Building A NAS

[Mind_001]

I was told that it doesn't take much to just run a home file server, so that in mind...

 

I have 2x3TB WD Green and 2x3TB WD Blue. Greens are from my WD Books where one of the controller cards died on it. So I had to tear both down so I could get the data off from it. As it was all encyped, but a controller board from the other worked.

 

Anyway, rumbling on...

 

I have a C2D E2140 and a Super Micro X7SBL-LN2 LGA 775 with 4GB DDR2. Got the board because it was the cheapest available at the time. And had 6 SATA ports.

 

The SuperMicro site says: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/3200/X7SBL-LN2.cfm

Total RAM ecc or non-ecc is 8GB (dual channel)

 

So I can't go above 8GB, will this serve a problem down the road? As if I want more TB?

 

So, should I upgrade now, or upgrade later, when I need more storage?

 

If I were to update now, what am I looking at here? Just get an older server? If so, what should I look for?

 

I plan to run OpenMediaVault on there. I'm a Debian guy, not a BSD guy...

 

I have no planned budget, but keep it rather cheap...

 

Any questions, ask.

[Anghammarad]

You should do fine if it will just do NAS business... 

 

the ram size will be more interesting when you use a dedicated raid controller with a ram socket for caching. But those you'll want with a battery... 

[Mind_001]

Yeah, I do plan to do RAID, down the road. I have several 2-4 port RAID cards.

 

But like you said, it will get kinda pushy with RAID.

[Mind_001]

Nevermind....

[Mind_001]

Can I build around this:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3754648

 

Just looks too good to pass up...

[Razor Blade]

I don't know anything about OMV but you mentioned about getting an old server. Just keep in mind that a lot of raid cards from old servers only support up to 2TB drives. If you decide to go that route plan on another $50-100 for a new raid card and possibly SAS cables.

 

Also I would not upgrade now unless you notice an issue with your current setup. Is there something you want to do that your current NAS box can't do? What pushed me to getting an R710 was I wanted to get something that supported ECC memory, could run VMs, and I can use the iDRAC to remotely access it if I need to. For something that does all that and more plus I paid about $200 for it was a no brainer for me. Though it has pretty much zero capability for graphics and it is louder than a desktop. It also seems to consume about 40 watts more than a comparable newer server but it is about 1/4 the price...

[Salacious B Crum]

5 hours ago, Mind_001 said:

Can I build around this:

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3754648

 

Just looks too good to pass up...

Look into unRAID you can use just about anything for it, mine is built around a i7 6700 and an HP pre-built runs great I can easily run 6+ plex streams and all but 1 drive is storage 17TB and counting! And yes nothing wrong with that combo

[Mind_001]

1 hour ago, mrbilky said:

Look into unRAID you can use just about anything for it, mine is built around a i7 6700 and an HP pre-built runs great I can easily run 6+ plex streams and all but 1 drive is storage 17TB and counting! And yes nothing wrong with that combo

I have a friend that will help me with FreeNAS. So, I can try that out if I cant get it working.

[Salacious B Crum]

20 hours ago, Mind_001 said:

I have a friend that will help me with FreeNAS. So, I can try that out if I cant get it working.

Yep that'll work too I did see they updated their web UI a little bit more of a learning curve than unRAID but a good choice after you get it tuned in the way you want. Keep us posted!

[Mind_001]

Update, all!

 

Below is my new setup I hope to get in the next few days. A few friends later, and I come up with this:

 

Higher upgrades always possible.

 

A friend was worried about the PSU, but with my setup, along with 4x HDDs, 750W should be enough, AFAIK. Any pointers here?

[Salacious B Crum]

2 hours ago, Mind_001 said:

Update, all!

 

Below is my new setup I hope to get in the next few days. A few friends later, and I come up with this:

 

Higher upgrades always possible.

 

A friend was worried about the PSU, but with my setup, along with 4x HDDs, 750W should be enough, AFAIK. Any pointers here?

 

Looks solid from here don't remember if you said you were doing any VM's I would then consider bumping the ram up to 16 gigs and remember Ryzen loves higher ram speed so if not overclocking I might bump that up as well but if a basic NAS its solid and the PSU is more that adequate for your use case.

