Build advice: Norco RPC-4224 + QS 4k 10-bit Plex decoding

[golli53]

First time NAS build (historically built a HTPC + USB ext drives with manual backup). Is there a good CPU / motherboard combo + other HW that will let me use most of the 24 bays with my old SATA drives and also give me H.265 10-bit 4k transcoding with QS? Mostly for unRAID/Plex + VM for some lite work.

 

For CPU, thinking Kaby Lake (7th gen) which is minimum for the QS transcoding. Have looked at:

 

Xeon E3-1225 v6 or Xeon E3-1230 v6

Core i7-7700

 

A bit clueless on which Supermicro/other mobos (and/or expansion cards) would support H.265 10-bit QS and give me enough SATA connections. Would appreciate any help

 

ECC would be a plus depending on how much it adds to the cost

 

[edit] Posted this in Hardware section b/c of specific advice around what overall setup works with the Norco, but please feel free to move to CPU/Motherboard if appropriate

Edited March 2, 2019 by golli53

[smeep2k4]

I'm in the middle of a 4224 build myself. Unfortunately, I haven't completed the build, so I can't specify (yet) on how it would fit your task. I'm still waiting for the final SSD to be deliverd. I'll just speak on the parts I went with:

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SCA-F-O ATX C246 Motherboard

Intel Core i7-8700 Coffee Lake CPU

Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR4 2666 MT/s (PC4-21300)

Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler

SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 PCI-Express 2.0 x8 SATA / SAS 8-Port Controller Card

NORCO RPC-4224 Case

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G1+ Power Supply

2 x WD Gold 10TB Hard Drives for Parity Drives

3 x WD Red 10TB Hard Drives for Data Drives

2 x SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2 2280 for Cache Drives

2 x Norco Reverse SAS-SATA breakout cable

4 x J&D Internal Mini-SAS to Internal Mini-SAS Cable

NORCO RL-26 Heavy-Duty Slide Ball Bearing Rail

7 x 15-Pin SATA to 4-Pin Molex Connector

27U 4 Post 19" Open Frame Network Data Server Rack

 

Cost: Just over $6000 CAD (I wish the Canadian rupies exchange rate didn't suck so bad)

 

I picked the Supermicro board because I needed 2 PCIeX8 slots for the controller cards. The downside of this board is that if I use both M.2 slots, I lose a PCIeX4 slot and the U.2 connector. I don't care about the U.2 connector, but that X4 slot loss hurts for network upgrades, if I want to move to 10GigE or Infiniband down the road. After I purchased it, I found the Gigabyte C246-WU4 board that might have been a better choice. You lose a 4x slot and one of the SATA connectors on that board. The difference is there's 2 PCIeX4 slots and 2 PCIeX8 slots on the Gigabyte. But then again, I'd be limited to 23 drives instead of 24. There's always tradeoffs because there's just not enough PCIe lanes available for everything.

 

The CPU: My options were limited here. I was worried about price, and since I could only pick up CPU's from either NewEgg or Amazon (my options for places to buy from in Canada sucks), and I knew Xeon's were more expensive, I went with the Core i7 instead. Not a K either, because I have no intention of overclocking this setup. Later, I found some E series Xeon's that could have fit in my price range, but they weren't available when I started spec'ing out the build. The RAM is generic desktop RAM because ECC isn't an option for Core i7 chips. What I found was that the unbuffered ECC RAM that this motherboard supports is generally close to 2x the cost of desktop RAM. If you live in the US, maybe your options are better. Also, this mobo doesn't (currently) support "Gen 9" processors.

 

The Noctua cooler is important here. I originally bought a Cooler Master cooler, but I found it was too tall for the case. Another member on this site recommended a specific Noctua cooler, but that one was for a different chip/socket layout. The most important thing to remember on this one is that you need to keep the cooler to the 92mm or less range. 4U seems big, but it's not big enough for a 110mm fan.

 

The elephant in the room: SUPERMICRO AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 controller cards (each card handles 8 drives, and the mobo handles another 8, giving 24 total drives). I chose this because I had already picked out the Supermicro board, and I figured Supermicro products should work well together. But you'll find many people on this site advocate against this controller because its Marvell chipset can be problematic with Linux and Unraid. I have no experience with these controllers. If I had done just a bit more research, I would have chosen LSI 9211's set to IT mode instead. I may end up having to buy those controllers anyway, if I encounter the issues other people have. I would recommend going with the LSI 9211's instead, just to save yourself the heartache if you happen to be one of those people that are affected by the issues with Marvell chipsets.

 

Other random thoughts: the power supply is probably overkill for this build. My old 15-drive build had a 650, though, so I figured I'd need a little more to handle the 24 drives. I haven't done the power consumption calculations, but everything I've read on this site specifies that I could get away with less. But, I figure it's better to have too much available than not enough. The 15 pin SATA to 4-pin Molex connectors are something I never knew I needed on this build. For whatever reason, the Norco's backplanes use the old 4-pin molex connector for power. Also, the internal fans require 1 4-pin molex connection for power. Finally, I would have rather built a closed rack system, but I was having difficulties finding a closed rack for cheap that was deep enough for this case. The 600mm cheap closed racks are too small for the Norco case. You will need something closer to 800mm-900mm depth. And a closed versiono of those would have been at least 2x or 3x as much as the open frame rack I bought. It's a cheap rack with horrible build instructions, but once I put it together for the 3rd time (did I mention the instructions were bad?), it feels solid enough for my needs.

 

Now, I'm not into the transcoding side of things, since I only use Plex on my internal network via network shares. I can't speak too much on that, but this build should be good enough for 4k to 1080p transcodes, 1080p to 720p transcodes, etc.