First Potential Build, Sanity Check!

[pastrygator]

Hi all, I'm sure these posts crop up in here relatively often, and I was hoping to get some feedback about the parts I chose. I have a long history of consumer hardware and I'm doing my best to read the available resources and start educating myself about this kind of hardware, but I'm still feeling very green!

My primary use case is basically just file/media storage and PLEX for now, but I would like to eventually dabble in some of the other capabilities offered by TrueNAS like VMs.

Case: Rosewill RSV-L4412U
CPU: Xeon E-2356G
Board: Supermicro X12STH-F
Memory: Probably two of these.
Controller: A pair of AOC-S2308L-L8i to support all the (eventual) drives the case can hold.

I know there are other things I'll need like a CPU cooler, cables, PSU, etc, but I wanted to get some feedback on the core components here.

Thank you!

 

[asap2go]

How much disks and storage are you planning to use? I think many hardware choices depend on that info.
Right now I'd go with 32GB modules for RAM as the prices are low and it makes upgrading later on easier.
If you can get a cheap 10G network card that would also make sense as 2*1GbE limits you to 250MB/s which is basically already the speed of 2 HDDs in a mirror. Not a must have but I wouldn't go back.

 

[pastrygator]

How much disks and storage are you planning to use?

I currently have six 6 TB WD Reds from an old Synology box and spares. Thought process with this build is to use those and have some room to grow.

Right now I'd go with 32GB modules for RAM as the prices are low and it makes upgrading later on easier.

That's a good point, especially for memory. I would likely do that!

If you can get a cheap 10G network card that would also make sense as 2*1GbE limits you to 250MB/s which is basically already the speed of 2 HDDs in a mirror. Not a must have but I wouldn't go back.

I've thought about this too, but I don't have anything with 10G to support that link on the other end. My network topology is currently very basic since I haven't really had anything to justify getting any new network equipment that would actually utilize 10G but maybe this would be that occasion! I probably would not get it at first, but would add it later. I've attached a basic layout of my my current topology.

My current setup is all of my stuff is in a 25U freestanding rack. This includes my network equipment, my gaming PC, a couple UPSs, and some audio equipment.

Appreciate the reply! Thank you.

 

[pschatz100]

If your priority is support for serving media and using Plex, then you do not need 10G networking. I would focus on building a stable system now and leave 10G networking for later. As for memory, 32GB should be plenty to start with. You can purchase a single 32GB memory module to start. You will not see any realistic performance difference between two 16GB modules and one 32GB module.

How much capacity are you planning to support? That motherboard supports 8 sata ports without resorting to add-in HBA's.

 

[asap2go]

If your priority is support for serving media and using Plex, then you do not need 10G networking. I would focus on building a stable system now and leave 10G networking for later. As for memory, 32GB should be plenty to start with. You can purchase a single 32GB memory module to start. You will not see any realistic performance difference between two 16GB modules and one 32GB module.

How much capacity are you planning to support? That motherboard supports 8 sata ports without resorting to add-in HBA's.

The iGPU performance will suffer if you run single channel memory though.

 

[pschatz100]

The iGPU performance will suffer if you run single channel memory though.

iGPU performance is only relevant for graphics intensive games - and then only when you don't have a discreet video card. Otherwise there is very little discernible benefit.

At the end of the day, iGPU performance is not an issue because TrueNAS doesn't use the integrated CPU graphics.

 

[asap2go]

If he uses the build for plex then the iGPU is used for decoding.

 

[pschatz100]

If he uses the build for plex then the iGPU is used for decoding.

I suspect you mean transcoding. The iGPU might be used for transcoding if you can configure TrueNAS to use it. I don't have any experience with this myself, but I'm pretty certain that TrueNAS Core is not up to date with the latest CPU's. If iGPU support is a priority, it might be a good idea to use TrueNAS Scale instead of Core.

However, whether or not Plex needs to transcode media rather than just serve the media files will depend on the media type and playback devices being used. For instance, most current smart TV's, PC's, 4K Firesticks and 4k Roku's will play just about anything without requiring Plex to transcode. Playing back on a smartphone or some other device over a slow network might require transcoding - but iGPU is not required for this functionality to work. My old system, without a built in GPU, supports 4 TV's with Roku's just fine and is able to transcode one stream (when required).

At the end of the day, it is a configuration consideration. The motherboard has four memory slots, so it really becomes an issue about how much memory will eventually be wanted for the system: 64GB or 128GB.

 

[pastrygator]

If your priority is support for serving media and using Plex, then you do not need 10G networking. I would focus on building a stable system now and leave 10G networking for later. As for memory, 32GB should be plenty to start with. You can purchase a single 32GB memory module to start. You will not see any realistic performance difference between two 16GB modules and one 32GB module.

How much capacity are you planning to support? That motherboard supports 8 sata ports without resorting to add-in HBA's.

I think that's going to be the plan for now, re:10G networking. Don't need it for sure to start with, maybe one day as a nice to have if I actually think I'll get some benefit out of it.

I'm going to start with 6 out of the 12 hot-swap bays populated (6x6TB), contemplating adding a little more. I also feel a little silly now not realizing that the board itself would support 8 sata ports without needing an HBA. Should have looked a little closer at the specs. I'll probably still grab one HBA card from the part I have listed to have on hand for later, but I definitely will not need two.

As far as the iGPU goes on the Xeon I chose, the intent was to have it as a just in case I needed to do transcoding for Plex, but I definitely plan to have any device that is being served content in something like 4k just be able to play the 4k media without that need.

Thank you both for your input. Much appreciated!