[Mind_001]

27 minutes ago, mrbilky said:

Looks solid from here don't remember if you said you were doing any VM's I would then consider bumping the ram up to 16 gigs and remember Ryzen loves higher ram speed so if not overclocking I might bump that up as well but if a basic NAS its solid and the PSU is more that adequate for your use case.

I wasn't going to do VM's, just file sharing, maybe plex down the road.

 

I will update the HDDs as well as the RAM, later. Might go with a quicker speed. IDK, I'll play it by ear.

[Mind_001]

Oh, I got this on Friday, forgot to post it.

[Spotty]

On 5/10/2018 at 4:46 AM, Mind_001 said:

A friend was worried about the PSU, but with my setup, along with 4x HDDs, 750W should be enough, AFAIK.

Each of your hard drives will only use about 5W max while reading/writing. 750W is extremely unnecessary.
I hope for your sake your friend who told you that you needed a 750W power supply isn't the same friend who you are relying on setting up FreeNAS for you.

Too late now, but you should have got the 2200G so you could have integrated graphics. Would have cost the same as the 1200.

[Mind_001]

38 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Each of your hard drives will only use about 5W max while reading/writing. 750W is extremely unnecessary.
I hope for your sake your friend who told you that you needed a 750W power supply isn't the same friend who you are relying on setting up FreeNAS for you.

Too late now, but you should have got the 2200G so you could have integrated graphics. Would have cost the same as the 1200.

I can update that as needed

[Spotty]

6 minutes ago, Mind_001 said:

I can update that as needed

What graphics card are you planning on using in the system?

[Mind_001]

13 minutes ago, Spotty said:

What graphics card are you planning on using in the system?

For right now, nothing. Down the road? Maybe like a 1050/Ti?

[Razor Blade]

FYI my FreeNAS server has two 80W TDP CPUs with 6 spindle drives and stays under 200W... 750W PSU for a system like that is waaaaaaaaay overkill IMO.

[Spotty]

Just now, Mind_001 said:

For right now, nothing. Down the road? Maybe like a 1050/Ti?

The Ryzen 3 1200 has no integrated graphics. This means without a dedicated graphics card there will be no display output whatsoever. The HDMI port on the back of your motherboard is only there because the motherboard is also compatible with the 2200G and 2400G which do have integrated graphics.

I haven't tested with AM4 boards so I'm not 100% sure on how AM4 boards handle it, but in my experience a lot of consumer (non server) boards won't pass POST without detecting a display adapter; either onboard graphics or a graphics card. This means even if you're planning on running it headless (no Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor), the machine may not even POST without a display adapter and you won't even be able to turn it on.
You may get lucky and your board may POST without a display adapter, or if your motherboard supports it you can turn off the POST halt for settings in the motherboard to bypass it, but at the very least you will need a display adapter to first install FreeNAS on the machine.

Without a graphics card your entire machine, including HDDs and case fans, will pull about 100W under full load. More once you put a graphics card in it, but even if it was a 1080ti it probably wouldn't exceed 450W.
The EVGA G3 is a good power supply, it's just not necessary for that machine. If you have a gaming rig that could use a better power supply then maybe consider swapping them around as at least a gaming machine will put a load on the PSU while you're gaming. Since you already bought it you may as well put it to good use.

[Razor Blade]

6 minutes ago, Spotty said:

The Ryzen 3 1200 has no integrated graphics. This means without a dedicated graphics card there will be no display output whatsoever. The HDMI port on the back of your motherboard is only there because the motherboard is also compatible with the 2200G and 2400G which do have integrated graphics.

Spoiler

I haven't tested with AM4 boards so I'm not 100% sure on how AM4 boards handle it, but in my experience a lot of consumer (non server) boards won't pass POST without detecting a display adapter; either onboard graphics or a graphics card. This means even if you're planning on running it headless (no Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor), the machine may not even POST without a display adapter and you won't even be able to turn it on.
You may get lucky and your board may POST without a display adapter, or if your motherboard supports it you can turn off the POST halt for settings in the motherboard to bypass it, but at the very least you will need a display adapter to first install FreeNAS on the machine.

