Hobby NAS with VM, here is my rough idea

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My home got very~ limited space so whatever server must be inside my small room…

I got a QNAP NAS TS-453 Pro broken recently so planning to build a one with TrueNAS Scale
Plus might move some light stuff deployed in cloud VMs back into this new machine

Here is the component list I come up with: (those matters only, i.e. excludes things like case/PSU)

  • AMD Ryzen™ 9 5950X
    • Core count & ECC support
  • ASRock X570 Taichi ATX / ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming X
    • More M.2 & SATA Ports than others
  • Noctua NH-U12A
    • No water cooling
  • 64GB 2x32GB DDR4-3200 PC4-25600 2Rx8 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory by NEMIX RAM (Amazon)
    • Local stores got no ECC RAM with 32GB per DIMM
    • Motherboard only supports ECC Unbuffered not registered
    • 2 DIMM = best speed plus I can upgrade to 128GB if wanted
  • 5 HDD for a ZFS RaidZ2 pool
  • Might add some M.2 SSD later as a new pool later

Rejected ideas:

  • Threadripper -
    • way too expensive
    • no need for that many PCIE lanes
  • DDR5
    • ECC not validated yet
    • Not many ECC modules being sold

Looking for comments (especially if there is any serious mistake)
Thanks

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5900X is quite a bit cheaper ($100-$150) than the 5950X and has higher base clocks with similar boost clocks, so worth considering if you don’t need those extra 4 cores.

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You probably researched this, but allow me to post the link to Noctua’s excellent documentation about compatibility of their CPU coolers with other components, such as CPUs, motherboards, etc.
Here the compatibility list for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X

You picked a cooler from the top of their list, but not the top item. The CPU will require all the cooling you can throw at it. If you have not yet considered the top cooler (highest NSPR value) from their list, take another look.

btw. Other vendors offer similarly powerful and silent cooling solutions. E.g.
be quiet! 250W TDP Dark Rock Pro 4 ~$90
be quiet! DARK ROCK TF2 Top Flow ~$85

Edit: any CPU cooler to tame the 5950X is huge. Double-check compatibility with your case.

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Thanks
5900X is sold out locally (probably due to the reason you said)
But I am fine paying a bit extra for the core count (I guess I can find some stuff to fill them up)

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Thanks for your reply

I did research NH-D15 (I am using one)
But I have researched NH-U12A
Some videos I have checked (not all are tested with 5950X though)

I have also checked Best Ryzen 5000 Cooler: Best Cooler for Ryzen 5600X, 5800X, 5900X & 5950X - YouTube

be quiet! 250W TDP Dark Rock Pro 4 is indeed cheaper (<10$) but NH-U12A looks better for RAM compatibility

I will use Fractal Design Define 7 (or XL variant, not decided yet)
Good enough for NH-D15 and definitely good for NH-U12A

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These Kingston sticks are currently $60 cheaper for a pair than the kit you posted.

Also this is worth a read, a friend linked me to this since I’m building a similar system to yours, I asked them if they were able to downgrade the bios to get the ECC error injection feature back but they haven’t responded to me yet.

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i throw in an i9 12900 or 13700k those E Cores do all my dockers/gameserver/Plex work and my P Cores do the VM’s and single thread docker work :smiley:

unraid
unraid919×1599 68.7 KB

unraid2
unraid22353×1092 273 KB

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used EPYC parts are also pretty low cost ATM. Plus ECC REG memory support.

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I’ve been avoiding Intel, I’m still skeptical about letting the CPU magically choose when something is less important. I know people had issues with heavy tasks being chosen for E cores early on, I haven’t heard much about it recently though.

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i know what you mean but i do CPU pinning i assign a docker to specific Cores. No Intel Voodoo involved.

In windows for a “classic” workload you are right. There is Intel Voodoo involved. But even there you “could” assign Cores to a specific Task more or less and surely not practical and do not recomend.

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32025×1404 88.8 KB

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Thanks for both info
Not sure how I miss the cheaper memory

I will research a bit about the missing Error injection feature

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Same

P/E core architecture that requires OS / manual core assignment is no for me
Even as a desktop

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Gotta watch out for this

But still an interesting idea, would research more

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Yeah I was considering buying an older Threadripper since I saw some decent prices for them second hand. Turns out this is why they were at decent prices, they were vendor locked to Lenovo workstations.

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Too much risk for not so much gain IMO
Plus they are still so expensive

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I guess with all the AGESA updates there won’t be Error injection feature
A bit annoying but I guess I will have to assume ECC is working (or I have to go for server board = $$)

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a 75% reduction in cost for only having to pay attention to what the CPU came from? i dunno if i am unusually cheap or what but i can tell you that 100% of the time i will buy a used car that needs a bit of TLC over a brand new one.

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I have found a local 2nd hand
3960x + Asus ROG zenith II extreme alpha
Only 18% more expensive than 5950x + motherboard

I think I am gonna go for that

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Bought it
Missing Wi-Fi moving antenna & Fan Extension Card but they are not useful for me (use LAN anyway)

Now waiting for ECC RAM to be delivered (probably takes weeks)

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I setup some stuff today, can confirm that on the Taichi x570 I was not able to test ECC is functioning due to the bios options missing and you cannot downgrade the bios. Best I got is that memtest86 reported that it was ECC memory and ran a standard test.

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