CPU recommendation?

1. offizieller Beitrag

    Hello everyone!


    After the latest Qnap srcew-up I decided enough is enough, and I'm looking to build a small pc to be used as a OMV box. My requirements are, first and foremost, the smallest footprint that will fit my 2 3.5" HDDs+SSD (no ungainly towers!) and silence of operation since it's going to live in our living room.


    So I was wondering, what CPU should I go for?


    The uses I've seen with my QNap box up to now are pretty simple - share files in the home network, run a torrent client and Sonarr (and a few other lightweight apps like MC or a copy of Kodi) and, very occasionally, a docker.


    With that in mind, what CPU would you recommend as the minimum viable so that I can make it as silent as possible? Water cooling is probably out the question since I'm looking for a mini ITX cube to put the whole thing in.


    Thanks!!

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Gryzor () aus folgendem Grund: Requirements

    I like your thinking! Most DIY NAS builders completely overpower their servers (like me!!!). I'd stick with Intel or Ryzen as that gives you best compatibility for linux-based server systems. Even if you are fed up with your QNAP box (same with me with Syno some years ago), I'd still look at what CPUs are built into QNAP and Synology servers and take that as reference. They usually optimize for power consumption in light of typical user performance requirements (which are less than you'd think, no, but at least what I thought at the time).


    I'm more familiar with Syno. They don't even consider Intel or Ryzen for their "value" NASs, but offer Realtek stuff. But their recent + NAS series (which is for "advanced" NAS needs) comes with an Intel Celeron J4025, which should be plenty for your needs AND pretty power-efficient. Not sure whether QNAP servers give you better references, but whatever you choose, it should consume less or equal power than that...

    I use a very cheap HP510 to do the job you describe, and use really a little resources:




    changes from my original post, only use one SSD and a shareroot-plugin, not a CF, not a rotational HD.


    Thanks for the replies, guys! For some reason I didn't get a notification for them, so I'm a bit late, but thanks nonetheless.


    m4tt0 : Yeah truth be told if I had the luxury of space (or of a bachelor life...) I'd built something powerful and silent, just for the fun and challenge of it. Then I'd probably do some extreme stuff for a couple of weeks and then relegate it to file sharing roles :D


    Your suggestion -look at the CPUs manufacturers use- is actually pretty clever! My box runs off an Atom tiny thing of a CPU and of course performance these days isn't stellar, but it does get the job done once stuff is in memory. I see that their current home box uses a Celeron N5105 - Celeron is something I've been considering. However, I think that manufacturers like Qnap or Synology use the lowest possible solution to avoid extra costs, plus their hardware design is probably much more optimised than any custom solution. And yes, I did ask for a bare minimum but of course there will be cases where for a €10 difference, say, you get a huge boost in performance so it's all relevant...


    I'll check out the J4025 though I think it's an embedded solution? Also trying to find details about the i3-12100T, supposedly with a 35W TDP from what I'm told.


    Crawling Chaos can you share the system you're using? Did you get a complete board, or a ready-made system?


    raulfg3 : that's a nice form factor and a good idea, since these are, IIRC, pretty silent. However I doubt it will fit 2 3.5 HDDs plus the SDD?


    Zoki : if I went for a SBC I'd probably go for an Odroid, but I can't find any tidy solutions that will fit my disks all in one box. I can reassure you, if I install some slash-n-hack solution my toddler will be done with in within the first hour :D


    Thanks again, guys!!

    Zitat von Gryzor

    fit 2 3.5 HDDs plus the SDD

    is a new requirement not in OP, maybe there are other requirements to be added?

    omv 6.9.6-2 (Shaitan) on RPi CM4/4GB with 64bit Kernel 6.1.21-v8+

    2x 6TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 via 2port PCIe SATA card with ASM1061R chipset providing hardware supported RAID1


    omv 6.9.3-1 (Shaitan) on RPi4/4GB with 32bit Kernel 5.10.63 and WittyPi 3 V2 RTC HAT

    2x 3TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 in Icy Box IB-RD3662-C31 / hardware supported RAID1

    For Read/Write performance of SMB shares hosted on this hardware see forum here

    Zitat von Gryzor

    Crawling Chaos can you share the system you're using? Did you get a complete board, or a ready-made system?

