I am going to build a NAS that will be used in a small business working with video production and I could need some opinions and recommendations. I recently got into this and I am still learning and researching. My intention for this thread is to learn more about this and hopefully end up with a list of what I should buy and build. I thank you in advance for taking the time reading this and helping me, it really means a lot to me!
In short this is what I would want to get from the NAS:
- Storage,raid and ZFS. I plan to start with between 16 and 20 Terabyte usable storage but with possibility to increase it in the future with ease.
- I want to be able to use PLEX without any issues for up to three multiple streams at the same time(1080p) but would be nice if we also could stream at least one 4k video without issues.
- Be able to send a download link to customers so they can download a specific file. Using a torrent client or even winrar is usually too advanced for the customer
- 10gb connection between the NAS and two PCs
I will use a 60gb SSD for nas4free.
I think I will go with 5x Seagate Ironwolf ST6000VN0041 128MB 6TB or 5x Seagate Ironwolf ST6000VN0033 256MB 6TB (Will I benefit from having 256mb cache disks instead of 128mb? Something I have to look into) in RAID 5 as it seems to be the cheapest I can find at the moment and will give me 24 terabyte usable storage to start with. SAS seems to be very expensive and not give me any increased performance for what I would use the NAS for.
I want to use ECC ram. Starting with 32gb(If I can't start with 16gb) but I want to be able to upgrade to 64gb in the future if it would become required. Would 16gb ECC be enough for everything to start with?
I need a CPU + Motherboard to go with this. Here I am clueless on what to pick that will have enough power. What do you recommend?
I was first thinking of going with Ryzen 5 1600. But I heard that Ryzen have issues with NAS and they have not tested ECC ram and hard to get a motherboard with ECC support.
I heard that using raid 5 taxes your cpu hard and that I need a raid card controller. Do I need it? Any recommendations? Can I use both the sata ports on the motherboard + raid card to have even more HDDs?
Do I need SSDs for cashe?
10gb network speed between the NAS and two workstations I was thinking instead of getting a switch I just put a dual 10gb network card into the NAS and single port network cards into the workstations so I can connect them directly to the NAS that way. Also connecting the NAS to the normal network using/internet the port in the motherboard. Will this work?
Do I need a GPU? Is there any benefit of having a GPU in a NAS for what we would use it for (other than when installing the NAS when using a cpu without integrated gpu)? I was considering putting a 1050/1050ti or a gt 1030(passive cooling) in it.