Question Node 804 NAS Build (unRAID)

[burninatortech4]

PLEASE when you POST threads asking for input on system builds tell us...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
NAS
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$800 for new parts (some parts existing)
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA (shipping to Hawaii)

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
AMD Ryzen PRO APU, would like unbuffered ECC
6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Yes, see PcPartpicker link below.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
N/A
8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
N/A
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Spring 2024
10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
Unraid License

Hey all,

I am in need of a home media server. Primarily for ripped videos but also long-term storage for my photography hobby and personal documents. I would also like to run a Handbrake container for encoding video. I am fully aware that a NAS is not a backup and I have a backup system in place.

My myCloud EX2 Ultra (RAID 1 4TB useable) is starting to show its age. I would repurpose both 5400rpm Red's in the new build.

I've been watching a lot of tutorials about Unraid and TrueNAS and have decided to go with Unraid due to its mid-life expandability. I am aware that ECC is overkill but ECC unbuffered UDIMM's are very cheap, and I can obtain a Ryzen 5 PRO 5650GE relatively cheaply. The ASRock B550M-HDV supports ECC UDIMMS (with PRO APU).

I am doing a full network upgrade with a 2.5Gb switch so have added a 2.5Gb network card to the build. My main PC already supports 2.5Gb.

Here is my proposed build.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dVmYBL

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 5650GE ($150.00)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 2 CPU Cooler ($16.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.89 @ MemoryC)
RAM: Samsung 8GB DDR4 3200mhz ECC UDIMM ($23.99)
RAM: Samsung 8GB DDR4 3200mhz ECC UDIMM ($23.99)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $45.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $89.99)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $89.99)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Western Digital)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Western Digital)
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 8 TB 3.5" 5640 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.99 @ Western Digital)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($136.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Fractal Design Ion+ 660P 660 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $100.00)
Custom: StarTech.com SATA PCIe Card - 4 Port PCIe SATA Expansion Card - 6Gbps - Low/Full Profile - Stacked SATA Connectors - ASM1164 Non-Raid - PCI Express to SATA Converter (4P6G-PCIE-SATA-CARD) ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Custom: 2.5GB RJ45x2 Port PCIe NIC Network Card for pc Switch Internal Computer Networking Cards 2500/1000/100Mbps Win Server 2022/2019/2016 Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 Linux ethernet Card Adapter PXE 1PCS ($29.99 @ Amazon)

4x4TB 5400RPM Red's for the main array.
1x8TB 5640RPM Red Pro for the Parity disk.
1x250GB 860 EVO for the cache disk.
Unraid OS on a Samsung PRO Endurance 64GB SD card.

What do you think? I am aware that an intel N100 board would be more power efficient over the long term. I do, however, not intend to run this NAS 24/7. Energy prices are too high in Hawaii (.48c/KWH) to run this 24/7. Long term idle power efficiency is less of an issue in this context.

 

[Tech Junky]

I've got an 804 sitting here prebuilt with an 8700K/16GB inside. I used it as a NAS / router combo for a couple of years. I updated to a 12700K setup for the next gen of PCIE 5 and then currently running an AMD 7900X. I like the 804 for this sort of thing but, mATX boards for 12700K didn't exist when I was upgrading so switched to an ATX setup. There's a lot of perks to the 804 though from airflow to drive hangers isolated from the rest of the system.

Ok... so... you should look into some sort of solar during the day to keep costs low.

AMD's run hot so you'll want plenty of fans and Arctic P12 PWM PST fans work well in this case and you can get 5-packs for ~$40 on Amazon

Not sure you'll need the HBA card for additional ports if you pick the right MOBO with enough ports on it. I was using an ASRock board that has 8 ports on it.

If you want really fast sync speeds consider adding TB cards to both systems and just use a TB cable and you'll get 15gbps for ~$140 for 2 cards and a 10ft cable

Even the 5GE card are cheap enough or the USB-C versions are ~$70

IIRC you can downshift the energy use in the UEFI to set a max of 65W and only lose a small percentage of max throughput when under load.

 

[burninatortech4]

I've got an 804 sitting here prebuilt with an 8700K/16GB inside. I used it as a NAS / router combo for a couple of years. I updated to a 12700K setup for the next gen of PCIE 5 and then currently running an AMD 7900X. I like the 804 for this sort of thing but, mATX boards for 12700K didn't exist when I was upgrading so switched to an ATX setup. There's a lot of perks to the 804 though from airflow to drive hangers isolated from the rest of the system.

Ok... so... you should look into some sort of solar during the day to keep costs low.

AMD's run hot so you'll want plenty of fans and Arctic P12 PWM PST fans work well in this case and you can get 5-packs for ~$40 on Amazon

Not sure you'll need the HBA card for additional ports if you pick the right MOBO with enough ports on it. I was using an ASRock board that has 8 ports on it.

If you want really fast sync speeds consider adding TB cards to both systems and just use a TB cable and you'll get 15gbps for ~$140 for 2 cards and a 10ft cable

Even the 5GE card are cheap enough or the USB-C versions are ~$70

IIRC you can downshift the energy use in the UEFI to set a max of 65W and only lose a small percentage of max throughput when under load.

5650GE is already 35W max.

Solar isn't an option. I'm in a multistory condo and I have no control over the roof.

