iPerf results in bits/sec

[3s1k]

I'm trying to some network speed test with iPerf from my PC to a new NAS that I just purchased. I know the network is not ideal so iPerf is help me decide if I want to upgrade or not.

I have the NAS set as the client and my PC which is on Wifi6 as the Server. The network looks like this.

NAS > Router (Asus AX86u) > PC (windows 10 AX200 Wifi 6).

Can someone read these results. It's in Bits/sec which to me sounds very low compared to other results I see online. If I try to make the Nas the Server and my PC the client I get this error on the my NAS "Socket buffer size is not set correctly". Not sure what that means.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yeah, that's terrible. So bad I'd say there's almost no connection!

iperf can sometimes give odd results, especially if you use inappropriate parameters. Just try simply copying a large file from the NAS to your PC and seeing what the speed reported by Windows is.

What are the iperf commands that you're using?

 

[3s1k]

Yeah, that's terrible. So bad I'd say there's almost no connection!

iperf can sometimes give odd results, especially if you use inappropriate parameters. Just try simply copying a large file from the NAS to your PC and seeing what the speed reported by Windows is.

What are the iperf commands that you're using?

Lol glad I'm not crazy and reading this wrong. I did another test from my Galaxy S20+ which has wifi 6 to my PC. These look more normal than the NAS to my PC.

When I copy a file from my PC (Wifi6) to my NAS its pretty normal. Roughly 80-90MB/s for a 2.5gb file. If I copy it back NAS>PC its 113MB/s.

 

[Tech Junky]

On a 1gbps link your absolute max is 125MB/s so, 80-90MB/s is pretty decent.

 

[ColinTaylor]

That's looks more normal. If the objective is to test the NAS rather then your network then I suggest you connect your PC via ethernet. That way you eliminate any wild fluctuations that can occur with Wi-Fi.

 

[3s1k]

On a 1gbps link your absolute max is 125MB/s so, 80-90MB/s is pretty decent.

View attachment 39205

Thanks Tech Junky, that's good to know considering Its hardwired to Wifi6.

Here's another test. NAS is set as the Server and my Galaxy s20+ is the client. Again, the NAS is connected directly to my router and my phone is obviously on wifi 6.

For some reason the iPerf between the NAS and my PC is being so funky.

 

[Tech Junky]

Galaxy s20+

phones don't typically have the HP to do transfers very quickly. On my OP 8 Pro I can get some decent speeds though @ 33MB/s.

Speeds are also dependent on the OS, what's running for tasks, drive speed, etc. Optimal conditions of nothing else running give the best look but, more bandwidth ensures the true speed of either end of the copy / transfer. If I hard wire to my server with a 5GE USB adapter I can push 400MB/s over Ethernet. Which is limited by the sped of the Raid I have setup w/ 4 drives in Raid 10. If I add another drive I could push it to 600MB/s since I have a spare in the Raid for a standby if one fails.

 

[3s1k]

That's looks more normal. If the objective is to test the NAS rather then your network then I suggest you connect your PC via ethernet. That way you eliminate any wild fluctuations that can occur with Wi-Fi.

Honestly, a test of both. My NAS has dual 2.5gbe NIC's that can be aggregated to 5gb and my computer has a single 2.5gbe NIC. I wanted to take advantage of those speeds but can't because the location of my office. So this test was to see if I can get speeds that I'd be happy with or spend more time and money to improve my network.

I was looking at MOCA 2.5gbe adapters as the easiest method. NAS would have NIC1 connected to my router at 1GB speeds and NIC2 on the MOCA adapter which would run downstairs to another MOCA connected to my PC. The only thing I'm not sure about when I'm moving date between my NAS and the PC is the traffic going over the MOCA or Wifi.

 

[Tech Junky]

traffic going over the MOCA or Wifi.

Traffic is like water....it takes the path of least resistance.

Higher BW = less resistance

 

[3s1k]

@Tech Junky Oh yea, very good point. My NAS is setup with a Raid 5 with 4 disks. I believe is a 3x read speed but no write speed gains. Maybe the extra bandwidth would go to waste when I'm writing data to the NAS.

Traffic is like water....it takes the path of least resistance.

Higher BW = less resistance

That makes perfect sense.

 

[Tech Junky]

Free RAID Calculator - Calculate RAID Array Capacity and Fault Tolerance.

