Looking for opinions - Convert 10yo PC into TrueNAS home server

[Hesqe]

Hello FreeNAS/TrueNAS experts,

I am looking at reusing my old 10yo PC with TrueNAS Core for:

1. photos
2. home entertainment (including Plex and other similar etc.)
3. SOHO use (possible CAD/BIM files and mostly MS office etc.).

I have read the Hardware Recommendation Guide and TrueNAS installation guide. I am aware that that my old PC lacks some RAM and HDD/SSD and some components that are not required. I would like to look for some built suggestions that would be suitable for the above use, reliable and have low ongoing power cost.

The following is my current old PC built:

• MOBO - Intel DP43TF (LGA775 socket/4x DDR2 socket/6x SATA)
• CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz
• CPU fan - Cooler Master V8
• RAM - 4x Kingston 1GB **Looking at getting 4x 2GB DDR2 RAM (Non-ECC as MOBO does not support it)
• HHD - WD WD10EADX-00TDHB0 1TB SATA **Looking at getting a low capacity SSD as TrueNAS boot drive
• PSU - Antec Neo HE550 550W
• GPU - NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT **Looking at removing this, as not required for NAS
• Sound Card - Creative Labs SB0610 **Looking at removing this, as not required for NAS
• Disk Drive - Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-111DBK **Looking at removing this, as not required for NAS
• Operating System - Windows 10 64bits
• Network - Onboard LAN 1GbE (Intel 82567V Gigabit Ethernet)

Any suggestions are appreciated and most welcome =)

 

[ccssid]

Look at my backup system in my signature. It started out as an older desktop pc.
1. Added a few drives ( you can use a single drive to start)
2. Ultimately had to get a pci.e nic ( Intel) The on board (I believe it was Marvel) was glitchy
2. Added some ram. Only had 4GB
4. Started with an old thumb drive for boot. Eventually, got a ssd.
5. The Windows 10 is inconsequential. ......TrueNAS will be your operating system.
6. Added the LSI 9200-8i when I added more hdd.

Basically, my pc started out just about where you are now. In other words yes. Although your components don't match up with the recommended components....it's a good place to start. It will work in the most basic sense of a TrueNAS server. I would not trust with critical data for the long term.

Now look at the components in my main system. This has been up and running continuously for over 4 years.

 

[Jailer]

8GB is not enough RAM to run TrueNAS and plex. 8GB is the minimum required just to run a simple file server. Also you will be disappointed with the lackluster performance that the FSB of that older hardware will produce.

Now if you just want to just experiment and get your feet wet then by all means go ahead but I wouldn't put any data I value on that hardware.

 

[ThreeDee]

If just for home/personal use .. my setup in sig was pretty cheap and uses cheap ECC Registered DDR3 Dimms .. got a cheap M.2 NVMe drive for boot.. great performance for my needs (Plex with up to 8 users of the 40'ish I have, streaming at a time) .. and did I say it was fairly cheap?

..and like Jailer said, you will not be happy with the performance of your old setup..

 

[Chris Moore]

I recently stumbled across what looks like a deal to me... It is retired data-center gear but I think it has another good five years of useful service in a home environment, maybe more.

Have a look:

4U 36 Bay Server SAS2 Expander X9DRI-LN4F+ 2x E5-2690 128GB FREENAS IT MODE | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4U 36 Bay Server SAS2 Expander X9DRI-LN4F+ 2x E5-2690 128GB FREENAS IT MODE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[Hesqe]

Look at my backup system in my signature. It started out as an older desktop pc.
1. Added a few drives ( you can use a single drive to start)
2. Ultimately had to get a pci.e nic ( Intel) The on board (I believe it was Marvel) was glitchy
2. Added some ram. Only had 4GB
4. Started with an old thumb drive for boot. Eventually, got a ssd.
5. The Windows 10 is inconsequential. ......TrueNAS will be your operating system.
6. Added the LSI 9200-8i when I added more hdd.

Basically, my pc started out just about where you are now. In other words yes. Although your components don't match up with the recommended components....it's a good place to start. It will work in the most basic sense of a TrueNAS server. I would not trust with critical data for the long term.

Now look at the components in my main system. This has been up and running continuously for over 4 years.

Hi @ccssid,

Thanks for your suggestions. It's good to hear actual experience from someone that has an old pc for TrueNAS. However I don't seem to be able to see any signatures, even if I had it turned on in my forum settings. Maybe because I am reading this on my phone?

Anyway, it seems that I can only use my current old pc for the most simple task for TrueNAS which does not really keep up to scratch with my requirements. The bottleneck of the system seems to be the RAM, which the MOBO has a max limitation of 8GB of memory.

In this case, this makes me wonder if my old pc is even worthwhile in getting it setup as a TrueNAS system, as with everyone's feedback, it seems that I would not be able to use it for plex smoothly and would not give me the reliability that I am looking for.

If I am to change the MOBO on my old pc, might as well get a 2nd hand server pc or even a brand new off the shelf NAS system

The question now is, what sort of system would be suitable for my need of using plex smoothly on 2-3 systems at the same time through a TrueNAS server, and would be more future proof?

I would be looking at keep the initial cost/ongoing cost low (just get the RAM, HDD/SSD I need at this stage), but would be willing to spend a bit more for future proof (invest in MOBO with latest sockets/techology and CPU).

Thanks

 

[Hesqe]

8GB is not enough RAM to run TrueNAS and plex. 8GB is the minimum required just to run a simple file server. Also you will be disappointed with the lackluster performance that the FSB of that older hardware will produce.

