iXSystems FreeNAS mini compontents

[JavaScriptDude]

Hello all,

Does anyone have access to the components list for the new FreeNAS Mini? I'm really interested in seeing what motherboard and cards (if any) are used.

I would like to get a mini for myself but it's still a bit out of my budget for a home system. Seeing the components may help me understand the value of the FreeNAS Mini.

 

[xcom]

I own one and is worth every single penny.

 

[cyberjock]

I own one also, and it is totally worth just buying the box instead of parting it out yourself.

The motherboard is an AsRock C2750D4I.

 

[JKman]

i'd certainly recommend. don't think you'd save any more $$$ parting it out yourself; maybe you buy the diskless and supply your own hdd's, then upgrade capacities/memory later as required. they use good components and since they buy wholesale, i imagine that offsets most of the labor cost for assembly and burn-in. plus you get the warranty from them. just finding a case as nice and small as the mini is difficult. you probably realize this already if you've done any research yet.

if you do go with the mini, the only advise i can give is to open the case and ensure everything is hooked up correctly. they wired the case fan wrong and i didn't realize until a few days later when i started getting SMART errors. it was easily correctable just by looking at the included manual, and so far iXsystems has been working with me on resolving the situation.

 

[gpsguy]

It looks like an Ablecom CS-M50 I don't know where one might buy it in single unit quantities.

just finding a case as nice and small as the mini is difficult.

 

[fracai]

I could have sworn I saw the FreeNAS case on Amazon yesterday.


There is this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HX7HS5I/?tag=ozlp-20

 

[warri]

While it looks similar, it is definitely different to the original one pictured in the FreeNAS Mini images. I think gpsguy is right and it is an Ablecom CS-M50.

For comparison:
- Picture of Ablecom CS-M50
- Picture of FreeNAS Mini case
- Picture of "ITX-S4"

 

[cyberjock]

It is *definitely* an Ablecom CS-M50. Very very nice case by the way. High res pictures I took should be available publicly before the end of the weekend.

 

[Ericloewe]

What's the current status of the Marvell controllers on C2750D4I? I heard they were being problematic.

 

[joeschmuck]

Just out of curiosity, which CPU is in this item? I can't believe the specs don't specify it.

 

[Ericloewe]

If it's an Asrock C2750D4I, it's an Avoton (Intel Atom). Anandtech has a nice review of the motherboard/CPU.

 

[joeschmuck]

Yea, I just looked it up, didn't realize it was integrated with the MB. Atom CPU that is very capable of transcoding too? I like the idea but a bit skeptical. It would be nice to see a complete set of benchmarks on it utilizing four and using 12 (for future proofing aspects) WD Red drives.

 

[Ericloewe]

Since it can dedicate a bunch of cores for transcoding and a few more for ZFS/network operations, my own skepticism is somewhat tempered. Anandtech's benchmarks suggest that in some video tasks it's competitive with the i3 4330, while in others it lags far behind, so I'm not quite sure what to expect of this...

 

[xcom]

Since it can dedicate a bunch of cores for transcoding and a few more for ZFS/network operations, my own skepticism is somewhat tempered. Anandtech's benchmarks suggest that in some video tasks it's competitive with the i3 4330, while in others it lags far behind, so I'm not quite sure what to expect of this...

I transcode, dump over nfs, torrent, and have crashplan running doing a backup...

No issues what so ever!

 

[joeschmuck]

I transcode, dump over nfs, torrent, and have crashplan running doing a backup...

No issues what so ever!

That is good to know. Makes the Atom CPU sound good.

 

[xcom]

That is good to know. Makes the Atom CPU sound good.

This are not normal Atom Processors and I think this is what makes the difference... They finally focused on making a atom soc server class.
And truly, it has lived to every single expectation and more.

 

[Juan Manuel Palacios]

Hey everyone,

Reviving an old thread, but... I've been racking my brain, and I just can't see any difference, other than the hotswap bays, between the Ablecom CS-M50 (whose bays match that of the FreeNAS Mini) and the Supermicro CSE-721TQ-250B (whose bays don't match the FreeNAS Mini's).

Does anyone know what's up with those two being so similar? Could it be that they're the same case?

 

[Ericloewe]

Supermicro is probably outsourcing it and getting it customized to fit their line.

 

[Juan Manuel Palacios]

I did indeed find a couple of comments indicating that that could be the case:

https://www.reddit.com/r/freenas/co...build_with_supermicro_a1sai2750f_and/cnmywf3/
http://rctnotes.blogspot.com/2015/01/intel-atom-avoton-mini-itx-nas-server.html

But who knows how accurate those may be (going by any other than how identical the two cases look).