New build for home use, some questions

[Max-E]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this.

2 days ago my HP Proliant m350 G6 decided to go out with a bang. I've been using FreeNas on that machine for nearly 1.5 years. Mostly for Plex, smb shares and the occasional experiment and it worked ok.

Anyhow i'm in need of new system capable of transcoding 3-4 plexstreams, smb shares (max 5 users), and run a few jails maybe have some docker containers on it.

I've been going over the FreeNAS Community Hardware Guide and a few post's here on the forum and this is what I came up with:

Case: Fractal Design 804

Power: Seasonic G-650

Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSM-F

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V5

RAM: 2* Samsung M391A2K43BB1 16GB DDR4-2,133GHz these were tested with the motherboard (supportpage )

HDD's: 1 * WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB (I already have 2)

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB (I already have one, used for jails. Thinking about second one to setup mirror)

BOOT: My 2 USB drives. Might look for 16 GB SSD drives that I read about on the forum but not sure yet.

Additional notes:

I'm aware that the case can house a lot more drives then I'm currently using. But I do plan on buying additional drives in the future. But i'm definitely open to other suggestions .

The motherboard I picked out of the hardware guide. I liked the fact that it supports up to 64GB of RAM and it has 8 * s-ata.

I chose the CPU because 4 plex transcodes would require a passmark score of +- 8000. This CPU scores 9702 so I have some margin.

I plan on running the HDDs in raidz. For the data stored on my server 1 drive redundancy should be enough. Perhaps in the future when I add more drives I will run raidz2.

So that's my idea. I's nearly 1400 Euro's so some feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ericloewe]

I plan on running the HDDs in raidz. For the data stored on my server 1 drive redundancy should be enough. Perhaps in the future when I add more drives I will run raidz2.

Are you aware that you can't trivially migrate from one to the other?

 

[Max-E]

Are you aware that you can't trivially migrate from one to the other?

Yes I'm aware. I have enough space in another location to copy everything should this be necessary . But thank you for the warning. Do you have any thoughts on the hardware or other remarks?

 

[Ericloewe]

It should work nicely.

Yes I'm aware. I have enough space in another location to copy everything should this be necessary . But thank you for the warning. Do you have any thoughts on the hardware or other remarks?

Just making sure, RAIDZ1 has it uses, but it's important that people be aware of what they're doing.

 

[Wisdom]

Depending on how much physical space you have for your enclosure (and how many drives you think you might eventually end up expanding to), I would encourage you to take a look at the Node 304 instead. The 804 is considerably larger, and I managed to pack the 304 with 6 drives (the max supported) without too much trouble. If you're looking for a mITX board to fit inside, I would recommend taking a look at the build in my sig.

 

[diedrichg]

The Xeon E3-1240 v5 will be your best bang for the buck netting 700 points higher than the 1230 on PassMark score. It'll be $30 more though.

Check this out to help with storage planning
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/38092/

 

[Max-E]

Depending on how much physical space you have for your enclosure (and how many drives you think you might eventually end up expanding to), I would encourage you to take a look at the Node 304 instead. The 804 is considerably larger, and I managed to pack the 304 with 6 drives (the max supported) without too much trouble. If you're looking for a mITX board to fit inside, I would recommend taking a look at the build in my sig.

Thank you! But 6 just won't be enough. Ericloewe got in my head with Z1 vs Z2. And I got some extra funds so I'm planning on 6 HDD + 2 SSD to start with.

Just making sure, RAIDZ1 has it uses, but it's important that people be aware of what they're doing.

Had a couple of days to think about Z2 and I'm planning on buying 4 * 4 TB drives. So I will end up with 6 drives using RAIDZ2. This will cost me a lot more but I like the peace of mind it will give me and storage space shouldn't be an issue for the foreseeable future.

The Xeon E3-1240 v5 will be your best bang for the buck netting 700 points higher than the 1230 on PassMark score. It'll be $30 more though.

The shop where I plan on buying only charges 15 Euro more so I'm going to take you up on your advice.

Any other suggestions? Looking at the PSU is the X or other premium series worth the extra money? I will probably order this system tomorrow or the day after.

Can't wait :)

 

[diedrichg]

Stick with the G series. The G-650 is overkill and you would do better with the 550 as well as offset the cost of the upgraded processor.

The (6) 4TB RAID Z2 is my dream, ideal configuration. I wish I would have known better when I built my pool.

 

[Wisdom]

Thank you! But 6 just won't be enough. Ericloewe got in my head with Z1 vs Z2. And I got some extra funds so I'm planning on 6 HDD + 2 SSD to start with.

Fair. I'm still using Z2 (6x3TB REDs, so 10TB (actual) usable) without any issues, but storage needs are certainly different.

You could absolutely fit the SSDs in there anyway, as there is some space around the PSU and where the graphics card would typically fit, but I respect wanting to do things right and have it all nailed down.