[Build Log] Sliger CX3702 Home Server + NAS

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Parts list:

  • Sliger CX3702 - $390 ($20 extra to get it in Matte White!)
  • Ryzen 9900X - $350 Microcenter
  • ASUS Prime B650M-A AX II - $99 Microcenter (open-box deal)
  • Thermalright SI-100 cooler - $26 Amazon
  • G.SKILL Flare X5 96GB (2 x 48GB) DDR5 5200 - $170 Newegg
  • 10x Seagate Exos ST24000NM000C 24TB Recertified Hard Drives - $330 each Serverpartdeals (my wallet hurts)
  • Corsair SF750 Platinum - $170 BHPhoto
  • Sparkle Intel Arc A310 Eco - $130 Aliexpress (completely sold out elsewhere and I wanted this specific low-power, single-slot model)

I have a 1TB Curcial P5 Plus to use as a boot drive - and I have another server with an ASUS Hyper M.2 card and 4x4TB Crucial P3 drives that I will eventually migrate into this server as well. This ASUS board does have PCIE RAID mode to do 4x4x4x4 bifurcation with the Hyper M.2 card, which is great because my previous server on an Intel Z390 platform only did x8/x4/x4.

My current server is running Promox with the drives passed through to a TrueNAS Scale VM - this has worked well for me so far, so I plan to do the same on the new build.

As far as TrueNAS and the drive config, the plan is separate pools and vdevs for the HDDs and SSDs. I will likely go single vdev, RAIDZ2 for all 10 HDDs.

This ASUS board seems to be the only AM5 board with enough SATA ports for a NAS. It offers 8 onboard - and I plan to get 2 more for a total of 10 by removing the WiFi/BT module and using a riser board and SATA adapter from Aliexpress. I hope this works out, but it may be a bit dodgy. Absolute worst case I run 8 drives with 2 spares.

That motherboard just happened to be completely perfect for a 10-bay NAS build, and my local Microcenter had a few of them as open-box deals, along with the 9900X on sale, so that is what spawned my sudden interest in this build. Funny enough, my current home server build with the SSDs is running a Core i9 9900k. So we’re going 9900K to 9900X here. The numbers just make it feel right. :wink:

I’m also planning to add an Intel Arc A310 - just to do a bit of experimentation with GPU-passthrough and IOMMU, because I see it as an option in the BIOS of this ASUS board. Since the main PCIE 5.0 x16 slot will be used in RAID mode for the SSDs on the ASUS Hyper M.2 card - that will only leave one of the secondary x16 slots, all of which run at 1x speed, for the GPU. Hopefully this will be okay for the Arc A310 - I only plan to do a little media transcoding or playback with that GPU on the VM, no gaming or anything too heavy.

Use case is nothing special - backing up my GoG and Steam libraries, media storage for the bit of photography I do, a Jellyfin media server, and maybe a Valheim server. I probably over-spent on storage honestly, but I only plan to have this one server, so I figured I might as well fill those 10 bays with the highest capacity drives available to me. Same with system memory - I know Ryzen does bad with 4 DIMMs, so I’ll just avoid that entirely by getting the largest dual-channel kit available.

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Yesterday I got the platform set up - BIOS update on the ASUS board using the flashback feature, 9900X and memory installed, booted up without issue. A relief considering the motherboard was an open-box deal.

BIOS settings:

  • turned on ECO mode:
    Advanced → AMD CBS → SMU Common Options → ECO Mode

  • PCIE mode changed to “PCIE RAID” mode for 4x4x4x4 when I drop in the Hyper M.2 card

  • memory left at the default 4800 speed for stability. I could enable EXPO to get 5200, but I don’t think I’m doing anything where that extra bit of memory speed would truly make a difference.

  • Enabled IOMMU support for when I drop in the Intel Arc GPU to play with passthrough

CPU and memory passed an OCCT stress test, and the 96GB G.Skill kit passed a full run of MemTest86 V11.1 free overnight.

Next step is to figure out how to test / evaluate these refurb hard drives and make sure they’re all good to go. I ordered a label maker so that I can put the serial number of the disk on the end to easily identify which drive is which at a glance - I saw this being done in multiple NAS build videos and it seemed like a good practice.

