When upgrading a NAS, choose a suitable motherboard and processor based on your needs.
When upgrading a NAS, choose a suitable motherboard and processor based on your needs.
I own an ASRock Rack C2750D4I and want to switch to a newer board that supports DDR4 instead of the older DDR3 version. This change would greatly expand my RAM options since my current setup is limited by the case size. I’m moving from Mini ITX cases to a full ATX form factor in a 4U rackmount, which removes those previous restrictions. Running TrueNAS works fine, but I haven’t set up any virtual machines yet. My main needs are data storage with RAIDZ2 and media playback via Plex. I currently have only one Blu-ray drive and several Dolby/DTS files, so the upgrade won’t be a major issue. I’m considering the ASRock Rack C3758D4I-4L as it’s the next logical step—it shares the same board design, is fanless, and offers faster performance. It supports USB 3.0, PCIe 3.0, and has similar PCIe slots. The downside is VGA-only support, which matches my current limitation. I’d need more RAM sticks (at least 64GB) and possibly a higher-speed NIC, but the PCIe slot is fixed. I’m also curious about adding an embedded AMD Epyc or Xeon processor, though I have no experience with those options. Would you recommend looking into other models or exploring AMD/Xeon solutions?
Choose a mid-range MATX or ATX board, install your LSI card, and add some 10GB NICs. It’s not mandatory to stick to particular boards for this project.
They're built to function as a server: ECC memory support is essential. Registered features add value. A passive heatsink simplifies cooling. Compatibility with additional slots and channels is available. These chips are energy-efficient, allowing me to use a smaller power supply that matches my existing 430W unit. This frees up more capacity for the 26 HDDs and SSDs I already have.
Can we transfer this thread to the NAS/Server section? I mistakenly added it to the wrong category.
I considered moving to X570, but thought Epyc might be a better fit because it’s built for servers even though it’s more than what I need. The key advantages are plenty of PCIe lanes and 4- or 8-channel memory—ideal for ZFS since you can expand RAM slots. The 8-core 7232P model seems solid, possibly supporting 8 sticks of RAM despite being 4-channel. My concern is the motherboard. The ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T looks great but costs $800, which feels like a huge price for the $400 processor.
I chose the equivalent Supermicro board with H12NT or similar for the Eypc 7252p. I selected one featuring two 8x slimSAS ports, supporting 16 SATA drives or four NVMe. The board also includes two NVMe drives and has seven PCIe slots, all but two being 16x. With the available RAM slots, I expanded to 128GB initially and upgraded to 256GB later. Epyc is ideal for home use. I installed 84 SSDs providing roughly 200TB of storage, with half reserved as redundancy. I opted for a ZFS mirrored setup.
I relocated my previous motherboard to another enclosure at my parent's residence for offsite backup. That older system contained 24x10GB HDDs and an additional 12 older drives for my parents' data needs.