What would be the best parts for a NAS?

[LelouchviZero]

I'd like to know what parts I should use for a DIY NAS build. Anyone have suggestions?

[GDRRiley]

lower power cpu best with ECC ram. lots of hard drives and a good PSU

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

lower power cpu best with ECC ram. lots of hard drives and a good PSU

If I may, why the ECC RAM?

[RS2007GOD]

unrelated question.. can i run a steam library of a nas?

[ttam]

Just now, Energycore said:

If I may, why the ECC RAM?

ECC is nice in data based environments. It automatically detects and corrects memory errors.

[dragoon20005]

you can check FreeNAS requirements

 

The Intel Avoton is one of the best for a NAS build

 

https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Motherboard-C2750D4I-COLOR-BOX/dp/B00HIDQG6E

 

ECC is not a must but a suggested RAM requirement

 

if you are running like 4 HDDs

 

then you will need 1GB of RAM per HDD

[dragoon20005]

2 minutes ago, RS2007GOD said:

unrelated question.. can i run a steam library of a nas?

you can but your game loading time will be hindered

[Spork829]

2 minutes ago, RS2007GOD said:

unrelated question.. can i run a steam library of a nas?

I think so, with a fast network connection.

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, dragoon20005 said:

you can check FreeNAS requirements

 

The Intel Avoton is one of the best for a NAS build

 

https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-Motherboard-C2750D4I-COLOR-BOX/dp/B00HIDQG6E

 

ECC is not a must but a suggested RAM requirement

 

if you are running like 4 HDDs

 

then you will need 1GB of RAM per HDD

Ouch, $450

[dragoon20005]

Just now, Energycore said:

Ouch, $450

it a mini server board with the CPU already installed

 

 

[Energycore]

Just now, dragoon20005 said:

it a mini server board with the CPU already installed

 

 

I guess so, but I'm personally looking at $250-300 for the entire NAS, hence ouch

[dragoon20005]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

I guess so, but I'm personally looking at $250-300 for the entire NAS, hence ouch

hmm. you can go for the AMD Athlon 5350 with 8GB of RAM

 

and you prob need a beefy PSU to support that many HDDs

 

but i would suggest you looking at NAS from QNAP or Synology

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

Ouch, $450

 

Just now, dragoon20005 said:

it a mini server board with the CPU already installed

 

 

A C2550 version is generally available for around 300 USD.

 

Here is the parts list from my NAS w/ 16GB of ECC ram.

 

Pretty standard fair.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ynxMBm

 

Feel free to follow the next link to see my thoughts on all of the process in my link below:

 

[Energycore]

Just now, dragoon20005 said:

hmm. you can go for the AMD Athlon 5350 with 8GB of RAM

 

and you prob need a beefy PSU to support that many HDDs

 

but i would suggest you looking at NAS from QNAP or Synology

Perhaps a premade NAS is a better option. What I want is to have my mass storage in a place where I can't hear it

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 minutes ago, RS2007GOD said:

unrelated question.. can i run a steam library of a nas?

Yep.

[Energycore]

Do you guys think Gigabit LAN would botteleneck the throughput of a NAS HDD? 1Gigabit = 125MB

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

Perhaps a premade NAS is a better option. What I want is to have my mass storage in a place where I can't hear it

So I did the cost analysis a while back, but basically for a 2-4 drive solution prebuilt is more cost effective (unless you find random spare parts, which isn't encouraged but works.) While above 4 drives DYI RAPIDLY becomes MUCH MUCH more cost effective

 

For example, the ~500 dollar NAS (minus drive costs) I built supports up to 6 drives in the current case, and up to 12 drives on the motherboard.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, Energycore said:

Do you guys think Gigabit LAN would botteleneck the throughput of a NAS HDD? 1Gigabit = 125MB

Generally yes. Although it depends on the drive (it will be close). 

 

Realistically 95-110 MB/s is more what you can cap a gigabit LAN at with only one client. 

 

 

[GDRRiley]

3 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Do you guys think Gigabit LAN would botteleneck the throughput of a NAS HDD? 1Gigabit = 125MB

yeah if you want more bandwidth go do what linus did and get some old 10gb cards and hard wire them together 

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Generally yes. Although it depends on the drive (it will be close). 

 

Realistically 95-110 MB/s is more what you can cap a gigabit LAN at with only one client. 

 

 

Anyway to set up dual gigabit LAN to double bandwidth?

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, Energycore said:

Anyway to set up dual gigabit LAN to double bandwidth?

Depends on the OS you are using for the NAS.

 

Also suppose you have double gigabit to your router but only one to your PC, well you will only get gigabit to your pc even if by using numerous clients you might be capable of more like 140-180 MBps.

 

Prebuilt nas systems tend to be better at link aggregation than OS's like FreeNas, but you could always buy used 10GBe cards for direct links and then you wouldn't have that issue.

 

Either way, few HDD nas systems are capable of saturating even dual gigabit nic's with one client access, so I wouldn't recommend worrying about it.

 

A more practical application (IMHO) for dual nics is to have one go to your router (and thus network both wired and wireless), and the other go directly to your main PC, that way your main comp gets the best bandwidth possible while still allowing your entire network to access the NAS in either a pinch or a more leisurely use (like media watching which doesn't require anything near 100 MBps).

[LelouchviZero]

Thank you everyone for the awesome replies!