Is FreeNAS right for me? Have I over-spec'd my build?

[Jothy Kandasamy]

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster.
For the first time in ALONG time I'm looking to upgrade my home infrastructure.
currently I have...

1. HTPC in bedroom i7 4790k, 16GB, Asus Maximus impact VII, Samsung SM951 256 GB SSD, this works as my plex server servicing the rest of the house and 2 phones remotely (max 3 streams).
2. ReadyNAS Ultra4 with 4x 3TB WD greens in RAID5 that stores my media and my tax files.
3. my workstation, i7 920@ 4.3ghz (water cooled), 24GB Asus P6T deluxe V2, 256gb SSD, 2x WD green 2TB, 1x WD green 3TB about to be upgraded.
4. 5 laptops, one i5 3317U as a HTPC in the lounge room, and 4 for me, my wife and my kids all 6 series or better i7's 4GB-16GB Ram

What I'd like to do is retire the ReadyNas as its ancient and replace that with a FreeNAS box in a spare Coolermaster HAF932.
Additionally I'd like to have this box serve as a back up server for my new main rig (Ryzen 7 1700, Kingston Hyperx HX430C15PB3K2/32 DDR4-3000 32GB(2x16GB)/2Gx64 CL15, Asrock Taichi X370, 6x WD red 2TB Raid10, 2x 1TB Samsung 860 SSD raid0 (scratch disk) and an Samsung 970evo 500gb for windows 10 Pro).

The i7 4790k will stay as the PLEX server so it will do all the trans-coding to the phones, I just need the FreeNAS box to back up the main PC (irreplaceable data), the 4 laptops (not really that important) and store the replaceable media on the ReadyNAS.

I will take weekly backups of my main PC to 4TB external HDD's and store them in my fireproof safe, so the FreeNAS box wont be my only back up of my critical data.

I'd also like it to run a windows XP VM for old school games (Dark reign, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Dune 2000, Tie Fighter, Mechwarrior 2) I don't want to VM on my main PC as i work from home ALOT and my machine can be audited by work (i game on my Razor blade laptop not on my main PC).

Hardware is where I'm doing my head in especially MB. Essentially i only need to file share to 7 clients locally and would really like to run a vm (2 cores, 3GB ram) for old games as this box will sit next to my main box in my home office and I'll just output it to my 4k screen.

I have budget in mind for MB, CPU, Ram and Power supply of ~$2000AUD and there seem to be plenty of used E52650's on eBay for not too much.
If you could cast your eye over this and let me know if I'm overthinking things I'd greatly appreciate it. Also if you could recommend a MB with 10 SATA ports and socket 2011 V3 that would be great (All i can find available to OZ is an Asrock Extreme3 and want to avoid a consumer MB, also the WS Asus boards seem over priced and you all seem to link better options from supermicro in all the reading I've done, I just don't know what I'm looking for)

Case: CoolerMaster HAF 932 (already have)
CPU: Intel Xeon Processor E5-2650 v3 10 Core 25M Cache 2.3 GHz FCLGA2011-3 CPU
HDD: 9x Western Digital RED 2TB in Z3 (11GB usable already have these sitting around in their packaging)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX1060 6GB (already have sitting idle)
OD: Liteon Blueray reader DVD+/-R (already have sitting idle)
Cooling: XSPC RASA 750 RS360 kit (already have sitting idle)
Power:Corsair AX860 Platinum Modular 860W BUT I do have a 10 year old Antec Earthwatts 750 thats working and in the case.
OS: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit USB Flash Drive 32GB

Ram: 32GB ECC DDR4 (4x8GB) depends on MB QVL

MB: HELP!!!!!! trouble finding one that suits my needs as I don't know whats needed for the VM.


Sorry for the super long 1st post just want to FreeNAS right the first time.

 

[kdragon75]

Gigabyte GTX1060 6GB (already have sitting idle)

Cannot be used with FreeNAS other than console text output...

