prebuilt older workstation?

[Swarmy]

Hello, First post, would like to say wonderfull community and I have been learning quite a bit. I am going to ramble on and I apologise.

I have an old Buffalo linkstation (https://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-LinkStation-Performance-Network-Attached/dp/B004AWH0NO) I believe its this one and I have been running four 3TB drives in raid 5 (so two 3tb storage places whatever). Recently I have ran out of space. I never liked Baffalo, I never could get more then 10Mb on upload or download, the settings seemed very bare just was not a good unit. So I read up and tada Freenas that will run on my old PC! OMG yes! Well, then I started to research...

So after research my ideal build would be X10SRL-F with E5-1650 v3 and 32gb of ecc ram to start. Problem is I am a tad short on cash, 2 kids, life, etc etc. So I narrowed it down to 3 options (maybe 4) and I am hoping you guys could point me in the right direction.

Option 1 (least desirable as far as I understand) I have z77 sabertooth mobo with i7 3770k that I could set up freenas on. No ECC wich would not make this a good build.

Option 2 I have a Asus Rampage 5 extreme 2011-3 mobo with 5820k. I would have to buy a Xeon proc and ecc ram, but from my research it does support it and enables some server stuff on the board. However from reading it is really not recommended to use gaming boards for what I am looking to do.

Option 3 Buy an old, used workstation on ebay like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SC56...m=372354927644&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 and increasing ram and using it until I get enough money to get what I want

Option 4 Just biting the bullet and buying the original stuff I am looking for

Option 5 Open to other suggestions.

Ty for your time.

 

[Chris Moore]

Option 3 Buy an old, used workstation on ebay like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SC56...m=372354927644&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 and increasing ram and using it until I get enough money to get what I want

The seller description of that system is slightly misinformed. That is a full server, not a workstation, it is just a fairly low end server, even for when it was new and it is in a tower form factor instead of a rack mount. Still, the dual redundant power supplies give it away. The socket 1366 Xeon generates a lot more heat and takes a bit more power than more modern units, but it should be fully capable to the task of running FreeNAS. You can also replace the processor in that board with a faster one that has more cores if you find that 2.4GHz is not quite enough, but it should be fine for normal file sharing tasks. It only has a CPU Mark score of 4810, so it will have trouble with transcoding if you are using it with Plex media server.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E5620+@+2.40GHz&id=1249
The vendor description says:

• Intel Xeon E5620 2.4GHz quad-core processor
• 2.66GHz Max Turbo Frequency
• 12MB Smart Cache, 5.86GT/s QPI
• Intel S5520 chipset
• 6GB DDR3 ECC Registered RAM (supports up to 288GB)
• DVD±RW drive
• Integrated video
• Two Gigabit through Intel 82575EB PHYs with Intel I/O Acceleration Technology 2 support
• Adaptec 5405Z 512MB DDR2 PCI Express Serial RAID controller
• 56K PCI Express modem

The Adaptec RAID controller must go, no question about it and the battery pack that is connected to it. You would need to replace it with one of these to run the storage disks:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-H220-6G...9205-8i-P20-IT-Mode-From-US-Ship/192639052923
It should be an easy drop-in replacement.

The 56K modem can probably go too, I don't think FreeNAS supports using a modem, but even if it did, you might not find it terribly useful.

You will need some boot media for this system. Don't waste one of your six hot-swap bays on it. There are either four or six SATA ports along the bottom edge of the system board on this system, use those and mount a small SSD or mirrored pair of them in where the CD-ROM bays are. No need to get fancy about it, but if you wanted to, you could use something like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ICY-DOCK-2...-Hot-Swap-Mobile-Rack-Cage-w-3-5/132790496713

As for the boot media, I suggested using SSDs. Some old / small ones you already have would likely be fine. FreeNAS only needs about 16GB of space, and I am using some old 40GB drives myself. I did a quick search on eBay and the lowest price I could find for something I think would be reliable is this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-320-Series-40GB-Internal-2-5-SSDSA2CT040G3-SSD/273725943413
I have a couple of those myself and they have been fantastic. No trouble at all.

 

[Chris Moore]

Oops. I forgot to mention the memory. That system comes with 6GB and they are probably six 1GB sticks, but it needs at least 8GB. Those systems had six memory slots per CPU and you can only use the slots on the populated CPU socket. So you would likely need to throw out the 1GB sticks in favor of higher capacity modules. This would need to be registered DDR3 (RDIMM) memory and if you tell me how much you want, I can make a specific recommendation.

