FreeNAS Box - Thoughts on this build please

[NightWolfe]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
FreeNAS box ... data storage ... also running Plex Media server

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Sub $800 all said and done would be nice

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Boston, MA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case/Hot swap tray, Mobo, CPU, RAM, Drives, PSU

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
N/A

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Today

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
6 SATA 6GB/s ports minimum

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
FreeNAS


Here's what I've got picked out ... I was originally going with a Mico-ITX board and tower ... but due to cost I'm looking at a regular ATX board and tower ... I figure I'll have more room for expanding in the future ... and I honestly don't mind if the case is large

Antec NEW SOLUTION SERIES VSK-4000 Black SGCC steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $35 NewEgg

ICY DOCK MB155SP-B FatCage MB155SP-B 5x3.5" in 3x5.25" Hot Swap SATA HDD Cage - $90 NewEgg ($10 MIR)

CORSAIR CX series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $40 NewEgg ($20 MIR)

ASRock ATX DDR3 1333 LGA 1150 Motherboards H97M PRO4 - $80 Amazon

WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache - WD30EFRX - $122/ea Amazon

SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive- SDCZ33-008G-B35 - $6 Amazon

Kingston Technology HyperX Blu 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (Kit of 2) KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G - $75 Amazon

Intel Pentium Processor G3220 3.0 GHz LGA 1150 BX80646G3220 - $59 Amazon

Total $792.56

EDIT TO ADD:
I was originally going to go with this case and mobo .. maybe this is still a better idea

Silverstone Tek Premium Mini-ITX DTX Small Form Factor NAS Computer Cases, Black (DS380B) - $150 Amazon

ASUS H87I-PLUS LGA 1150 Intel H87 Mini ITX Motherboard - $101 Amazon

 

[Dangman]

Whether or not that mITX setup is the right choice for you is dependent on three questions:
1) Do you absolutely need to cut down on the physical size of the server?
2) Do you absolutely need hot-swap bays?
3) Are you willing to spend more money?

You kinda already answered 1 and 3 but might as well reconfirm it.

Though off the bat:
The Antec VSK-4000 is a cheap piece of crap case with piss poor cable management and limited cooling (only has that rear and single front 120mm fan mounts). Considering that it's $40 shipped, there's no good reason to get it over the NZXT Source 210 Elite. The Source 210 Elite can mount 8 hard drives right off the bat, has an extra 140mm top exhaust fan, can mount two 120mm fans on the front of the case, and has far far better cable management. All that for $10 more:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case

Long-term wise, I'd advise on getting a better PSU off the bat: With the NZXT Source 210 Elite and a 5in3 hotswap bay, you're looking at 13 hard drives total. So I would recommend spending the extra $20 for a better and larger PSU:
$60 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU

How long is the drive to Microcenter for you?:
http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/cambridge.aspx

 

[NightWolfe]

Hey Dangman ... thank you for the reply

That NZXT case does look much better ... thanks for that suggestion ... I'm going to pick that up today at the store ... it was only $38 ... I already ordered everything else but I can just return that Antec case

As for the PSU I'm going to stick with the one I chose ... I don't see myself going over the 3 drives I am putting in to start for at least a year or two ... and probably will only ever go up to 5 anyway, maybe 6 if I can add in a single hotswap bay somewhere

Thanks for the help!

 

[Dangman]

Hey Dangman ... thank you for the reply

That NZXT case does look much better ... thanks for that suggestion ... I'm going to pick that up today at the store ... it was only $38 ... I already ordered everything else but I can just return that Antec case

$38? Make sure you didn't get the regular Source 210 as that lacks the extra 140mm top exhaust fan, tooless hard drive and 5.25" bays, and front panel USB 3.0.

As for the PSU I'm going to stick with the one I chose ... I don't see myself going over the 3 drives I am putting in to start for at least a year or two ... and probably will only ever go up to 5 anyway, maybe 6 if I can add in a single hotswap bay somewhere

Thanks for the help!

Fair enough.

