Question Cheap big fast SSD database

cytg111

Lifer

Mar 17, 2008

25,481

14,995

136

• May 9, 2025

• #1

Suppose you wanted the biggest fastest postgresql database without going enterprise.

You want it to be on SSD's
You want to optimize for random io.
You want to optimize for size.

So the bottlenecks I am looking at is
- limited NVMe slots on a motherboard limited size but fastest io and random io.
- plenty of SATA ports but limited throughput to ~600 MBps

Is a nvme pcie card worth considering?

I am leaning towards just spamming a setup with sata drives and accept the bottleneck.

Suggestions?

 

biostud

Lifer

Feb 27, 2003

19,661

6,749

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• May 11, 2025

• #2

What size and what motherboard?

 

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cytg111

Lifer

Mar 17, 2008

25,481

14,995

136

• May 12, 2025

• #3

And asking that question - I flipped to perplexity and asked for a mainstream motherboard with lots of m.2 slots ... and instantly found one with six SIX slots. That should do the trick . So thanks for asking .

 

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biostud

Lifer

Feb 27, 2003

19,661

6,749

136

• May 12, 2025

• #4

cytg111 said:

And asking that question - I flipped to perplexity and asked for a mainstream motherboard with lots of m.2 slots ... and instantly found one with six SIX slots. That should do the trick . So thanks for asking .

Click to expand...

Which is?
I've got five on my motherboard.

Also if you use the built in graphics, you could get a 4x m2 adapter for the x16 slot and suddenly you have 10 slots.

 

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cytg111

Lifer

Mar 17, 2008

25,481

14,995

136

• May 16, 2025

• #5

biostud said:

Which is?
I've got five on my motherboard.

Also if you use the built in graphics, you could get a 4x m2 adapter for the x16 slot and suddenly you have 10 slots.

Click to expand...

Actually this baby has seven



Slide in 4tb modules in those and it's off to the races. Most powerful postgresql ever achieved in a homelab.

 

dave_the_nerd

Lifer

Feb 25, 2011

16,990

1,620

126

• May 21, 2025

• #6

Honestly, even a single SSD is capable of such a ridiculous number of IOPS that there’s no real point in making an array unless you have to for capacity reasons.

A single PCIE card with 2-4 nvme slots is cheap and fits in pretty much any case/motherboard, and they’re available in PCI-E x1 and x4 varieties so they can use those auxiliary slots and leave your GPU alone.

No need to overthink or overdo.