Looking for thoughts on my home server hardware before I order?

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tbk5000

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Dec 5, 2013
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First post but long time reader (If this is in the wrong place sorry), and first thing I want to say is thanks to everyone for all the stuff I have already learned form this site. I've got a pretty good grasp on desktops and now want to dabble with a small home network. Looking to have a place to store my movies and music and can access through the house. It will mainly be probably 2 pc's, 2 phones, a tablet, Lg tv, and xbox 360 and xbox one. I would like to also be able to access it or the internet when I'm on the go. I would say maybe 3 devices at once but that's probably pushing it, for now at least. I've tried to read up on as much as I could over the past couple of months on the different hardware and software. So this is the hardware I'm looking for suggestions on.

Cpu AMD 8320
Mb Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
Ram Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered
Hd's 5 WD Red 3tb Hd's
Psu CORSAIR CSM Series CS550M 550W gold series
Ssd Samsung 840 evo 120Gb
Case Antec P100

From what I've read this is probably over kill but looking to future proof. I only have about 3Tb of data at the moment but that's why I want to do this now so I can get use to the system and not have to worry about losing my data from my own fumblings lol. Going to start with freenas and a raid 5 probably just to get the feel and then try out different Os's and raids. Like I said I don't mind loosing this data while I learn as it is backed up. I have set up a few small networks but that was just a few pc's and a while ago(win xp) so I'm sure a lot has changed. So am I on the right track or did I totally screw something up? I have spent the last few months trying to research and learn what I can but figured I would ask the experts before pulling the trigger. Thank you all in advance.

On a side note I'd like to stick with an AMD cpu/gpu due to personel reasons
 
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Drop that CPU to an FX-6300 and replace the motherboard with an Asus AM3+ motherboard, otherwise your ECC memory is pointless. You can use ECC RAM, but unless the MB supporting it you won't get any benefit from it. You don't need that much memory unless you are planning on running a ZFS file system and even then, you only really need 1GB for every TB of storage. You don't need the 125W 8 core CPU, it's really overkill. So is the PSU. HDDS draw 8-15W and without a graphics card you'll probably not need anything more than a 300-400W PSU. Oh and finally, please don't use the MB's onboard RAID. With the money save with less PSU, CPU and memory, get a good RAID card or just try something like a FreeNAS or unRAID setup.
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smitbret

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Drop that CPU to an FX-6300 and replace the motherboard with an Asus AM3+ motherboard, otherwise your ECC memory is pointless. You can use ECC RAM, but unless the MB supporting it you won't get any benefit from it. You don't need that much memory unless you are planning on running a ZFS file system and even then, you only really need 1GB for every TB of storage. You don't need the 125W 8 core CPU, it's really overkill. So is the PSU. HDDS draw 8-15W and without a graphics card you'll probably not need anything more than a 300-400W PSU. Oh and finally, please don't use the MB's onboard RAID. With the money save with less PSU, CPU and memory, get a good RAID card or just try something like a FreeNAS or unRAID setup.
 
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tbk5000

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Dec 5, 2013
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Yeah I figured the psu and cpu were overkill. As far as the mb ive read some threads saying that it will support ecc when installed but it wont show ecc in the bios till it sees ecc ram, but I havent been able to confirm or deny that.
 
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smitbret

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Just a P.S. cuz I wrote that response last night when I was tired. A 125W CPU generates a lot of heat and consumes a lot of electricity when it is on 24/7. Servers just aren't CPU intensive devices unless they are doing a specific task that requires it. I have an FX-6100 but only because I use it as my DLNA server and need the power to transcode video on the fly to my mobile devices. If I didn't have that need, I would have just jumped on the lowest TDP AM3+ CPU I could find. With FreeNAS, a dual core is plenty.

I too, have heard that some Asrock and Gigabyte boards supported ECC memory but they don't seem to state it on the website's specs and I can't substantiate it first hand.

Also, FreeNAS just boots off of a memory stick, so you really don't even need the SSD. Once it's loaded into memory, the USB stick just sits there and doesn't really have any effect on performance. You could hold on to it in case you decide to do a Windows or Linux install which is what I do (WHS 2011 + FlexRAID).
 
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TheLastof Me

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To add my 2 cents....I have read where people used A10 APUs to run home servers and virtual machines. That will give you the video as you set up the server without the need for a dedicated GPU. The A10-6800k is the best APU in that price range. I have a A6 in my laptop and my wife has a i3 in her laptop. I would NOT RECOMMEND a dual-core chip to anyone for any reason. Both those CPUs suck! But any modern 4 core or more CPU will be fine for a home-based network.
 
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smitbret

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For a home server, hardware RAID probably won't be worth the payoff, that's kind of the concept behind FreeNAS, NAS4Free, etc. Just pop your SATA cables into the motherboards onboard ports and just expand with SATA cards as necessary. A good RAID card will start in the $100+ range and go up from there and isn't a great investment when your real world gains would be nothing. Plus, ZFS is a great system for data integrity of its own.

If you play around with ZFS and then decide you want to try out a hardware RAID setup, then make the investment at that point. I would bet you never make the jump. FreeNAS/ZFS is really, really good.
 
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tbk5000

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Dec 5, 2013
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Thanks again for all the help, im going with a fx6300 and a 400watt psu. In going to stick with the mb and ecc ram just to see if the board supports ecc, if not ill get a different one. Ill post back once its yp and running and let everyone know what I find about the gigabyte board and ecc.
 
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tbk5000

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Dec 5, 2013
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Just an update, after setting it up the gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 has no ecc settings in bios even with ecc ram installed. So hopefully that will help someone in the future, went with an asus m5a99fx pro r2.0. Thanks again to everyone for all their help.
 
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smitbret

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Any particular reason that you are going with a motherboard that doesn't have onboard video? Adds heat and noise for no benefit.

By the time you sacrifice a PCIe slot for a video card, you are just as well off getting something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131942

 
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tbk5000

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Its running headless so no need for a monitor once its setup. I just used the card from my other pc to get it setup then I just go in thru the gui once its up and running. System seems to be doing great so far.
 
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