Online RAID calculator to assist RAID planning. Calculates capacity, speed and fault tolerance characteristics for a RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, and RAID10 setups.

www.raid-calculator.com

Raid 10 will double your speeds and provide data protection with the mirroring of the set. The capacity for storage is 1/2 but, not waiting for things is nice. If you haven't loaded the disks up from sources it's a quick change to make. You still have the ability to swap in a new disk when one fails like you do in R5 but, you also have less CPU cycles than R5 since it's a direct copy / mirror.

It's all personal preference though in how to manage things.

 

[3s1k]

Free RAID Calculator - Calculate RAID Array Capacity and Fault Tolerance.

Online RAID calculator to assist RAID planning. Calculates capacity, speed and fault tolerance characteristics for a RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID6, and RAID10 setups.

www.raid-calculator.com

Raid 10 will double your speeds and provide data protection with the mirroring of the set. The capacity for storage is 1/2 but, not waiting for things is nice. If you haven't loaded the disks up from sources it's a quick change to make. You still have the ability to swap in a new disk when one fails like you do in R5 but, you also have less CPU cycles than R5 since it's a direct copy / mirror.

It's all personal preference though in how to manage things.

That's the same website I use too haha. I was debating on a Raid 6 or 10 but it was losing space. I'm using 4x3tb drives and even in a Raid5 I'm only 8.10tb usable and I already have 3.31tb of data in there which. That only leaves me with 4.79tb.

In a raid10 with my current drives I'll get about 5.4tb of usable space. I'm worried I'll run out of space to quickly and need to buy larger drives. I got the drives for free as we upgrade our Enterprise drives at work so I only had to pay for the NAS.

I do have 4 extra 3tb drives to swap them out if/when they fail. FYI in its current setup it took about 7.5hrs to copy all the data from an external hard drive connect directly to the NAS. So copying the data over to a RAID10 configuration isn't to bad. I've only had the NAS for 2 days.

 

[Tech Junky]

If you went with a PC setup with all of those drives in raid 10 you'd have 12TB of space and blazing throughput. Of course it might cost a bit more for the parts or a cheap system you could put into a Meshify 2 Case.

 

[3s1k]

If you went with a PC setup with all of those drives in raid 10 you'd have 12TB of space and blazing throughput. Of course it might cost a bit more for the parts or a cheap system you could put into a Meshify 2 Case.

I'm actually thinking of doing this and returning this NAS. I kind of bought it on a whim when I inherited the drives lol.

I have an old Dell SFF pc that's to small and it has a proprietary MB. I was going to salvage the i7-8700, M.2 drive, 32gb Memory and buy a new case, MB and power supply. Then use TrueNAS Core for the os.

The only problem is I don't feel like building another computer. I've built 4 computers in the last 6 months. Also, it's going to be fairly large compared to the NAS I have, which is an Asustor AS6604t.

I was going to use this case, NAS Case 8 bay, which is an 8 Bay case with a backplane for the drives. Then use a SAS card with Sas-to-sata connectors to wire them all up.

 

[Tech Junky]

I was going to use this case, NAS Case 8 bay, which is an 8 Bay case with a backplane for the drives. Then use a SAS card with Sas-to-sata connectors to wire them all up.

You could go that route if you're looking for that NAS feel of popping drives in and out at will.

The case isn't all that compact though as it's a regular ATX case.

Fractal has good cases for this sort of application though. I originally used a Node 804 which has more than enough capacity for 10 drives + 2 x 2.5" in the front face. It's mATX though. The new case I used which has easily IIRC 13 mounting spots for drives near the front grill and the side panels / front snap off w/o tools to get access.

Node 804

www.fractal-design.com

Meshify 2

The new Meshify 2 is a classic evolved with focus on distinctive design, spacious interior and rugged good looks.

www.fractal-design.com

The only reason I switched to the Meshify is because of ADL MOBO's being ATX with the features I wanted and limited release of mATX options at the time of the build. Both of them get good airflow though and are subdued without all of the rainbow farts if you don't want them. There's a single indicator on the front of either for power and that's it.

The 804 has 2 hangers on the storage side for 4 drives each and they slide out for mounting.

The Meshify has a "rack" system with shelves the drives mount to and then a couple of thumb screws to secure them. I could envision using a cage system though if you wanted to use backplanes and such as it has plenty of room and some quick modifications could make it work. Easy access to the MOBO for HBA's or SAS and since it doesn't have windows no need to worry about cable management.

Phanteks also makes some good storage options as well. The couple of cases I used had room for 6-8 drives in official mounting positions but, plenty of room for more if needed.

