Wich Dell Optiplex should i get for a NAS?

[FuchsFuchs1]

So i need to make a nas. its going to have 5 8tb HDDs and i heard Dell Optiplex's are a cheap option for a NAS.

[ToboRobot]

4 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

So i need to make a nas. its going to have 5 8tb HDDs and i heard Dell Optiplex's are a cheap option for a NAS.

Are you planning on putting 5 3.5" HDDs in an Optiplex?

[Skipple]

18 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

5 8tb HDDs

Dell Optiplex

Yeah, you might have an issue with this.

[Dedayog]

49 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

So i need to make a nas. its going to have 5 8tb HDDs and i heard Dell Optiplex's are a cheap option for a NAS.

Yeah, buy a proper case.  While you're at it, just build your own machine for fairly cheap.

 

But I personally wouldn't use an old used machine for a NAS (and my stuff).   

[FuchsFuchs1]

1 hour ago, ToboRobot said:

Are you planning on putting 5 3.5" HDDs in an Optiplex?

 

47 minutes ago, Skipple said:

Yeah, you might have an issue with this.

Yes, but i could also just connect them from outside.

16 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Yeah, buy a proper case.  While you're at it, just build your own machine for fairly cheap.

 

But I personally wouldn't use an old used machine for a NAS (and my stuff).   

PPl told me i should get a dell optiplex instead of tryng to use my raspberry pi5. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1543269-is-it-possible-to-have-a-5-drive-rasberry-pi-5-nas/ Also everytime i try do do something like this its expensive and garbage incomparison to other options.

 

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

 

Yes, but i could also just connect them from outside.

PPl told me i should get a dell optiplex instead of tryng to use my raspberry pi5. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1543269-is-it-possible-to-have-a-5-drive-rasberry-pi-5-nas/ Also everytime i try do do something like this its expensive and garbage incomparison to other options.

 

Who or what is PPI?

 

Honestly, expense is something that comes along with building.  You can cheap out, but at what corner cutting?

 

An Optiplex is going to be struggle to get 5 (or 6 with OS) drives into.

 

Why not build it right and nice from the get go?  Unless buying old nd used doesn't bother you, then by all means.

[FuchsFuchs1]

9 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Who or what is PPI?

 

Honestly, expense is something that comes along with building.  You can cheap out, but at what corner cutting?

 

An Optiplex is going to be struggle to get 5 (or 6 with OS) drives into.

 

Why not build it right and nice from the get go?  Unless buying old nd used doesn't bother you, then by all means.

fyi i only buy from ebay so alot of used stuff. Also i doubt a i5 will struggle with 6 storage devices + i will probably get a extra card for them anyways.

[ToboRobot]

31 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

 

Yes, but i could also just connect them from outside.

PPl told me i should get a dell optiplex instead of tryng to use my raspberry pi5. https://linustechtips.com/topic/1543269-is-it-possible-to-have-a-5-drive-rasberry-pi-5-nas/ Also everytime i try do do something like this its expensive and garbage incomparison to other options.

 

Are you sure they have 5+ SATA ports or a PCIE slot to make it work?

[FuchsFuchs1]

58 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

Are you sure they have 5+ SATA ports or a PCIE slot to make it work?

im pretty sure they have atleast 2 sata ports per computer also its not unheard of ppl putting gpus in them wich means theres atleast one pcie slots

[Skipple]

1 hour ago, ToboRobot said:

Are you sure they have 5+ SATA ports or a PCIE slot to make it work?

 

51 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

its not unheard of ppl putting gpus in them

 

It depends on the variant of Optiplex. The branding of Optiplex just means it's Dell's business/enterprise focused line and has nothing to do with size/features. For example their newer, "micro" form factors aren't going to have any expansion slots: 

 

 

Most mid-size Optiplex's have a PCIE slot, although it's probably a half height variety. If you go this route, just make you aren't planning on running media off of the machine, as there more than likely isn't room for a HBA and GPU unless you get one of the larger sizes. GPU will be necessary if you have to transcode for Plex/Jellyfin. 

 

This conversation may be better suited if you narrow down your choice to a specific model. 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, Skipple said:

 

 

It depends on the variant of Optiplex. The branding of Optiplex just means it's Dell's business/enterprise focused line and has nothing to do with size/features. For example their newer, "micro" form factors aren't going to have any expansion slots: 

 

 

Most mid-size Optiplex's have a PCIE slot, although it's probably a half height variety. If you go this route, just make you aren't planning on running media off of the machine, as there more than likely isn't room for a HBA and GPU unless you get one of the larger sizes. GPU will be necessary if you have to transcode for Plex/Jellyfin. 

 

This conversation may be better suited if you narrow down your choice to a specific model. 

Even the larger Optiplex's don't have drive bays for 5+ drives. They're purpose built and barely have room to add a single drive.

