Hey everyone. So i figured i would try this again after thinking about what i might feasibly use in the next few years. I think my previous considerations were probably a bit too forward thinking. Just meaning that by the time i'm at the point where i'm needing to implement some extra storage, i'll probably be looking at a new build anyways.
I'm currently running a windows server 2008 machine that i am just going to try and get rid of for parts, since it really has no business in a freeNAS build. Plus it's a norco chassis that just isn't going to last much longer and i would like to physically downsize.
So my current line in the sand requirements are at least 10 drives. Mini ITX form factor, and as small and quiet as possible. It will be primarily a plex server with probably 1 - 3 simultaneous HD streams (perhaps eventually 4K, although i know that isn't feasible for any reasonable mini ITX budget at this time, so its not an important consideration at this time)
Case - Lian Li PC-Q26
Motherboard - ASRock Rack E3C236D2I
Memory - 32GB ECC RAM
Processor - Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 3.4GHz
Hard Drives - Western Digital Red 8TB x 10 with a 500GB hybrid drive for the OS (pretty much the only part reused from the old server)
HBA Card - LSI 9207-8i (not sure if its worth it to look at the 9300 12GB/sec cards. I don't know much about these to be honest, but i thought i'd be limited by the sata interface not really able to max this out...? maybe i'm way off base?)
Power Supply - Seasonic G-750
OS - FreeNAS Coral running RAID Z2
Originally, i had wanted external ports as well on the HBA card for an external enclosure when my internal fills up. I'm at almost 32TB of data now and i don't see that getting any less. Looking at the rate at which i actually fill up the drives however, i'll probably be looking at a new system once that happens anyways. So i gave up on the external ports. I was having trouble finding anything that had enough internal and external ports anyways.
So all in all, i think this build isn't anything extra-ordinary. However, if anyone has any suggestions that might improve it i would love to hear it. The only thing i'm quite concerned about is the amount of available RAM on the mini ITX motherboards. I know that 32GB might not really be ideal for the amount of space i'll have. I read that it was recommended to have 1GB per 1TB of space, so i don't know if that throws up any red flags.
I'm currently running a windows server 2008 machine that i am just going to try and get rid of for parts, since it really has no business in a freeNAS build. Plus it's a norco chassis that just isn't going to last much longer and i would like to physically downsize.
So my current line in the sand requirements are at least 10 drives. Mini ITX form factor, and as small and quiet as possible. It will be primarily a plex server with probably 1 - 3 simultaneous HD streams (perhaps eventually 4K, although i know that isn't feasible for any reasonable mini ITX budget at this time, so its not an important consideration at this time)
Case - Lian Li PC-Q26
Motherboard - ASRock Rack E3C236D2I
Memory - 32GB ECC RAM
Processor - Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 3.4GHz
Hard Drives - Western Digital Red 8TB x 10 with a 500GB hybrid drive for the OS (pretty much the only part reused from the old server)
HBA Card - LSI 9207-8i (not sure if its worth it to look at the 9300 12GB/sec cards. I don't know much about these to be honest, but i thought i'd be limited by the sata interface not really able to max this out...? maybe i'm way off base?)
Power Supply - Seasonic G-750
OS - FreeNAS Coral running RAID Z2
Originally, i had wanted external ports as well on the HBA card for an external enclosure when my internal fills up. I'm at almost 32TB of data now and i don't see that getting any less. Looking at the rate at which i actually fill up the drives however, i'll probably be looking at a new system once that happens anyways. So i gave up on the external ports. I was having trouble finding anything that had enough internal and external ports anyways.
So all in all, i think this build isn't anything extra-ordinary. However, if anyone has any suggestions that might improve it i would love to hear it. The only thing i'm quite concerned about is the amount of available RAM on the mini ITX motherboards. I know that 32GB might not really be ideal for the amount of space i'll have. I read that it was recommended to have 1GB per 1TB of space, so i don't know if that throws up any red flags.
