First NAS, with media encoding?

Altine · February 8, 2021

First ever post, hopefully I posted in the right section.

I want to build my own NAS and had a few questions. I got the idea from Paul's Hardware on Youtube and his Riptide build in the Corsair 1000D. I got myself the Phanteks P600S for my main system with the intentions of eventually building a mini ITX FreeNAS system in the top. However, considering that such a system would be limited to only about 4 drives and limited to an APU like the 3400G with only 4 cores and 8 threads, not to mention I would be buying almost all new parts minus the case, I abandoned that idea. I also understand that ECC memory would be ideal for a NAS and as far as I know, the AMD APUs don't support it and is only support with the non-APU CPUs if the motherboard supports it.

So, considering I plan on upgrading to a Ryzen 5000 series CPU, I knew I would have an extra CPU and motherboard I could use and save money on. Currently, I have a 2700X with an Asus ROG Crosshair 7 Hero X470 motherboard. Then, all I would have to buy would be storage, a simple GPU for video output, a case with some fans, and ECC memory (I already have a new motherboard for my current system and an extra PSU for the NAS). However, in my research I couldn't get a confirmed answer for if this motherboard supports ECC memory. I've already checked the BIOS and I don't see any such options.

Then, the other day I noticed that the price of the AMD Threadripper 2950X had dropped to $600. I was really tempted to get it because you know...it's Threadripper but didn't because I already plan on getting the 5950X which has the same core count, higher speed, and outperforms the 2950X in everything, from the research I did between the two chips. I currently use my system to play games, record and edit 1080p videos, and stream. I am satisfied with my current performance on everything but I know it could be better which is why I want a 16 core beast like the 5950X. Also, I believe Threadripper motherboards have more support for ECC memory.

So here is what I am currently thinking: I get the 2950X and build a FreeNAS system around that with at least 64 or maybe 128 GB of ECC memory. That would mean I don't necessarily need as powerful of a CPU for my main system. That made me wonder if it would be possible to run a VM (something I am not familiar with btw) inside FreeNAS, which I know is possible, and use that system similar to a dual pc setup to render and export video projects as well as encode my livestream. That way, I could lever all those cores to minimize the downtime and CPU strain on my main system. I know I could use the nvenc encoder since I have an NVidia GPU and while it makes my video look nicer, my frames suffer compared to x264 encoding.

Other specifics: I edit using Adobe Premiere Elements 2019, I record using OBS and stream using Streamlabs OBS (currently both using the veryfast preset), I have an MSI 2070S, and I also want to use my NAS to host a Minecraft server which I think is just as simple as installing a plugin for FreeNAS. I want a good balance of redundancy and performance so for my storage config, I was thinking of getting about 6-8 Seagate IronWolf NAS drives (6TB capacity) and running them in a RAIDZ2 array.

Actual questions: Is there a better array for my use case? Would I benefit from an SSD cache? Is transfer speed/performance to/from the NAS limited to the speed of my home network?

Any advice, other ideas, or critics would be greatly appreciated.

MR.TECH · February 9, 2021

I personally would use UNRAID. It isn't free, but it covers NAS, VM manager, and so much more for under $100. Threadripper is probably fine for your use case, and definitely use ECC memory. An SSD cache is fine, and yes, speeds are limited because you transfer files over the network. Always be aware that you NEED parity disks, and should have AT LEAST 2 parities in UNRAID.