What’s the sweet spot for price/performance for a new SuperMicro Motherboard with Intel CPU? Must have IPMI and support ECC RAM. I like the simplicity of and onboard SATA controller to handle 4 storage drives and a pair of mirrored boot drives.
I bought four 12TB WD Red Plus (WD120EFGX) on sale which I need to put to work. I plan to run them in RAIDZ2 and have no need to plan for future expansion.
I will run TrueNAS on bare-metal. Top priories are reliability and data protection. It’s a home use machine and my family will not demand much of it. Storage, Plex, Nextcloud, Pi-hole and some other lightweight apps are the main uses but running a Virtual Machine for Windows on occasion could be useful.
Are 2x16GB ECC memory sticks running in dual-channel the right way to go? I’d welcome suggestions on brands and guidance on how to ensure a match with the MB/CPU.
I will do a rackmount case even though my rack is actually a 23”. The price was right! No need for hot swap. Rack space is not an issue.
It seems that whatever I get for system/boot drives will be overkill and I’m open to suggestions and it’ll be safer than my current USB boot drives.
I suspect that most MB/CPU combos will be overkill for my use but considering the costs in HDs, RAM and the rest, I’m willing to pay a slight premium for more performance than I’ll need. I’m looking for price/performance balance. I don’t want to mess with used. I’m in the US and welcome suggestions on where to buy. My last system was bought through newegg but that was 11 years ago.
My current Free/TrueNAS Core system has been running non-stop with no issues since September 2014. I am super happy with it but I’m ready to add a new TrueNAS Scale. Current hardware in signature.
I apologize for yet another build recommendation thread. I thought I’d be able to figure it out myself but I realize in need help.
I’d look into how much RAM and CPU power your apps and virtual machines will want, in addition to being a NAS.
Just running a SMB share on a 24TB pool will want 48 GB of RAM, and my integrated 2.2 GHz 8-thread Intel Xeon CPU handles a 30TB pool share without issue.
Then it’s probably easiest to buy a complete rack server.
Beside that, “new” is too new for a NAS, and I suspect that the price/performance sweet spot is… AMD EPYC4000. The latest Xeon D are no longer relevant for storage, and Xeon E is severely unattractive.
Am I correct to assume you are suggesting used? I have initially steered away from used because I have no idea what I’m looking at. Initially I was hoping someone would have an answer like in the 2021 hardware guide which was maintained by Ericloewe. I’m starting to feel like that’s not going to happen. Your comment about “new” being too new seems to be what I’m running into. What I’m seeing is way overpowered and comes with a price to match. Don’t get me started on recent memory costs.
I would like to find a recommended used server (In the States, or even better Central NJ area) which even someone who hasn’t built anything since his last FreeNAS in 2014. Ideally I would just plug in my 4 WD Reds, maybe add some boot drives and be able to install TrueNAS Scale with minimal difficulty. If there is anyone out there who can provide that consulting, I would gladly pay in Troon Brewing beer. (For those who know, it’s a beer that’s hard to obtain)
Yes, as, again, new would be “too new” and too expensive for NAS needs.
Hopefully, someone can step in for local advice.
PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 are driving manufacturing costs up, for no benefits for storage. The latest Xeon E/Xeon 6300 no longer includes an iGPU for QuickSync transcoding. There are no new embedded CPUs which are suitable for NAS use (i.e. no successors to Xeon D-1500 and Atom C3000). 2025 hardware is rather underwhelming when it comes to building a NAS. THe only positive change from 2021 (and the successor to Xeon E) is that AMD now has ECC certified parts with EPYC 4000—but then there’s the price of motherboards.
Am I reading this correctly that I could just install my four 12TB WD Red Plus (WD120EFGX) add two SATA boot drives and be good to go?
Sure, it doesn’t have ECC but am I correct that could swap in in if I choose in the future?
I’ve made no progress since my original post asking for help. I kept getting confused and overwhelmed with my options. The fact that ECC Memory is currently so expensive doesn’t help. I kept trying to read the forums and discord to see if I can just find a “solution” where I can buy the remaining hardware I need, assemble it and install software…just like over 11 years ago.
That would work okay but may suck power. Not sure you need to have both processors. If you run with only one installed, you might have to move RAM around. Read docs for that server and MB. Another option could be the rackmount version of the TrueNAS Mini or just plan on a shelf for your rack and a small model sitting on it.
Most rack servers are going to be for full size racks and not the telco depth you mentioned
Thank you very much!!! Good catch! My cabinet is 72″H x 29″W x 32″D with a 30″ Usable Depth. This might fit but it wouldn’t leave much room for cables out the back. I was aware it would be noisy, which shouldn’t be much of a problem where it would be located. I read that this would idle at around 100W–150W before I add the hard drives. My understanding is that the enterprise version would be about 3x the power cost of a DIY. This just looked super easy and that was the appeal.
I guess I’m back to the drawing board to find a decent DIY with some older used parts. While my rack isn’t perfect, I like the idea of a rack mount case even though it’ll actually be sitting on a shelf but I guess I should consider standard cases.
(For those who know, it’s a beer that’s hard to obtain)