CPU and mainboard recommendation

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AlphaInc.

New Member
Jul 11, 2022
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Hey everybody,

I had my system (Intel Atom C3955, 11x 10 WD Red Pro 10TB, 128GB RAM) running for a good 3 to 4 years and since my NAS is slowly running out of space I've decided to upgrade my HDDs to the new WD Gold 20TB.

The resilvering is still in process but when it's finished I break the rule of thumb to have 1 GB of RAM for 1 TB of storage. At this point I'm wondering, is it really necessary or am I still okay with my configuration? I have three VMs installed and there are only 2 to 3 persons who use the NAS simultaneously.

Also, I'm playing with the idea of upgrading my motherboard and CPU to a new model which is more "future-proof". Can anyone recommend a ultra-low-power CPU with support for 256GB (or even 512GB) of ECC RAM and a corresponding motherboard? I was really happy with the Intel Atom C3955 since it only consumed 32W and I didn't need much more power.
 

PigLover

Moderator
Jan 26, 2011
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You could probably recast that memory guidance as “1GB RAM per active TB storage”. With 3 VMs and 2-3 clients you are miles away from that no matter how many drives you install or how big they are.

If you want to upgrade you should probably do it - that’s what we do ;). But nothing you described above even suggests you need to upgrade yet.
 
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sth2100

Member
Feb 22, 2022
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Not sure if you've looked into it, or if you want to deal with the added power consumption it will take, but you may consider going with a SAS drive instead of SATA.

The SAS drives are so much more reliable compared to SATA. Most of my modern SATA drives seem to have a lifespan of 2 years max before they start losing data, or completely fail. Something to consider anyway.

Also agree with PigLover, you shouldn't need much RAM at all if you are only using this for personal use and are not running de-duplication or something. (I learned that one the hard way) :)