I'd like to build my first server, need some hardware advice please

[alitech]

Hi guys

 

Just getting into the swing of things now as I have some time on my hands because of the pandemic. I have been reading up about things and my research so far is that unraid is the correct system to get. I have only a handful of requirements. 

 

1. About 50TB of capacity

2. Ability to run a couple of VMs.

3. Iscsi to add the drives to my other systems (planning to transcode Plex from a different PC)

4. 10GB to ensure no bottlenecks

5. 8 to 10 drives

6. Backblaze for the whole server

 

So in preparation for the build, I have bought the following kit already:

 

1. SuperMicro MBD-X10SDV-TLN4F-O mobo (Xeon and 2x 10GB nics included)

2. Silverstone DS380B 8 Bay NAS Chassis

3. Integral M Series 256GB NVMe M.2 Internal SSD cache drive

4. A few hard disks to start off with

5. Syba SI-PEX40064 SATA III 4 Port PCI-e x1 Controller Card (as the mobo obly has 6 sata ports)

 

This is all I have so far.  

 

I am looking at RAM options but wasnt sure how much to get. For unraid they say 1GB for every TB. Is that true for Unraid as well? I looked at some options on ebay and I can see a lot of DDR4 options. All different. Some of them are 1333mhz, some 1600mhz and some 2100mhz with a mixture of registered and unregistered. 

 

Can someone please guide me on how much RAM and which specification I should aim for? I am of course looking at used stuff as I want to keep the costs low.

 

Also, is there anything wrong with the kit I already have? Is there anything I should think about / plan for?

 

Many thanks and appreciate any advice. Cheers

 

 

[trurl]

1 hour ago, alitech said:

For unraid they say 1GB for every TB. Is that true for Unraid as well?

No

[alitech]

23 minutes ago, trurl said:

No

Thank you. How much RAM should I aim for? Should I go for 32 or 64GB? Also if you can have a look at my other questions I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[cpshoemake]

15 minutes ago, alitech said:

Thank you. How much RAM should I aim for? Should I go for 32 or 64GB? Also if you can have a look at my other questions I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

Unraid doesn't need much RAM. Get at least 8GB, plus whatever your VMs are going to need. Speed also isn't going to matter much, unless it is important for your VM workloads. I prefer ECC, but many get by without it.

[testdasi]

2 hours ago, cpshoemake said:

I prefer ECC, but many get by without it.

I would completely disagree with your statement, in the sense that "get by" meaning "manage with difficulty to live or accomplish something".

There is no difficulty involved in using non-ECC RAM. It's not like running non-ECC will suddenly cause the server to become unstable but you will "get by" because it only crashes once a week. No such thing.

 

ECC RAM corrects a very specific scenario, that is a single-bit error. It has somewhat of a halo effect because all the enterprise hardware supports (or even requires) it but there's nothing magical about it at all.

If you have RAM measured in the TB range then yes, having ECC is rather important just due to probability. And then you have to consider the impact of a memory error in the enterprise settings - it may mean a cell tower going out of service affecting thousands of people for example. Most importantly though, those crashes, no matter how rare, tend to cost WAY more than the cost of ECC RAM sticks. It's generally better to spend $5k on ECC RAM instead of exposing yourself to $5m of litigation cost.

In the consumer space (e.g. what Unraid targets), users have 16GB, 32GB even 64GB of RAM, way lower than those enterprise servers. And a crash doesn't carry as much of a financial impact - if any.

And let me re-emphasize that if your RAM is stable (and not overclocked), the chance of a single-bit error is extremely low, the inverse of Donald Trump's ego low. So the cost of ECC RAM doesn't quite justify the minute benefits.

 

So I would say, "many save money without it" would probably be a more fitting statement.

 

[alitech]

2 hours ago, testdasi said:

I would completely disagree with your statement, in the sense that "get by" meaning "manage with difficulty to live or accomplish something".

There is no difficulty involved in using non-ECC RAM. It's not like running non-ECC will suddenly cause the server to become unstable but you will "get by" because it only crashes once a week. No such thing.

 

ECC RAM corrects a very specific scenario, that is a single-bit error. It has somewhat of a halo effect because all the enterprise hardware supports (or even requires) it but there's nothing magical about it at all.

If you have RAM measured in the TB range then yes, having ECC is rather important just due to probability. And then you have to consider the impact of a memory error in the enterprise settings - it may mean a cell tower going out of service affecting thousands of people for example. Most importantly though, those crashes, no matter how rare, tend to cost WAY more than the cost of ECC RAM sticks. It's generally better to spend $5k on ECC RAM instead of exposing yourself to $5m of litigation cost.

In the consumer space (e.g. what Unraid targets), users have 16GB, 32GB even 64GB of RAM, way lower than those enterprise servers. And a crash doesn't carry as much of a financial impact - if any.

And let me re-emphasize that if your RAM is stable (and not overclocked), the chance of a single-bit error is extremely low, the inverse of Donald Trump's ego low. So the cost of ECC RAM doesn't quite justify the minute benefits.

 

So I would say, "many save money without it" would probably be a more fitting statement.

 

Thank you kindly!

I already have 32GB non-ecc to hand which I can use in that case.