So I recently upgraded my NAS’s hardware to an AM4 platform using a spare 3950x i had not doing anything. I picked up an MSI B550 board to do it because it had 8 SATA slots and a 2.5G Ethernet.
Long story short, this board isnt enough for what im trying to do. I had to put in an intel nic in it as well as a dedicated GPU and dont have room for any more expansion cards. I didnt think the PCIe slot speed limitation would play much of a role, but it has.
Also the limited number of PCIe Slots is a problem with the 3950x not having an GPU integrated, meaning i cannot use my 1060 (in truenas) for video transcoding because it has to reserve it for monitor output.
So, im looking to ‘sidegrade’ my motherboard into something more capable. I’ve seen the existence of server level boards with onboard gpu’s, but the only one ive seen really is from AsRock and the feedback on them seems to be kind of hit or miss.. not to mention the specific cooler requirements for it.
Is there a board that anyone here would recommend as a replacement that i has (at least) 8 SATA, and enough PCIe lanes/speed to run my 10g NIC, 1060 GPU and (if no integrated graphics) a 2nd GPU card (which would be the ‘screen’ card) that my 3950x and 128GB of ram (and 500gb m.2) would go into?
If you’re building a NAS on AM4, the main things I’d focus on are SATA port count, reliable networking, and having at least one free PCIe slot for future expansion (HBA or 10GbE).
In general, B550 boards are a good balance for a NAS build — newer I/O, better PCIe support, and solid stability. Most AM4 boards top out at 4–6 SATA ports, so if you’re planning more drives, it’s usually easiest to add an HBA later rather than chase a board with lots of onboard SATA.
ASRock and ASUS boards tend to be popular in homelab/NAS builds because they’re stable and well supported. ECC on AM4 can work in some cases (Ryzen + compatible board), but it’s hit or miss and not critical for many home NAS setups unless you specifically need it.
Bottom line: pick a stable B550 mATX/ATX board with enough SATA for now, make sure you’ve got room to expand, and plan on adding an HBA if your storage grows.
Look into the ASRock Rack line of server motherboards (www.asrockrack.com). I just picked up a X570D4U board with dedicated IPMI, 8 SATA ports, and dual NVMe slots for mirrored boot drives. There are other similar models there with 10 Gbe onboard, etc.
I did consider that board myself. I’d seen a few bad reviews about it which made me wary of it for its $400-some price tag. I ended up going with the MSI PRO B550M-VC WiFi ProSeries Motherboard which… ‘works’… now… But i do admit i had problems getting it configured. And the lack of onboard video that the D4U has meant i had to put a 2nd video card in it (which i still dont have working properly i dont think). While the 8 SATA slots are nice, what i didnt find out until later is that the other PCIe 3.0 16x slots were only 1x
Even now im still him-hawing over just getting the D4U board. It having the onboard video would help a lot. Though not sure how it would behave with my current ram, and with prices how they are, im not really keen on buying more.
I’ve had zero issues with mine, but I do always adhere to the manufacturer’s QVL for RAM choices regarding tested model numbers when combined with any processor restrictions for said tested RAM and placement in slots. Can’t speak to the onboard video, as I rack mounted mine and went straight to IPMI for management.
I just upgraded/side graded my main Proxmox machine to get a couple of extra PCI slots, but not as many as you are looking for. My original machine was a Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro ITX format board, with a Ryzen 5 Pro 5650GE. I was copying what 45 Drives put into their HL4/HL8 machines, but I decided I wanted a discrete GPU. My new board is a Gigabyte X570 with a Ryzen 7 5800XT, not that it really matters.
BUT the point of this is that I now have a Ryzen 5 Pro 5650GE CPU that I would be willing to part with. It is a 35 watt CPU (runs super cool), has ECC memory support and a built in GPU, and is definitely NOT vendor locked. I bought it new, and it has been well cared for. If you can live with fewer cores, private message me and we can talk.
Thanks, but would kinda defeat the purpose of me upgrading mine. I mainly did it because i wanted to do something with my 3950x and felt using it for the server would be a good use for it (that and i wanted/need more ram). I also have a 3000G Athlon cpu if i absolutely wanted graphics out of the cpu, but that isnt the point really. The only reason im trying to add a 2nd GPU, is so i can use the first for transcoding, and (last i checked) TrueNas wont let me use a GPU for transcoding if its the only one in the system.
Main issue had with the MSI board was TrueNas didnt like the onboard NIC. I managed to get it up and running with a USB-Ethernet dongle and just went ahead an got a 10g NIC to put in it. So I’ve got a 1060 (for transcoding), a bus powered ATI card (which i want the system to use as the main display so i can set the 1060 for transcoding, but it wont) and the 10g nic, all populating the PCI slots. The memory i got for this board was on the MSI’s QVL, but i havent checked if the same memory is on the X570D4U’s QVL.
You should be able to set your display preference in the BIOS so that the 1060 card is free. Also, check the motherboard documentation as very often the PCI slots need to be populated in certain ways to ensure your desired width of PCI lanes are available to the different cards in their respective slots. Sometimes slots will share lanes, cutting one slot’s lanes in half if both are populated. Depending on the card you’re putting into the slot it may or may not matter to you.
You’re going to run into another issue with latest versions of TrueNAS. The kernel won’t support your graphics card unless you stay in and older version of truenas.