My First NAS/Server. Would appreciate all feedback & recommendations regarding hardware

[Megaowca]

So I want to build a Linux server that will mainly function as a NAS, but it will also be running services such as plex, home assistant, Pihole, some docker containers, and possibly a small Minecraft server. My budget is pretty limited so i am trying to keep the costs to a minimum. One more thing, I am located in the EU, so please consider that fact when suggesting any parts.

From reading other posts and doing some research this is what i have decided on:

• Motherboard: ASRock E3C236D21 Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.aspModel=E3C236D2I#Specifications I chose this motherboard mainly because it has 6 SATA 3 ports, has built-in IPMI support, comes in a mini-ITX form factor, and supports ECC memory.
• CPU: this is where I run into a bit of a dilemma. I am considering either the Intel Xeon E3-1220 v6 or the Intel core I3-7100. The intel core i3-7100 is cheaper and supports video transcoding which would come in handy cause of plex, but on the other hand it has 2 cores less than the Intel Xeon E3-1220v6. Which one should i choose?
• Storage:
  • 2 * Seagate IronWolf CMR 2TB (decided to start with only 2 HDD but i believe it shouldn't be an issue to add more drives down the line)
  • Kingston SDD A400 240GB (boot drive)
  • Seagate IronWolf 525 m.2 nvme drive 500GB (for caching)
• PSU: Seasonic Focus 450w power supply https://seasonic.com/focus-sgx
• RAM: for the ram I decided on 2 * 8GB sticks of ddr3 1866MT/s ECC unbuffed ram. Not sure about the compatibility with the CPU.
• CASE: Jonsibo N1 Mini-ITX case

This is my first build as i have previously stated so i don't have any experience in building a server so i would really appreciate your suggestions and feedback (especially the ones addressing the CPU and RAM).

 

[Samuel Tai]

• CPU: this is where I run into a bit of a dilemma. I am considering either the Intel Xeon E3-1220 v6 or the Intel core I3-7100. The intel core i3-7100 is cheaper and supports video transcoding which would come in handy cause of plex, but on the other hand it has 2 cores less than the Intel Xeon E3-1220v6. Which one should i choose?

Do you plan to run Core or SCALE? For Core, GPU transcoding isn't available. Also, do you plan to run VMs? For just plugins and simple file sharing, the low core count won't be a detriment. However, if you plan to run VMs, having more cores is helpful.

• Motherboard: ASRock E3C236D21 Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.aspModel=E3C236D2I#Specifications I chose this motherboard mainly because it has 6 SATA 3 ports, has built-in IPMI support, comes in a mini-ITX form factor, and supports ECC memory.

A solid choice

• Storage:
  • 2 * Seagate IronWolf CMR 2TB (decided to start with only 2 HDD but i believe it shouldn't be an issue to add more drives down the line)
  • Kingston SDD A400 240GB (boot drive)
  • Seagate IronWolf 525 m.2 nvme drive 500GB (for caching)

Try things without the NVME drive initially. At just 16 GB of RAM, you may not see any performance gain with an L2ARC. YMMV; I run a similar setup (see my system details under the blue button), and I do see a slight improvement with an Optane L2ARC. Also with just 2x drives, you're stuck with a mirror VDEV of 2x drives, limiting your pool capacity to 2TB total. Finally, the Kingston SSD is way overkill for a boot drive, as you'll only use 8 GB. You may want to look into a small (~32 GB) M.2 SSD, with a M.2 to USB adapter as your boot volume.

• RAM: for the ram I decided on 2 * 8GB sticks of ddr3 1866MT/s ECC unbuffed ram. Not sure about the compatibility with the CPU.

Check with Intel ARK for both CPUs for the official RAM compatibility.

• Xeon E3-1220 v6: DDR4-2400, DDR3L-1866 (note, the L means low power, or 1.35V)
• Core I3-7100: DDR4-2133/2400, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V

Your motherboard also has a RAM compatibility sheet: https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#Memory

Overall, this looks like a solid choice of components.

 

[Megaowca]

Do you plan to run Core or SCALE? For Core, GPU transcoding isn't available. Also, do you plan to run VMs? For just plugins and simple file sharing, the low core count won't be a detriment. However, if you plan to run VMs, having more cores is helpful.



A solid choice



Try things without the NVME drive initially. At just 16 GB of RAM, you may not see any performance gain with an L2ARC. YMMV; I run a similar setup (see my system details under the blue button), and I do see a slight improvement with an Optane L2ARC. Also with just 2x drives, you're stuck with a mirror VDEV of 2x drives, limiting your pool capacity to 2TB total. Finally, the Kingston SSD is way overkill for a boot drive, as you'll only use 8 GB. You may want to look into a small (~32 GB) M.2 SSD, with a M.2 to USB adapter as your boot volume.



Check with Intel ARK for both CPUs for the official RAM compatibility.

• Xeon E3-1220 v6: DDR4-2400, DDR3L-1866 (note, the L means low power, or 1.35V)
• Core I3-7100: DDR4-2133/2400, DDR3L-1333/1600 @ 1.35V

Your motherboard also has a RAM compatibility sheet: https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=E3C236D2I#Memory

Overall, this looks like a solid choice of components.

the thing is will be probably using an ubuntu server as my OS, and i will be running a couple of VMs (including a Minecraft server) in the form of docker containers so in that case what do you think I should choose (open for any other CPU options)?

 

[Samuel Tai]

the thing is will be probably using an ubuntu server as my OS

I'm sorry, this isn't the forum for Ubuntu recommendations. We specialize in TrueNAS Core (based on FreeBSD) or SCALE (based on Debian) support.