BUILD Main board selection

[tjo]

Since my NAS has had a nice bath I need to rebuild. Has anyone used this board

ASRock AD2550R/U3S3 Mini ITX Server Motherboard DDR3 1066

• Intel Atom D2550 Dual-Core 1.86GHz (10W) Processor
• Intel ICH10R Express Chipset
• Up to 4GB single channel SO-DIMM
• Five SATA2 3.0Gbps Ports supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 10
• Two SATA3 6.0Gbps Ports control by Marvell SE9172
• Support eSATA
• Dual Intel 82574L Gigabit LAN ports (with Teaming function)
• Four USB 3.0 ports (two rear ports + two via headers), 11 x USB 2.0 ports (six rear ports + four via headers + one Type-A connector)
• One (x1) PCI-E (in x16) slot
• Integrated Intel GMA3600 Graphics

Cheers

TJ

 

[joeschmuck]

Have you done any research on this board? Does it support ECC RAM? Also, a search of the forums shows a few hits. We will not recommend non-ECC systems.

 

[tjo]

I'm still doing my research hence the question on the board. I did read the post on here but none were actually using the board in the posts I could find. I was hoping someone might of actually been using it. I'm sensing I might of tick you off with my question but hard to tell on the internet. Cheers

TJ

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Looks like maximum supported RAM is 4GB, which is half the minimum for FreeNAS.

 

[tjo]

Rob,
Yeah I missed that first time around. Thank you for point ing it out. I did just find the exact same board that shorted out when it got wet so going to go back to it. Cheers

TJ

 

[joeschmuck]

I'm still doing my research hence the question on the board. I did read the post on here but none were actually using the board in the posts I could find. I was hoping someone might of actually been using it. I'm sensing I might of tick you off with my question but hard to tell on the internet. Cheers

TJ

You didn't tick me off at all but you should look up the hardware requirements of FreeNAS and purchase a board which can support those.

 

[tjo]

Joeschmuck, I did read the requirements. The previous board I had didn't use ecc ram as well and ran for almost two years before it kicked the bucket (after getting water damaged by a pipe bursting in my basement). I'm more in this a hobby and I'm quite aware of the risks. I will quantify my question in the future with more detail. Thanks for the info.

Cheers TJ

 

[joeschmuck]

As long as you are aware of the issues. For all I know you are using the NAS as a repository for streaming media, it's not valuable content so the risk is acceptable. I store some personal data which is valuable to me, I also periodically back it up to DVD media so I must use ECC RAM for peace of mind.

That sucks having a burst pipe in the basement. I have my NAS in the basement as well so there is that risk for me as well.

 

[Ericloewe]

ICH10R? Phew, that's ancient.

You'll want something newer. Like a C2550 or C2750 board.