Verify Budget NAS Build

[John McNarsie]

Hi all,

I've done a fair bit of research on FreeNAS build requirements, however I would none-the-less greatly appreciate any and all feedback you guys may have to offer with respect to the following build considerations.

Please Note: I plan to run this NAS in a ZFS RAIDZ2 configuration as I feel that a max of two fail-overs is sufficient for my purposes. I only plan to run this in the comfort of my home for personal files storage, Windows OS image backups and multimedia content sharing.

Future Plans:I also plan on upgrading my pool with two additional hard-drives and at that time, I will also consider purchasing an additional 8 GB of DDR3 ECC memory.

Parts List:


Power Supply: EVGA 600B Bronze 600W 80 Plus Bronze
Case: Zalman MS800 Mid ATX Case 6X5.25
Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 microATX Socket AM3+
Memory: Kingston KVR16E11/8 8GB DDR3 ECC CL11 Dimm
Processor: AMD FX-4300 Vishera 3.8 GHZ Socket AM3+
Processor Fan: Using CPU Stock Fan*
Hard Drive (OS): Patriot 32GB USB 2.0 Stick
Storage Drives: 4 X WD Green 2TB WD20EZRX
NIC: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK PCI-E
Accessories: 5.25" to 3.5" hot swap bay ->4 X AMS DK-1220SEBK
Possible Consideration: Cyberpower CP1000AVRLCD UPS

For ease of use, I believe that the hot swap 5.25" to 3.5" bays will allow for ease of drive replacements and installation of future drives.

I am searching for the most cost effective build and welcome all constructive criticism.

 

[Engineerpeter]

Hi,

I'm in the same position as you and my build looks very similar - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/EngineerPeter/saved/4sun
only difference is that i've gone for WD reds as mine unit will be on 24/7 and I've red they are better for this??

 

[John McNarsie]

Well from my understanding, the WD Red's may not be required since you're going to be limited by your Gigabit ethernet connection anyways so higher drive speeds are not necessary. This is why I opted in for the WD Green's which run at 5400 RPM.

Edit: PC Part Picker Build Compiled (Added a few parts)

Edit: I didn't realize you were using 5400 RPM WD Red's. I'm not sure then.. I would suspect that they perform better than the Green's but I wouldn't know..

Edit: Also, be sure to check if your ram is supported by your motherboard. I know kingston is great and they offer a memory search feature on their website to determine if your board is supported.

I went ahead and did it for your board. Click Here to check.

 

[AlainD]

Why a 600W power supply?

 

[John McNarsie]

I figured it would help future proof the build when I consider adding additional drives. Furthermore, I'd want to ensure the PC has enough power to warm start when the drives rev up which will draw a lot of power.

 

[AlainD]

The start current is about 2A for a drive, let's say 30 watt. I'm quite sure you have quite a lot room.

I also would look at the efficiency when running at 40-80 watt, which is a guess for energy comsumption at idle.

 

[Ericloewe]

For a similar price, a (slightly lower power) G-series Seasonic is a much better deal. Even a (good, your mileage will be much worse with crap PSUs) 450W unit will handle ~10 drives with ease, and it will be operating closer to its maximum efficiency (which is at ~50% load for all PSUs).

 

[PenalunWil]

This is the supply I used...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139052

I'm sure the reviews I've read say that it can deliver in excess of 450 watts with ease for short durations and its also gold certified.
The other thing about this PSU is its modular so all those unwanted cables can be discarded instead of filling your case with bundles of unwanted wire.
Just be careful if your ordering additional cable modules. Check those pin outs on the 2x3 blocks.

Wil

 

[Engineerpeter]

regarding the WD drives, just came across this as part of my research...
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/desktop/

 

[Ericloewe]

This...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151124

Would be a much better deal. It's not fully modular, but the only fixed cables are for the motherboard and CPU. Its component selection is also noticeably better (Japanese capacitors instead of Chinese ones), its output is definitely better according to reviews and it's even cheaper.

 

[John McNarsie]

Thank you all for your input. I've done a bit more research on 450W - 550W power supplies and I'm going to make the change to Seasonic.

On another note, I do find the supermicro micro-atx motherboard's very favourable but they're considerably more expensive than the ASUS one I've chosen. How are the performance margins with with AM3+ cpu's with a non-server-class motherboard running in FreeNAS? I'm really hoping that the Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 performs well under 24/7 load..

Also, is it wise ignore a UPS? If the NAS turns off unexpectedly, can I expect a damaged system file and an irreparable pool?

 

[cyberjock]

Also, is it wise ignore a UPS? If the NAS turns off unexpectedly, can I expect a damaged system file and an irreparable pool?