 

[Swarmy]

Mainly I am going to be using it as a file storage, however I was gona set up 2 of the existing 3tb drives in raid z1 to stream movies to the kids rooms. I have 2 8tb WD reds I am going to run in raid z1 untill I can get more. So I would probably need minimum 16gb? 1 gb per terabyte roughly? Do you think I would be happy with this set up?
Thank you for your super fast responce!

The more I am looking at everything the more I am thinking that I should just start buying what I want. it sounds like I will spend about $300 on that workstation and I might as well put that towards what I want. Sorry, I hope that my thought process is rational. I been stressing over this for a while now haha.

 

[Chris Moore]

I was gona set up 2 of the existing 3tb drives in raid z1

You might want to review these resources because I think you have some mixed terminology:

Slideshow explaining VDev, zpool, ZIL and L2ARC
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...ning-vdev-zpool-zil-and-l2arc-for-noobs.7775/

Terminology and Abbreviations Primer
https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/terminology-and-abbreviations-primer.28174/

stream movies to the kids rooms.

If you are using Plex and it needs to transcode the video, you may be unhappy with the performance. That CPU is pretty weak.
You could upgrade the processor to one of these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon...2MB-6-Core-LGA1366-Processor-CPU/122554693781
for almost double the performance:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+X5690+@+3.47GHz&id=1314
That system board also supports a second processor socket, but adding a second processor would likely require buying other accessories to go with it such as a heat-sync and I can't tell you for certain all that would be needed.

So I would probably need minimum 16gb? 1 gb per terabyte roughly?

Although the rule of 1GB per 1TB is not a hard rule, but more of a guide, I would agree that 16GB is a good place to be. You can always add more later as needed. I would suggest just using two 8GB modules to leave room for adding more as time goes on.
It appears that this memory would be compatible with the system:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-Module...em-x3400-M2-X3400-M3-x3500-M2-M3/291983752486

Do you think I would be happy with this set up?

It is probably a good starter system, and depending on your needs, it might be all you want for a while. Depends on your personality though. If you like to tinker, you will probably want to build a better system. When I started with FreeNAS, I went through a bunch of builds in quick sucession. Between 2011 and 2018, I made eight builds or significant revisions to existing ones. You certainly have room to improve. I ran a LGA1366 (what this is) for about a year and the thing that made me want to switch, besides adding more drive capacity, was the power and heat that the CPU does.
You might be happy with it for years, or you might want to build something with newer hardware as soon as you can get the money together. I can't say that for you. Either way, check back with us and someone is sure to give you some advice.

 

[Swarmy]

@Chris Moore
Well I almost got that 2011-3 mobo untill I saw the price of ram... So what do you think about this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Power...m=132959664409&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982 ?

 

[Chris Moore]

@Chris Moore
Well I almost got that 2011-3 mobo untill I saw the price of ram... So what do you think about this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Poweredge-R620-2-x-SIX-CORE-2-00GHZ-E5-2620-32GB-146GB-SERVER-H710p-QTY-AVB/132959664409?_trkparms=aid=888007&algo=DISC.MBE&ao=1&asc=20131227121020&meid=7d0b2182c5004c159d981a49fbab88fe&pid=100009&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=263348406989&itm=132959664409&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982 ?

I don't know what your budget is, but you might want to take a look at this parts list I just put together:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community/resources/specific-build-components-list-up-to-32gb-ram.109/

 

[Swarmy]

@Chris Moore
The only reason I hesitate on that board is the fact that 32gb is max and from all I read memory is really important for freenas. My goal is to have 2 raid z2 of 4 at least 8tb hdds.

 

[Chris Moore]

@Chris Moore
The only reason I hesitate on that board is the fact that 32gb is max and from all I read memory is really important for freenas. My goal is to have 2 raid z2 of 4 at least 8tb hdds.

The cost difference with these changes is about $10:
https://www.ixsystems.com/community...anges-to-upgrade-as-high-as-512gb-of-ram.110/

 

[Swarmy]

@Chris Moore
Just wanted to say thank you so much for all your help.
Was in the process of putting your build in the cart when I saw a server and I decided to bid on it. I won and now I have a
Supermicro 2u cse-826
X9dri-ln4f+
2x lsi9210-8I
sas826A
2 - e5-2650
32gb of ram
I have 4-8tb wd in z2 and 4 3tb wd in z1.
I have 2 8gb flash drives for FreeNas untill i can figure out where to put 2 ssd drives.
Now its time to learn. Just gotta find the time haha.

Oh and is there anything I can re purpose my old buffalo pro quad nas?

Once again, ty very much for all your help!