New (re)build recommendations

[Bugsy22]

My homebuilt TrueNAS box has recently crapped out and I’m looking for some recommendations for a replacement motherboard. It’s about 9 years old and originally was built with the following:

ASRock Intel Avoton C2750d4i motherboard
Cooler Master V550 Gold Power Supply
Crucial 16GB DDR3-1600 ECC memory
3 X WD Red 4TB drives

I’ve had to replace the motherboard 2 times over its lifespan, and for simplicity’s sake I replaced with the same make and model. Last replacement was over 7 years ago. It’s not available anymore.

3 years ago I added a Samsung 870 EVO SSD to replace the USB drive that I was using for a boot drive.

I’ve recently replaced the power supply (under warranty, thank you Cooler Master) with a Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 V2.

I installed the new power supply this morning, and the box powered up, but I had no video. I checked all the connections and restarted it a few times, but I was not able to get the video to work. This motherboard has onboard video. After a few tries, the system attempted to power up, but then shut right down. Now it won’t even try to turn on. I’m thinking the old power supply damaged the motherboard or vice versa.

After testing, I determined the power supply was bad and got another replacement from Cooler Master, they sent another MWE Gold 850 V2. As soon as I took it out of the plastic, I heard what sounded like a loose screw rolling around inside the unit. I toyed with the idea of opening the case and just removing it, but figured it would void any remaining warranty.

They agreed that not trying to remove the screw myself was the right course of action… Another claim was made and this time they sent a MWE Gold 850 V3 that they tested before shipping. Now the NAS powers up and stays running, but there’s still no video or network connectivity. The LEDs on the board light up and the fans all work.

I tried installing a PCIE 2.0 video card, but still no video. At this point I’m thinking the bad power supply damaged something on the motherboard.

Anyone have any ideas for me to check before I replace the motherboard? I use the NAS mainly for networked file storage and as a PLEX server.

Ultimately, I’m looking for suggestions for a replacement motherboard (mini-itx), processor & RAM. If it doesn’t have on-board video, then a recommendation for video card is also needed. I’m looking for a low power system and I’d like to keep the costs reasonable, but I don’t want to go with a super cheap product that won’t last very long just to save a few dollars. I need at least 4 SATA ports, and my monitor uses a VGA connector, though I can swap monitors or get an adaptor if necessary.

Thanks!

[Stux]

I would like to know too.

FWIW, I recently (a couple
Of years ago) replaced my mini-itx server board… with the same model again.

Supermicro X10SDV-TLN4F

It’s getting a bit long in the tooth, but still a good board.

Another option is the C3758, again getting long in the tooth

C3758 vs X10SDV was discussed in this thread

CPU: Atom C3758 vs Xeon D-1541

Currently my primary TrueNAS Scale system is built around the Supermicro A2SDi-8C-HLN4F motherboard, which has an Atom C3758 CPU. It works great! I have another system (not TrueNAS) that is about to be upgraded; that system uses the Supermicro X10SDV-TLN4F motherboard, which has a Xeon D-1541 CPU. It also works great (only upgrading for fun, not really necessity). I’m thinking about using that Xeon D-1541 board for the TrueNAS system. Despite being older, it appears to be substantially more…

This thread is basically your question:

MoBo request - Mini-ITX, ECC and 5+ SATA

“Low-power” would probably help as well. A mini-ITX Supermicro X10SDV (Xeon D-1500, 6 SATA) looks like the perfect candidate. It is old, and best snapped second hand if you can, but still sold new. @Davvo should, at some point, give us feed back on a Datto/Gigabyte equivalent. Alternatively A2SDi boards (Atom C3000, 8-12 SATA). Expensive new—and hard to find used. Cheap alternative, if you only require 1 GbE and have access to a 3D printer: Gigabyte MJ11-EC1 (embedded EPYC, 8 SATA). Not new, …

And finally, ends with an appropriate meme!

[Bugsy22]

Thanks for the speedy reply!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading – it’s hard to sort out the useful and accurate from the not so useful…

I’m coming to the same conclusion as you, the X10SDV-4C-TLN2F is probably going to be my choice. I’ve seen it in a few configurations - active cpu cooling fan & just a heat sink with no fan. I’m inclined to go with the active fan, everyone seems to agree on that. How much noise could it really make?

