Build VS buy an off-the-shelf ready enterprise solution for FreeNAS?

Hello, i cant seem to make my mind about if i should buy lets say a “Dell PowerEdge R720XD”, or build one rack mounted system for my case.

First of all let me tell you the use scenario of the machine im willing to build/buy. My needs lets say.

I have a small media agency with great needs of storage. 4K video mostly. So FreeNAS will run natively with the ability to run a couple VMs. [1x Windows Server (a small .NET app will run), 1x Windows 10 (For light GPU rendering when other PCs are occupied)]. I can even go to 6U if need be.

I would greatly appreciate having your help about my build. Feel free to propose other builds. If you have a proposal about a different Dell - HP - Supermicro system build i would really like to hear.

So lets see the following scenarios.

Case 1: Dell PowerEdge R720XD in this config.

I buy a ready system like Dell PowerEdge R720XD.

  • It will work out of the box
  • not much configuration needed.
  • Ability to access the machine via iDRAC
  • Only 12x 3.5" SAS/SATA
  • No GPU rendering ability(?)
  • Not the ability to fully configure

Cost: About 1000-1500€

Case 2: Custom build that i would like your help with.
–Case: FANTEC SRC-4240X07
–Mobo: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming (Please offer alternative mobo as i find 64 GB very low for my needs - also no enterprise safety)
–CPU: Ryzen 5 3600X (Ryzen because raw power. If you believe i can find a used/new platform better suited for my needs please inform me. Intel also)
–RAM: 64 Gigabytes of DDR4
–HBA: SAS 9305-16i OR SAS 9305-24i
–10Gb/s LAN: Intel X540-T1 10G NIC (I would prefer RJ45 10Gb/s only)
–GPU: MSI NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 4GT LP OC
–HDD: Toshiba N300 14TB NAS (They seem VFM compared to Seagate IronWolf Pro. Also i currently use 3x Seagate IronWolf Pro 8TB where 2 of them failed after 2 months. Thankfully they replaced them)

+Ability to fully configure
+24x SAS / SATA slots
+GPU
-No iDRAC
-Not totally enterprise solution

Cost: More than Dell PowerEdge R720XD but with many strong points.

Budget: Up to 3000€ for a specific build. HDD can be partially bought when further expansion is needed.

Also ideas about the network configuration, i believe belong on another thread.

Also keep in mind i live in Greece - EU, so most probably Amazon.de will be used to buy from.

Your help is much appreciated!

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