 

I've upgraded RAM in a few over the years and have yet to see one that was upgradable at a decent level.  

[Skipple]

9 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Even the larger Optiplex's don't have drive bays for 5+ drives.

OP has already said they are comfortable leaving the HDDs outside the case so I'm assuming they will be running some external enclosure.

[Dedayog]

1 hour ago, Skipple said:

OP has already said they are comfortable leaving the HDDs outside the case so I'm assuming they will be running some external enclosure.

What enclosure beats a regular PC case?  Or multiple HDD enclosures all connected?

 

It seems like they're trying to jury rig or force something to work.  Just not worth it IMO.   Plus it won't be more cost effective i can't imagine.

 

Best of luck though.

[FuchsFuchs1]

1 hour ago, Skipple said:

 

 

It depends on the variant of Optiplex. The branding of Optiplex just means it's Dell's business/enterprise focused line and has nothing to do with size/features. For example their newer, "micro" form factors aren't going to have any expansion slots: 

 

 

Most mid-size Optiplex's have a PCIE slot, although it's probably a half height variety. If you go this route, just make you aren't planning on running media off of the machine, as there more than likely isn't room for a HBA and GPU unless you get one of the larger sizes. GPU will be necessary if you have to transcode for Plex/Jellyfin. 

 

This conversation may be better suited if you narrow down your choice to a specific model. 

its only used to send data over the internet... no fancy stuff like plex or jelly. also im going with the older bigger models since they are cheaper.

33 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

What enclosure beats a regular PC case?  Or multiple HDD enclosures all connected?

 

It seems like they're trying to jury rig or force something to work.  Just not worth it IMO.   Plus it won't be more cost effective i can't imagine.

 

Best of luck though.

you suggested to build a entire system from the ground... id say that way more sketch then tryng to put a nas into one of them.

[Bersella AI]

The chassis' size & scalability would become a huge problem... It is painful to handle 5 hard drives with a build that was not intended to fit one or more drives. A used rack-mount server, sized in 2U, would be a more feasible option, with plenty room for hard drives & support for more add-in cards including a faster NIC. The examples include Dell R730xd, or older R720 series.

[FuchsFuchs1]

4 hours ago, Bersella AI said:

The chassis' size & scalability would become a huge problem... It is painful to handle 5 hard drives with a build that was not intended to fit one or more drives. A used rack-mount server, sized in 2U, would be a more feasible option, with plenty room for hard drives & support for more add-in cards including a faster NIC. The examples include Dell R730xd, or older R720 series.

im defnetly not getting a rack server. thoose things use about 700w per power supply. way to expensive to run.

[Needfuldoer]

11 minutes ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

im defnetly not getting a rack server. thoose things use about 700w per power supply. way to expensive to run.

No they don't.

 

I have an R730XD with two 750 watt power supplies, two PCIe SSDs, dual E5-2667 v4s, 256 gigs of RAM, a Quadro P2000, 10 gig and 40 gig Ethernet, and twelve 12 TB spinning hard drives. It idles at under 200 watts. At least half of that is the drives. The most I've ever seen it draw is about 520 watts, and that's when it pushes the CPUs, memory, and fans as hard as it can on first boot after a hardware change. (That's to train its thermal management.) If I drop the fan speed lower I can save another 10 to 20 watts. These figures are all measured at the wall with a Kill-a-Watt.

 

Just because the power supply capacity is there, that doesn't mean the machine is drawing that much power all the time.

 

You can get most of the benefits of a rack server by picking a workstation platform that takes server CPUs, like a Dell Precision or HP Z Series. A Precision 5810 or HP Z440 will take cheap registered ECC server memory and LGA2011-3 processors.

[FlyingPotato_is_taken]

Dell Optiplex are also lean on SATA ports so not ideal for a NAS. Additionally you can't mount more than 2-3 HDDs into them.

Currently trying a HP EliteDesk but HPs BIOS isn't supporting virtualization and the like.

If Fujitsu are an option check those out. The Fujitsu P720 E90+ would be an interesting budget option:

4x 3.5" and 2x5.25" which can be converted to 3x 3.5" slots. In total upto 7x 3.5" slots with 5x SATA ports on the mainboard.

 

For 70€ you could get this DIY option: https://www.ram-koenig.de/Gigabyte-MJ11-EC1-AMD-EPYC-3151-4x27-Ghz-Mini-ITX-Mainboard-ATX-Adapter-Server

Gigabyte MJ11-EC1 with AMD embedded EPYC 3151 (approx. Intel i3-8100 performance) and IPMI.

 

On 1/6/2024 at 12:13 PM, Needfuldoer said:

 have an R730XD with two 750 watt power supplies, [...] It idles at under 200 watts.

200W is significantly too much if he lives in Germany. That's roughly 600€ on the electrical bill per year. Over 5 years it's 3000€ just to power your home NAS (assuming cost wouldn't go up).