    Of course! I am still struggling to make things work as they should, but take a look in this thread. It is all there. I must mention that the mobo I use is probably very difficult to find outside my country, but I think there must be a similar alternative in the global market.


    Best regards

    Zitat von raulfg3

    cheap ThinClient (i.e. HP t510,..)

    raulfg3 like your suggestion to recycle any cheap and readily available ThinClient .

    Only drawback I see, is the slow USB2 port to connect external storage (just like for the RPi 3).

    Are the limitations acceptable or did you find an upgrade option?

    omv 6.9.6-2 (Shaitan) on RPi CM4/4GB with 64bit Kernel 6.1.21-v8+

    2x 6TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 via 2port PCIe SATA card with ASM1061R chipset providing hardware supported RAID1


    omv 6.9.3-1 (Shaitan) on RPi4/4GB with 32bit Kernel 5.10.63 and WittyPi 3 V2 RTC HAT

    2x 3TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 in Icy Box IB-RD3662-C31 / hardware supported RAID1

    For Read/Write performance of SMB shares hosted on this hardware see forum here

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von Gryzor

    I'll check out the J4025 though I think it's an embedded solution? Also trying to find details about the i3-12100T, supposedly with a 35W TDP from what I'm told.

    Regarding this, you should think that the server has two states, summarizing it a lot:

    - 95% of the time it will be at minimum performance. In this state, consumption at rest is more important than maximum consumption. The maximum TDP is the least important thing here, the minimum TDP matters.

    - 5% of the remaining time. the processor will be doing some work, this work requires energy. If the CPU has more power it will take less time, if the CPU has less power it will take more time. In the end they will both consume the same or very similar, the work is the same.

    Zitat von mi-hol

    raulfg3 like your suggestion to recycle any cheap and readily available ThinClient .

    Only drawback I see, is the slow USB2 port to connect external storage (just like for the RPi 3).

    Are the limitations acceptable or did you find an upgrade option?

    I do not know , because i din't use USB storage, use my HP T510, only as a pi-hole server, transmission dowloader, etc see my heimdall landing page:




    To store files ( video files) i use other hardwre more powerfull, this is inteded like a all in one machine that really do not need a great storage size ( I use only a 250SSD to boot and dowload torrent (shareroot-plugin).

    Zitat von m4tt0

    Most DIY NAS builders completely overpower their servers

    in terms of CPU performance, this is a very valid statement.


    Guiding principle:

    Each investment should pay off by providing a benefit to its user.

    In financial terms this is defined as "create a positive return-of-investment (ROI)".

    NAS manufacturers use ROI to decide which components are used.


    Assume we are configuring a SOHO NAS for 1-2 users, right?

    Then anything above a 2 core (lowest performance & cost) CPU has no benefit, because the limiting factor of every NAS is the network speed between server and user's client.

    See details in linked performance benchmark

    omv 6.9.6-2 (Shaitan) on RPi CM4/4GB with 64bit Kernel 6.1.21-v8+

    2x 6TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 via 2port PCIe SATA card with ASM1061R chipset providing hardware supported RAID1


    omv 6.9.3-1 (Shaitan) on RPi4/4GB with 32bit Kernel 5.10.63 and WittyPi 3 V2 RTC HAT

    2x 3TB 3.5'' HDDs (CMR) formatted with ext4 in Icy Box IB-RD3662-C31 / hardware supported RAID1

    For Read/Write performance of SMB shares hosted on this hardware see forum here

    • Offizieller Beitrag
    Zitat von mi-hol

    Assume we are configuring a SOHO NAS for 1-2 users, right?

