recommendation instead of this?

Your build seems fine to me! AFAIK the issue was with the Ultra Fits, see my signature.

 

[DrKK]

The PSU is a bit beefy. What you're putting together here looks like it'll be in the 60-100W range (idle--obviously you can spike with that CPU higher than this). A power supply in that wattage range will not be operating at very good efficiency all the way down there. It's not like this is a big deal though---but, if you haven't bought the parts, I'd definitely knock the PSU down.

Also, your strategy appears to involve using most/all of the internal bays, and then converting external bays to 3.5" bays. Packing 10 drives into this thing like sardines, in this particular fashion, is definitely something to think about thermally. That case has a number of places for fans, but it only comes with like 2 (if memory serves). I'd buy some fans for the optional mountpoints. You will definitely want to make sure that you're moving air, and that you are resilient to a fan dying.

EDIT: The drives you've chosen are 7200 RPM, and thus can be expected to be considerably warmer than the usual 5400 RPM stuff. I'd be mounting fans all around the case.

 

[pirateghost]

Flash the LSI controller to IT mode, and you can use the ports on it.

 

[Rilo Ravestein]

EDIT: The drives you've chosen are 7200 RPM, and thus can be expected to be considerably warmer than the usual 5400 RPM stuff. I'd be mounting fans all around the case.

I've seen that remark a few times. I've been using the same drives (3TB version) and use a FD Define R3 case in which i placed a second front fan blowing over them, because of those remarks. I only have 5 drives, but I still never had to adjust the fan settings any higher than the lowest settings (case switch), even in summer when the room got quite hot.
I do agree you have to take it into account, but since people tend to exaggerate, i thought i'd bring in my 2 cents.

 

[depasseg]

The PSU is a bit beefy. What you're putting together here looks like it'll be in the 60-100W range (idle--obviously you can spike with that CPU higher than this). A power supply in that wattage range will not be operating at very good efficiency all the way down there. It's not like this is a big deal though---but, if you haven't bought the parts, I'd definitely knock the PSU down.

With 10 7200 rpm drives, it's easily in the 120watt idle range. I wouldn't drop the PSU very far from 650 (550 as the lowest assuming you aren't ever going to install anything else in there). To put it in perspective, the Supermicro server I have (freenas1 in my sig, has dual 920W High efficiency PSUs (94%+), and it has 12 drives. It idles around 130 watts and infrequently spikes to just under 400.

 

[Rilo Ravestein]

With 10 7200 rpm drives, it's easily in the 120watt idle range. I wouldn't drop the PSU very far from 650 (550 as the lowest assuming you aren't ever going to install anything else in there). To put it in perspective, the Supermicro server I have (freenas1 in my sig, has dual 920W High efficiency PSUs (94%+), and it has 12 drives. It idles around 130 watts and infrequently spikes to just under 400.

I think you are right. I only have 6 7200 rpm drives and it's about 60W idle
I have a 900W UPS, but I also connect my modem/router and switch. Which doesn't actually makes much sense now I think of it, since I connect most devices via a WiFi AP that is not connected to the UPS lol

 

[Jimmy G.]

Your build seems fine to me! AFAIK the issue was with the Ultra Fits, see my signature.

Oh, thanks. For some reason I misread the names. I'll get these Cruzer ones.

The PSU is a bit beefy. What you're putting together here looks like it'll be in the 60-100W range (idle--obviously you can spike with that CPU higher than this). A power supply in that wattage range will not be operating at very good efficiency all the way down there. It's not like this is a big deal though---but, if you haven't bought the parts, I'd definitely knock the PSU down.

Also, your strategy appears to involve using most/all of the internal bays, and then converting external bays to 3.5" bays. Packing 10 drives into this thing like sardines, in this particular fashion, is definitely something to think about thermally. That case has a number of places for fans, but it only comes with like 2 (if memory serves). I'd buy some fans for the optional mountpoints. You will definitely want to make sure that you're moving air, and that you are resilient to a fan dying.