Without a graphics card your entire machine, including HDDs and case fans, will pull about 100W under full load. More once you put a graphics card in it, but even if it was a 1080ti it probably wouldn't exceed 450W.
The EVGA G3 is a good power supply, it's just not necessary for that machine. If you have a gaming rig that could use a better power supply then maybe consider swapping them around as at least a gaming machine will put a load on the PSU while you're gaming. Since you already bought it you may as well put it to good use.

 

According to Gigabyte's website it has an onboard graphics processor. But there are limitations to what it can do without a "G" CPU.

[Spotty]

3 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

According to Gigabyte's website it has an onboard graphics processor. But there are limitations to what it can do without a "G" CPU.

Source on this? I've never seen any AM4 boards with display adapters built in to the motherboard. It's been a very long time since I've seen a motherboard with a VGA chip on the board (not to be confused with CPU Integrated graphics, this is an actual GPU chip soldered on to the motherboards back in the 1990s when 640x480 was an acceptable resolution).

Spoiler

The onboard graphics listed in the specifications are dependant on using a CPU which supports integrated graphics, such as a 2200G, 2400G, or A series APUs. You can see which CPUs support graphics output on the CPU support page. (Look for the ones that list a GPU frequency)
https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-rev-1x#support-cpu

 

Like I said though *some* motherboards will POST without a display adapter, notably some server motherboards. I don't have any hands on experience with AM4 boards so I've never tested how they handle it, so I can't say for sure. All the consumer boards I've used in the last decade without integrated graphics in the CPU have refused to POST without a display adapter. I'm sure there's someone around who would have experience with AM4 boards who can clarify whether or not the system will POST.

I think @Mind_001 is going to have a few hurdles to jump when it comes time to build the system and install FreeNAS.

[Razor Blade]

3 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Source on this? I've never seen any AM4 boards with display adapters built in to the motherboard. It's been a very long time since I've seen a motherboard with a VGA chip on the board (not to be confused with CPU Integrated graphics, this is an actual GPU chip soldered on to the motherboards back in the 1990s when 640x480 was an acceptable resolution).

  Reveal hidden contents

The onboard graphics listed in the specifications are dependant on using a CPU which supports integrated graphics, such as a 2200G, 2400G, or A series APUs. You can see which CPUs support graphics output on the CPU support page. (Look for the ones that list a GPU frequency)
https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-rev-1x#support-cpu

 

Like I said though *some* motherboards will POST without a display adapter, notably some server motherboards. I don't have any hands on experience with AM4 boards so I've never tested how they handle it, so I can't say for sure. All the consumer boards I've used in the last decade without integrated graphics in the CPU have refused to POST without a display adapter. I'm sure there's someone around who would have experience with AM4 boards who can clarify whether or not the system will POST.

I think @Mind_001 is going to have a few hurdles to jump when it comes time to build the system and install FreeNAS.

My source is the specifications tab on Gigabyte's website https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-3-rev-1x#sp

 

Quote

Integrated Graphics Processor:

1. 1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@60 Hz
   * The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter.
2. 1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 4096x2160@24 Hz
   * Support for HDMI 1.4 version.

Maximum shared memory of 2 GB

* Actual support may vary by CPU.

 

[Spotty]

5 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

My source is the specifications tab on Gigabyte's website

 

5 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

* Actual support may vary by CPU.

Those display outputs are what is supported by the CPUs/APUs that have integrated graphics capabilities, which the Ryzen 3 1200 does not have. It relies on the CPU to process the graphics - there is no graphical processing on the motherboard itself.
If you check the CPU Support List on the product page you see that it's only supported on select CPUs/APUs.

 

[Razor Blade]

10 minutes ago, Spotty said:

 

Those display outputs are what is supported by the CPUs/APUs that have integrated graphics capabilities, which the Ryzen 3 1200 does not have. It relies on the CPU to process the graphics - there is no graphical processing on the motherboard itself.
If you check the CPU Support List on the product page you see that it's only supported on select CPUs/APUs.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I see. I believe you're correct. Between the wording "Integrated graphics processor" and the asterisk for "actual support may vary" it really got me. Everywhere else in the world an asterisk would mean some sort of disclosure... IMO it's a bit misleading.,,

[Mind_001]

I forgot, I do have a lot of older GPU cards. Like ATI 5770, ATI 7850, etc.

 

So they aren't old, but are good.