So I’m looking to build a DIY NAS in one way or another. But I’m torn about different options.
Re-purpose my existing machine to be a NAS/Virtual machine host and create a virtual machine which will get exclusive access to my GPU for possible desktop gaming.
Build a new machine using the AM5 platform.
Build a new machine using the AM4 platform.
Build a new machine using some cheapo Celeron motherboard / used parts I can find.
My current setup is a Synology 5 bay NAS, and a desktop machine (full size ATX mobo) with 3700X CPU and 64GB RAM. My current desktop case is not suitable for a NAS setup since it has no 3.5 inch mounting abilities. So if I’m looking at option 1, then I still need a new case and also probably a new motherboard (micro-ATX).
I have my eyes on the Silverstone CS382. Hot Swap bays. Space for full size ATX PSU. Good ability for PCI-E upgrades. I’m looking for 5 bays minimum, with 2 .m2 slots minimum. Also 2.5Gb LAN would be nice.
You might wonder why I want a DIY NAS when I have a perfectly fine Synology. Well the Synology works great, but has limitations when you want to run some virtual machines/containers. So I have some homelab desires.
I’ve also learned about the wonders of ZFS and want to try TrueNAS.
So I’m torn about what to do because I have lots I want to do, but I’m also cheap so want to spend as little as I can get away with (to be clear, I can totally afford all options, I’m just a cheapskate).
Any advice? Maybe some technical aspects I’m missing. I haven’t really kept up with what’s new in AM5 vs AM4 and if it would be worth it to me.
Consider Aliexpress as source for your new case. Innovision has some suitable enclosures to look at: webshop link There are other vendors as well, so hunt around.
if you want cheap, go AM4
if you want a future upgrade path, check out AM5
if you want no end of frustration, choose Celeron
Although not strictly necessary, IPMI is a great addition for your NAS, but it does come at a cost. Asrock Rack has suitable mainboards for AM4 and AM5 CPU’s, with added bonus that the AMD EPYC 4000 series are compatible with the AM5 socket, be it on selected mainboards (most consumer grade boards (better known as gaming boards) don’t have the required BIOS support for EPYC 4000 series CPU’s.) The basic 4-core 4000 series CPU is listed as US$150 MSRP.
A suggestion that I saw and have used to build a NAS was taking a older Workstation Xeon platform, specifically the Lenovo 520c, and repurposing that.
-Has 48 pcie lanes because of the Skylake/Cascade Lake processors,
-Two m.2 slots
-Super cheap and plentiful on ebay in the US
-Can use the expansion bays with icydock stuff
-Can use a regular ATX psu with an adapter if you want more power
-Also has a large range of options for the CPU’s due to some people taking out the Intel Mac Xeons and using them in these. Less power draw and similar cores.
Only issue really is PCI-E 3.0, but for most applications like a NAS, that wouldn’t be that bad.
EDIT: Also later bios revisions allow for bifurcation of some of the PCI-E slots if you decide you want to do m.2 carrier cards. And the 520 (non-c) has more proprietary parts, but a larger case.
An always-on NAS server will cost you $1-$5 per W per year, depending on how much you pay per kWh (8.72 kWh / year per watt when running 24/7). So it is worth taking efficiency into account, old Xeons sound like a nice idea until you realise the cost of running a 200W always-on server costs you $400 a year to run and a 50W always-on saves you $300 a year…
They were saying homelab stuff as well as being cheap, so I figured they would want the lanes and options. I was running a regular AM4 build and was limited by the lack of PCI-E lanes.
You are 100% right that that is a massive cost savings per year. But if you are worried about a $300 per year cost, there might be other things to consider instead of a homelab setup.
Oh, absolutely, I want to be clear that old Xeons still have their place, and as a secondary machine that is fired up only occassionally they make wonderful lab stations.
It is also possible electricity is dirt cheap for OP, I just wanted to point out an often overlooked expense.
Just make sure there are UEFI updates available for SMM Lock Bypass (AGESA 1.2.0.Cc), Zenbleed, LogoFail, and a host of other high-severity vulnerabilities, if that is important to you. ASRock Rack seems to be pretty bad at UEFI updates, unfortunately.
These updates could be important for someone who’s going to run VMs that are accessible from outside the LAN.
Actually, one of the reasons I got the Synology was because of electricity costs! Before that I was using an old Intel i7 920 / Xeon (I forget which) desktop. And it was using a solid 200w in idle as I recall.
I got the impression that modern AMD are much more efficient.
Electricity is typically quite expensive here. I think 0.3 - 0.5 euro per kW on average
So I’d be happy to spend extra to get something more efficient
Shipping from Aliexpress can vary wildly for me. The store you mentioned, the shipping was as much as the case. Which made it almost the same price as the Silverstone
Also Sweden is super strict about import duty on chinese shipments so that is an easy 25% increase in price also
10 Gb NIC = 8 lanes (Edit: PCIe 3.0 x2 should be sufficient to cover dual 10 Gbit/s ports, but for some reason these datacenter NICs all seem to come as 8 lane cards. You could probably put such a card in an x4 slot and still have full throughput?)
On AMD consumer boards the chipset is connected to the CPU by 4 lanes, and built-in NICs, SATA, USB, and all but 1-2 each of M.2 slots and PCIe slots hang off the chipset (and thus share the x4 bandwidth).
I’m looking at getting one of the few boards with two PCIe slots connected to the CPU - configurable for x16/- or x8/x8. This, together with e.g. x8x4x4 bifurcation allows connecting e.g. 3x NVMe and one x8 NIC directly to the CPU.
You might end up with thermal throttling with bundled cooler (the 7700 comes with a much better but a bit more expensive than getting a better cooler and 2 more cores)
You might want to look up if ECC memory actually is working (supported doesn’t necessarily mean ECC is being utilized). It also sports Realtek LAN which isn’t great…
I would be hesitant going for a non 8 PCB layer motherboard such as ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi or possibly Asrock B650E Taichi Lite if ECC is actually working.
I wouldn’t spend “premium” on hotswap bays, spend that on a decent motherboard instead.
A Fractal Design Define R5 will do perfectly fine for instance
