Motherboard

[Gramb67]

I started reading your guide and read your motherboard recommendations, I have a question on a motherboard that I found and since I'm new at this and majority of you are a lot more knowledgeable than I, I'm looking for your opinion on it.

I was looking at the ASRock Rack EPC6112D4U-2T8R

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00Z87EONE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1


I know its a little older but it has DDR4 ECC and it has lots of SATA ports built in.. As this is my first home server I'm building and want it to last a while I was leaning towards it. I couldn't really find any negative issues with it and I would like a second option on it before I hit the buy button..

I'm thinking of the Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 2.4GHz 8 core as the processor

Thanks

 

[Jailer]

Looks like it would work just fine. Just make sure you can get compatible ECC memory for it before you purchase.

That CPU is awful pricey. Do you need 8 cores?

 

[Vito Reiter]

I started reading your guide and read your motherboard recommendations, I have a question on a motherboard that I found and since I'm new at this and majority of you are a lot more knowledgeable than I, I'm looking for your opinion on it.

I was looking at the ASRock Rack EPC6112D4U-2T8R

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00Z87EONE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1


I know its a little older but it has DDR4 ECC and it has lots of SATA ports built in.. As this is my first home server I'm building and want it to last a while I was leaning towards it. I couldn't really find any negative issues with it and I would like a second option on it before I hit the buy button..

I'm thinking of the Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 2.4GHz 8 core as the processor

Thanks

If you're using encryption I'd keep the processor. Otherwise, @Jailer is right it is a little overkill. Make sure you have at least 8GB of RAM and try to follow the 1:1 GB of RAM for TB of storage rule to avoid any problems/data loss.

 

[Gramb67]

As a home server, it main function would be media and Plex. According to the Plex website, a rule of thumb is you need a 2000 passmark for every threaded video and the Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 2.4GHz 8 core has a score of 12829. As a family of 6 with 4 teenagers I was shooting for 6 threads. I'm open for suggestions if you have a better processor that would be a better fit. Again, I'm new at this and maybe I'm shooting to high.

https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201774043-What-kind-of-CPU-do-I-need-for-my-Server-

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E5-2630+v3+@+2.40GHz&id=2386

 

[Jailer]

That figure that Plex puts out there is for transcoded streams. If you have clients that support direct play then you won't need such a powerful CPU. You could save a few bucks by going with a E5-1620 V3. It has 4 cores and runs at 3.5Ghz.

 

[Gramb67]

Thanks @Vito Reiter, I didn't know that ratio of ram to memory. I was going to get 32GB of ram, but with you saying that I'm going to drop it to 16. As I'm starting with 16T HD.

 

[Jailer]

You should be fine with 16GB unless you plan on running a lot of jails/VM's. If you decide you need it later you can always add more.

 

[Gramb67]

I've read or seen on youtube that running SSD's as cache is good idea, is this true for a typical build?

 

[Jailer]

No

 

[Vito Reiter]

Thanks @Vito Reiter, I didn't know that ratio of ram to memory. I was going to get 32GB of ram, but with you saying that I'm going to drop it to 16. As I'm starting with 16T HD.

That is more of a "Minimum Rule-of-Thumb", With that being said you should hook FreeNAS up with as much RAM as you can afford. 16GB is definitely your minimum but RAM makes huge performance improvements with ZFS.

Edit: @Jailer already summed that up, haha!

 

[joeschmuck]

I've read or seen on youtube that running SSD's as cache is good idea, is this true for a typical build?

You need to understand the use case where a cache actually provides improvement to the system. A system primarily made to serve up videos or make backups would not be the use case. A system with lots of RAM and hosting files which get frequent access, like database files, these would benefit.

 

[Gramb67]

Thank you all for you advise... it's helped alot!
What I got out of this is I'm going to stay at the 32GB of Ram, I'm going to install a SSD for cache and I'm going to go to a Intel Xeon E5-1620 V3 processor.
I'm sure I'll have more question as I get to the point of installing the software. I truly enjoy learn this!

 

[Jailer]

I'm going to install a SSD for cache

Max out your RAM first and then if the performance dictates it add the cache. I don't think you quite understand what a cache drive on a ZFS pool does.

 

[joeschmuck]

What I got out of this is I'm going to stay at the 32GB of Ram, I'm going to install a SSD for cache and I'm going to go to a Intel Xeon E5-1620 V3 processor.

How did you get the fact that any of us recommended using a SSD cache? What I didn't say was if the data does not reside in your cache then it needs to look for the data on the hard drives and that ends up slowing down your system retrieval speeds. You should do more reading on this topic, having a cache is not for bragging rights when it hurts performance.

 

[Gramb67]

Ok... I get it now. I'm about 1/2 way through cyber's guide. and your right @Jailer I didn't understand completely. Still a little fussy but I understand a little better. I'm not going to think cache about for a while. Again, appreciate your guidance through my learning curve.