My First FreeNAS Build. Will this work?

[cella400]

Hey everybody,

I have spent the past year thinking about building my own FreeNAS Box, and I think I’m finally ready to pull the trigger. I need a NAS to backup family photos and videos as well as store media collection. Hoping to store 4k videos one day. I also plan to run Plex, jails, and all those other magical things FreeNAS offers. If somebody could just review my part list and let me know “will it FreeNAS.”


Motherboard

Supermicro - X10SL7-F

CPU

Intel Xeon Quad-Core Processor E3-1240 v3 3.4GHz

RAM

2x Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s

Boot Device

SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB

Storage

6x Western Digital 4Tb 5400Rpm 64Mb

Power

Corsair RMi Series, RM650i, 650 Watt

Case

Fractal Design Define R5 White


I plan on adding an additional 6 HD’s one day. I’m sure I will need to get a 3.5 to 5.25 bay adapter to put into the top portion of the case.

 

[Jailer]

Looks good.

 

[Spearfoot]

Hey everybody,

I have spent the past year thinking about building my own FreeNAS Box, and I think I’m finally ready to pull the trigger. I need a NAS to backup family photos and videos as well as store media collection. Hoping to store 4k videos one day. I also plan to run Plex, jails, and all those other magical things FreeNAS offers. If somebody could just review my part list and let me know “will it FreeNAS.”


Motherboard

Supermicro - X10SL7-F

CPU

Intel Xeon Quad-Core Processor E3-1240 v3 3.4GHz

RAM

2x Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s

Boot Device

SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB

Storage

6x Western Digital 4Tb 5400Rpm 64Mb

Power

Corsair RMi Series, RM650i, 650 Watt

Case

Fractal Design Define R5 White


I plan on adding an additional 6 HD’s one day. I’m sure I will need to get a 3.5 to 5.25 bay adapter to put into the top portion of the case.

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, I concur with @Jailer: your proposed system looks good. I own an X10SL7-F-based system myself, and it has delivered Yeoman service.

On the other hand... the board is getting a little long in the tooth and is limited to 32GB of RAM. Have you considered one of the newer X11-series boards? These support more memory and newer processors. For example, the X11SSM-F has 8 SATA ports and supports up to 64GB of memory.

 

[BigDave]

I'm not in love with your choice of PSU!


Motherboard APPROVED
Supermicro - X10SL7-F
CPU APPROVED
Intel Xeon Quad-Core Processor E3-1240 v3 3.4GHz
RAM APPROVED
2x Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L-1600MT/s
Boot Device APPROVED
SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB
Storage APPROVED
6x Western Digital 4Tb 5400Rpm 64Mb
Power CHANGE RECOMMENDED
Seasonic X-650
Case APPROVED
Fractal Design Define R5 White

 

[Stux]

I've had very good experiences with the Corsair RM range (now own 4 of them) and they have a 10 year warranty. For FreeNAS I'd recommend the RMx rather than the RMi. The i means it has a USB port so you can see things in windows which you can't in FreeNAS anyway.

 

[cella400]

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, I concur with @Jailer: your proposed system looks good. I own an X10SL7-F-based system myself, and it has delivered Yeoman service.

On the other hand... the board is getting a little long in the tooth and is limited to 32GB of RAM. Have you considered one of the newer X11-series boards? These support more memory and newer processors. For example, the X11SSM-F has 8 SATA ports and supports up to 64GB of memory.

Thanks Jailer, Spearfoot, BigDave, and Stux

Your wisdom is certainly appreciated. I will definitely change the PSU, and I'm thinking about changing out the motherboard as well. If I went with the X11SSM-F, which only has 8 SATA ports, what would be the best route to add more SATA ports?

 

[BigDave]

If I went with the X11SSM-F, which only has 8 SATA ports, what would be the best route to add more SATA ports?

