So I'm going to Build a NAS! - Looking for some suggestions and tweaks

ComplexCarb

ComplexCarb

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I'm looking to build a NAS for my home that I also plan to use as a plex server, cloud, backup, etc. I want it to be upgradable as well as I add content... I do a good deal of 1080 and 4K video editing.

Case: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q2Z11QE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1PYB0QXU6SOEO&psc=1

Motherboard (got this one for the 2.5GB LAN): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CQN1K6Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

16GB Ram: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08QV1V17R/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A25SITGFW0OQJA&psc=1

750W Gold PSU: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W47MX46/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3VUUSCTID03LA&psc=1

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092L9GF5N/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Do yall think I can save money on the processor?

Will outfit with 4 8TB drives either WD Reds or some Seagates. Plan to run FreeNAS!!

Cheers

PS.... After looking around, should I build this system with an intel processor and ECC memory?
 
ComplexCarb

ComplexCarb

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Little more researching.... new attempt:

Do yall know if this board supports ECC memory? If not do you have a suggestion for an alternative? Cheers

Case & 2 additional fans:

PSU:

CPU (i5-10400):

Cooler:

WD 250 NVMe for cache:

MSI Z490-A PRO (2.5G lan):

16GB ECC Memory (1 stick):
 
Evertb1

Evertb1

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That board does not support ECC. No surprise as it is mainly targeted at the game-playing consumers. It does not mather though because your intended CPU does not support ECC as well. In order to have support for ECC memory the board (and the BIOS) and the CPU must support it. As far as I know there has never been an i5 with ECC support. You should have been able to find out with some simple searches on the MSI site and the Intel ARK site. They make no big secret of the specs.
 
joeschmuck

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ComplexCarb said:
I want it to be upgradable as well as I add content...
Click to expand...
You should define what you expect here. Adding hard drives is not the same as say adding one more 6TB hard drive and you have increased your capacity by 6TB. Read up about how ZFS works, it's not like your normal computer file system.

As for parts, I think you need to think hard about what your expectations are for your system. Whatever your capacity is expected to be... I'd double it. How important is your data? If it's really important then invest in a motherboard which supports ECC RAM. When looking this stuff up, visit the manufacturers website and download the user manual, read it, also look for the QVL for the RAM. You need to think of it this way... The case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, and power supply are the items that will generally last the life of the NAS. The hard drives are items that get replaced every 3 to 5 years due to failure. Sure some hard drives will last longer but don't bet on it. And also buy an UPS as sudden power drops are bad too.

ComplexCarb said:
WD 250 NVMe for cache:
Amazon.com
Click to expand...
What do you need a cache for? You barely have enough RAM. Invest in more RAM, 32GB to 64GB is what I'd recommend. Remember, this is a one time purchase.

I think you need to read some of the TrueNAS resources links and learn more about how this system operates, just you mentioning a cache means you don't understand that it is apt to actually slow things down.
 
ComplexCarb

ComplexCarb

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I expect to be able to add ram to the system and add new vdevs down the road.

The data is pretty important to me.

As far as performance, I want to be able to use it as a plex server for some of my 4K footage. There should never be more than 2 users using it at the same time for this operation.

I found a list of intel processors that support ECC here: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...CMemory=True&1_Filter-ProcessorGraphics=19001

Which led me to this guy (with integrated graphics) - https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i...sktops-_-intel-_-9SIA2W0DP00398&source=region

I just started looking for MBs... but I found this guy from gigabyte: https://www.newegg.com/asus-ws-c246... server-_-asus-_-9SIAFJ8B1N4238&source=region

Would be nice to get that price down a little.... but I'm happy it's not $400.



I had brought up a cache disk because I'm not sure if I'll be using TrueNAS or UnRaid yet... haven't decided. It would be nice to build a system that could run either.

I'm just learning as I go here... I've only built a few computers.
 
Evertb1

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ComplexCarb said:
I found a list of intel processors that support ECC here: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...CMemory=True&1_Filter-ProcessorGraphics=19001
Click to expand...
Yes that CPU supports ECC. But it is not a real powerhouse and most likely will not be sufficient for 4K footage. It has a passmark of less then 7000 (I found various figures) and according to the plex site that's not sufficient for 4K when transcoding is in play. And even without transcoding Plex advices an i7 CPU for 4K footage.

So if you are serious about your use case (what you want to do with your system) and your data, you need to find a CPU that supports ECC and is powerfull enough for your Plex wishes. And I am afraid that means you need to find an (expensive) Xeon CPU. For Plex it does not mather to much if you go with TrueNAS or UnRaid I think. The Plex recommandations are clear.
 
ComplexCarb

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Evertb1 said:
Yes that CPU supports ECC. But it is not a real powerhouse and most likely will not be sufficient for 4K footage. It has a passmark of less then 7000 (I found various figures) and according to the plex site that's not sufficient for 4K when transcoding is in play. And even without transcoding Plex advices an i7 CPU for 4K footage.

So if you are serious about your use case (what you want to do with your system) and your data, you need to find a CPU that supports ECC and is powerfull enough for your Plex wishes. And I am afraid that means you need to find an (expensive) Xeon CPU. For Plex it does not mather to much if you go with TrueNAS or UnRaid I think. The Plex recommandations are clear.
Click to expand...

