Hey folks, just wanted a quick sanity check for this build. Any and all comments are appreciated!
Purpose: A remote server that automatically pulls data from my main server (both using TrueNAS/ZFS). It’ll be located in a different state.
Requirements:
- Makes us of existing parts
- 2.5GbE support (it’ll probably have other bottlenecks given the physical distance, but it can’t hurt)
- Efficient at idle (since it’ll be doing nothing most of the time)
- A physical x8/x16 slot for a HBA
- Cheap would be nice, haha. Though I don’t have a particular budget in mind
Already owned:
- SilverStone CS380 Chassis
- SAS9211-8I HBA PCIe 2.0 x8
- A few old HDDs
New parts ($332 total):
- Motherboard: MSI B450M-A PRO MAX II ($70)
- Low-cost
- Has 2.5GbE
- Supports all 8 lanes on the HBA
- M.2 slot
- It’s only AM4, but that should be fine given my requirements. I don’t think it’s worth the $40 to upgrade to the Gigabyte B650M D3HP for AM5.
- CPU: AMD 3200G ($92)
- Alternatively, the 4600G is only $5 more
- Internal graphics
- Supports 8 lanes for the HBA
- PSU: Corsair RM750x 2021 750 Watt ($110)
- Good efficiency
- Overkill for now, but allows for more HDDs if I repurpose this computer in future
- Boot: Intel Optane P1600X 58GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe ($30)
- Good endurance
- TrueNAS doesn’t need a lot of space
- RAM: 16GB (2x 8GB) of whatever’s cheapest ($30)
- ZFS likes RAM, but given what I’m doing here, I think this’ll be fine
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If the price it right, I’d get a ATX 3.0 power supply. In theory better efficiency, and a PCIe 5.0 power for future use.
For $5 the 4600G seems like a no brainer - way better single core performance + more L3 cache.
I’d try to price in a 256 or 512GB NVME SSD instead of optane. It’s a remote storage server for now, but you may decide to change that. Space is always handy.
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Yeah, that all makes sense. I wasn’t too sure about power supplies, so I’ll look into that!
The Corsair RM750e (2023) for $90 looks like a good choice for ATX 3.0. It’s basically the same as the RM750x, but with slightly different parts.
How much storage is required here? A SBC like the Raspberry Pi would potentially be a great fit here. There are $70 models with dual 2.5 GbE ports.
If you have modest backup needs a 2x16 GB HDD setup with a RPi as connected raid controller works above expectations. 
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Apologies for the late response!
I have 4x 8TB HDDs that I planned on using (two mirror setup for ~16TB usable). I don’t really need all that space right now, but I figure it’s basically free since they’re not going in the main server. I bought them years ago, before I knew what SMR was 
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That was actually one of the first things I looked at, back when the Raspberry Pi 5 came out. It works well for modest reqirements as you say, but with multiple 3.5" HDDs, replacement becomes difficult for someone who’s not experienced. I thought about using a Pi/SBC with a USB DAS to fix that, but I’m not a fan of the extra cables to power/connect everything. It still felt a little jank, though not as bad as the image below, haha.
A compact all in one, like the TERRAMASTER T9-423 (9-bay) looked like my dream machine, but it’s hard to justify the $1000 price tag when I can do it myself for 1/3 the price. Even the 6-bay, which is a little less flexable for the future is still $700.
Yeah things are heating up in the storage space, HDDs are now officially being phased out, which is not to say they are obsolete yet, just becoming less and less worth it to purchase. Sweet spot, I would say, is if you need somewhere between 40-200 TB of storage.
If you do need more than that, HDDs can no longer compete. 30TB SSDs are smaller than 30TB HDDs, and we’re rapidly approaching 60TB SSDs for the same form factor. That makes HDDs very much no longer worth it for the large datacenters, that will definitely take space and power savings over the lower cost/TB of HDDs. A single 1u blade SSD server loaded with 24 E1.L 256TB drives could theoretically replace three 4u 60 bay Storinator disk shelves packed with 30TB drives. That means 2 units replace an entire rack, so one rack with 28 units will replace at least 12 other storage racks - with a lower noise level, heat level, power level to boot.
Even at a hefty $100 per TB, that is some serious savings you’d make as a big biz (youtube, amazon, google, microsoft…)
Similarly, at smaller sizes the Flashstor 12 Pro offers 12 m.2 slots for only $799. That means you can get a 12 bay all flash NAS with up to 40 TB of storage for “only” ~$2.5k, once 4TB SSDs return to $150 per drive (currently driven to $210 per drive). That is not all however, as pressure mounts from above that 4TB will be 8TB in two or three years, and 16TB in two-three more years, at the same price point.
For now though, if your storage needs are between 20TB to 400TB, HDDs are still worth a look. My advice here is, don’t stare yourself blind on HDDs for storage but don’t discount them entirely just yet, either. For storage needs below 20TB, flash storage is affordable enough now to not be a barrier. 
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