Sharing my build experience

[enhanced-vernacular6115]

Not a question but I wanted to share my experience of building a custom NAS (first time) for my home.

 

Setup

- Fractual Terra case

- x2 4TB NVMe PCI SSDs - Crucial P3 4TB M.2 PCIe Gen3

- x1 8TB SSD 2.5in -

- Intel Core i5 36000k (using its onboard GPU, I like AMD but transcoding, Intel)

- MSI mITX B760I EDGE wifi motherboard

- SFX-L PSU by BeQuiet 500W

- 32GB RAM Kingstn FURY Beast DDR5 32GB

- Acidalie M.2 SSD Cooler for 2nd array NVMe disk

- Noctua NH-L9i-17xx chromax.black CPU cooler 

- Noctua NA-FD1, Fan Duct Kit for NH-L9i and NH-L9a Series CPU Coolers - Great BUT NOT IN THIS CASE

 

Running the NVMEs as my Array (massive overkill). The 2.5in 8TB SSD runs as the parity disk (originally cache), and wanted to fit a 500GB 2.5 SSD as a cache. That will have to wait until I sort out a new PSU that gives me more space.

 

Positives

- Runs uber cool when streaming 4k HDR video's (even if encoding is needed), temps - CPU 38c, NVME 30-38c and whole machine is cool (case helps)

- Runs Plex like a dream

- Runs VMs and Containers like a dream even under load

- Case rocks, its not a case to be hidden, its not really a NAS box, but I wanted the case to look good as well as function

- Noctua CPU cooler is silent... BUT... (see bad choice)

- Choose unraid over TrueNAS :). TrueNAS is great but limitations around drives killed it and ZFR file format 

 

Not so great

- NMVe on the back of the motherboard was getting hot under load, so had to fit a custom cooler, which has reduced load temps between 8c (idle) and 15c (under load). So the temp is now 30c idle and 50c under load.

- mITX B760I EDGE is overkill for a NAS motherboard, but really wanted 2.5GBe or ideally 10GBe (see bad)

- Its not going to be a 'low' power system.

 

Bad choice

- SFX-L PSU... stick to the smaller form factor SFX PSU's, its meant I cant use another 2.5 SSD drive beneath the PSU and its super tight on the floor now with the modular cables.

- Trade-off - awesome custom NVMe cooler on the NVME on the back of the motherboard or keep riser PCI-e cable and fit a 10GBe card... 10GBe card lost out

- Noctua NA-FD1, Fan Duct Kit for NH-L9i and NH-L9a Series CPU Coolers, a foam like kit that directs air flow for air coolers. Great idea, but increased the temp of my CPU by 5-7c. Not a design fault, but the case, Fractual Terra doesn't have air flow problems (arguably too much space for dust), in another case I suspect this would rock.

 

Conculsion

I'm very happy moving from my Synology 218+ setup to this setup as it handles transcoding a lot better and runs more heavy weight VMs (Magento is on one of them), so chuffed. Is it ideal? Nope, it consumes more power than I could achieve, but I wanted top transcoding, loads of RAM for VMs, so I'm happy.

And lastly, Unraid, amazing. Loads better than my old Synology NAS, and love how easy it was to pick up. Well worth the license cost.

Edited September 12, 2023 by enhanced-vernacular6115