Need help for first Build :)

Destiney

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
11
Hi everyone,

I am new on freenas and always wanted to build something but always postponed because of lack of time.
For now I am using one Synology DS212j but it become very complicate to use as the hardware inside is not performant and very limited.

At first I wanted to build a Mini-ITX configuration to take the same space than what I have but I read that it is difficult to evolve the config, difficult for the cable management .

The usage will be for home use :
Plex (one stream up to 4k)
Backup of my pc, wife pc, phones
Virtualisation (test OS)
Download torrent ( I have a 10 GB line fiber)

My budget will be ~ 2000$ I can over a bit if needed.

I already have some pieces of hardware that I can re use :

Fans : 2x Noctua NF-A14 PPC 2000 PWM (140mm,)
CPU Cooler : 1x Corsair H75 AIO
RAM : 4x Corsaire Dominator GT 4GB (16 GB in total)
HDD : 2x WD Red 2TB (4TB in total) - Already running on my synololgy but will be able to re use for the freenas build

My wish is to have someting which is easy to maintain and to upgrade

What will be your advise for that budget ?

Thank you

Destiney
 

Samuel Tai

Never underestimate your own stupidity
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
5,399
Synology formats disks to ext3; you won't be able to reuse these in FreeNAS without reformatting them to ZFS, so any data on them will be lost. You're better off getting fresh disks, so you can fall back to your Synology in the worst case.

For FreeNAS, you should also go with server-grade ECC RAM, instead of gaming RAM which could be natively overclocked.
 

Destiney

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
11
Hi Samuel thank you for your help.

Then Okay I will use new HDD.

For the case I would like to go to: Fractal Node 804 wich will allow me to use a ATX motherboard

Now the question is which motherboard, which CPU, which ram.
I would like to use a 10 GB NIC.

let's see the MB :

Asus Z10PA-U8/10G-2S (port 10gb included) + M.2 (can be used for the OS ?)
 

Samuel Tai

Never underestimate your own stupidity
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
5,399
Please consult the FreeBSD hardware compatibility document. For the BCM57840S-based 10G onboard NICs on that motherboard, the appropriate FreeBSD driver is bxe, so the board should work. The M.2 slot can be used for a boot SSD.
 

Destiney

Dabbler
Joined
Aug 22, 2017
Messages
11
Hi Samuel,

I read that the NIC should be compatible but one other guy as problem so I am a bit hesitating:

As you said it should be supported :

For the ram I will go with :
1 x Samsung M386A8K40BMB-CRC 64GB DDR4-2400 ECC/LR 4 Samsung K4AAG045WB

Now for the cpu what will you recommend ?
 

Samuel Tai

Never underestimate your own stupidity
Moderator
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
5,399
Any of the CPUs validated for this motherboard should be fine. Pick one at your budget level. In your case, you'll need a pretty powerful CPU if you intend to transcode 4K in real-time. If you can use Plex DirectPlay to your devices, you only need a CPU powerful enough to optimize the video to the appropriate 4K format during idle periods. Also, make sure your chosen CPU has EPT capability on Intel ARK; bhyve won't run VMs otherwise. Look for this CPU feature:

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.
 

Glorious1

Guru
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
1,211
Two things. First, I have a mini-ITX build with space for about 10 drives and didn't have any big problems. It would be hard to evolve if I wanted a bigger motherboard, but that's the whole point.

Second, and this is definitely a side issue, but I have never understood why everyone goes with Plex. It requires a pretty hefty processor to transcode on the fly, and then you're getting a lower-quality fast transcode. I use Kodi, which simply streams the original file from your server. You can get away with a lower-powered processor such as the Atom processor built into my board, and it is plenty fast enough. If you're just serving to a home theater, I think that's better. Serving to phones and such probably does require Plex though.
 
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