£1000 NAS Build

[grimreeper132]

So I am wanting to build a new NAS. It is just going to be a simple NAS, not doing too much more than that, maybe running some minor additional programmes, but nothing major.

The budget is around £1000 and I'm in the UK.

 

Side note, I have a 32GB of DDR4 from an old system, which I will use. (Yea I know its overkill for these CPUs).

 

I have an intel build

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wJLGcb

 

And the AMD build

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Dxz4nt

 

I think from what I can see, the intel 11400F is slightly faster than the 5600G, in most applications. Although I could be wrong, as this is just from a sketchy youtube video.

 

[Blue4130]

18 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

So I am wanting to build a new NAS. It is just going to be a simple NAS, not doing too much more than that, maybe running some minor additional programmes, but nothing major.

The budget is around £1000 and I'm in the UK.

 

Side note, I have a 32GB of DDR4 from an old system, which I will use. (Yea I know its overkill for these CPUs).

 

I have an intel build

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wJLGcb

 

And the AMD build

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Dxz4nt

 

I think from what I can see, the intel 11400F is slightly faster than the 5600G, in most applications. Although I could be wrong, as this is just from a sketchy youtube video.

 

Both are overkill for a simple nas. 

[Dutch_Master]

For a NAS, CPU speed is not the primary concern. Power usage is, especially in current times. AMD is much more efficient in this aspect. In either case, your bottlenecks will be network and drive speeds. Now, IDK how you intent to set up your NAS, but anything that includes RAID 0 (or similar) is effectively gambling your data.

 

As stated, the current CPU choices are overkill for a NAS, I'd suggest a Ryzen3 based APU or Intel i3, 9th or 10th gen will suffice.

 

Also note that your setup requires some additional attention as there seem to be some issues, as indicated by the tool. You may need to alter your config anyway.

[cmndr]

For a simple NAS, the CPU is 100% overkill. Energy efficiency will probably matter more than raw performance.

I would suggest clarifying your goals. Do you just need to store a bunch of things?

If I had to pick parts out of my rear (and I'm going off of US prices)

1. CPU - 5600g is fine if you don't mind going overkill. 5650G could also work if you find it cheaper. You might even be able to get something cheaper like a 2200g. I'd probably go for an i3. Cheaper is better here.
2. RAM - if you have 32GB already use it. Otherwise look for server pulls with ECC support.
3. Board - You're probably fine with what you're looking at.
4. NIC - consider something faster if you go AMD. I'd say toss some cash at either a 2.5Gbps NIC or if you're adventurous $30ish at an ebay SFP+ card that'll do up to 10Gbe. Do note you'd either need to directly attach your NAS to a computer or buy a switch (think CRS-305 with possibly one SFP+ to RJ45 transciever) and a DAC cable.
5. Do you NEED those exact HDDs? If you go RAID 6 you'd probably end up with 6x 6TB HDDs from server pulls vs 5x6TB in RAID 5 new. This could save you cash, increase reliability and generate a slight performance bump. Be sure to get SATA, not SAS.
6. If you're going ZFS, consider spending $10ish or even $20ish for the 1 or 2 16GB optane sticks for L2ARC. This give a bit of extra cushion if you run out of RAM. Also be aware that by default linux versions of ZFS default to half RAM being used for ARC. You probably want more like 95% being used for ARC if this is a single purpose box. You might need a PCIe break out card. These are between $10-15.

7. PSU - consider something lower wattage with higher efficiency. Using back of the envelope numbers - 150W CPU + 15W * 6 HDDs + 50W other = 290W peak load. You can probably get away with a ~400W PSU. Go for something VERY efficient.

 

 

21 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

For a NAS, CPU speed is not the primary concern. Power usage is, especially in current times. AMD is much more efficient in this aspect. In either case, your bottlenecks will be network and drive speeds. Now, IDK how you intent to set up your NAS, but anything that includes RAID 0 (or similar) is effectively gambling your data.

The energy efficiency benefits AMD has aren't as pronounced at idle. There's some evidence that Intel has better idle power consumption and even at "full load" this system will basically be idling.

My 2M/4T Excavator CPU barely breaks a sweat on NAS duty. A 5600g is basically 5-10x as powerful.

 

[grimreeper132]

23 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

For a NAS, CPU speed is not the primary concern. Power usage is, especially in current times. AMD is much more efficient in this aspect. In either case, your bottlenecks will be network and drive speeds. Now, IDK how you intent to set up your NAS, but anything that includes RAID 0 (or similar) is effectively gambling your data.

 

As stated, the current CPU choices are overkill for a NAS, I'd suggest a Ryzen3 based APU or Intel i3, 9th or 10th gen will suffice.

 

Also note that your setup requires some additional attention as there seem to be some issues, as indicated by the tool. You may need to alter your config anyway.

I am planning to use RAID 6 or similar so I have a 2 drives for redundancy
as for the CPUs, yea I get they are overkill, but the price difference between R3 and R5, is about £20, and for the i3 I think its about £10.

As for cooler, I think both come with an stock cooler, which should be good enough for my purposes.
Yea, I think the intel system might be easier, cause I just noticed 2 SATA ports get disabled causing the issues there.

[grimreeper132]

27 minutes ago, cmndr said:

For a simple NAS, the CPU is 100% overkill. Energy efficiency will probably matter more than raw performance.

I would suggest clarifying your goals. Do you just need to store a bunch of things?

