My current TrueNAS system, a Mini E which I purchased from iXsystems in 2020, is detailed in the summary dropdown below. I have been very happy with this system, having never experienced a single issue. I plan to move this system offsite and use it as a remote backup for a new TrueNAS system which will become my main. I’d like to build the new system myself, mostly as a hobby project. My main concern is in deciding which motherboard-cpu combo to buy for the new system. I’d like something similar to what I have now but a slight step up to future proof for the next 10 years or so. I’d like the motherboard to support ECC RAM and have IPMI. I’ve been searching and searching, but there are just so many offerings that I’ve simply become overwhelmed. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Update: My use cases are not super demanding. My current system stores backups for personal computers and phones. It stores all of my media, both video and audio, served by Plex app and Roon in a Debian LXC, respectively. I also have a few other LXC containers for various other tasks. Lastly, it’s a long-term store for various other files, financials (encrypted), product info, etc.
Ecc and ipmi, start looking at off lease retired server hardware. Where does it live, will noise be a problem? Form factor or size concerns? Power thirsty or stingy?
Similar to what you have now but more current? Well, iX has updated the Mini line, so that’s an option. My go-to recommendation for a small server is the HPE MicroServer, which is a current model, gives you more room for CPU, is small and reasonably quiet, doesn’t burn too many watts (though probably more than your Mini), and gives you the standard server features of ECC support and remote management. Kind of pricey though.
I built this in October. It doesn’t have IPMI, but you could add piKVM or a JetKVM and get most of the IPMI functionallity. All in (without drives) this set up was under $900, and it draws a total of 40 watts at the wall with 10 SATA SSDs and 3 M.2 NVME drives
Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX
AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 5650-GE
Nemix RAM 2X32GB DDR4 3200 ECC Uunbuffered
M.2 to SATA 6 port adapter, ASM1166
Noctua NH-L12Sx77 CPU fan
Corsair RM Series RM650
Fractal Design Node 304
10Gtek 10Gb PCI-E NIC
PCIE X16 to M.2 NVMe Expansion Card, Pcie X16 to X8 X4 X4 Split
This build is essentially the same as the 45 Drives HL8, but without the hot swap back plane, which I really don’t need.
I am researching a new build very much like you (after I have restored an old supermicro ECC rack mounted system… which I will then use as a tertiary backup server). I want a much smaller form factor, power efficient, quieter NAS server I can leave on 24/7. I would like HDMI on the MB so I can stream from the NAS directly and also easier GUI. I am considering the Asrock Rack W680D4U-2L2T/G5 (to guarantee ECC, IMPI, mATX size ) as the base platform - though they seem hard to get and are expensive when available. It’s also 2022 tech…which makes me weary paying top dollar 3 yrs on…
I then plan to add 4X M2.NVME drives via a *ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 Gen 4 controller…
There doesn’t seem to be an updated (newer) version of this motherboard??
Thanks for the reply and great questions. Yes, noise would be an issue. My current system is super quiet. I’d like to keep the size fairly compact. I’m currently looking at buying the Supermicro CSE-721TQ-350B 350W Mini-Tower Chassis which is very similar to the Mini E case. I believe that Supermicro may even sell to iXsystems. As to power, I’d like the system to be as efficient as possible. I’ll update my main post with my use cases.
Thanks for the reply. If possible, I’d like to stay away from prebuilt systems. I initially bought the Mini E as I was a complete NAS newbie at the time and needed something rather quickly. From my research, it’s fairly clear that building a NAS system isn’t all too complicated, just time consuming, and a self-build will save some dinero.
Thanks for the reply. $900 + cost of drives is about the price range that I’m looking for; however, I’d much prefer IPMI. I don’t really want to have to purchase yet another device. I’ve not considered nor even knew of the Gigabyte motherboards. I’ll check those out. I’ve been considering either Supermicro or AsRock Rack. My current system uses an AsRock Rack and has been super stable.
Some, probably, but with a server-grade board, probably not a lot. You’re right that it doesn’t need to be a complicated build, though it gets increasingly so the smaller you try to make it. But there’s nothing inherently different in building a NAS compared to building any other PC.
Then, the answer to your request is that Atom C3000 is still very much current. Get another Mini E.
