Cores Or Speed For NAS

[TomTom111]

Hello,

My question is simple, but the answer seems to be convoluted.

Is it better to have a FreeNAS machine with more cores or a faster clock speed?

I can't seem to find any documentation or benchmarks on necessarily either!

There are good quad and octa-core cpus out there but that significantly increased the build price.

So basically, would it be just as well to get a 3 GHz dual core CPU for a FreeNAS machine, or is it necessary, or even worth it, to invest in a quad or 8-core CPU with the same clock speeds?

Thanks as always!

 

[joex444]

What's your target? If it's a home NAS with one or two clients, then dual core is fine. If you're trying to run common storage for an office that does, say, video editing, you want that to be a powerful server so 4, 6, 8 cores makes sense and lots of RAM. If you want to use it to store Microsoft Office documents... a low end quad core should be OK only because of the number of clients; since the files are small it's a small footprint otherwise.

If by 8-core you mean an AMD FX do keep in mind that these are 8 integer cores with 4 FPUs on them. While Intel's 4C/8T Core i7 chips have 4 FPUs and 4 integer cores, this is not at all comparable to 8 integer core, 8 FPU chips like the 8C/16T Xeons.

 

[kanewolf]

What functions are you allocating to the FreeNAS host? Just file sharing? Transcoding? Web access? The CPU choice would be influenced by what you want to do.

 

[drtweak]

the real question is what do you plan to use it for? Just storage? if so you don't need much. My Media Server which runs windows 7 is a Dual core Celeron 1.3 with a 1.8 boost and 8GB of ram and a SSD for the OS drive and honestly I don't have any issues running my own person Email, HTTP, File Server, and I use it as my HTPC as well and sometimes even do some video conversion if it is like one file and don't feel like turning on my machine, which is pretty much the same as your's Just with a 600W and GTX 480 (Well right now got a temp AMD R5 230 because pretty sure my GTX 480 VRAM is bad 🙁 ) but yea it is a power hog and what not while my Media Server does 60 Watts MAX.

I think you will be fine with a dual core 3GHz CPU running FreeNAS if my 1.8Ghz Celeron can run everything just fine AND windows 7

 

[kanewolf]

GEE great minds think alike ....

 

[TomTom111]

GEE great minds think alike ....

Evidently! lol.


Thanks for the reply guys.

It will do 1080p streaming to no more than 4 devices simultaneously, and will be a mass storage for miscellaneous files, ie. PC Imaging, picture, music, installation files, ect.

Possibly video conversion if I come across some file types that are incompatible or something, but not my main concern.

 

[drtweak]

Yea streaming isn't as huge of a deal if they are just accessing the file though a file share. If you want it for video conversion, and don't mind it taking its them then still don't have to worry. you want it done now now now then honestly, i would just your AMD rig. Like i said i have the same exact CPU, Board, and OC as you and I can have it convert two 1080p Movies at the same time and it does it in about 20-30 minutes depending on the bitrate of the video. The Dual Core Celeron again did a 1.5hr movie in 1.5hr. If sounds like this guy is going to be more of just a storage server more than anything which just make sure you have good fast drives and gigibit LAN on everything and you should be good.

 

[TomTom111]

So it doesn't take as much computing power to stream, or store as I'm thinking?

Here is what i'm looking at for a simple storage server then...

$47.99 Intel Celeron G1840 Haswell Dual-Core 2.8 GHz LGA 1150 53W
$44.99 BIOSTAR H81MHV3 LGA 1150 Intel H81
$39.99 CORSAIR CX series CX430
Total: $132.97

Then pair this with a random case and DDR3 RAM I have laying around, and some HDD's.

This should suffice?

 

[drtweak]

I use this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138393

With 8GB or ram (That was only recent though as i Orginally had 4 but when i upgraded my PC from 8 to 16 i got a whole new set and put that 8GB set in there) have a SSD for OS drive, and a Dell HBA SAS 5 for my RAID card.

I was using that also as my Daily PC at on point because where I was living at my desktop would make the room waaaay too hot. Even as a normal everyday PC with that SSD I can't see a difference compared to my 8 Core AMD. I play 1080p and stream at the same time. It is running an Apache Web server as well and Windows 7 Pro and it runs great!

 

[TomTom111]

There are quite a few embedded solutions i never thought to check out.
I found this BIOSTAR J1800NH3 on an open box deal, but will require a SATA card.

All of which will cost less than the Celeron CPU and motherboard i was looking at.
Well, wish me luck!

Thanks for the replies as well.

 

[drtweak]

Yea only has a 1x PCIe slot. Hope you can find a good card for that. I know you won't find any good RAID cards like that. Most are 8x.