My build - Overkill?

[HenriH]

Hello

I have read this site so long and dreaming of my own Freenas build.
After many posts and threads here is my build:
MB: Asus P10S-X
Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB - KSM24ES8) DDR4 2400MHz, ECC, CL17, 1.20V
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro, PH-ES614PC-BK
Drives: 4x Seagate 4TB IronWolf/ST4000VN008
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 v6, LGA1151
PSU: Corsair 650W RM650x
Bootup drive some USB stick (how important is this? speed, size and so on)
I dont need cache SSD?

Main purpose for home file server + plex and dunno about the future.

Will it freenas ? :)

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Bootup drive some USB stick (how important is this? speed, size and so on)

Lots of folks recommend SSDs now rather than usb sticks. The reason is that small SSDs are quite cheap now and significantly more reliable. USB sticks will certainly work but you may have to spend more time taking care of failed boot drives. Many folks opt to keep their boot drives mirrored either way.

 

[HenriH]

Lots of folks recommend SSDs now rather than usb sticks. The reason is that small SSDs are quite cheap now and significantly more reliable. USB sticks will certainly work but you may have to spend more time taking care of failed boot drives. Many folks opt to keep their boot drives mirrored either way.

Thank you for the reply. Seems logic and after checking the prices of SSD drives its cheap (no need save money in the wrong place). Can freenas do the mirror or do i setup it inside bios / hardware?

 

[Constantin]

FreeNAS can do it, AFAIK. Then set the boot order in the BIOS / UEFI accordingly.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Asus P10S-X

Interesting board choice. Do you have old cards you plan to make use of in those 4 legacy slots?

Can freenas do the mirror or do i setup it inside bios / hardware?

Yes, Freenas does it during setup. You dont want to use any motherboard raid functionality. Check out the User Guide for guidance and search the forums for why mobo raid and raid cards are dangerous.

Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB - KSM24ES8) DDR4 2400MHz, ECC, CL17, 1.20V

I recommend you go with 16GB DIMMs. The reason is FreeNAS performs well with more ram; you cant have too much. If you go with 16GB DIMMs you can upgrade to 64GB, the max for that board, without tossing any modules.

 

[HenriH]

Interesting board choice. Do you have old cards you plan to make use of in those 4 legacy slots?

I cant seem to find any other working combination as new parts. I don't want to buy used because not knowing the history. For the spare slots i don't have any plans, so they will be probably always be unused.

I recommend you go with 16GB DIMMs. The reason is FreeNAS performs well with more ram; you can't have too much. If you go with 16GB DIMMs you can upgrade to 64GB, the max for that board, without tossing any modules.

Good point! This was also hard to figure out. Cant find compatible memory from my area for this mobo. Also budget is tight. After searching about how does freenaus users get memory and how much is needed its rare to go beyond 32 and with 2x 8 and maybe later even adding another 2x16 its good to go .. for now and in the future.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

I can't seem to find any other working combination as new parts. I don't want to buy used because not knowing the history. For the spare slots i don't have any plans, so they will be probably always be unused.

In this case I would recommend you look at supermicro. Surprisingly a lot of folks have great luck buying used motherboards online. If you check a seller's history you can get a good idea of the quality of their used equipement. I've got 1 system with almost entirely used parts and I saved a ton of money. Check out the x9, x10, and x11 boards. I'm on my phone or Inwould provide links. My signature contains the x11 and x9 boards I use.

Also budget is tight

In that case I highly recommend used parts if you can get it in your area. For my 2nd build I bought everything used except the HDDs. If you find parts you're curious about you can post them here with links and folks will likely offer advice.

After searching about how does freenaus users get memory and how much is needed its rare to go beyond 32 and with 2x 8 and maybe later even adding another 2x16 its good to go .. for now and in the future.

FreeNAS users often max out the memory on their boards. If you only want 16GB to start I recommend you buy 1x16GB DIMM rather than 2x8GB DIMMs. It shouldn't be a significant cost increase to use 1 stick instead if 2 and over time the memory upgrades can be one of the best at improving performance.

 

[HenriH]

In this case I would recommend you look at supermicro. Surprisingly a lot of folks have great luck buying used motherboards online. If you check a seller's history you can get a good idea of the quality of their used equipement. I've got 1 system with almost entirely used parts and I saved a ton of money. Check out the x9, x10, and x11 boards. I'm on my phone or Inwould provide links. My signature contains the x11 and x9 boards I use.


In that case I highly recommend used parts if you can get it in your area. For my 2nd build I bought everything used except the HDDs. If you find parts you're curious about you can post them here with links and folks will likely offer advice.


FreeNAS users often max out the memory on their boards. If you only want 16GB to start I recommend you buy 1x16GB DIMM rather than 2x8GB DIMMs. It shouldn't be a significant cost increase to use 1 stick instead if 2 and over time the memory upgrades can be one of the best at improving performance.

Here is my changes to this build:

MB: SuperMicro X11SSH-F
Memory: Kingston 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4 2400MHz, ECC, CL17, 1.20V /KVR24E17D8/16
Case: BitFenix Phenom M

Thank you for suggestions PhiloEpisteme, any comments?