SAS is nice but, they seems over prices for the ability to take a single cable and fan out to 4 drives. HBA's are cheaper and it's just normal SATA cables to deal with. I also streamlined my power to the 5 drives I have mounted using one of these cables It's been working well since building in Nov. i was a little leery but though I would give it a shot and see if I could keep things tidy.

 

[3s1k]

Someone on a NAS forum also recommended the Node 804. It's nice and compact but replacing a drive looks like a pain and it's super wide. I've seen the Meshify 2 and was looking at it for its cooling properties for a gaming PC but I had no idea it has a "Storage Mode". I just watched a video on the conversion process and I'm pretty amazed. It's slightly cheaper than the Silverstone and looks nicer.

Yea the SAS card is pricey for what it is, I think the HBA should work just fine for less money since the MB I'm looking at doesn't have many SATA connections. Very good info I appreciate it.

The reason I wanted a NAS is because my current case NZXT H500i can only hold 3 hard drives. It was my primary storage for all my data and video editing. I had some hard drive corruption and figured now is the time to look for a NAS or other option. That has me wondering if I can use the Meshify 2 XL and just move my current computer into that instead of building a NAS. The use Storage Spaces to set the RAID. I have a RTX 3090 which is massive and a 280mm AIO for CPU.

EDIT: The GPU might fight in Storage layout. My card is 323mm.......Here's the specs.

• GPU max length
  Storage layout: 359 mm, Open layout: 549 mm (524 mm w/ front fan)

 

[Tech Junky]

Combining everything is an option as well. The GPU will take away some mounting space but maybe only 2 spots worth of storage.

Part of the conversion for me required moving the cage under the rack along the front but, that will hold 2 more drives on the Meshify. I'm not sure the XL would make much difference though.

Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case vs. Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case - PCPartPicker

Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case vs. Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case

pcpartpicker.com

I think they reversed the XL numbers

RTX 3090 which is massive and a 280mm AIO for CPU

Well you can put the RAD on the top and it should still fit in storage mode. I was debating WC vs AC while designing and went AC with good results. I do get a config alert on the GPU length with the non-XL Looks like a 5mm potential issue.

The Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 467mm long, but video cards over 315mm may block drive bays. Since the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB GAMING OC Video Card is 320mm long, some drive bays may not be usable. The Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case hard drive bays are positioned where some of the bays may be physically blocked when using longer video cards.

Either option I mentioned would have enough airflow though for keeping everything cool and not too cluttered / restricted.

Using the Arctic PWM PST fans make things a bit easier to run the fan cables to the header similar to the STA power cable I shared before.

 

[3s1k]

Thanks for looking that up. The only sad part is find this case lol. I see it on NewEgg but shipping to me is very expensive. Amazon has an XL version but its used but still cheaper since the shipping is free.

I love those Arctic PWM PST P14 fans. I use them in a couple of computers and they silent and powerful. I was thinking of putting the Rad on top like you mentioned and then load the front up with 2 or 3 fans depending if I go with 120mm or 140mm fans. I'm using an MSI Gaming X Trio 3090 which specs out to me 323mm. In my NZXT case I have 1/2" or less of space between my card and radiator.

I'm leaning towards keeping the NAS and doing a Meshify 2 case for additional storage. I'll need a place for redundant backups. If you can't tell I've lost data in the past and I refuse to let it happen again lol.

 

[Tech Junky]

NE tends to be a rip off on shipping but, in the end it's all tied into the sales price overall no matter where you end up buying.

Mesh - I put 3 in the front / 2 on the top / 1 for the back // 2 120's on the AC tower which seems to be more than enough w/o taking into account your 3090 monster heater into account.

If you do Raid you're protecting data unless there's something catastrophic like a fire that takes out everything. Things I deem vital I have scattered around between the laptop / server / flash drives / enclosures. I even have a running version of my server on a bootable flash drive so I don't have to remember everything I did to get it where it is today.

Realistically how much data do you need to keep? Docs / photos / etc. don't add up to much usually. It's the music / movies that take up space.

NAS ~$300 vs Flash drive ~$60 (256GB) or enclosure w/ NVME ~$150 (1TB)

 

[3s1k]

I don't use a space heater now that I have the 3090 lol. I keep family photos, videos and 4k GoPro and Drone footage. I added 1tb of data in a year because of the GoPro/Drone videos. This really could come down to how to manage data and move stuff to cold storage/archive.

I had some PC crashing from some Corsair iCue that corrupted a bunch of data on my primary drive. Thank goodness I had a full image backup on an external drive. That was a nail biting 4days as it was being restored. I cloned all the data to multiple drives that I plan on storing somewhere else.

What do you mean AC tower or WC?