If you want to build yourself, a Supermicro A2SDi is an alternative to AsRock Rack.
The cheap, if quircky, Gigabyte MJ11-EC1 also works well in the CSE-721, but you may have to import one from Germany…
Just some thinking juice and not really a map but 900 before storage is roughly how I built my current box. It is nearly silent and stuffed with storage.
Fractal node 804 case, micro atx form factor, stuff it with noctua brown fans. (sata hdd build). Even the front cover that pops off holds 2 sata ssd’s for boot taking up virtually no space. It has vertical hangers for 8 full size sata hard drives on the right side, the left side is for the mb and all that.
The fractal node 304 is even smaller but supports 6 full size sata drives and an itx board.
Tight, quiet package and if you’re going to be running a handful of ssd’s instead, that 804 is more than enough. The challenge is the cpu motherboard combo. You want a prosumer board and an efficient chip in itx or microitx form factor. Asus made an Intel workstation board that supported ecc and Intel Xeon chips so that’s what I used. Right now, it looks like Asus is still a strong choice but only 4 sata ports so budget for an lsi hba. The internet seems to think the Asus W680M-ACE SE is the king. 400 for that board, about 150 for the case, then ram and cpu to fill out the budget. You don’t need a multicore Xeon beast, you want low wattage and strong single thread performance.
@sieve007 I have been researching this sort of build for a week. It is based on the ASUS Pro WS W680M-ACE SE. I have very similar goals to you… you might find what I have discovered nailing down Grok AI useful
1/ You can add an Asus NVMe Controller Card : ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 Gen 4 Card (which supports 4 x M.2 NVMe drives), via the PCIe 4.0 x16 slot in 4x4x4x4 bifurcation. That way you can see each individual drive and set up a ZHS array on NVMe …very low power
2/ You can play back files directly via the MB HDMI ( it is HDCP2.2 compliant) if you want - no need to add a GPU. The Intel chip handles the playback. The HDMI (or DVI for that matter) is very useful to set up and management of TrueNAS as it give you easy connection to pretty much any monitor
3/ You can upgrade this MB to 10GB/sec adding a NIC to one of the spare slots if you want
check this guys out… he managed to tweek things down to 18W …
Grok says it’s possible… Like I am not saying it’s a 100% given… buy hey using Grok Ai got me this far I guess there are settings in the TN Jellyfin app??
Sure… that would be icing on the cake for me! Anyway… I am real excited by the prospect of this build… as I would like to try NVMe based NAS storage as it seems to be where the industry is going… expensive…sure… but I will only use 4 drives. I have a much larger TrueNAS server for backup of the pool… I can leave this sort of lower powered and quiet build on 24/7 and fire up the old noisy/power hungry 12bay enterprise server occasionally for backup.
The theory is this build being ECC capable will be the best with the NVMe drives… i shouldn;t lose data integrity that way with the fast read/write speeds…
There are almost no half decent NVMe NAS (even proprietary) solutions out there yet using ECC memory… Well not many I can find anyway… Just a lot of expensive consumer grade non ECC stuff… thoughts?
I tell you why I am excited by the ASUS Pro WS W680M-ACE SE
For a week Grok was telling me the ASRock Rack Z690D4U-2L2T/G5 Micro-ATX was the way to go… I guess cause I requested a MB with built in 10Gb/sec networking, IPMI and HDMI. I was also requesting ECC capabilities as well… and I asked the darn AI to confirm the build was ECC capable… it kept saying “yes”… (I think because some have trialled this and tweeked it - but failed?) Anyway Not fully trusting this I actually (as a human) went back to the ASRock manual to check… nope… The manual also covered the W680D4U-2L2T/G5 as well… see why the AI was confused?.. same chipset, exact same boards… just one spec’d by Asus for ECC, one not (the manufacturer clearly has two different roles for these boards)… In any case it is near on impossible getting the confirmed W ASRock board… Anyway this lead me to other actual humans on this forum!!! See the Asus WS W680M-ACE SE is a W board… just doesn’t have the inbuilt 10Gb/sec NIC that’s all. This can be sorted adding a card. And it’s also cheaper. Asus/AsRock/AsRock Rack being the same company an’ all (just different branding) …
I guess there are settings in the TN Jellyfin app??