EDIT: The drives you've chosen are 7200 RPM, and thus can be expected to be considerably warmer than the usual 5400 RPM stuff. I'd be mounting fans all around the case.

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't ordered the PSU yet. I used this website to calculate how much W a build uses, and it came to about 250W for me, based on that I went with higher W. I can switch to a 550W, but I don't think I should go lower than that.

For the extra fans, yes you are right, the case comes with 2 fans, 1 front and 1 back. I will order 1-2 more of these and add one more in front and one side perhaps.

Flash the LSI controller to IT mode, and you can use the ports on it.

Thanks for that. And for how to do that, is this guide good or would you recommend a different guide for it?

 

[pirateghost]

That guide works great but replace version 19 with 16

 

[Jimmy G.]

That guide works great but replace version 19 with 16

I got PH16.0.1-IT.zip, that should be it, huh? Cheers

 

[pirateghost]

I got PH16.0.1-IT.zip, that should be it, huh? Cheers

Yep

 

[Jailer]

If you want a guide for flashing see the attached PDF. It's for a x9 series board but the procedure is the same.

 

[Ericloewe]

I can understand going with an X-650 instead of a G-550. The difference in efficiency should be minimal, since the X-Series borders on 80+ Platinum (and is nearly unchanged on the Seasonic Platinum line).
Power output is also a bit better, warranty is longer and the fan is much better (Sanyo Denki instead of ADDA).

 

[Bidule0hm]

Yep, regulation is tighter too. If you can source it and afford it the X-Series are just the best PSUs I ever saw (except the TDK-Lambda PSUs but it's not PC/server PSU anymore then...) ;)

 

[Jimmy G.]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I made one small change since my initial config. I am going with the 1231V3 Xeon model instead of the 1230V3 model.

Question about the SATA to SAS cables, do I need a cable like this one?

If the above cable is right, can I connect 4 SATAs on one SAS or I will need to buy 4 cables and connect 1to1 and have 3 SATA connectors empty?

 

[pirateghost]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I made one small change since my initial config. I am going with the 1231V3 Xeon model instead of the 1230V3 model.

Question about the SATA to SAS cables, do I need a cable like this one?

If the above cable is right, can I connect 4 SATAs on one SAS or I will need to buy 4 cables and connect 1to1 and have 3 SATA connectors empty?

No. You do not need the breakout cable at all if you are going from the LSI ports to a SATA or a SAS drive. That breakout cable is for connecting to a SFF8087 port on a backplane. You can use plain old SATA cables to connect to the LSI ports on that board. You do not need any fancy cables unless you are going to move to SAS expanders or SAS backplanes. Just look at the picture of the motherboard. It has 8 LSI sata/sas ports and 6 intel.

 

[Jimmy G.]

No. You do not need the breakout cable at all if you are going from the LSI ports to a SATA or a SAS drive. That breakout cable is for connecting to a SFF8087 port on a backplane. You can use plain old SATA cables to connect to the LSI ports on that board. You do not need any fancy cables unless you are going to move to SAS expanders or SAS backplanes. Just look at the picture of the motherboard. It has 8 LSI sata/sas ports and 6 intel.

I looked at the picture on the SuperMicro website but it is at an angle and tiny so it was hard to notice difference. Got just SATA cables, thanks.

 

[pirateghost]

I looked at the picture on the SuperMicro website but it is at an angle and tiny so it was hard to notice difference. Got just SATA cables, thanks.

That board ships with 6 cables. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jimmy G.]

That board ships with 6 cables. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha, I guess I will have 6 extra cables then :) I ordered 10 of them yesterday together with the remaining of the parts. And I went for the E3-1241V3 CPU... no more changes, all is ordered now. Thanks again to all who helped me.

 

[Z300M]

Yep, regulation is tighter too. If you can source it and afford it the X-Series are just the best PSUs I ever saw (except the TDK-Lambda PSUs but it's not PC/server PSU anymore then...) ;)

That's good to know. I bought an X-650, then noticed that many people here were recommending the G-series, and I thought I had made a major mistake.