NAS motherboard recommendations

Computer Hardware & Server Infrastructure Builds
1

I am about to build my first NAS, and need to find a good motherboard for my build.
I’ve decided to use the Jonsbo N4 case, which limits my options to mATX and M-ITX boards.

My requirements are:

  • mATX or M-ITX
  • minimum 6x SATA ports
  • 1x M.2 nvme slot
  • minimum 32GB max memory (preferably with ECC support)
  • at least one 2.5Gbps ethernet port, ideally 10Gbps
  • under 300 EUR
  • available in EU

I’ve been looking at a couple no-name boards with N100 and N355 chips, which seems like a good fit. But I have no idea about the quality and reliability of those.

Any recommendations or suggestions are very welcome!

2

N100 is officially limited to 16GB of ram, though people tell me I could be running more. Here is the thread Mini Truenas server build. | ServeTheHome Forums

Doing it again N150 would be a maybe, N355 might be higher priority. Anything with SFP+ instead of the 10g copper would have been worth some money, cost $50 more for a hot module to install in my switch.

3

I went with the Gigabyte B550I Aorus Pro AX motherboard for my build late last year. I chose it because it is the board that 45 Drives chose for their HL-4/HL8 series NAS devices. It has 2 M.2 nvme drive slots. I use one of the M.2 slots for one of these: https://www.newegg.com/p/17Z-0061-000D5?Item=9SIARE9K9G2395 That gives me a total of 10 SATA ports. I paired this board with a Ryzen 5 Pro 5650GE 35 watt CPU, 64 GB of ECC memory, and I also paired it with one of these, since the board supports PCI bifurcation: Amazon.com: PCIE X16 Expansion Card, M.2 NVMe Controller Expansion Card, Pcie X16 to X8 X4 X4 Split Expansion Card, Support PCIE4.0 Downward Compatible with 3.0 : Electronics

This lets me add two additional M.2 NVME drives as well as a low profile 10gb pci card.