Now if you just want to just experiment and get your feet wet then by all means go ahead but I wouldn't put any data I value on that hardware.

Hi @Jailer,

Thanks for your advise.
The max FSB for the Core 2 Duo CPU and DP43TF MOBO would be 333MHz. If I am going for plex, should I at least go for a DMI 2.0 or even DMI 3.0 MOBO and suitable CPU?

As for RAM, how much would be required for 2-3 systems to use plex smoothly?

 

[Hesqe]

If just for home/personal use .. my setup in sig was pretty cheap and uses cheap ECC Registered DDR3 Dimms .. got a cheap M.2 NVMe drive for boot.. great performance for my needs (Plex with up to 8 users of the 40'ish I have, streaming at a time) .. and did I say it was fairly cheap?

..and like Jailer said, you will not be happy with the performance of your old setup..

Hi @ThreeDee,
Thanks for your advise.
Would you be able to show what setup you have for your system?

 

[Hesqe]

I recently stumbled across what looks like a deal to me... It is retired data-center gear but I think it has another good five years of useful service in a home environment, maybe more.

Have a look:

4U 36 Bay Server SAS2 Expander X9DRI-LN4F+ 2x E5-2690 128GB FREENAS IT MODE | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4U 36 Bay Server SAS2 Expander X9DRI-LN4F+ 2x E5-2690 128GB FREENAS IT MODE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Hi @Chris Moore,

Thanks for your suggestions.
The problem is the shipping fee of the gear is also half of the gear's price at $375AUD. The gear itself of $869AUD would also be a bit out of my budget.
However, this would gives me a good starting point of what sort of gears/components I should look for

 

[Jailer]

As for RAM, how much would be required for 2-3 systems to use plex smoothly?

If you plan on running plex I would go with 16GB. There are others who may not agree with me on that but if you want a good experience then that is the minimum I would recommend.

 

[ThreeDee]

| E5-2695 v2 | Noctua NH-U12S | Chinese Knock-off LGA2011 x79T (B75 Chipset) Motherboard | 64GB ECC DDR3 RDIMM's | Nvidia Quadro 400 512MB PCIe Video Card | LSI9211-8i IT Mode | 128GB M.2 2230 NVMe SSD Boot Drive | 1 x 2TB SAS | 2 x 4TB SATA | 1 x 5TB SATA | 1 x 8TB SATA | 750WTT 80Plus Gold PSU | Mid-Tower Case | TrueNAS-12.0-U1.1 | PLEX | Ubiquiti UniFi Controller | 700WTT Battery Back-up |

Bolded part is main thing you could look into to keep costs down with great performance .. it's DDR3 Quad Channel so it's on par with DDR4 performance'ish .. There are cheaper socket 2011 CPU's out there then the one I am currently running . .my older CPU the E5-4640 ($25 on ebay if you buy separate) came with my chinese knock-off x79T with 32GB (4 x 8GB) of RAM that I picked up for $125 used. I sold the 32GB's for $40 and purchased 64GB's for $70 off of ebay. Might not find items as cheap as I did . .but under $200 and you'll have a nice base.

The 128GB M.2 NVMe drive was like $15 off of ebay for my boot drive. .. video card was $10 .. the HBA card was $25 or so ..

 

[ccssid]

Hi @ccssid,

Thanks for your suggestions. It's good to hear actual experience from someone that has an old pc for TrueNAS. However I don't seem to be able to see any signatures, even if I had it turned on in my forum settings. Maybe because I am reading this on my phone?

Anyway, it seems that I can only use my current old pc for the most simple task for TrueNAS which does not really keep up to scratch with my requirements. The bottleneck of the system seems to be the RAM, which the MOBO has a max limitation of 8GB of memory.

In this case, this makes me wonder if my old pc is even worthwhile in getting it setup as a TrueNAS system, as with everyone's feedback, it seems that I would not be able to use it for plex smoothly and would not give me the reliability that I am looking for.

If I am to change the MOBO on my old pc, might as well get a 2nd hand server pc or even a brand new off the shelf NAS system

The question now is, what sort of system would be suitable for my need of using plex smoothly on 2-3 systems at the same time through a TrueNAS server, and would be more future proof?

I would be looking at keep the initial cost/ongoing cost low (just get the RAM, HDD/SSD I need at this stage), but would be willing to spend a bit more for future proof (invest in MOBO with latest sockets/techology and CPU).

Thanks

Freenas: Truenas 12.0-u1
CPU: Xeon e3 1230 v5
MB : Asrock c236 ws
RAM: 32 GB, unbuffered ecc
HDD: 7 @ 4TB, wd red (cmr) and 3 @ Seagate Ironwolf 4tB (Raidz2)
original system had 10 @ 3TB wd red. over 4 years, 3 went south. Changed to a mix of 4TB
BOOT DRIVE: Transcend 32 GB ssd370s
PSU: Seasonic G series ssr 550 rm (550 watts)
HBA: LSI 9211-8I, flashed to IT mode
CyberPower 1500AVR

back-up system
Truenas: 12.0-u1
CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 965 Processor
MB: Gigabyte 880 GA ud3H
RAM: 12 GB of non ecc
HDD: Pool #1, 6 @ 3 TB wd red (Z2)
Pool #2 , 1 @ 3 TB wd red
PSU: EVGA 500 watt 80 plus
HBA: LSI 9211-8i, flashed to IT mode
NIC: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK
Boot: Kingston 240 GB A400

I am able to run plex off of my backup nas box. ( as a single user, can't say what would happen with multiple users)