For example the previously mentioned Gigabyte board is at 30W in Proxmox with NAS software that's due to the IPMI (approx. 5W) and additional network chip. Modern server consume about 60W IDLE (compared to 150W+ for older server) which I would consider still to much. Ideally you would want to stay below 20W with sub 10W being excellent.

[FuchsFuchs1]

On 1/6/2024 at 12:13 PM, Needfuldoer said:

No they don't.

 

I have an R730XD with two 750 watt power supplies, two PCIe SSDs, dual E5-2667 v4s, 256 gigs of RAM, a Quadro P2000, 10 gig and 40 gig Ethernet, and twelve 12 TB spinning hard drives. It idles at under 200 watts. At least half of that is the drives. The most I've ever seen it draw is about 520 watts, and that's when it pushes the CPUs, memory, and fans as hard as it can on first boot after a hardware change. (That's to train its thermal management.) If I drop the fan speed lower I can save another 10 to 20 watts. These figures are all measured at the wall with a Kill-a-Watt.

 

Just because the power supply capacity is there, that doesn't mean the machine is drawing that much power all the time.

 

You can get most of the benefits of a rack server by picking a workstation platform that takes server CPUs, like a Dell Precision or HP Z Series. A Precision 5810 or HP Z440 will take cheap registered ECC server memory and LGA2011-3 processors.

idk where you live but it sure must have cheap electricity

[FuchsFuchs1]

On 1/8/2024 at 9:52 PM, FlyingPotato_is_taken said:

Dell Optiplex are also lean on SATA ports so not ideal for a NAS. Additionally you can't mount more than 2-3 HDDs into them.

Currently trying a HP EliteDesk but HPs BIOS isn't supporting virtualization and the like.

If Fujitsu are an option check those out. The Fujitsu P720 E90+ would be an interesting budget option:

4x 3.5" and 2x5.25" which can be converted to 3x 3.5" slots. In total upto 7x 3.5" slots with 5x SATA ports on the mainboard.

 

For 70€ you could get this DIY option: https://www.ram-koenig.de/Gigabyte-MJ11-EC1-AMD-EPYC-3151-4x27-Ghz-Mini-ITX-Mainboard-ATX-Adapter-Server

Gigabyte MJ11-EC1 with AMD embedded EPYC 3151 (approx. Intel i3-8100 performance) and IPMI.

 

200W is significantly too much if he lives in Germany. That's roughly 600€ on the electrical bill per year. Over 5 years it's 3000€ just to power your home NAS (assuming cost wouldn't go up).

For example the previously mentioned Gigabyte board is at 30W in Proxmox with NAS software that's due to the IPMI (approx. 5W) and additional network chip. Modern server consume about 60W IDLE (compared to 150W+ for older server) which I would consider still to much. Ideally you would want to stay below 20W with sub 10W being excellent.

meh 
i dont really know about the DIY option isnce it has i3 performance...

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

meh 
i dont really know about the DIY option isnce it has i3 performance...

It's a nas... How much performance does it need?

[FlyingPotato_is_taken]

@FuchsFuchs1 I started out with an 4th gen Haswell i3 and this CPU was more than fast enough to overload my router with a synthetic benchmark (small IOPS). CPU utilization rarely went above 30%.

 

My new NAS will be powered by the Intel J5005 which is slightly slower than the 4th gen i3. The EPYC 3151 is roughly twice the speed. 

Before this opportunity arised I was close to pulling the trigger on the EPYC for my home/personal NAS: It's fast enough, energy efficient (if you disable IPMI) and IPMI. It has two ethernet ports out of the box.

[Needfuldoer]

6 hours ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

idk where you live but it sure must have cheap electricity

Running it costs about $25/mo. I can live with that, considering everything it does. (Half that cost is offset by using Plex and a couple HDHomeruns as the "cable box", so I don't rent a DVR from the cable company anymore.)

 

I'd replace it with something more modern, but I kind of boxed myself in with the number of drives and high speed networking. Consumer platforms don't have enough PCIe lanes. But I just picked up a "for parts or not working" X399 board for a song, so maybe a Threadripper NAS is in my future?

[Rysters Tech]

On 1/5/2024 at 6:52 AM, FuchsFuchs1 said:

So i need to make a nas. its going to have 5 8tb HDDs and i heard Dell Optiplex's are a cheap option for a NAS.

Find a system that uses standard ATX parts and put it in a define R5, it can support 8 drives in the front cages plus the 5.25 bays can hold more if needed.

[Rysters Tech]

7 hours ago, FuchsFuchs1 said:

meh 
i dont really know about the DIY option isnce it has i3 performance...

I3's are just fine for 2.5 gigabit NAS operations, i used a pentium dual core socket 775 system and i could get 1 gigabit throughput with like 30% cpu usage,the epyc embedded will work just fine.