A lot of the articles recommend a used board. Thoughts on this? I can get a used one on ebay for about $340 shipped. New on Amazon is $600. Is it worth it to go used or should I go with the warranty of new? I’m leaning towards a new one with my history of having ASRock boards go bad on me…

One more question – ls it better to go with 4 16GB sticks of RAM or 2 32GB sticks, or two 16GB vs. four 8GB sticks? Some systems I’ve built and worked on in the past liked multiple sticks of memory, while others did just fine with a pair…

Thanks again!

[etorix]

The Supermicro fan has an unpleasant high pitch—and is a pain to replace. Get a board with a passive heatsink and slap a totally silent Noctua NF-A6x25 on it, secured by two strips of gaffer tapes on the sides.

@Bugsy22

I’m leaning towards a new one with my history of having ASRock boards go bad on me…

Your system, your call… But neither Atom C3000 not Xeon D-1500 have the same kind of nasty hardware bug than early Atom C2000, and they’ve been along long enough (nearly ten years for Broadwell-D Xeon D-1500) for us to be confident.

@Bugsy22

One more question – ls it better to go with 4 16GB sticks of RAM or 2 32GB sticks, or two 16GB vs. four 8GB sticks?

Second-hand DDR4-2400 RDIMM is cheap enough that you can go straight for 4x32 GB and not worry about anything, capacity and bandwidth. Otherwise, go for two sticks so there’s room for upgrade later.

[Stux]

@etorix

The Supermicro fan has an unpleasant high pitch

This was true on my second board. So much so I transferred the fan from my first, which didn’t have that horrible whine.

There are 3D printable flange designs to allow fitment of a a noctua fan, and unless you have server style 1u airflow across the passive heatsink you will need a fan.

Fan doesn’t need a stupendous amount of power.

[Bugsy22]

Here’s an update if anyone is interested – I went with the Supermicro X10SDV-4C-TLN2F-O board with two 32GB A-Tech DDR4 2133MHz PC4-17000 ECC RDIMMs. All was bought new from Amazon. I even picked up the Noctua fan just in case I need it, but the board had a fan already installed and it’s nearly silent. In fact, I can’t tell the CPU fan from the case fans when it up and running. If it changes as time goes on, I’ll look into swapping the fan out. It looks like the factory fan might be riveted to the heatsink so I can see why it’s difficult to replace.

Other than the extremely small printing on the MB (there’s a LOT of it on this board!) making it very hard to find component plugs, and the correct pin locations, the build went together smoothly.

No manual was included, so I had to download it from the Supermicro site, sorting through hundreds of similarly named models wasn’t so easy… Would it have killed them to include a basic hookup schematic? My box only came with 2 SATA cables, the website said it came with six and Amazon didn’t mention them at all… Hmmm… It was a sealed box when I got it and the tape looked factory fresh. Not a big deal.

With this combo, the unit boots up fast and has been stable for the past week.

Thanks for the help!

[etorix]

@Bugsy22

No manual was included, so I had to download it from the Supermicro site, sorting through hundreds of similarly named models wasn’t so easy… Would it have killed them to include a basic hookup schematic? My box only came with 2 SATA cables,

You may have got a -B bulk package rather than the full retail -O, and have drawn the unlucky number as to who got the printed Quick Reference Guide sheet from the bigger package…
Anyway it’s the same board, and I trust you’ve found the PDF manual (never printed) and the QRG with all pinouts in a single convenient place.

If it has a fan it is a -4C+-TLN2F board, not -4C-TNL2F, so the listing was wrong.

@Bugsy22

It looks like the factory fan might be riveted to the heatsink so I can see why it’s difficult to replace.

The fan is screwed from the bottom. To remove it, loosen the heatsink screws, unplug the fan, power up the board and stress the CPU to heat it (at worse, the board will shutdown upon hitting the thermal limit). Unplug power. While the heatsink is still warm, and the thermal paste soft, carefully wiggle the heatsink to remove it. Let it cool, clean thermal paste, unscrew the fan, reapply thermal paste and screw the heatsink back in place.
And this is why I recommend getting the fully passive heatsink and just slapping a NF-A6x25 on it.

[Bugsy22]

Thanks etorix! I may swap out the fan proactively.

I got the part number right off the Supermicro box… Perhaps it was swapped out at some point at the factory or boxed wrong? No matter…

[Stux]

The fan on my boards, admittedly a different model, was attached via a bracket which was screwed to the heatsink by 4 small screws on the sides.

I was able to undo the screws with a jewelers screwdriver and remove the fan+bracket. Ie screw driver parallel to board.

As mentioned, one board the fan was fine, another the fan had an obnoxious whine.

(My board was replaced by insurance after a lightning strike)