HI guys, its my first time building a server thats going to run FreeNAS. Let me know what you think of the specs for a medium budget of £500 UK. Thanks
Specs:
That looks good, the only thing I would say is while WD Reds are great drives, unless you are running everything in raid; you may be better off with greens. Greens use less power and are a bit cheaper per gig at-least here in the states; That may also allow you to sneak in a cheaper power supply.
Well, if you are running a server, I'm pretty sure you don't want greens. Greens are made for archival use, and constantly accessing them will kill their lifespan dramatically.
You are correct! just checked into it, Even so the drives are nearly identical mechanically, For greens to work (that is not die before their time) in this setting you have to adjust the idle times. Could still be worth it assuming there is a good difference is cost.
Mechanically, WD drives are very similar. The firmware on them is what is very, very different.
Okay thanks for the feedback.
I changed this around for some better performance:
Your Original build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7tHyt6
My build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/37dRYJ
Highlights:
- Much better CPU
- better motherboard with intel nic
- same storage on HDD's but better reviews
- includes SSD for OS so HDD's only run server storage
- Faster ram
**PSU is weaker but still way more than enough power for system with very good customer reviews.
This system is overall better, but if you can spend a bit more I would recommend getting a case with better dust protection such as: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/LpMkWZ
It is still a fairly compact cast.. though it isn't as small.
Thank you, i'll take a look at the build!
What about a 500GB HDD for the OS?
Get rid of that slow SSD and put in a M500 instead.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct120m500ssd1
that is really overkill for drive space, but if it fits your budget then a separate drive is better than putting it all on a single drive. 120gb is really all you need.. even 80 gb for os and basic programs..
The key thing would be to have a separate drive for OS and leave your storage drives to only run when they need to be as a server device.
Thank you Feralshad0w, a small SSD it will be. All the best, Danny :D
greens are also way slower and really only good for backup use. One is also better off with a better PSU rather then cheaper, for it being a server you dont want the psu to die and take out the hardware, like the cheap PSU have a habit of doing, plus you will get more issues like BSOD and the like.