Which cheap CPU + Motherboard for FreeNAS 11?

[Chris230291]

Hi. I use FreeNAS as a home server, Plex, Transmission, Sickrage etc. I also liked having Virtual box for hosting game servers etc.
I have an i7 860s which does not support the "UG" part that Bhyve needs so I am looking to upgrade.
I know ECC and other things are recommended but I have had my server running problem free for many years. I just want something simple but that doesn't mean "server grade" hardware isn't out of the question.

I cant find any info on what CPUs support "UG". All I found was mention on here and BSD topics about "westmere". Are Xeon CPU's (westmere +) the only ones that have this?

If anyone knows what CPUs support this "UG" stuff or if someone has made a list that would be great.

Thanks

 

[Chris Moore]

If you are willing to consider used server gear from eBay, this is the same gear I am using and it works fine, even for transcoding Plex streams.
Total cost of parts: $368.15, but there may be shipping charges that I didn't take into account.

Intel Xeon E3-1230V2 SR0P4 3.30GHz Processor
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230V2-SR0P4-3-30GHz-Processor/222841048767
US $90.00

Super Micro X9SCM-F, LGA 1155, Intel C204, Micro ATX server motherboard with i/o
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Micr...ATX-server-motherboard-with-i-o-/272782545683
US $64.64

16GB 2X8GB Memory RAM Intel Xeon E3 ONLY DDR3, 1600MHz, ECC, CL11, 2R, X8, 1.5V, Unbuffered, DIMM, 240-pin
https://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-2X8GB...-CMT-SFF-Intel-Xeon-E3-ONLY-B89-/301855376261
US $146.00 -- Just buy two of these kits if you want 32GB of memory.

Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-H310-...D-High-Air-Flow/162834671120?epid=19006955695
US $59.55 -- run 8 hard drives from this

1M Mini SAS 4i SFF-8087 36-Pin Male to 4 SATA 7-Pin Splitter Adapter Cable NEW
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1M-Mini-SA...7-Pin-Splitter-Adapter-Cable-NEW/272098511869
US $7.96 -- use up to two of these with the card above.

You can actually use up to 255 devices from the SAS controller if you use SAS expanders.

 

[pschatz100]

My system at home is very similar to the one above, minus the SAS controller. Very stable with no issues. I started with an i3 processor and eventually upgraded to a Xeon processor because I wanted a bit more horsepower.

My first motherboard was an X9-SCL model. That one was good also. Plus, I love IPMI.

 

[wblock]

As far as a cheap motherboard only, the X10SLL should be cheap now. Trouble-free, in my experience. Although limited to 32G RAM, which might be a problem when using multiple VMs.

 

[Chris230291]

Thanks for the responses guys!

Bsed on what you guys have suggested I have been busy searching ebay. I am in the UK and there seems to be much less availble here and what is here is pricey. However I have found the following in the US with very reasonble shipping charges ($16!).

Wouls this do me well? I am seeing just the boards selling for more than this combo + shipping.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supermicr...970551?hash=item1a386f56f7:g:~t8AAOSw-4BXYevk

Also seen there are some sizeable CPU upgrades avilable for this board if I need it down the road. However this as is would already be more than 2x the CPU performace of my 860s according to cpubenchmark.net, so probably not needed.


Any input is apreciated.

EDIT: And from what I can gather non ECC memory is fine? I would plan to upgrade eventually but for the time being my existing 16GB DDR3 would be fine?

 

[wblock]

And from what I can gather non ECC memory is fine?

Not fine, exactly. Some people get by without ECC. But if the motherboard supports it, it is very cheap insurance for your data. It is RAM redundancy, just like disk redundancy.

 

[Chris Moore]

I just checked yesterday and the best prices on eBay, there was only $8 difference between 32GB of ECC and 32GB of non-ECC. You can save a little bit of money, but it is NOT worth trying. Just get the ECC memory.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[aldr01d]

Yo Chris is this really necessary Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode? or can I just run my nas drives from the mobo's sata connectors? what is the difference I'm willing to purchase but I'm not sure if I need it. at the moment i'm only gonna run a 12TB set up thanks

 

[Inxsible]

Yo Chris is this really necessary Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode? or can I just run my nas drives from the mobo's sata connectors? what is the difference I'm willing to purchase but I'm not sure if I need it. at the moment i'm only gonna run a 12TB set up thanks

A HBA is not required if you have enough onboard SATA ports for your disks.
The question is how many disks are in your 12TB setup? 1? 2? 12? 24?
And how many SATA ports do you have on your board?

 

[aldr01d]

Well guys I bought all the stuff that was recommended above except the HBA item and now I'm having a bit of a pain in the butt with the set up I put everything together oh yeah I'm not sure if I'm installing the RAM wrong or what ......and can't get this MOBO to boot I keep getting a 4 beep error ..I read about that in some forums about it,but i'm not sure what's happening.I am able to login via ethernet after the beeps it keeps telling me to update jave runtime which is updated besides that I wanted to see if you guys know whats happening..

 

[Inxsible]

Well guys I bought all the stuff that was recommended above except the HBA item and now I'm having a bit of a pain in the butt with the set up I put everything together oh yeah I'm not sure if I'm installing the RAM wrong or what ......and can't get this MOBO to boot I keep getting a 4 beep error ..I read about that in some forums about it,but i'm not sure what's happening.I am able to login via ethernet after the beeps it keeps telling me to update jave runtime which is updated besides that I wanted to see if you guys know whats happening..

