[xxicrimsonixx]

I use a no-name motherboard in mine... It was produced with Foxconn, which is a top manufacturer of boards... Don't necessarily be afraid to buy a no-name board, but just be aware of how many SATA ports you need and how many PCIe slots it has (for future expansion).

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

Here is a board that supports M.2/nvme (boot drive) + 4 sata drives

X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Dual Protocol SATA M.2 support DDR3 REG ECC RAM Xeon E5 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Dual Protocol SATA M.2 support DDR3 REG ECC RAM Xeon E5 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

Here is a 10-core Xeon

Lot of 2 : Intel Xeon E5-2680V2 SR1A6 2.80GHz 10-Core 25MB LGA CPU Processor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Lot of 2 : Intel Xeon E5-2680V2 SR1A6 2.80GHz 10-Core 25MB LGA CPU Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

32gb RAM

32GB 2x 16GB Dell PowerEdge T320 T420 T610 T620 Memory RAM DDR3 PC3-8500 ECC REG | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 32GB 2x 16GB Dell PowerEdge T320 T420 T610 T620 Memory RAM DDR3 PC3-8500 ECC REG at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

You need a basic video card to set it up (once it is set up, you can remove the video card, as you will be accessing the NAS remoting through a web browser), and a PSU and some drives.

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

That is just example, there is lots you can do.

 

[carboncarboncarbon]

You would need to buy separately, cause they are "old" -- old, but still useful, atleast when building a NAS.

If you need a cheap but good air cooler, Cooler Master Hyper 212 fits basically every platform.

I recommend first finding the motherboard (ebay is always useful, but thrift stores, aliexpress, or kijiji/craigslist also works), then checking eBay for a CPU (a compatable quad core Xeon can go as low as 15$ depending on platform, obviously higher end ones go for more, but its really dependent on use case), and RAM should be the easiest to find.

Would x79 or x299 be preferable for the motherboard? And then what are reputable brands for the motherboards?

Edit: You answered my question before I even asked it.

 

[carboncarboncarbon]

You need a basic video card to set it up

Would any cheap video card work? I could probably find some ~50 dollar card on eBay and use it for that use.

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

Would any cheap video card work? I could probably find some ~50 dollar card on eBay and use it for that use.

Perfect.

EDIT: It just needs to be able to get into the BIOS and run TrueNAS setup. Once you have TrueNAS OS installed, you will access it from a different computer through a Web browser.

 

[carboncarboncarbon]

Here is a board that supports M.2/nvme (boot drive) + 4 sata drives

X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Dual Protocol SATA M.2 support DDR3 REG ECC RAM Xeon E5 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard Dual Protocol SATA M.2 support DDR3 REG ECC RAM Xeon E5 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

Here is a 10-core Xeon

Lot of 2 : Intel Xeon E5-2680V2 SR1A6 2.80GHz 10-Core 25MB LGA CPU Processor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Lot of 2 : Intel Xeon E5-2680V2 SR1A6 2.80GHz 10-Core 25MB LGA CPU Processor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

32gb RAM

32GB 2x 16GB Dell PowerEdge T320 T420 T610 T620 Memory RAM DDR3 PC3-8500 ECC REG | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 32GB 2x 16GB Dell PowerEdge T320 T420 T610 T620 Memory RAM DDR3 PC3-8500 ECC REG at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.ca

You need a basic video card to set it up (once it is set up, you can remove the video card, as you will be accessing the NAS remoting through a web browser), and a PSU and some drives.

For the motherboard you linked, do I need to buy a CMOS battery for it to work?

 

[xxicrimsonixx]

For the motherboard you linked, do I need to buy a CMOS battery for it to work?

I’m not sure. I cannot immediately see where there is a battery place on the motherboard however it does say in the description that it does not come with a battery.

It should be a standard cr2025 battery however, which are quite cheap and easy to find.

 

[420Assassin]

I’m not sure. I cannot immediately see where there is a battery place on the motherboard however it does say in the description that it does not come with a battery.

It should be a standard cr2025 battery however, which are quite cheap and easy to find.

On that X79 LGA 2011 Motherboard you posted battery goes here circled in blue.