Ever tried a refurbished processor? This Xeon E7-8880 is around $120... Passmark of around18000

www.techbuyer.com

Intel Xeon Processor E7 8880 v3 E7 E7-8880V3 - E7-8880V3

Intel® Xeon® Processor E7-8880 v3 <br />(45M Cache, 2.30 GHz)
www.techbuyer.com www.techbuyer.com

Edit: They claim a 3 year warranty
 
Last edited:
ComplexCarb

ComplexCarb

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ComplexCarb

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allpurpbox said:
Why not the i3? It has both ECC support and integrated graphics. Hardware acceleration is far more power efficent that pegging a cpu to 100%. Perhaps an Asrock or supermicro motherboardf and some unbufferd ECC memory. The boards you selected have many features that have no value in a nas or server such as audio, crappy realtek ethernet, video ports, etc.
Click to expand...
Does hardware acceleration harness the integrated graphics in the CPU or do you need a dedicated GPU to use hardware acceleration?
 
joeschmuck

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ComplexCarb said:
Does hardware acceleration harness the integrated graphics in the CPU or do you need a dedicated GPU to use hardware acceleration?
Click to expand...
You are in the TrueNAS forums, we really don't do any GPU stuff here, meaning all we go is display the TrueNAS GUI, we do not use any advanced graphics. So unless you are creating a Hypervisor, I don't think the hardware acceleration will do anything for you. Same thing with audio as well.

Now briefly on to the 4K video stuff. If you are planning to do any video editing directly on file which reside on the NAS, you will be buying a lot more that the stuff you are listing here, consider dropping a brick of gold to pay for it. If you plan to just copy large files from TrueNAS on to a computer where you are editing, that is fine. If all you want to do is some simple transcoding for Plex then I think you are on the right track to buy a fast CPU.

As for used CPU's, those are fine provided you get a money back guarantee. The downside to a used CPU is they tend to be older, require more power, run hotter, and you will likely need an older motherboard which means older RAM as well. Again I say, you need to know exactly what you want this system to do as a NAS. It will not be your video editing computer too unless you plan to run a hypervisor and then you are going to want to buy some good stuff. If you buy minimum quality now, you will be replacing it later after you have been frustrated when the performance isn't what you expected. I'm speaking from experience. While I liked my first FreeNAS system, it wasn't everything I wanted so another bunch of money was spent. I'm happy now even with a PassMark score of 8021.

One other thing to think about is, the media players you have, can they accept the 4K content and transcode on the fly to your satisfaction? I own several ROKU's and they all accept various video formats and transcode on the fly for me so while Plex can transcode for me, it doesn't need to. So knowing how this will be used in your home is important.
 
winnielinnie

winnielinnie

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ComplexCarb said:
I do a good deal of 1080 and 4K video editing.
Click to expand...
I notice everyone's talking about GPU acceleration and Plex, but I interpret the above as an entirely different requirement. The processing is going to happen on the client PC, not the TrueNAS server. This means the real bottlenecks are:
  • network throughput
  • drive(s) performance
  • client PC's CPU and GPU

ComplexCarb said:
Ever tried a refurbished processor?
Click to expand...
My TrueNAS server has a used Xeon processor that I grabbed from a seller on eBay. CPUs have great lifespans. The only caveat is I supplied my own thermal paste and heatsink.


ComplexCarb said:
Motherboard (got this one for the 2.5GB LAN)
Click to expand...
Question for everyone: How does one harness 2.5Gb LAN speeds, if the router, switch, and client PC are all 1Gb anyways?


ComplexCarb said:
16GB ECC Memory (1 stick)
Click to expand...
Aim for two sticks (e.g, 8GB x 2) so that you can leverage dual-channel transfer speeds (which most motherboards support.)
 
mervincm

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winnielinnie

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ComplexCarb said:
We have 3 4K "smart TVs" (1 roku, 2 fire)
Click to expand...
Are you going to transcode on-the-fly from 4K down to something else?

With our Roku and Amazon FireTV, we always do direct stream (no conversion, no transcoding), and our devices only support 1080p. So I would think your 4K smart TVs could handle even more than ours.

(In fact, I outright disabled the transcode feature in Plex.)

(The only time a video needs to be converted is if it struggles on the smart TV, in which I just permantly re-encode it to 1080p and store that on the NAS for streaming. This is rare though, since most everything we stream is 1080 or lower.)
 
GlueFactoryBJJ

GlueFactoryBJJ

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FWIW, all AMD Ryzen CPUs support ECC memory. You just need to find a motherboard that also supports ECC memory. There are many.

If you do decide to go with AMD, you surely wouldn't need a 5000 series CPU, a 3000/4000 series would work well and can be found at a discount or used at a good price.

I've been using an AMD FX CPU in my NAS for years with no headaches, though I haven't tried it with Plex yet.

On the other hand, not many people here use AMD, so getting support here is difficult. That alone may make it worth going with an Intel system...
 
mervincm

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I used i3-8100 for a long time (not on trueNAS) pled server and it was excellent. An ideal situation would be a modern version of that. An i3 with the newest plex supported iGPU on a motherboard that also supports ECC would be the target for me. Newer iGPU gets you access to more hardware assisted features you want for 4K like HDR to SDR tone mapping
 
ComplexCarb

ComplexCarb

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A helpful query for anyone looking back on this thread looking for a mother board: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/motherboard/#xcx=0&s=30&A=1&sort=-price&page=1

----------

Ok I think I have a system that's compatible... Here it is:

Case & 2 additional fans:

Modular Gold PSU:

ASUS LGA1151 ECC MB:

i3-9100 ECC supported with onboard graphics (supports 2400 DDR4 ECC):

32GB ECC 2400 DDR4 Memory:

Total cost is around $760 before drives.
 
ComplexCarb

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Arwen

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It's a better server board, but still has some odd things:
  • PS/2 keyboard. Kinda outdated, though some server type KVMs might want that
  • One of the M.2 slots is SATA only, not really a problem, just be aware of it.
  • It does not specify if the Aspeed IPMI can be accessed through one of the network ports.
  • 2 of the expansion slots are PCI, without the E. As in PCI 32bit/33 MHz, pretty outdated today.
 
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