Proposed FreeNAS Build

[thedirtmerchant]

General thoughts on this?
My usage is expected to be file/video/picture storage.
Plex for a couple HD streams being transcoded, but in the near future more streams are possible 4-7 maybe?

Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5 + 2 or 3 fans
Mobo: Supermicro X11SSM-F
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V5 Skylake
RAM: Crucial 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM
Power: Seasonic USA Platinum 660 ATX Modular
Boot Device: 120 GB SanDisk SSD

Any serious (or not so serious) mistakes?
Issues I should consider?

I am also considering the Xeon E3-1240 V5 (additional $85).
Is that worthwhile? Or should I put that money somewhere else?

Thoughts on the SUPERMICRO X11SSL-F (save myself ~$30)

I'll have space for 8 drives, but am planning to use 6 in RAIDz2.
I don't see myself using up the ~8TB of usable space within the next several years.
But if someone has a good reason to go with 8 drives...


Also, I just came across this Supermicro mid-tower
http://www.microcenter.com/product/451228/S5_Special_Edition_Mid-Tower_Gaming_Chassis_-_Black-Red
that has space for 6 drives (and it looks like I could change the cage for the 2.5 drives into another
set of 3.5 drives)...then I could put 1 empty space between each of the 6 HDDs. Does that help/hinder/make no difference
on cooling?

 

[Stux]

I'd consider the Xeon 1230v5. 60% more performance than the 1220 for plex. Only 5% less performance than the 1240.

 

[BigDave]

in the near future more streams are possible 4-7 maybe?

I agree with Stux on the CPU, the 1220 does not have HT

However that is alot of money if the need for that many streams don't happen like you imagine.
You could get stuck paying for something that never gets used...
Consider Core i3-6300 @ $150 it's faster with 4 threads for Plex

 

[thedirtmerchant]

I'll keep that i3-6300 in mind.
The 1230 is $100 more right now...if I do hit the streams like I imagine...can the 6300 still hack it?

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Little confusion (for me) on the motherboards.
What is the difference between
X11SSM-F
and
X11SSM-F-O

I took a look at Supermicro's naming conventions...and I don't see "O"
same with the X1SSL-F and X1SSL-F-O

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?CompareItemList=-1|13-182-980^13-182-980,09Z-01PF-000K1^09Z-01PF-000K1

 

[diedrichg]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?posts/93606

 

[diedrichg]

I'll keep that i3-6300 in mind.
The 1230 is $100 more right now...if I do hit the streams like I imagine...can the 6300 still hack it?

The i3-6300 nets a PassMark score of 5816. That would get you almost three simultaneous 1080p, or six 720p transcodes (_IF_ you had three devices requiring a transcode). You can see the full list here: www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
Edit: not all clients require a transcode while on your local network - it depends on the client hardware/software and the file resolution, container, audio and even subtitles.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?posts/93606

Weird, i hit the supermicro website and didn't see that -o was simply retail packaging.

 

[diedrichg]

Yeah. I always have to reference that forum post by jgreco whenever I'm window shopping.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5 + 2 or 3 fans
Mobo: Supermicro X11SSM-F

Updated CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V5 Skylake
I'm willing to spend the $ to get the headroom.

RAM: Crucial 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMM
Power: Seasonic USA Platinum 660 ATX Modular
Boot Device: 120 GB SanDisk SSD

Any thoughts on have an empty drive space between each of the 6 drives?
Would that make it better air flow in this:
Supermicro mid-tower
http://www.microcenter.com/product/451228/S5_Special_Edition_Mid-Tower_Gaming_Chassis_-_Black-Red

 

[diedrichg]

Airflow will be sufficient on the R5 as long as you buy the extra 140mm fan for the front. If you think you will need >6 drives and you think you'll be on the LGA1151 socket for awhile then you would want to look at the SUPERMICRO X11SSL-CF. To determine your best $/TiB disk setup, check out my spreadsheet here: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/zfs-drive-size-and-cost-comparison-spreadsheet.38092/

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Airflow will be sufficient on the R5 as long as you buy the extra 140mm fan for the front. If you think you will need >6 drives and you think you'll be on the LGA1151 socket for awhile then you would want to look at the SUPERMICRO X11SSL-CF. To determine your best $/TiB disk setup, check out my spreadsheet here: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/zfs-drive-size-and-cost-comparison-spreadsheet.38092/

What's the better draw for the X11SSL-CF? It only has 6 SATA ports...?

 

[diedrichg]

The two "LSI3008 controller for 8 SAS3" ports. Using a Mini SAS SFF-8643 you can then connect (8) additional SATA drives for a total of 12 drives, PLUS your two SATADOM or SSD boot drives.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

also...I'm all up on that spreadsheet (extremely helpful, thank you).
I don't have the budget for 8 drives + 1 spare...and the 6 3TB drives in RAIDz2 does very well for my needs.

 

[diedrichg]

And here is another good resource for choosing a processor https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
A 1080p transcoded video will need about 2000 on the Passmark score. 720p, 1000.

 

[diedrichg]

also...I'm all up on that spreadsheet (extremely helpful, thank you).
I don't have the budget for 8 drives + 1 spare...and the 6 3TB drives in RAIDz2 does very well for my needs.

Completely agree. I changed my next wish list to the 6 x 3TB drive configuration too. I also plan to splurge on the e3-1240 as well.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

The two "LSI3008 controller for 8 SAS3" ports. Using a Mini SAS SFF-8643 you can then connect (8) additional SATA drives for a total of 12 drives, PLUS your two SATADOM or SSD boot drives.

OK, so that leaves quite a bit of headroom for future drive expansion...
hmmm

 

[diedrichg]

OK, so that leaves quite a bit of headroom for future drive expansion...
hmmm

Correct, without having to add an expansion card. The cost difference would be about $25 cheaper if you paid up front on the motherboard now.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

The two "LSI3008 controller for 8 SAS3" ports. Using a Mini SAS SFF-8643 you can then connect (8) additional SATA drives for a total of 12 drives, PLUS your two SATADOM or SSD boot drives.

OK, another question here.
Do I need two boot drives if I'm going SSD? This is mentioned here and there.
With the reliable SSD, is it a good rule of thumb to mirror?
Or is this one of those, "if you're one of those that value bulletproof redundancy", this is what you should do?

 

[diedrichg]

OK, another question here.
Do I need two boot drives if I'm going SSD? This is mentioned here and there.
With the reliable SSD, is it a good rule of thumb to mirror?
Or is this one of those, "if you're one of those that value bulletproof redundancy", this is what you should do?

Not necessary to have two in mirror. If you can afford the downtime (in a home setting) to build another boot drive and simply copy over your configuration file - then yeah, one is fine. A second could be added later to make it a mirror.