I recently added an HBA card to my X11SSM-F.
I purchased an LSI SAS 9207-8i with the 2308 controller manufactured in Oct. 2016.
I wanted a new product with a warranty so paid more for the retail product,
but there are older/used HBAs and some older/used RAID cards that can be cross
flashed to work as an HBA. These used cards are server grade quality and buying
used is more cost effective for the home user.

Take at look at the Hardware Recommendations
Guide and Confused about that LSI card?
These two links contain more detailed information and will help you decide.

 

[cella400]

Alright, so here is take 2. What do you guys think?

Motherboard

Supermicro X11SSM-F-O

CPU

Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5

RAM

2x Crucial 16GB MTA18ASF2G72AZ-2G1A1

Boot Device

SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB

Storage

6x Western Digital 4Tb 5400Rpm 64Mb

Power

SeaSonic 650W Power Supply X650 SS-650KM3

HBA Card

LSI LOGIC SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301

Case

Fractal Design Define R5 White

I'm assuming I will have to flash the LSI SAS 9207-8i, but do I have to flash this motherboard (Supermicro X11SSM-F-O). I know you had to for the Supermicro - X10SL7-F.

 

[diedrichg]

Check out posts 11,12,13
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?posts/363517

 

[cella400]

Check out posts 11,12,13
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?posts/363517

I was planning on getting the Noctua CPU Cooler [NH-U12S] and 3x Noctua 140mm NF-A14 PWM for the airflow

 

[diedrichg]

I was planning on getting the Noctua CPU Cooler [NH-U12S] and 3x Noctua 140mm NF-A14 PWM for the airflow

If you are in the USA, check out pcpartpicker.com to get your best price on parts. Those are quality parts.

 

[religiouslyconfused]

Not sure if you need the Noctua heatsink as I use a stock intel cooler in a Fractal R5 and X11SSM-F board with a Xeon E3-1230v5 and it is pretty quiet.

 

[Turboproc]

Not sure if you need the Noctua heatsink as I use a stock intel cooler in a Fractal R5 and X11SSM-F board with a Xeon E3-1230v5 and it is pretty quiet.

Can confirm, intel stock cooler on X11SSM-F mainboard in combination with Fractal design fans is definitively quiet.

 

[cella400]

Thanks guys. I will certainly use the intel stock cooler.

I still have two questions

1). Does the LSI SAS 9207-8i card default IT mode, or will I have to flash it to IT mode?

2). Will the components that I picked out work with FreeNAS

Motherboard

Supermicro X11SSM-F-O

CPU

Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5

RAM

2x Crucial 16GB MTA18ASF2G72AZ-2G1A1

Boot Device

SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB

Storage

6x Western Digital 4Tb 5400Rpm 64Mb

Power

SeaSonic 650W Power Supply X650 SS-650KM3

HBA Card

LSI LOGIC SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller LSI00301

Case

Fractal Design Define R5 White

 

[BigDave]

I'm assuming I will have to flash the LSI SAS 9207-8i, but do I have to flash this motherboard (Supermicro X11SSM-F-O). I know you had to for the Supermicro - X10SL7-F.

You assume correctly, the 9207-8i will need the firmware flashed to IT P20.00.07.00

The X11SSM-f board does not have a SAS controller on-board, unlike the X10SL7-f model which has a SAS controller.

 

[BigDave]

Will the components that I picked out work with FreeNAS

I did not check the Crucial website with regards to the RAM selection, but I'm assuming you did?
The rest of the list is golden IMHO

 

[dwhite78]

I'm following along with this build as it identically matches my budget and storage needs. However, I had a question If I may piggy back onto your build. What is the reason for using the LSI HBA over the onboard SATA connections?

 

[BigDave]

Cleaner wire management :D

 

[dwhite78]

Cleaner wire management :D

Well isn't that sexy!

 

[BigDave]

Well isn't that sexy!

That was my first build which has since been decommissioned when I began
to rack mount my stuff. That Define R4 now houses my personal desktop.