Set up TrueNAS Scale on gaming computer

TrueNAS General
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1

Hello,

So I have been planning on setting up a TrueNAS server at home for a while and just now jumped on the opportunity to get a computer for free, that was collecting dust in a basement.

Looking at it now, I find the following hardware:

Chassis: Fractal Design Meshify C
MB: ROG Strix B550-F
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB x 2
GPU: ASUS Geforce DUAL-RTX3070-O8G
Storage:
1 x SSD WD Black SN750 NVMe 1TB
2 x HDD
WD Red WD40EFRX 4TB
Western Digital WD4005FZBX 4TB

Does this looks like a reasonable fit for TrueNAS Scale?
If I am not mistaken, MB+CPU supports ECC, but I would need additional RAM. Any suggestions here?
Also, while the MB has 6 SATA connectors, the chassis can only take 2 3.5" drives. How do I solve this if I want 6 drives? Or am I better off just buying two large disks and mirror?

Thank you for all and any input!

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hi, mainboard and cpu supports ecc, but dont think your ram are ECC so for sure you will need to replace them (and, imho, 16gb are still a “poor” choice).
Mainboard have Intel NIC, but is 2.5… dont know if will be good or will be better replace it.
All HD’s seems to be CMR, like they must be :smiley:
If you want, maybe save your NVME for run apps, and use another “smaller” disk for boot (share same disk for boot and apps is not a good idea).
That GPU will be an overkill, but your CPU dont have an integrated one.
The choice to keep ur disk or the case depends strictly on your needs :wink:

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The WD Black drive is a SSD, so SMR/CMR is irrelevant.

According to https://blog.westerndigital.com/wd-red-nas-drives/, that model is CMR.

4

The wd40efrx are not CMR?

5

Sorry - my mistake, I should have checked the specific drive. EFRX are indeed CMR and so OK.

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6

No - the WD Black drive is an HDD:

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image1280Ă—1280 93.3 KB

According to WD it is a 7200RPM CMR drive with a 256MiB cache inside designed for gaming.

7

Depending on how old the setup is, I suggest to replace anything with moving parts. Since a NAS will probably be running 24/7.

8

You really scare me :smiley: i use EFRX too xD

9

Yes - but some WD Red drives are SMR and unsuitable and WD recommend using WD Red Plus or Pro instead. That is why I was confused.

10

Absolutely, they really made a lot of confusion about that, this site i linked above help a lot on that… and funny fact i found that i have had 2 unused desktop wd blue/green disk that are CRM and not SMR… obv im not so sure they can be used 24/7 but are suitable for zfs (maybe external replication task, or on a backup nas…im evaluating)

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Thank you for your helpful suggestions!

Indeed, it is confusing with the available hardware and options. My plan now is to:

  • Make a toy install to confirm there are no issues. Already done, and I had no issues during installation
  • Replace the RAM with 32GB ECC and buy an extra SSD for boot device as suggested. Any suggestions re components here? Would 2 of these be fine?
  • Make a final install of TrueNAS using the available 4TB drives in a mirror, while figuring out my storage needs.
  • Possibly (probably?) buy necessary equipment for running 6x4TB in RAIDZ2 and migrate the data from the old pool to that one. I would need some solution for connecting these drives externally then. Any solutions for a 4-bay external storage to complement the two available spaces in the chassis?

Does this sound ok in general? Would I need to invest in faster NIC? Can I do that later on if needed or will that cause issues?

Thanks!