 

[file_haver]

The Antec 302 case isn't the best looking case, but it has a LOT of drive spaces and very respectable airflow for very little money. Can have two 120mm's cooling off your whole drive collection too. I have not found a better price case for my NAS given the amount of drives it can house.

I dont think you need to start off with a cache ssd unless you're sure your workflow demands it... I don't bother with mirroring usb's by the way, just get one nice name brand usb drive and back up your config from time to time.

Dont think there is much else to say except i am happily running a home file server and plex server with no complaints and you can see my build in signature, also i have been using ebay motherboards for my NAS and personal computers for years, no problems buying from good rated sellers.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

MB: SuperMicro X11SSH-F

This is an interesting board that came up recently in the forums. This board is very similar to the X11SSM-F except that the X11SSM-F has 1 more PCIe3.0x4 slot whereas the X11SSH-F has an M.2 running at PCIe3.0x2. So the X11SSH-F leaves 2 PCIe lanes on the table. Some folks have PLP M.2 drives that they like to use for SLOG; so you could definitely do that. It will be a bit limited by the x2 interface however and you couldn't use two M.2 drives to mirror. You can certainly boot from a drive in the M.2 slot. It just isn't a very efficient use of the speed is all. You could also consider the X11SSM-F and if you need a SLOG later pick up 1 or 2 PCIe disks for the purpose. Supermicro also sells some c246 boards with multiple M.2 slots running at PCIe3.0x4.

So, I think it's a fine board but its configuration makes it difficult to fully utilize. I have a bias toward PCIe slots so that leads me to suggest the X11SSM-F (if you like the x11 c236 line) and pick up a cheap SSD as a boot drive. Not everyone on the forums see it that way though. You're not going to ruin your build with that board for sure.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

The Antec 302 case isn't the best looking case, but it has a LOT of drive spaces and very respectable airflow for very little money. Can have two 120mm's cooling off your whole drive collection too. I have not found a better price case for my NAS given the amount of drives it can house.

Agreed this looks like a great price for a healthy number of drives. With a not-so cheap part (I'm sure you can find cheaper ones) it looks like you can get it up to 11 drives, 12 if you pick up an expansion slot to HDD bracket.

Another option you might consider is the Fractal Design Define R6. I recently posted a build report to give you an idea of what it can do. It is a bit more expensive than the Antec 302 but can hold 12 drives with a few extra purchases and has excellent cooling.

I agree with @file_haver's implied message; function over form.

 

[HenriH]

Update: So everything is up and running. Zero problems with hardware. Now i just have to start learning freenas software side. Users and groups are a bit mystery to me, sometimes they just dont seem to work but i can figure it out eventually.

On freenas dashboard my CPU temp is strangely from HDD temp, is there a way to solve this (well not from HDD after double check, but still wrong)? I can read CPU temp just fine when using shell.

 

[PhiloEpisteme]

Update: So everything is up and running.

This is great! So happy to hear it. If you like, you can update your signature so folks can see your build. It'd also be nice to comment on this thread as a post which parts you went with so folks reading in the future can see which choices you made.

On freenas dashboard my CPU temp is strangely from HDD temp, is there a way to solve this (well not from HDD after double check, but still wrong)? I can read CPU temp just fine when using shell.

What command are you running to get the temp from shell?

 

[HenriH]

This is great! So happy to hear it. If you like, you can update your signature so folks can see your build.

Done! :)

What command are you running to get the temp from shell?

sysctl -a | grep temp

Show : shell

Show : Dashboard

 

[HenriH]

So i ended up changing MB, MEM and Case for my build, and here is the list of parts.

MB: SuperMicro X11SSH-F
- so ive heard (thx PhiloEpisteme) SuperMicro is the one to choose, no regrets here :)
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 v6 (on Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120)
- enough horse power for Plex server. Water cooling is for testing purposes, maybe gonna change it later but will do fine for now.
MEM: 1x Kingston ValueRAM 16GB DDR4-2400 CL17 (KVR24E17D8/16)
- This one changed from 2x 8GB to single stick (thx PhiloEpisteme) for future plans. 16GB is enough atm but like once a wise man said "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates
CASE: BitFenix Phenom Micro-ATX
- Case was tough one. I know its very small with no more room for more HDDs but it had to be "small" for the purpose and placement.
PSU: Corsair RMx Series™ RM650x 80 PLUS Gold
- Good enough power to feed the parts. Fan isnt spinning on idle so thats nice.
HDD: 4x Seagate 4TB IronWolf, ST4000VN008 (RAIDZ1)
- For NAS purpose but not the best. I have mainly movies and series on here so its not the end of the world if i get bad luck and 2 drives dies simultaneously.

Main use is for torrent and Plex server. My old build was Synology DS415Play with non-NAS drives, but it was workin OK :)

Show : From old to new size compare

 

[HenriH]

So build changed a bit. CPU cooler was switched to air cooling (safety purposes first) -> on Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and air ventilation for the case was reworked. Because of the direction of the CPU cooler i have now 2x120 on top getting air inside and 1x140 on the back of the case blowing air outside. Everything is cool and setup is silent. Very happy for this setup.