    Then anything above a 2 core (lowest performance & cost) CPU has no benefit, because the limiting factor of every NAS is the network speed between server and user's client.

    I would agree with this approach by talking about a pure NAS, just a file server. But the reality is that someone who bothers to build a homemade NAS is not going to stop there. You will most likely install several containers (sometimes dozens), in this case the CPU performance takes another role. This can be extreme if video editing tasks are done on the server with handbrake, for example.

    Agreed. Just checked my average CPU usage over the last year (Intel i3-8100):

    - Most of the time idling at 5% with peaks at about 20%

    - Three months at ~70% while I was plotting Chias (waste of time and resources)

    - Two weeks at ~40% while Frigate ran AI algorithms on my webcams.

    - After I installed a Coral TPU to handle the AI I'm back at ~20% now.

    No video encoding involved though...


    I'm just finishing my build where I used MB+CPU+RAM from an old dell optiplex 9010 installed in a large ATX cabinet. The benefits of this config are:

    1. Full ATX has plenty of space for air to move around and the HDDs operate at a nominal 38 degreeC (~ 30 Ambient) which theoretically will extend their life.

    2. With a little bit of hacking I managed to install optiplex's 40mm chassis fan which is incredibly quite.

    3. Since the fan doesn't have to work hard, the overall power usage will be less (After HDDs, fans can be the 2nd most power hungry item in your NAS).

    4. Full ATX give you option to scale up as your storage and processing requirement grows.


    Before I did all this, I used an off-the-shelf Optiplex9010 which i purchased for under $100 (10 yrs old used) as my NAS for about a year to get myself familiarise with NAS workflow. If you are a first time user, you may wanna go this route before you start dropping big $.

    Only cpu suggestion I have is to try to select one with a gpu integrated. You can use it to offload work from plex.


    I used an ultra quiet tower case I had leftover from a 2012 build including a Sabertooth z77 motherboard and an intel i7-3770k. I'm using two mirrored ssds to boot. I bought an LSI SAS controller off ebay and 5 new sas drives plus a dual 1GB nic with a good chip for linux. The HW sas may seem strange, but you can get new old stock SAS drives which were unused spares that companies unload cheap. I bought six 6TB sas drives for $75 each all with zero hours, reserving one as a spare. They are incredibly reliable and performance is great. I did have to buy a tiny noctua fan to bolt on the sas controller heatsink. The really surprising thing to me, given that hot controller, is that my UPS says it only draws 82w. I can live with that 24x7. I was really happy to reuse this quiet case (corsair discontinued). The system is quieter than the ups next to it!

    Apologies to everyone for disappearing, family matters kept me away from side projects... :(




    Thanks so much, once more, for your replies. I'm grateful.


    chente : that was a wonderful point actually! I guess the heaviest workload will be when it's doing native NAS/RAID stuff. Apart from that running apps and serve their web pages (they all work fine in my humble Qnap box, so no worries there), and maybe a docker every now and then... so yeah, that's something I really hadn't thought about when considering power consumption.


    mi-hol : yes, that's my usage scenario, at most it will be concurrently used by two persons in two different rooms. And of course it's not like we'll both be choking the line by copying huge files over, rather it'll be the usual bitrate streaming. Nothing extraordinary. But, as chente said in reply, while that's the main use I will be using some of the extras a complete NAS can offer me; otherwise I could go for a dumb HDD attached to my Fritz!box, that works fine enough. I don't know if I'd need dozens of containers, but definitely a few :)


    @m4tto thanks for the numbers :)


    mcmanuf : yes I have considered it, but availability aside it would break my toddler-proof requirement :)


    dsm1212 : I don't use Plex so I don't think I'd need much in the gfx processing department, probably an integrated mobo solution would be enough, but that's a good point. That's a nice setup you got there :)


    So I think I have a better understanding of the solutions now... the case is the hardes thing to source but the rest are fallin in place. Thanks again!!

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