Recycle Last Year's Gaming Rig To Home NAS...

[swampther]

I'm thinking of upgrading a gaming computer and re-purposing the old one for a home NAS. It may not be as good a fit as server components, but I already have everything listed except the hard drives. I'm currently using an old HP Proliant DL380 G6 for network storage, but it's tight on space. Thinking this may get me through another decade. Let me know your thoughts...

Asus Z170-K ATX DDR4 Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012NH08B8/

Intel Core i7 6700K 4.00 GHz Unlocked Quad Core Skylake Desktop Processor, Socket LGA 1151
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012M8LXQW

Cooler Master Hyper RR-212E-20PK-R2 LED CPU Cooler with PWM Fan, Four Direct Contact Heat Pipes
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G1, 80+ GOLD 750W, Fully Modular
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K85X2A2

CORSAIR CARBIDE SPEC-02 Mid-Tower Gaming Case, Red LED Fan
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I0MKMG2

2x for 32gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3000C15)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0134EW7G8

6x WD Gold 10TB Enterprise Class Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD101KRYZ
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IWCMS5M

 

[Jailer]

While not ideal as you are already aware, that hardware should work fine for a build.

 

[rmccullough]

That case has 7 bays:

• 2 x External 5.25" Bay
• 3 x Internal 3.5" Bay
• 2 x Internal 2.5" Bay

Those WD Gold drives are 3.5". How do you plan to mount 6 of them? Also, are you planning on using a small SSD for a boot drive or a USB stick? If a small SSD, you would need to ensure it fits in one of the 2.5" bays.

Lastly, the biggest risk with this setup appears to be the lack of ECC memory. I can't explain all the ins-n-outs, but the general thinking if your data is more easily corrupted without your knowledge if you are not using ECC memory.

Side point, you could consider the Seagate 10tb NAS drives. It will save you about $60/drive and has 256mb of cache vs the 128mb in the WD.

 

[swampther]

That case has 7 bays:

• 2 x External 5.25" Bay
• 3 x Internal 3.5" Bay
• 2 x Internal 2.5" Bay

Those WD Gold drives are 3.5". How do you plan to mount 6 of them? Also, are you planning on using a small SSD for a boot drive or a USB stick? If a small SSD, you would need to ensure it fits in one of the 2.5" bays.

Lastly, the biggest risk with this setup appears to be the lack of ECC memory. I can't explain all the ins-n-outs, but the general thinking if your data is more easily corrupted without your knowledge if you are not using ECC memory.

Side point, you could consider the Seagate 10tb NAS drives. It will save you about $60/drive and has 256mb of cache vs the 128mb in the WD.

I'll probably use a small grinder to modify the case for the drives. I've fabricated drive bays before.

I plan to boot from USB so as not to waste a SATA port on the MB. Boot speed isn't an issue as it will likely run for a year at a time between reboots. I once had a win98 box run for 762 days, I'd think FreeNAS would be fine without rebooting often.

Between the ZFS checksumming and RAID 5 redundancy, which I would likely use with or without ECC memory, using ECC seems superfluous. Then again, so is a 50TB home NAS. Sure ECC is ideal, but how many people do you know who lost data due to non-ECC memory while running RAIDed ZFS?

 

[HoneyBadger]

how many people do you know who lost data due to non-ECC memory while running RAIDed ZFS?

Four Five on this forum alone (not all total losses, but some data)

And running "RAID5" - you mean "RAIDZ1" - on drives of that size is also asking to lose data, since you only have single-drive failure tolerance, and if a drive goes pop, you're relying on having no further errors while you rebuild up to 10TB of missing data.

By your own admission, 50TB is overkill - why not have 40TB of more reliable storage?

My suggestion is honestly to sell the "gaming" gear and pick up a cheap tower-style server.

 

[Alex98234]

I agree with HoneyBadger, sell the gaming gear and buy/build a system more appropriate for the task.

 

[swampther]

Good thoughts one and all. I'm learning as I go, thanks for the food for thought.

It sounds like I would be better off going with something like this:

$100 Used Dell PowerEdge T110 II Server
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-T110-II-Server-NO-HDD-NO-OS/123376255934

$68 32GB (8x 4GB) DDR2 PC2-5300F 667MHz CL5 ECC Fully Buffered FB-DIMM (240 PIN) 32 GB
https://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-PC2-5300F-Buffered-FB-DIMM-Heatspreaders/dp/B005HIWD5U/

$1800 6x Seagate 10TB IronWolf NAS SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-IronWolf-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST10000VN0004/dp/B01IA9GU0Q/

Or am I going too cheap on the server/memory?

The server itself is the same one we use at work for hosting multiple platforms. It's a bit dated, but how much is really needed for serving files?

 

[Jailer]

$68 32GB (8x 4GB) DDR2 PC2-5300F 667MHz CL5 ECC Fully Buffered FB-DIMM (240 PIN) 32 GB
https://www.amazon.com/Komputerbay-PC2-5300F-Buffered-FB-DIMM-Heatspreaders/dp/B005HIWD5U/

Not compatible with the server you picked out. That T110 takes DDR3 memory.

 

[HoneyBadger]

The T110-ii won't fit more than four drives unless you use a 3.5" to 5.25" adapter bay; it also only has five internal SATA ports, the last is eSATA. And the memory isn't compatible with the server - you've selected a platform that uses DDR3 ECC unbuffered DIMMs, but your memory is DDR2 fully-buffered DIMMs.

Your current Corsair case and EVGA PSU are probably both fine, provided the angle-grinder is used prior to any hardware installation. Look for a Supermicro X9-series ATX or mATX motherboard, perhaps even one that can take "Registered" DIMMs which are the cheapest type of DDR3 memory.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Paging @Chris Moore to the thread - you have a fellow USA resident in need of some sweet eBay deals. ;)

 

[swampther]

Good catch on the RAM. I found this instead:

$115 32GB KIT (4 x 8GB) for HP-Compaq Workstation Series Z420 (ECC Registered). DIMM DDR3 ECC Registered PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Rank RAM Memory. Genuine A-Tech Brand.
https://www.amazon.com/HP-Compaq-Workstation-Registered-PC3-12800-Tech/dp/B00WFDN6QU

The eSATA port can be used for SATA with a converter, can it not? Something like: https://www.amazon.com/CERRXIAN-Lemeng-Female-ESATA-Adapter/dp/B01G6TSAIC perhaps?

 

[rmccullough]

FWIW, I bought this recently and have been very happy with it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/142834501985

 

[HoneyBadger]

ECC Registered

You need "ECC Unbuffered" - RDIMMs will not work on the Xeon E3 platforms.

You'll know when you have the right memory because it will be much more expensive.

 

[swampther]

FWIW, I bought this recently and have been very happy with it: http://www.ebay.com/itm/142834501985

That is an incredible price, $700 for an 18TB server. I may just go this way on this and keep my old gaming rig to up my multi-boxing to 3. Are those the hot swappable redundant power supplies, or does it require both to run?

I see he has a 48tb FreeNAS server for just under $3k as well. If power consumption wasn't an issue, a person could buy 4 of the smaller rigs for the same price and have 72tb.