Give my noobie guide a read. The answer is in there. /cry

 

[joeschmuck]

John,
Your configuration is close to mine and I've been running it for quite a long time now without issue. I'm not sure what the hell the PC Picker is referring to, hope you don't plan to use a high end graphics card for this thing.

As for a power supply, 350 watts is fine for your system, even with 6 drives. 400 watts would be good for 10 drives. You need to keep in mind that your CPU will not pull that much power, it will be almost idle most of it's life. Whatever you do, buy a quality PS, it does make a difference.

As for the the USB stick, I would recommend using a 4 or 8GB flash drive, they are less problematic.

The RAM, looks like you are looking at 1600 MHz, I'd recommend 1333 MHz as it should create less heat and the speed difference will not be noticeable to you. It might make the RAM cheaper too. If you do get 1600MHz RAM, you should be able to under clock them to 1333MHz. Run Memtest for 24 hours as well, or longer if you like.

As for your Future plans... Hopefully you know that you just can't add 2 more drives to a four drive RAIDZ2 without repercussions. You are much better off using 4 drives for testing and once you get all six drives, rebuild your RAIDZ2 pool.

EDIT: Just saw you made another posting... The AM3+ CPU is overkill for FreeNAS unless you plan to encrypt your hard drives, but it's cost effective. I can saturate my 1Gb connection without any strain. I see you have an Intel NIC also picked out, you won't see much gain over the onboard RealTek NIC just because this CPU is so fast. I won't tell you to not purchase the NIC but it's a few bucks you could save for now and spend towards another hard drive.

And an UPS is a requirement if you value your data at all.

 

[gpsguy]

Try to find a way to purchase the 2 additional drives now. You'll be thankful that you did.


Sent from my phone

 

[John McNarsie]

Thank you all once again for your helpful comments.

The AM3+ CPU is the most affordable option at this point and 4 Terabytes of data is sufficient for my needs. If in the future I expand my pool, I'll be sure to backup all sensitive data when I hit that road. I've also found an affordable UPS which should aid against data loss and corruption.

I'm fairly confident with my build specs and will begin purchasing parts within the next few days.

 

[SwampRabbit]

I think you will be happy with that build. I use the ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS with a FX-6300. Other than the fact that the motherboard doesn't have support for IOMMU, it is a really solid motherboard all around.

I have thought hard about building a similar NAS, but I really want at least 2 x8 PCI-e slots, and want to go with something that sips power a little less.

I have a $4300 in a desktop and have built systems with them for friends, they are a good CPU for the price.

The FX-4300 is only $10 less than the FX-6300 on Newegg.
But it is a good thing you didn't choose the cheaper FX-4100 or FX-4130, they are dogs compared to the FX-4300.

If the $10 isn't too much, the FX-6300 is worth a look since they have the same power draw (Average Annual home energy cost 22.89 $/year), but the FX-6300 will out perform the FX-4300.
Getting the FX-6300 also leaves possibilities of reusing that hardware for something else in the future if you choose.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-FX-6300-vs-AMD-FX-4300

It is such a shame that the good 65W AM3 and AM3+ CPUs are harder to come by now and the 25W ones are even harder.

 

[John McNarsie]

As enticing as the FX-6300 is, I really don't plan on using this system for anything but a NAS and a hexa-core seems like overkill to me. I also read this. I was rather blown away by WD's intellipark technology and the impact it causes on the life span of the Green drive series. I will definitely consider making the proper adjustments before building my pool.

 

[SwampRabbit]

The FX-6300 is overkill for sure, personally I think Quad-cores are overkill for most home use NASes, except when it comes to transcoding.
I build a lot of systems, upgrade, purpose, and swap parts around quite often

I used WDIDLE3 on my WD EADS and EZRX green drives. They have been going strong in a Debian server for almost 4yrs now.
Out of the dozen or so that I have had in and out of that server, only had an issue with one, and it was sort of my fault.
Very good drives and it seems people have luck in FreeNAS with them.

I don't recommend the WD EARS green drives, those seemed to have more issues, at least for me.

 

[Ericloewe]

I think the current version is the EZRX. The EADS must be a really old version. There are still some EARXs out there, but my experience isn't very good (the only EARX I had really crapped out). No problems with the EARSs though, but it's hard to find those these days.

 

[SwampRabbit]

Yes the EADS are old, I have a bunch of 500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB ones that have taken a beating over the years.
The only one that died was a 2TB one that took a slip and dropped 5ft onto a concrete floor, poor thing only lived 2 short years, it had so much data in its future.

I bought two 2TB EARS quite awhile ago, one died right away after testing it thoroughly, the other has had a spot on a shelf it has been guarding since then.

I just realized that I bought that same NIC awhile ago for a PFsense box, no complaints from it either, worked good under testing in Linux too.