I have some time to figure things out and play with the hardware - waiting on the chassis to come in from Sliger

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The Sparkle Intel Arc A310 Eco arrived from Aliexpress - seems to be passing OCCT GPU tests without any issue. It arrived with no retail packaging in a styrofoam block covered in tape…a bit sketchy, but I can’t argue with receiving working hardware. I paid about $30 above MSRP, but that’s on me for not purchasing one back when they were available for $99 on Amazon/Newegg.

I just received a tracking number for my Sliger order - so it seems my CX3702 will be on the way shortly. Today is December 23rd - hope they’re giving the employees over at Sliger some holiday overtime.

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CX3702 came in today and I have the build mostly together. Biggest issue so far is the 4 SATA ports on the motherboard that are front-facing. There just isn’t enough space between the board and the drive cage to plug a SATA cable in.

My two potential solutions to this will be either

or

The SATA cables at $15 each are a bit expensive, but Silverstone cables are likely more trustworthy than a no-name adapter. I will likely try the cheaper option first, and resort to the Silverstone cables if needed.

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I did wonder how tight of a fit that was going to be, while plotting out another build. Good to know what to keep an eye out for when choosing the board!

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Where pics

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I did end up going with the cheaper dual 90-degree SATA adapters - Amazon was able to ship more quickly than the Silverstone cables, and this was the cheaper method anyway. So far so good.

No semblance of cable management was attempted - I don’t think there’s really any way to do it regardless. Just no extra space anywhere. Getting all of the SATA power and data cables connected actually made this one of the more frustrating builds I’ve done - and I’ve built plenty of Mini-ITX systems.

Very pleased with how the system is performing though. No issues passing through tons of PCIE devices on Proxmox 8.3.2. The two onboard SATA controllers, the M.2 A+E to dual SATA card, and the SSDs in the ASUS Hyper M.2 card are all being passed to a TrueNAS Scale VM, and the Intel Arc A310 is being passed to a Windows 11 VM running a Jellyfin server, all without issue. Everything is in a separate IOMMU group.

The last picture shows my little “rack” setup. This “printer stand” was built by my step brother years ago as a wood working project, and then was given to me when they didn’t want it anymore. I recently figured out that a 3U size case was the perfect fit for that bottom shelf, which is the main reason I went for the Sliger CX3702 - despite not having an actual server rack.

The Windows VM is not only serving media via Jellyfin, but also directly outputting media to the TV here in my office.

signal-2024-12-30-023112_002
signal-2024-12-30-023112_0021542Ă—2048 395 KB

PXL_20241229_031332876
PXL_20241229_0313328761920Ă—1446 290 KB

signal-2024-12-29-185024_003
signal-2024-12-29-185024_0031542Ă—2048 306 KB

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Wow everything seems to have worked out very well on this build. Not a super flashy build, but very practical and pragmatic solution.

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Thanks for the kind words - although I definitely purchased too much storage here for this to be considered practical. Getting the pool up and running and seeing 160TB+ of usable storage was amazing - but I instantly knew I’d never come close to hoarding this much data, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have a good way of properly backing up such a large pool.

I think in the near future I will end up splitting up these 24TB disks between a few different low-power devices - possibly to deploy with family for off-site backups.

I may also move away from the 9900X - zen4/5 isn’t particularly power efficient for a 24/7 server. I haven’t taken any detailed power measurements, but I can see from my UPS that I’m using more power now. I’m sure a big part of this is that my former server was all SSD and now I have 10 spinning 3.5" drives - which goes back to not needing all of this storage in one place anyway.

I do like the CX3702 itself though, and it fits my space well, so no matter what I do it will stay down there in some form. Possibly with some smaller drives and in a role that won’t require running 24/7 - probably just to archive photography.

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OWC makes a x2 10GbE card that works at Pcie 4.0 x1. If you decide later that you need a faster nic.

I wish Sliger had the silver/white panels when i did my build.

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Pull up your case on Sliger’s website and go to the “Parts” tab. They do offer colored faceplates for purchase there, at least for the CX3702, not sure about other models