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PROJECT LOG Super cheap NAS

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Super Nade

† SU(3) Moderator  †
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
Trying to put together a super cheap, yet reliable Media server/NAS with new parts. I'm trying to keep the price under $300 if possible.

So far:

  • 2x WD Red 2Tb: $160
  • 1x micro-ATX Rosewill FMB02 Case: $25
  • 2x4Gb DDR3 $60
  • CX600 PSU $40
Total: $285
Still to come:

  • MB
  • CPU (LGA 1500)
  • DRAM (4Gb DDR3)
 
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Could use any of the atom based ITX motherboard/CPU combos, The Atoms are more than capable of being used as a NAS and should even be able to do things like Plex
 
I'd avoid an Atom build, simply because the motherboard they come with have very little expandability; 2 SATA ports, 1 PCIe (or PCI), 1-2 mem slots, no way to upgrade CPU. You would be better off with a modern low power CPU on a mATX board which would have more options available for you to choose from as far as expandability goes, and the price would be the same, if not even cheaper. A Atom just doesn't have the best "bang for buck" that you can get from a regular system, and you can probably get a combo deal on NewEgg or Microcenter that would fit the bill.
 
Could use any of the atom based ITX motherboard/CPU combos, The Atoms are more than capable of being used as a NAS and should even be able to do things like Plex

I'd avoid an Atom build, simply because the motherboard they come with have very little expandability; 2 SATA ports, 1 PCIe (or PCI), 1-2 mem slots, no way to upgrade CPU. You would be better off with a modern low power CPU on a mATX board which would have more options available for you to choose from as far as expandability goes, and the price would be the same, if not even cheaper. A Atom just doesn't have the best "bang for buck" that you can get from a regular system, and you can probably get a combo deal on NewEgg or Microcenter that would fit the bill.

My thoughts exactly. I'd like 4-6 SATA III ports and a Haswell system, simply because I can interchange parts with my desktop if need be. Also, I'd like to eventually load up on RAM when prices fall so...:) . Do you guys think 2gb would suffice at the outset and then I can add more? Or, should I go with 4-8Gb right now?
 
AM1 platform is nice and cheap for a NAS but most boards have 2-4 SATA ports. I'm using ASUS AM1 ITX board with quad core Athlon@2GHz+ overclocked/undervolted and it's working really good so far. Biostar motherboard with integrated APU - quad core 1.5GHz cost $69. I just got one but I had no time to check how it's performing. For sure it's better than any Atom. I was even running Server 2012 R2 with 2 VM on these AM1 without any issues.

I thought you want to make cheap NAS and you mentioned Haswell and 4-6 SATAIII ports ;) It's like standard desktop and not really low power one.

I also used 2x WDC Purple 2TB in my NAS. Purple were cheaper and are also prepared for 24/7 work. Performance should be similar.

RAM requirements depend from system and some other things. 4GB should be enough for FreeNAS or similar. Good to have more but it's not really required. I've replaced 8GB with 16GB RAM in my NAS ( I had to sell one of these kits and I like more that 16GB ;) ) ... and I feel no difference in performance. It's easy to check performance with something like ATTO when you configure NAS in iSCSI.
 
Woomack,

I am using desktop parts because I'm not really concerned with power usage as much as I with interchangeability of parts from my desktop if need be. To be honest, this is an experiment with no clear objective. :D I chose the WD-RED drives because they were on sale.
 
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