 

[techbob]

FreeNAS and NAS4Free communities both discourage the use of non-ecc memory with ZFS. UFS (as opposed to ZFS) with non-ecc is fine (if slow is ok). Of course the CPU, motherboard also have to support ECC memory.

The OP may be aware of this and willing to live with the consequences, but I throw this out there for others trying out FreeNAS or NAS4free.

I've read that the current FreeNAS no longer supports support UFS.

The argument for using ECC:
See: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/zfs-macos/qguq6LCf1QQ

FreeNAS vs. NAS4Free (I use NAS4Free with UFS and prefer NAS4Free in general)

http://arstechnica.com/information-...as-distribution-shootout-freenas-vs-nas4free/

The cost of an ECC system is roughly 2x that of non-ECC. I re-used an old Core 2 Duo system - 5 -TB drives UFS raid 5 and usb key for OS. Works great - SMB and NFS.

 

[NightWolfe]

Can you afford to lose all of the data?

FreeNAS and NAS4Free communities both discourage the use of non-ecc memory with ZFS. UFS with non-ecc is fine. Of course the CPU, motherboard also have to support ECC memory.

The OP may be aware of this and willing to live with the consequences, but I throw this out there for others trying out FreeNAS or NAS4free.

I've read that the current FreeNAS no longer supports support UFS.

The argument for using ECC:
See: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/zfs-macos/qguq6LCf1QQ

FreeNAS vs. NAS4Free (I use NAS4Free with UFS and prefer NAS4Free in general)

http://arstechnica.com/information-...as-distribution-shootout-freenas-vs-nas4free/

The cost of an ECC sytem is roughly 2x that of non-ECC.

Thanks for the reply ... I wish more people were aware of this ... If FreeNas had some better help and available documentation I would have known ... but until I went into the IRC chat about a separate issue I was unaware that ECC was pretty much a requirement ... I am returning the motherboard and RAM I ordered and am going to be purchasing the following:

ASRock Motherboard ATX DDR3 1066 LGA 1150 C226 WS

Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) C11 Unbuffered ECC UDIMM 240-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Memory CT2KIT51272BD160B

 

[techbob]

Thanks for the reply ... I wish more people were aware of this ... If FreeNas had some better help and available documentation I would have known ... but until I went into the IRC chat about a separate issue I was unaware that ECC was pretty much a requirement ... I am returning the motherboard and RAM I ordered and am going to be purchasing the following:

ASRock Motherboard ATX DDR3 1066 LGA 1150 C226 WS

Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) C11 Unbuffered ECC UDIMM 240-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Memory CT2KIT51272BD160B

Don't feel too bad. This has happened to many of us - ZFS with non-ECC! It may be 6 of 1, half dozen of another, but please check out NAS4Free. I think the documentation is better and the user community - and this is subjective - is more friendly.

 

[NightWolfe]

Don't feel too bad. This has happened to many of us - ZFS with non-ECC! It may be 6 of 1, half dozen of another, but please check out NAS4Free. I think the documentation is better and the user community - and this is subjective - is more friendly.

It's much appreciated ... I looked at NAS4Free as well ... I like the simplicity of NAS4Free, but I like that I can easily run a Plex server on FreeNAS ... that is really the only functionality I need ... apart from keeping my data safe of course

 

[techbob]

You do need FreeNAS since NAS4Free doesn't have the plug ins. I saw that in your first post - should have noted it. Just be sure you have enough memory.

Let us know how it goes. That ASRock motherboard and G3220 is definitely the sweet spot for a ZFS system. I'm considering the same thing. Much less $ and more flexibility than getting a pre-built NAS with ECC.

 

[NightWolfe]

You do need FreeNAS since NAS4Free doesn't have the plug ins. I saw that in your first post - should have noted it. Just be sure you have enough memory.

Let us know how it goes. That ASRock motherboard and G3220 is definitely the sweet spot for a ZFS system. I'm considering the same thing. Much less $ and more flexibility than getting a pre-built NAS with ECC.

For sure .. the price point us just right ... I'll be sure to post back when I get it sorted out and built