If I had to pick parts out of my rear (and I'm going off of US prices)

1. CPU - 5600g is fine if you don't mind going overkill. 5650G could also work if you find it cheaper. You might even be able to get something cheaper like a 2200g. I'd probably go for an i3. Cheaper is better here.
2. RAM - if you have 32GB already use it. Otherwise look for server pulls with ECC support.
3. Board - You're probably fine with what you're looking at.
4. NIC - consider something faster if you go AMD. I'd say toss some cash at either a 2.5Gbps NIC or if you're adventurous $30ish at an ebay SFP+ card that'll do up to 10Gbe. Do note you'd either need to directly attach your NAS to a computer or buy a switch (think CRS-305 with possibly one SFP+ to RJ45 transciever) and a DAC cable.
5. Do you NEED those exact HDDs? If you go RAID 6 you'd probably end up with 6x 6TB HDDs from server pulls vs 5x6TB in RAID 5 new. This could save you cash, increase reliability and generate a slight performance bump. Be sure to get SATA, not SAS.
6. If you're going ZFS, consider spending $10ish or even $20ish for the 1 or 2 16GB optane sticks for L2ARC. This give a bit of extra cushion if you run out of RAM. Also be aware that by default linux versions of ZFS default to half RAM being used for ARC. You probably want more like 95% being used for ARC if this is a single purpose box. You might need a PCIe break out card. These are between $10-15.

7. PSU - consider something lower wattage with higher efficiency. Using back of the envelope numbers - 150W CPU + 15W * 6 HDDs + 50W other = 290W peak load. You can probably get away with a ~400W PSU. Go for something VERY efficient.

The storing a bunch of things is the main purpose, maybe a couple other minor things.

1- I think I will be going intel because minor issues with the AMD (mainly with the SATA ports)

2- Yea I already own it, so it'll be easier to use that

4- My entire networking system currently is 1 Gbps, so faster at the moments not a massive help

5- I don't need those exact HDDs, however ones rated for NAS use would be preferred. I am plaining to use RAID 6 or ZFS alternative so I have a 2 drive redundancy, however I will look further into it at the time.

6- That isn't a bad idea, I was planning to SSD cache it, but I will look into that

[cmndr]

1 hour ago, grimreeper132 said:

The storing a bunch of things is the main purpose, maybe a couple other minor things.

1- I think I will be going intel because minor issues with the AMD (mainly with the SATA ports)

2- Yea I already own it, so it'll be easier to use that

4- My entire networking system currently is 1 Gbps, so faster at the moments not a massive help

5- I don't need those exact HDDs, however ones rated for NAS use would be preferred. I am plaining to use RAID 6 or ZFS alternative so I have a 2 drive redundancy, however I will look further into it at the time.

6- That isn't a bad idea, I was planning to SSD cache it, but I will look into that

1. I'm not aware of issues with AMD and SATA ports. I think you'd probably be fine either way but I haven't done much research on specifics. I do know that there's a b450m board from ASROCK that's at least quasi popular for NASes (works with ECC, has enough SATA ports, inexpensive, etc.) - Asrock b450m pro4. I had it (since gifted to my mother) and found that out after the fact.
4. I'd still give a slight preference to boards with 2.5Gbe. Even if you don't have 2.5Gbe stuff now, you can always get it later. Not worth obsessing over though. Used server stuff tends to work well because it's so cheap (hence the SFP+ recomendations). It might be worth spending LESS on your build overall and essentially saving up funds for future network upgrades.
5. Most enterprise class drives work well for NASes. One thing to make sure of - DO NOT GET SMR. SMR (even if NAS rated) is awful. One other alternative if you're open to MOAR DRIVES is effectively RAID 50. In ZFS terms it's striped RAID Z1 arrays. This requires at least 6 drives (ideally 8ish). You could lose at least 1 drive (at most one per stripe). You can also toss in a hot spare. Not sure how crazy you want to get with drives. I'm currently "fine" with RAIDZ1 on 4 drives.

6. One thing to be aware of with ZFS is that you get diminishing returns with L2ARC capacity pretty quickly. I'm also an optane fanboy. The 16GB sticks are DIRT cheap on ebay. The 32GB sticks are also decent but 3x the price. Going above that is a little questionable (you used to be able to get 118GB optane 800p and 100GB p4801x sticks for $80 / 70 respectively but they're 2-3x that now and the next step up is the 280GB 900p which is.... $300ish and questionable). Personal experience - adding in a 16GB optane stick made my system more consistent (I could feel it) when I swapped between games (I was using my NAS for steam games). I eventually got a 58 and then 118GB stick because... NERD. There was almost no benefit going from 16GB to 58/118GB for me. It's probably worth $10-15 for an optane stick (maybe even $35 for the 32GB stick). Going much higher will likely give minimal benefit.


As another bit - ZFS allows you to tweak A LOT of stuff. I'd probably go with TRUENAS since it's basically training wheels for building out a NAS. Going from scratch (think Ubuntu) will help you learn but it's probably not worth the time to learn how to set up SMB and the like. Depending on your use case you WILL want to tweak a few common parameters:

atime - you probably want this OFF (this is access time) if it's not off already
recordsize - 1M works well for photos and large files. Smaller works better for databases and VMs
L2ARC feed rate - there's a family of parameters to tweak (l2arc_write_boost). I generally allow this to feed more aggressively than the VERY slow default
compression - LZ4 is a good starting point and is usually an overall win (writes data faster, reads data faster, uses less disk space). ZSTD is also a good alternative (will often slow write speeds but makes reads a dash faster and results in more disk space being utilized - consider ZSTD 2,3 or 4 levels of compression)

here's a 4 year old guide (the author has since changed his mind on l2ARC to "it depends" since L2ARC now persists across reboots and nvme SSDs are a thing and they're a lot snappier - optane also works DARN well as a RAM spillover).
https://jrs-s.net/2018/08/17/zfs-tuning-cheat-sheet/