ECC Memory for NAS

[Enquiries]

Hi NASCompares! Love your videos.

I'm researching building my home NAS and I'm trying to build my own. I bought a Jonsbo N3 case, and I am looking for good mini-itx motherboard options which have both 10G-baseT ethernet port, and ECC memory support. And so far I found two options:
Asrock Rack EC266D2I-2T/AQC Mini-ITX
Asrock Rack X570D4I-2T

However, the issue I'm running into is that there are not good options for low power, low cost processors that are easy to find (ebay/amazon US) which are compatible with these boards, and also support ECC ram for a low price. I guess I am still waiting for a CWWK or Topton board to come out which supports both 10Gbe and ECC? Or is ECC ram not all that important really and I should be going for the Non-ECC motherboards which include the CPU and are much cheaper? Halp! Thank you, Adam.

[ed]

Thanks for watching and for the great question!

You’ve already done a solid job narrowing things down to the Asrock Rack EC266D2I-2T/AQC and X570D4I-2T—both excellent mini-ITX boards with ECC and 10G options. However, as you’ve noticed, compatible low-power, low-cost processors that support ECC (like Xeon or Ryzen Pro) are tricky to find on a budget, especially in the US.

Here are a few thoughts to help you decide:

Is ECC RAM Essential?
For a home NAS, ECC memory is great for data integrity, especially if you’re storing mission-critical data. That said, for most home users with good backups and redundancy (RAID/ZFS), it’s not a deal-breaker. Non-ECC builds with proper file systems can still be very reliable.

Low-Cost Alternatives:
If you decide ECC isn’t critical, you can explore popular mini-ITX NAS boards like the:

CWWK/Topton boards: These boards are emerging with great specs (10GbE, integrated CPUs), but as you noted, ECC isn’t usually supported. Keep an eye out, though, as newer models might bring ECC + 10GbE in your price range.
ASRock J5040-ITX: While not 10GbE-ready, it’s low-power and much cheaper. You can add a 10GbE PCIe card later.
The Waiting Game:
If ECC is a must and you want to stay within budget, the Asrock Rack boards are still your best bet. Keep an eye on eBay for second-hand Xeons (like the E-2200 series) or Ryzen Pro CPUs. Prices fluctuate, and deals do pop up.

Recommendation:
If you want to future-proof, go with the Asrock Rack X570D4I-2T—it’s flexible with Ryzen CPUs (ECC or not), and it gives you room to grow. Pair it with something like a low-cost Ryzen 3 3200G (for now) and upgrade to a Ryzen Pro CPU later.

To sum up:

If ECC isn’t critical, go with a cheaper non-ECC board + 10GbE card combo.
If ECC matters, stick with Asrock Rack and hunt for low-cost CPUs—patience will save you money!