So I'm looking to build a non-expensive server for home use.  I saw this Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 motherboard and thought it would be a good start.  Combine it with an FX-4300 CPU and 16GB of ECC RAM, I should be good to go.

 

My problem is I cannot locate any RAM that was tested on this MB.  I contacted ASUS and they were unable to locate any information on ECC RAM for this MB except it's listed in the users guide.  I've searched the internet looking for anyone who has used this MB and ECC RAM (listing what they installed) and found nothing yet.  Of course I tried a few of the major memory makers and they all list lost of Non-ECC RAM that is compatible.

 

So I'm here asking for help from anyone who either has a list of known tested ECC RAM or has personal experience and I'll take that info as well.

 

Now I'm not tied into the Asus MB nor AMD CPU, I'm looking to replace my current server which is running an E8500 CPU and 16GB Non-ECC RAM.  I run a RAIDZ2 of six 2TB drives, not super speedy but overkill for a home network and I'm fine with a little overkill.  The main thing is to keep the price down because unlike the GEICO commercials, I'm not made of money.

 

Thanks,

Joe

...well, I do use it, see: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=27822.0

 

I am employing 8GB in 4x2GB modules...spares I had from upgrading my X8SIL-F to 32GB with registered modules.

 

The modules are KVR1333D3E9SK2/4G - Kit of 2 in 1333MHz UDIMM, 2GB per module.

 

Yes, I read that thread and saw the ECC RAM but other than it stating Kingston I didn't know which model you used.  I was hoping you would answer.  So thanks for giving me that information.  Do you know if the 4GB or 8GB modules would work, ever see someone use them?  I'm looking for 16GB for my system.  I don't mind running four modules as I have no plans to ever use more RAM in this system.

 

So how do you like your server?  I'm looking to use FreeNAS on it right now to replace my old server.

 

Also, Ford Prefect reminds me of something a long time ago, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  Yes, that is is, the Don't Panic! gave it away.  Gotta Love It!

Well I'm a bit impatient so I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

 

Purchased:

CPU: AMD FX-4300 Vishera 3.8GHz (4.0GHz) Socket AM3+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor FD4300WMHKBOX

MB: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3

RAM (2X): Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G

 

So this isn't an Opteron but the price was $100 and it should work very well.  And the 16GB of RAM, well I'll post if this all works and I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I wanted to buy the 8GB RAM sticks but thought I'd play it safe and shoot for the 4GB RAM sticks.  I've seen postings of a few people using those but of course they never stated the brand nor model.

 

Now I want to see what else I could do with this toy before I make it my FreeNAS machine.  Think I'll check out Hyper-V.

...obviously we are in different timezones...sorry, needed the sleep 

 

The board is certified for 32GB total, so up to 8GB modules should work without a problem.

That memory is 1333-CL9...should perform equal or even better than 1600-CL11.

Kingston is a well known brand..even the picky Supermicro Boards work with these modules.

 

AMD did a very good job when moving the Memory Controller off the chipset and into the CPUs...since Socket AM2, I believe.

So choice of memory it is not really dependent on the mobo and the FX will do fine with board and memory.

The Opteron is also not certified with the board, but works nevertheless...with ECC and all.

 

...bottom line, I believe everything will work out well with your build.

So how do you like your server?  I'm looking to use FreeNAS on it right now to replace my old server.

 

....I wanted full-disk-encryption, so I tried FreeNAS, NAS4Free, Solaris-Express ( with napp-it) but

finally ended with Debian/Ubuntu and ZFS-on-Linux.

 

So I neeed AES-NI in the CPU and using ZFS without ECC does not make sense, does'nt it?.

In the Intel world, you need to employ a XEON and a server board to get these features into one box.

But I wanted something cheaper ... the AMD Socket AM3+ with mobo from ASUS is the only combo that can deliver that at a reasonable price-tag.

 

This is my backup server, has been up since I built it, going into S3 sleep (something you can't do with the BSD systems ATM) and waking up when there is work to do...never had a glitch with it.

ZFS with encryption is blazing fast....much faster than all the others mentioned.

The Opteron stays cool and the FAN is quite silent, spinning low thanks to 45W-TDP....your FX will produce much more heat, I believe.

 

All in all, I find the power/energy footprint of that system being too high in idle...but since I am using S3/sleep it does not matter much.

I will be taking power measurements to see what kind of draw I get.  The new AMD CPU should (if I understand correctly) shut down the cores not in use, part of it's new energy savings code.  Even though it has a TDP of 95 watts, I'm hoping that it never runs above half speed, well except while running Prime95 of course.  I'll post my results.  As for S3, that would be very nice to have and FreeBSD doesn't implement it except from the command like and then it's a hit and miss [more miss] game.  I do like Ubuntu but have limited experience with it.  Maybe I'll take a hard look at that since I don't need to place the new system online immediately. 

 

FreeNAS 8.3.1 now incorporates encryption, not sure how good it is.  FreeNAS 9.1.0 should be coming out within a month, it's at release candidate 2 and I don't think there will be a third.  Encryption is not something I'm looking for at the moment as I can encrypt my backups automatically and really don't need to encrypt video or music files or any thing else I store on the NAS, but I like knowing AES is built into my new CPU in case I want to use it at a later date.

I'd really appreciate some second measures on energy consumption. Could be my Opteron runs, but is not used up to all its features.

 

I measured with windoze, as this has the best PM features for a system based on desktop parts.

In my Ubuntu, the lowest CPU MHz that I see in the scheduler is 1400, even in idle....but idle states are implemented differently, so the available MHz ladder might not be a good base for comparing PM capabilities.

 

I am using ZFS on my main NAS and with using it on my backup server, I simply can use ZFS send/receive between pools....always runs faster than rsync for me.

As I am required to run Full-Disk-Encryption on my storage, I was looking for a build that can do that feature in "real-time"...well at near disk speed...as it seems, it can do that at n-times GBit network speed and this is all I need.