1. Did you buy these parts new or used?
2. When they got to you, did you test each part to make sure they were not DOA?
3. Are you connecting using VGA or via IPMI?

Test the motherboard with just 1 RAM stick. Test each RAM stick using memtest+.

Triage what the problem is.

 

[aldr01d]

Alrighty tested the RAM on another MOBO worked fine and also ran memtest which passed the tests... The ram was new and cpu also new so I guess it's the dang used MOBO that might be the problem..even thou ImI able to login into it looks like the bios needs to be updated to run Xeon cpu from what I read on other forums and was able to get another cheap cpu a Pentium G620 with the hopes of being able to post and boot up to update bios to use the Xeon CPU worst case scenario is returning the MOBO and getting another one... Will keep ya posted and thanks for the recommendations

 

[Inxsible]

Alrighty tested the RAM on another MOBO worked fine and also ran memtest which passed the tests... The ram was new and cpu also new so I guess it's the dang used MOBO that might be the problem..even thou ImI able to login into it looks like the bios needs to be updated to run Xeon cpu from what I read on other forums and was able to get another cheap cpu a Pentium G620 with the hopes of being able to post and boot up to update bios to use the Xeon CPU worst case scenario is returning the MOBO and getting another one... Will keep ya posted and thanks for the recommendations

What version of BIOS does your X9SCM-F have? If it is less than 2.0, then your E3v2 processor is not supported. Plus if you bought 1600Mhz RAM, then it is not supported with a BIOS less than v2.0

Can you please list out the exact parts you bought and also the BIOS version? If BIOS needs upgrading, does your X9SCM-F have the option to update the BIOS via IPMI?

 

[aldr01d]

Returned the Mobo thanks inxsible that pos Mobo was not gonna work with the new Xeon CPU /RAM that I bought from the suggested info from Chris so I ordered another with a supposed 2.0 bios thanks. Hopefully soon I'll be able to run this freenas server

 

[Inxsible]

Returned the Mobo thanks inxsible that pos Mobo was not gonna work with the new Xeon CPU /RAM that I bought from the suggested info from Chris so I ordered another with a supposed 2.0 bios thanks. Hopefully soon I'll be able to run this freenas server

You could have just upgraded the BIOS yourself using a cheap compatible Pentium or something. Anyway, hopefully your new board will come with BIOS 2.0+

 

[aldr01d]

ok guys I got anther MOBO and everything went fine....... until adding the additional storage I am starting with a 120GB SSD where Freenas is installed and a 4tb nas drive to start playing with. it's installed (4TB) but the storage option on freenas doesnt let me add it .. it does show it on view disk tab, dont know where to go from there

 

[Chris Moore]

Yo Chris is this really necessary Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA LSI 9211-8i P20 IT Mode? or can I just run my nas drives from the mobo's sata connectors? what is the difference I'm willing to purchase but I'm not sure if I need it. at the moment i'm only gonna run a 12TB set up thanks

Sorry, I didn't see your post. The system doesn't call my attention to it unless you put @ in front of my name. That tells the message board you are trying to talk to me and it sends me an email to alert me.
The SAS controller (H310) is my preference for connecting storage drives. It is only needed if you are going to connect more drives than the number of SATA ports on the system board. I connect my boot drives to the SATA ports and all my data drives to the SAS controller.

I am able to login via ethernet after the beeps it keeps telling me to update jave runtime which is updated

This is actually an error, because the Java you have installed is newer than the board recognizes. Since the version doesn't match, it thinks you need an update. Just ignore (cancel) and everything should work fine. The new version of Java will require you to set the IP address of the IPMI interface as a trusted site before it will allow the Java applet to run. That is all about security.

it does show it on view disk tab, don't know where to go from there

The 'volume manager' is where you need to be. Here is the reference:
http://doc.freenas.org/11/storage.html#volume-manager

 

[Chris Moore]

ok guys I got anther MOBO and everything went fine....... until adding the additional storage I am starting with a 120GB SSD where Freenas is installed and a 4tb nas drive to start playing with. it's installed (4TB) but the storage option on freenas doesnt let me add it .. it does show it on view disk tab, don't know where to go from there

This is a fairly decent video about setting up your FreeNAS. He suggests using encryption. I suggest not doing that. If you have a problem with the system later, encryption can cause you to loose all your data. If you use encryption, learn all you can about how it works because if you make a mistake, you will not be able to access the data again. Other than that, it is pretty good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZ-s8wHkHw

 

[Chris Moore]

Hi. I use FreeNAS as a home server, Plex, Transmission, Sickrage etc. I also liked having Virtual box for hosting game servers etc.
I have an i7 860s which does not support the "UG" part that Bhyve needs so I am looking to upgrade.
I know ECC and other things are recommended but I have had my server running problem free for many years. I just want something simple but that doesn't mean "server grade" hardware isn't out of the question.

I can't find any info on what CPUs support "UG". All I found was mention on here and BSD topics about "westmere". Are Xeon CPU's (westmere +) the only ones that have this?

If anyone knows what CPUs support this "UG" stuff or if someone has made a list that would be great.

Thanks

Did you get all your questions answered?

 

[mvbashyam]

@Chris Moore

Is this build a still a good one to build? Can I but any ATX case? Is there anything else I need besides this? I am planning on building a rig like this that can be a Plex and file server for me and can encode 1080p and 4K videos. Is there any other better build to go for? Budget is around $600