How much ECC RAM do I need in my FreeNAS server?

[Gerr]

My new FreeNAS server will act not only as a multi-array NAS, but also a Plex Server.  I currently have purchased 16GB of ECC RAM, debating if I need to buy more and bump it to a max of 32GB, go the cheaper route of 24GB, or leave it at 16GB.  CPU is a Xeon E3-1231V3 on an Asus C226 mobo.

 

Drives:

Boot/OS:  2x 16GB USB Flash drives.

Plex Storage: 3x 3TB HGST in RaidZ1

Plex App: 250GB MX200 SSD

Windows NAS: 2x 3TB WD Red mirrored (might buy a 3rd drive and go RaidZ1)

Mac NAS: 2x 1TB WD Red mirrored

NVR Storage: 3TB WD Purple

Client Backups: 4TB HGST NAS

 

[79wjd]

16gb is more than enough

 

P.s. you don't need a drive specially for the plex app. You can just put your jails on any of the storage drives (they don't take up much space).

[Gerr]

I read reviews that the Plex app works best on an SSD?

[knightslugger]

7 minutes ago, Gerr said:

I read reviews that the Plex app works best on an SSD?

If the plex was a 4k raw rip maybe... but you are limited to your network speed anyway.

[79wjd]

15 minutes ago, Gerr said:

I read reviews that the Plex app works best on an SSD?

It doesn't matter. 

 

8 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

If the plex was a 4k raw rip maybe... but you are limited to your network speed anyway.

That would only make sense if the content was also on the SSD. Putting the jail on the ssd and the content on the HDD would still be limited by the HDD.

[Gerr]

I have an Intel i350 4-port adapter and a switch that I can team 4 ports together.  I know this won't give me 4GB worth of connectivity, but would allow up to 4 streams their own 1GB connection.

[79wjd]

4 minutes ago, Gerr said:

I have an Intel i350 4-port adapter and a switch that I can team 4 ports together.  I know this won't give me 4GB worth of connectivity, but would allow up to 4 streams their own 1GB connection.

I've ran multiple 30GB streams from my plex server and everything is stored on 4TB WD Reds and it handles it just fine. There's no reason for an ssd.

[Gerr]

How about the simple fact that I have a spare one to use.

[techmattr]

It depends on your usage and width of vdevs. If you do a lot of writes monitor your usage. If writes aren't flushing and you're maxing cache.... add more RAM. If you use dedup then you need at least 1GB per TB.

 

Moving my Plex install dir, cache and transcode directories to a SSD made a huge difference for end user client experience. No more buffereing when trying to FF/RW through transcoded material.. no more lag when loading thumbs or video previews.