Hello STH community.
I'm currently spec'ing out a new NAS/home server, and I'm now stuck making a decision between more CPU versus higher potential RAM...
For some background, My current build is a ZFS on Linux of four 4TB Seagate NAS drives in zraid1 (I know, I regret it but I wanted maximum space) and it's been running strong for about 3 years now. Originally it was a Linux desktop/home server but has since been relegated to just a server. I'm down to barely 1TB free space and will be pulling the trigger on a new build soon.
The NAS acts as network storage, media server (Plex that's shared to ~10 friends and likely to grow whenever I finally get gigabit fiber in the neighborhood), Blu-Ray backup device (MakeMKV then Handbrake), and in the future I'd like to setup a single VM environment for a testing environment before I push changes to my VPS, so CPU is more important than it might be for some building similar NAS devices.
This time around I'm going to go far more "purpose built server" than I did last time. I'm looking at Xeon options to get ECC, getting an LSI9207 HBA and a chassis with 8 hot swap drives, which will be populated by eight 6TB drives in zraid2. I've got most of my options decided on, but I'm currently debating between a Xeon D board or a C236 board with a Xeon E3 v6 (probably 1240).
So, my question for all of you STH folks:
So, I turn to the combined decades of experience that's here. Thoughts on more CPU power now versus more RAM later?
I'm currently spec'ing out a new NAS/home server, and I'm now stuck making a decision between more CPU versus higher potential RAM...
For some background, My current build is a ZFS on Linux of four 4TB Seagate NAS drives in zraid1 (I know, I regret it but I wanted maximum space) and it's been running strong for about 3 years now. Originally it was a Linux desktop/home server but has since been relegated to just a server. I'm down to barely 1TB free space and will be pulling the trigger on a new build soon.
The NAS acts as network storage, media server (Plex that's shared to ~10 friends and likely to grow whenever I finally get gigabit fiber in the neighborhood), Blu-Ray backup device (MakeMKV then Handbrake), and in the future I'd like to setup a single VM environment for a testing environment before I push changes to my VPS, so CPU is more important than it might be for some building similar NAS devices.
This time around I'm going to go far more "purpose built server" than I did last time. I'm looking at Xeon options to get ECC, getting an LSI9207 HBA and a chassis with 8 hot swap drives, which will be populated by eight 6TB drives in zraid2. I've got most of my options decided on, but I'm currently debating between a Xeon D board or a C236 board with a Xeon E3 v6 (probably 1240).
So, my question for all of you STH folks:
- Hardware: Xeon D 1521 based board or a Xeon E3-1240 v6.
- The price delta between the motherboard/CPU combos is negligible at $50. Really the decision is coming down to CPU power (Xeon E3) versus higher potential RAM in the future (Xeon D). Initially I'm going to 64GB for either, but the potential to grow later is tempting.
- My dilemma comes from the "tried and true" thought that you want 1GB RAM for every 1TB of ZFS storage. My goal is that as data evaporates I'll start replacing the 6TB drives with larger drives (and a butt load of waiting for resilvering). At 64GB RAM, I don't have to worry about this even with eight 8TB drives, but if by the time I get to the point of replacing drives I want to go to 10TB drives... I'm looking at an all new rig all over again if I go for a Xeon E3. That said, the Xeon D 1521 would net me a potential 128GB RAM, but is down on power compared to the E3's by a good margin. With seemingly no announcements happening in the near future of a Xeon D second generation I'm concerned it won't hold up. My current machine does run at 100% a good bit and the new one will be stressed even more so I do want the power.
- CPU power versus RAM also affects my VM hopes, as more RAM total means I won't be "stealing" from ZFS if I decide to roll a VM with a butt load of RAM. That said, core counts are the same but single thread performance is far higher on the Xeon E3.
So, I turn to the combined decades of experience that's here. Thoughts on more CPU power now versus more RAM later?