Advice, DIY, NAS hardware (X99 platform)

[Takuan]

I have some hardware lying around, and I am in the process of assemble it for a home NAS. The NAS will be used for storage (HDDs) and perhaps a single VM if possible (will be put on an SSD, if necessary). VMs are not main at all though. I do not plan on buying anything at all for this configuration, especially not if what I have is sufficient already. This is the hardware I have and thus planning to use for the build.

 

HARDWARE

- ASUS X99-M WS/SE (no WiFi), 4 RAM slots, max. 64GB (4x16GB). 2x 1Gb LAN connection.

- RAM, Kingston, various 4GB, 8GB and 16GB modules, 2133MHz, 2400MHz, 2666MHz, The MB can handle max 4 modules with total 64GB. I have kits of 4 with both 4GB, 8GB and 16GB modules. All of them Non-ECC though.

- CPU, Xeon E5-1620v3, Xeon E5-2623v3, i7-5820K (I also have a 6850K, so if you have any reason for choosing this then please let me know, but I am planning on perhaps making a gaming rig for my kid later with this one in another ASUS X99 motherboard I also have lying around already).

- GPU, ASUS STRIX GTX960-DC2OC-2GD5 (2GB). I know I don't need this after setting up the NAS, but I need it in the setup process. Planning to leave it in there though.

- BOOT, for boot drive I can use whatever. Have both NVMe SSD, SATA SSD and HDD (MB supports all including boot from NVMe). MB can handle 8 drives + NVMe, so I was thinking of using the NVMe as boot, or depending on the software used for the NAS, perhaps booting from USB. Not a problem at all at this point though.

- PSU, RM850x.

 

I know that in a server, NAS or otherwise, many will suggest and make advices towards using ECC RAM, but as I don't have any lying around, and hopefully don't need to buy any additional hardware, I plan to stick with what I have, which is non-ECC. The NAS is only for home use anyway.

 

Overclock. As the NAS is planned to be running 24/7 serving max 4 people (no streaming), I don't plan any overclocking. I don't think that there will be much to gain with an overclock anyway, as it is a simple storage NAS and perhaps a VM for DNS, DHCP etc.

 

I would very much appreciate your advice and suggestions on how to configure the hardware.

 

Thank you.

[Electronics Wizardy]

What os do you plan on using? Id probably go with a hypervisor like proxmox here.

 

ECC is nice to have, but since you got the ram id use it already.

 

For your uses, the hardware will be more than plenty perofrmance wise.

 

Id probably boot from usb, or low end ssds and use the m.2 drive for vms or cahcing.

[Jameszy]

all your processors are pretty close to each other.. the i7 being the highest cored model.. so really, its whatever you want.. the e5-2623 will be the lowest wattage part..

choice will be depending on what you planned usage is...  mind you performance between the 3 processors will be VERY close.. You will be able to saturate your lan with whatever you choose...

 

I really truely hate people using USB sticks as boot/OS media... sure you may run from ram after its loaded.. but man.. they're so unreliable, they're slow.. and lets face it.. USB is crap.. convince me otherwise.. 

 

Use a spare NVME drive for your OS... keep your small VM on it too.. you can keep your sanity this way...

 

did you decide on what software to run? If you have many services planned, you can run proxmox at the bare metal OS, and then virtualize all your other services..

[Takuan]

Thank you both.

@Electronics Wizardy

@Jameszy

Proxmox is on top of my list, certainly.

I agree, NVMe as a boot device with VMs on there is a good choise.

The E5-2623v3 is indeed the less powerhungry of the three, so perhaps that one is the best choice, if cores and clockspeed is not an issue?

Will the extra cores and a bit higher clock speed of the 5820K make much of a difference in performance, or is it too small? Perhaps Xeon for 24/7 use and less power is a better choise over cores and clockspeed? 4 vs 6 cores. Perhaps not a big deal, but with all running from the VM, will it have any impact?

I do not plan on having a Windows 10 machine running as VM, but a DNS, DHCP server with a storage solution (cloud and backup).

I am thinking a VM with a Linux distribution running on Proxmox.

The motherboard has 2x 1Gb connection, so I believe that this is enough connectivity for 4 people using it. Rarely if ever at the same prolonged time I assume.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Takuan said:

The E5-2623v3 is indeed the less powerhungry of the three, so perhaps that one is the best choice, if cores and clockspeed is not an issue?

Yea that will work fine here.

 

Just now, Takuan said:

Will the extra cores and a bit higher clock speed of the 5820K make much of a difference in performance, or is it too small? Perhaps Xeon for 24/7 use and less power is a better choise over cores and clockspeed? 4 vs 6 cores. Perhaps not a big deal, but with all running from the VM, will it have any impact?

 

Really won't matter here, power will be about the same as it will be idle most of the time.

 

1 minute ago, Takuan said:

The motherboard has 2x 1Gb connection, so I believe that this is enough connectivity for 4 people using it. Rarely if ever at the same prolonged time I assume.

Id use smb multichannel if you want more speeds.

[Takuan]

@Electronics Wizardy

Thank you very much.

[Takuan]

Does anyone have any advice on the amount of needed RAM please?

 

Thank you.

[maxtch]

I'd suggest you either switch to a lower powered GPU or add in a lowered power GPU as the primary display adapter, if you plan to use a hypervisor like Proxmox. GTX 980 is still a good card, so it is better to pass it through into a VM for something like GPU accelerated video transcode in Plex/Jellyfin. Given the current market, this low powered GPU May have to be something very old and low spec like a FirePro W2100. My NAS with Proxmox has a spare GTX 1060 3GB passed in like this to support GPU transcode in Jellyfin, while using the server motherboard's IPMI as primary display output.

 

Also I would suggest you get a proper SAS adapter for your data drives, as they almost always features proper hot swapping, and there are SAS expanders if you want to hook up a lot of drives in the future. If you don't need hardware RAID you can use any one of those LSI SAS2008 based cards from name brand server makers like HP, Lenovo and Dell, as all of them can be flashed into a LSI 9211-8i IT mode. My NAS has 24 mixed SATA and SAS hard disk drives, aggregated down to 8 SAS links to my hardware RAID card using two SAS expander cards.

[Takuan]

@maxtch Thank you. Do you have any suggestions regarding memory? How much is needed?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Takuan said:

@maxtch Thank you. Do you have any suggestions regarding memory? How much is needed?

With a vm or two and a nas, something like 32gb of ram should be more than plenty.

 

[Takuan]

@Electronics Wizardy Thank you very much.