BUILD Suggestion/comments welcome on my first build

[BlackHeart]

Hi

I'm upgrading from an old Synology to a "proper" NAS, and my friends has recommended Freenas.
I've pieced together a build using mainly the hardware recommendations and Pheran's build post.

I'd like to know if this build looks good or something could use adjustments.

Case: Fractal Design Node 304
MB: SuperMicro X10SL7-F
PSU: Sea Sonic G Series 450
CPU: Xeon E3-1230V5 3.4 GHz (Intel Boxed)
RAM: 2x Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B 16GB (2x8GB) ECC RAM
HD: 4x WD Red WD60EFRX 6 TB
Boot: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit - 64 GB

Am I missing any components?
Is the Intel boxed CPU cooler is sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ericloewe]

Case: Fractal Design Node 304
MB: SuperMicro X10SL7-F

IIRC, that chassis only takes miniITX. The X10SL7-F is microATX.

Otherwise, you're good to go. You can pick a cheaper board if you don't plan on expanding beyond six drives.

 

[BlackHeart]

Arh, good catch. Would not be fun having a case and a MB that don't match...

Which board would you recommend?
The reason I choose that one was that the LSI controller is recommended, and I think the expandability is nice to have - although I'm probably not going to use it.

 

[Ericloewe]

Arh, good catch. Would not be fun having a case and a MB that don't match...

Which board would you recommend?
The reason I choose that one was that the LSI controller is recommended, and I think the expandability is nice to have - although I'm probably not going to use it.

X10SLL+-F or X10SLM+-F

The SAS controller is a necessity if you want to expand beyond six drives (of course, you can always acquire a card that includes one, like an LSI SAS 9211 or 9107) - otherwise, it's an unnecessary part drawing power and adding cost.

 

[BlackHeart]

Does all the X10 boards support the Xeon E3-1230V5?

As I understand I could either switch out the case or the MB.
For my purposes a Fractal Define Mini should also be fine for a micro ATX board.

 

[Ericloewe]

Does all the X10 boards support the Xeon E3-1230V5?

None of them do.

E3 v5 is LGA1151, E3 v3 and v4 are LGA1150.

Shit, I missed the v5 in the OP. Do NOT buy a v5.

A v3 will be fine.

 

[BlackHeart]

Ok, I thought as much, just wanted to make sure.
I'm actually kind of tempted to go with a X11 board and a v5 CPU, but it's impossible for me to find seller of X11 in Denmark :(

Is the general recommendation to go with the X10 as a known quantity or X11 for the futureproofing?

 

[Ericloewe]

The X11s are still very new and have a few known gotchas. It's not hard to imagine a few unknown gotchas.

That said, the major subsystems have been around a while, except for USB, which is XHCI-only. NICs are supported, IPMI/BMC is the same ASpeed part as the X10s, etc.

 

[BlackHeart]

Thank you for the feedback.
I've revised my build under the consideration that the NAS is going to be placed in a room that's not often used and space is not at a premium.

Case: Fractal Design Define R5
MB: SuperMicro X10SL7-F
PSU: Sea Sonic G Series 450
CPU: Xeon E3-1231V3 8 MB (Intel Boxed) - is there any downside compared to E3-1230V3?
RAM: 2x Crucial CT2KIT102472BD160B 16GB (2x8GB) ECC RAM
HD: 4x WD Red WD60EFRX 6 TB
Boot: 2x SanDisk Ultra Fit - 64 GB

My thinking is that using this MB and case allows for future expansion of the server without replacing any other hardware.
Is the PSU powerful enough to power this system, even with 8 disks instead of 4?

 

[Ericloewe]

CPU: Xeon E3-1231V3 8 MB (Intel Boxed) - is there any downside compared to E3-1230V3?

The 1231 requires the 2.0 BIOS or later, but the vast majority of boards sold today will probably have 2.0 or later anyway.

Is the PSU powerful enough to power this system, even with 8 disks instead of 4?

Having been recently (unpleasantly) surprised by how much current drives draw on spinup, I'd definitely recommend a G-550.

 

[BlackHeart]

Ok.
I'm going to buy 4 disks this year, and 4 more early next year so it'll be 6+2 (instead of 2+2 + 2+2).
I wasn't aware that you can't expand vdevs, unfortunately

So I'm going to follow your advice and get a G-550 PSU.

 

[BlackHeart]

Is 32 GB RAM enough for 8x6 TB disks?

 

[Ericloewe]

Is 32 GB RAM enough for 8x6 TB disks?

In most cases. Depends on the workload.