 

[Tech Junky]

Ahh... well, 35W isn't going to be a huge bill 24/7. I'd just let it be idle vs all of the power on/off wear that will hit the drives.

I'm kind of used to the CPUs with a top end approaching 200W but, I focus them down to a reasonable number through tweaks in the SW / UEFI.

As for reusing the WD drives from the mycloud... I probably would skip that idea and just keep them in there as another backup destination. Prices seem to be dropping again on HDDs at the moment and getting a fresh set is never a bad idea. Then again I did run my 8TB Red's 24/7 for several years and never an issue.

For the OS though you could keep it simple and just use Ubuntu or Mint and avoid complicating things when the others go to a subscription model. I think I saw somewhere else one of them was charging $150/yr now under the new program? Not to mention BSD based OS's are sometimes a trap for newer HW not working.

 

[burninatortech4]

As for reusing the WD drives from the mycloud... I probably would skip that idea and just keep them in there as another backup destination. Prices seem to be dropping again on HDDs at the moment and getting a fresh set is never a bad idea. Then again I did run my 8TB Red's 24/7 for several years and never an issue.

For the OS though you could keep it simple and just use Ubuntu or Mint and avoid complicating things when the others go to a subscription model. I think I saw somewhere else one of them was charging $150/yr now under the new program? Not to mention BSD based OS's are sometimes a trap for newer HW not working.

I'm giving the myCloud to my cousin for his first starter NAS. It's not an option to keep it.

I'm set on Unraid. Not changing my mind on that.

 

[burninatortech4]

Ahh... well, 35W isn't going to be a huge bill 24/7. I'd just let it be idle vs all of the power on/off wear that will hit the drives.

Fair point.

 

[In2Photos]

I'm an unRAID fan, been using it for years. But I'm not extremely well versed in all that it can do as I just use it as file storage of ripped video, photo backups and other documents. To me your build looks fine, just one question though. I saw you plan to reuse your 4TB drives which I think is fine. But why buy 2 more 4TB drives instead of 1 8TB drive? The 8TB is less expensive than 2-4TB, uses one less SATA port and saves you one drive worth of power.

Also, the unRAID forums have been super helpful to me over the years. You may post your build over there for more feedback.

 

[burninatortech4]

I'm an unRAID fan, been using it for years. But I'm not extremely well versed in all that it can do as I just use it as file storage of ripped video, photo backups and other documents. To me your build looks fine, just one question though. I saw you plan to reuse your 4TB drives which I think is fine. But why buy 2 more 4TB drives instead of 1 8TB drive? The 8TB is less expensive than 2-4TB, uses one less SATA port and saves you one drive worth of power.

Also, the unRAID forums have been super helpful to me over the years. You may post your build over there for more feedback.

My intent is that the 8TB be the parity drive. My limited understanding is that the parity drive should be the largest drive for Unraid?

 

[In2Photos]

My intent is that the 8TB be the parity drive. My limited understanding is that the parity drive should be the largest drive for Unraid?

That's correct, the parity drive has to be equal to or larger than the largest data drive. So your array could be:

2x4TB 5400RPM Red's from your existing server for data.
1x8TB 5640RPM Red Pro for data.
1x8TB 5640RPM Red Pro for the Parity disk.
1x250GB 860 EVO for the cache disk.

This eliminates 1 disk but still provides 16TB of storage. It also allows you to add 1 more disk under the basic license before you have to upgrade to the plus license.

 

[burninatortech4]

I've been doing some more thinking.. I still have an EPYC 7601 and H11SSL-i sitting in a box. I could use these for the unraid build and wouldn't have to spend extra on 5650GE parts. How about something like this?

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KymWL9

Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $30.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $75.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $75.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 8 TB 3.5" 5640 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.99 @ Western Digital)
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 8 TB 3.5" 5640 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.99 @ Western Digital)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($136.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone ST75F-GS-V3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $100.00)
Custom: AMD EPYC 7601 32-core Processor (Purchased For $149.00)
Custom: Supermicro H11SSL-i REV 2.0 (Purchased For $150.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Samsung 8GB DDR4 ECC Registered (Purchased For $15.00)
Custom: Radeon Embedded E9260 4GB (Purchased For $45.00)
Total: $1220.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-03-31 15:54 EDT-0400


Pros: Already have the parts (minus the new hard drives and Define R5), cheaper, more expandability, no need for a HBA/SATA expander

Cons: Higher idle power draw, larger case.

 

[In2Photos]

I'm a big believer in reusing hardware for other purposes if possible. For years my unRAID server was an AMD Athlon 3000 1.9GHz with 2gb of RAM. I upgraded about 2 years ago to an Intel 2300 with 8GB of RAM from a Dell XPS system that we replaced. So there's no reason your EPYC won't be fine. Can you disable cores or downclock it to conserve power? Also try using less RAM in it at first to save power as well maybe?

 

[Tech Junky]

If you want a fun case to grow into look at the Meshify from FD. There's 3 sizes to pick from the middle holds 13 drives in the internal rack.

 

[Shmee]

Are these WD Reds the SMR version? If so I would not seriously consider using them in a NAS.

 

[burninatortech4]

Are these WD Reds the SMR version? If so I would not seriously consider using them in a NAS.

All of the Red's I currently have and am looking at buying are CMR.