OD: Liteon Blueray reader DVD+/-R (already have sitting idle)

You have an optical drive?... Just kidding but don't waste a sata/sas port on this, there is no reason t have one in a NAS.

MB: HELP!!!!!! trouble finding one that suits my needs as I don't know what's needed for the VM.

This is not a great idea as you will need graphics acceleration from a GPU and that's something that is not supported in FreeNAS bhyve.

 

[Jothy Kandasamy]

Thanks heaps for the reply,
so if i forget the XP vm that makes everything easier with file sharing only to a max of 7 (likely only 4 at any given point in time) clients I assume the E5 is way overkill.
will drop the 1060 all together (maybe I'll give it t my bro in law)

how about...

CPU: Intel Xeon CPU E3-1245 V5 Quad-Core 3.5Ghz LGA1151 SR2CU
MB: Supermicro Micro ATX DDR4 LGA 1151 X11SSH-F-O
ram: 4x MEM-DR480L-CL02-EU21
Case: CoolerMaster HAF 932 (already have)
HDD: 8x western digital RED 2TB in Z2 (11GB usable already have these sitting around in their packaging)
Cooling: XSPC RASA 750 RS360 kit (already have sitting idle)
Power:Corsair AX860 Platinum Modular 860W
OS: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit USB Flash Drive 32GB

all up that puts me at under $1500 which is awesome

 

[kdragon75]

I would start with 16GB of RAM. You will likely be more than happy with that. You can always add more later.

 

[Jailer]

I'd run an inexpensive SSD as a boot device for reliability reasons.

You could retire your HTPC rig and run something like Plex on your proposed build.

With your main PC subject to audit, why not dual boot it? That's what I would do. It would isolate the 2 OS and should satisfy audit requirements unless of course it's a company owned PC that you aren't allowed to do that with.

 

[Jothy Kandasamy]

I would start with 16GB of RAM. You will likely be more than happy with that. You can always add more later.

Thanks for the tip! I was thinking that 9x2tb =18TB = 18GB ram was the minimum recommended spec from the guides if I ran 2x8GB you are 100% correct I could just add another 2x*'s later should I NEED it. In the past with my 920 (going back 8 years) I had trouble matching ram so I think, in my head I'm just trying to avoid future time wasting and doing it all now. But you make a great case for want v's need (so sad when I'd rather waste money than time, such is life).

I'd run an inexpensive SSD as a boot device for reliability reasons..

This is a good idea that i hadn't though of. Should i get 2 60-120GB and mirror the os? as the X11SSH-F-O only has 8 sata ports I'll need an expansion card so i could add 2 SSD's and go back to my original 9 disk z3 (6+3) idea (HAF 932 has 11 bays so space wont be a problem).

You could retire your HTPC rig and run something like Plex on your proposed build.

I love my little HTPC, its a great little build in an SG06, it just looks awesome on my shelf as its so tiny and quite .
The hardware is still good 4790k, 16GB ram, SM951 256gb, 2x 500gb ssd's, GTX1060, Corsair H60, windows 10 pro and office 64bit there isn't much it cant do when i need to work at it and just don't want to get out of bed or cant be bothered to go get my laptop (like when I'm off sick and i get a production call from work or its just 3:30 am and one of my work servers has gone down and i need to remote in and start it back up). To be honest the only reason its the plex box and not the laptop in the lounge room which uses way less power is so i can justify having it always on just incase i need it and just don't want to get up.

With your main PC subject to audit, why not dual boot it? That's what I would do. It would isolate the 2 OS and should satisfy audit requirements unless of course it's a company owned PC that you aren't allowed to do that with.

Don't know'why that thought never entered my mind. It's not a work PC its my personal PC but the work I do it will have times where i will have sensitive data on there. They offered me a laptop but the size of the data sets its not really practical unless they shell out for a mobile workstation and that's just too heavy to carry around with hotdesking (groan).
Don't think i want a duel boot XP machine though but a duel boot windows 10 home for work, windows 10 PRO with my personal stuff on the second OS would be perfect!!! thank you thats solved so many problems.