 

[DevGuy]

Another reason to want the LSI controller is if you ever might want to run FreeNAS virtualized (something that's now at least somewhat sanctioned and many have been doing for years). To properly run FreeNAS as a VM you have to pass through the disk controller to the VM--you can't do that with onboard Intel SATA but you can with supported LSI controllers.

I have an X10SLL-F (purchased in a bare bones server chassis) and I'm very happy with it so far. Another advantage of the V3 Xeons is you can get the L versions whereas the V5 L's are not yet shipping (AFAIK). The E3-1230L V3 is an amazing CPU in terms of performance per watt. It scores 7199 on Passmark yet has a total TDP of only 25 watts meaning it uses barely more power than a high-end Avoton/Rangley which lack VT-d and typically have around half the performance. From what I've read the "L" CPUs are specially "binned" by Intel to have exceptionally low power consumptions and the ability to run on lower supply voltages.

Here's an interesting article showing just how dramatic the E3-1230L V3 power performance is: http://reviewbros.com/2013/10/07/intel-cpu/

With only a single SSD, and no add-on cards, my X10SLL-F E3-1230L 16 GB idles at 15 watts from the wall with the OEM Supermicro Gold power supply. Under full load it runs about 35 watts. For anyone concerned about power consumption, heat, and/or noise, the 1230L is a great choice (they can be a little hard to find as they're technically sold only to OEMs, but they're around and I paid about $250 for mine). It's hard to imagine a V5 doing that much better in terms of power consumption in typical use (although heavily loaded in a datacenter there might some advantages).

 

[Ericloewe]

I have an X10SLL-F (purchased in a bare bones server chassis) and I'm very happy with it so far. Another advantage of the V3 Xeons is you can get the L versions whereas the V5 L's are not yet shipping (AFAIK). The E3-1230L V3 is an amazing CPU in terms of performance per watt. It scores 7199 on Passmark yet has a total TDP of only 25 watts meaning it uses barely more power than a high-end Avoton/Rangley which lack VT-d and typically have around half the performance. From what I've read the "L" CPUs are specially "binned" by Intel to have exceptionally low power consumptions and the ability to run on lower supply voltages.

Here's an interesting article showing just how dramatic the E3-1230L V3 power performance is: http://reviewbros.com/2013/10/07/intel-cpu/

Any binning is minimal.

The L versions (T for i3s and similar) are just artificially limited. It's quite possible that they may actually use more power for a specific, finite workload - it depends on the specifics of the power consumption/clock curve of the manufacturing process. Since it's tuned for 84W chips, it's quite likely that the increased leakage makes lower clocks disproportionately power-hungry, favoring the chip that can get its work done more quickly and actually shut off portions of the core.

Nobody has actually published a proper study comparing the regular and L versions, so there's little actual data. Therefore, the default recommendation is to buy the regular version, as it will use the exact same amount of power when idling and will be significantly faster. The only use case that definitely benefits is that of a thermal and/or power-limited environment.

 

[DevGuy]

Any binning is minimal.

The L versions (T for i3s and similar) are just artificially limited. It's quite possible that they may actually use more power for a specific, finite workload...

I've not seen anything definitive about the binning except Intel employees have admitted they do A LOT of binning but consider the details part of their intellectual property hence they're not likely to be revealed. So I think we're all just speculating. There have been a *few* somewhat valid tests comparing the "T" and/or "S" Haswell parts to their regular counterparts. And some have shown lower idle power (although only perhaps 15%). We also have no idea if Intel handles the "L-series" Xeons differently than the consumer CPUs. Judging by the Passmarks scores, and the article I linked, they might.

In my case it's a 1U rack system and I didn't want the usual 15,000+ RPM tiny 40mm cooling fans or a noisy blower. So I couldn't use an 80 watt Xeon. The 25 watt E3-1230L literally needs NO fans unless you put it under sustained load. At idle, without a fan, the heatsink barely gets lukewarm and the CPU is using only around 2 watts. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if the 80 watt non-L E3-1230 is that power efficient at idle. Binning is the most obvious explanation.

But I agree some better apples-to-apples testing would be a very useful thing. Unfortunately, a lot of the low power versions of Intel chips--both consumer and server--are only officially available to OEMs and not the retail channel. So that makes it even more difficult to do comparison testing (and less interesting to the big reviewers). I do know HP is a fan of the L-series Xeons in some of their micro servers which says something.

I also understand the workload issue for datacenter applications. That's a different world than home servers that are idle, or near idle, the majority of the time. Still, I'm really happy with a quad core CPU with a Passmark score of nearly 8000 that can live in a near silent 1U rack enclosure. And, if you look around, there are not many other ways to accomplish that with ECC RAM and server-grade hardware.