SFF NAS/Workstation build

[CDR_Xavier]

How am I organizing this ...

 

I bought a Thinkcentre 72e SFF for $30 (with shipping) because the chassis is just like the most amazing thing. mATX, with a 3.5, with a full 5.25. 4 slots, with a TFX power supply. Tower.

Maybe not 72e, maybe e72. 62. whatever exact spec doesn't matter. I threw out the whatever board it came with, and put a Supermicro X10SLL-F inside.

 

I have a big Boxx as my "main" PC/compact furnace unit, but it was kind of large and ... somewhat difficult to palette. I will have to move (probably a lot), so having some portability over a gigantic eATX (even if it's quite small at just a "full tower") would be nice.

 

I have a 1080p monitor, and any/all peripherals.

 

I am in the United States. But the list can include cheap stuff from china (albeit from good manufacturers)

 

Requirements (regardless of paths):

mATX board with at least 6 SATA.

At least a x8, plus a x16 if having a GPU.

 

I have 16GB of unregistered ECC DDR3 (2 sticks), but also REG ECC DDR3 (4 sticks of 16GB).

 

Path A:

Budget (including currency): $30-$50 (but + $50 because someone will want my X10sll)

Aim: NAS/productivity

Office, youtube, printer shenanigan. 3D printer shenanigan.

 

I want ECC RAM. That's apparently a thing for TrueNAS.

I saw a great deal on ebay of a X11SSM-F with CPU bundle, it's great. We buy some ram, put in the R5 430 I got, easy (ish). Or rip the R5 430 out if it doesn't work with the IPMI. We will see.

Or some Ryzen (hopefully AM4) board with a cheap AM4 CPU and ECC RAM. I lose IPMI, but not the end of world.

 

Path B:

Budget: Path A, but an extra $30 for a decent-ish GPU

Aim: patha+/light gaming/+server

Games: Minecraft, Shapez 2, Trailmakers. Derail Valley, GTA, War Thunder.

Probably a bad choice. Keep in mind that I have a laptop with a Ryzen Pro 4650U with Radeon Graphics, it can handle quite a bit of stuff. I want at least 50% better than laptop. On laptop I run mid-low, I want to run mid to mid-high. I wanna see some shadows and graphics content. No ray tracing.

OR, a Socket 1200 board. Throw my 11700K in there. Good for rapid transfer if I have to ditch the big computer. Even have pretty decent onboard.

 

Path C:

Full send. $300. Sell the big thing, just keep one.

Requirement: Somehow get A750 level of performance (at least 80% of it) without utilizing the 4060 low profile (or other nvidia non-workstation card) in a mATX case (not that I can afford a 4060). Everything above.

 

Path D:

Don't do anything. Keep the money, save up for Framework 16.

 

All "paths" can use all existing parts from the Boxx build I already have. DDR4 non-registered non-ECC, 11700K/10600K, etc.

[Starelementpoke]

7 hours ago, CDR_Xavier said:

How am I organizing this ...

 

I bought a Thinkcentre 72e SFF for $30 (with shipping) because the chassis is just like the most amazing thing. mATX, with a 3.5, with a full 5.25. 4 slots, with a TFX power supply. Tower.

Maybe not 72e, maybe e72. 62. whatever exact spec doesn't matter. I threw out the whatever board it came with, and put a Supermicro X10SLL-F inside.

 

I have a big Boxx as my "main" PC/compact furnace unit, but it was kind of large and ... somewhat difficult to palette. I will have to move (probably a lot), so having some portability over a gigantic eATX (even if it's quite small at just a "full tower") would be nice.

 

I have a 1080p monitor, and any/all peripherals.

 

I am in the United States. But the list can include cheap stuff from china (albeit from good manufacturers)

 

Requirements (regardless of paths):

mATX board with at least 6 SATA.

At least a x8, plus a x16 if having a GPU.

 

I have 16GB of unregistered ECC DDR3 (2 sticks), but also REG ECC DDR3 (4 sticks of 16GB).

 

Path A:

Budget (including currency): $30-$50 (but + $50 because someone will want my X10sll)

Aim: NAS/productivity

Office, youtube, printer shenanigan. 3D printer shenanigan.

 

I want ECC RAM. That's apparently a thing for TrueNAS.

I saw a great deal on ebay of a X11SSM-F with CPU bundle, it's great. We buy some ram, put in the R5 430 I got, easy (ish). Or rip the R5 430 out if it doesn't work with the IPMI. We will see.

Or some Ryzen (hopefully AM4) board with a cheap AM4 CPU and ECC RAM. I lose IPMI, but not the end of world.

 

Path B:

Budget: Path A, but an extra $30 for a decent-ish GPU

Aim: patha+/light gaming/+server

Games: Minecraft, Shapez 2, Trailmakers. Derail Valley, GTA, War Thunder.

Probably a bad choice. Keep in mind that I have a laptop with a Ryzen Pro 4650U with Radeon Graphics, it can handle quite a bit of stuff. I want at least 50% better than laptop. On laptop I run mid-low, I want to run mid to mid-high. I wanna see some shadows and graphics content. No ray tracing.

OR, a Socket 1200 board. Throw my 11700K in there. Good for rapid transfer if I have to ditch the big computer. Even have pretty decent onboard.

 

Path C:

Full send. $300. Sell the big thing, just keep one.

Requirement: Somehow get A750 level of performance (at least 80% of it) without utilizing the 4060 low profile (or other nvidia non-workstation card) in a mATX case (not that I can afford a 4060). Everything above.

 

Path D:

Don't do anything. Keep the money, save up for Framework 16.

 

All "paths" can use all existing parts from the Boxx build I already have. DDR4 non-registered non-ECC, 11700K/10600K, etc.

Where's the $300 coming from path C? As in you sell what you have currently for $300? 

[CDR_Xavier]

1 hour ago, Starelementpoke said:

As in you sell what you have currently for $300? 

Yeah. Should be able to give that to my friends for a few hundred.

Maybe not all of it. Maybe they will get the gpu and ram only, or maybe they will get the i5-10600K rather than i7-11700k.

Ironically, sourcing the A750 LE is really easy. Plenty on ebay, although new LEs are finally starting to disappear.