[nmglug] Trunas scale exp?

Does anyone know the best hardware or software setup for TruNAS? I setup trunas a few months ago, and really like it. minus really poor performance. Which might be my hardware. The internet has just confused me more. Searching and reading speeds of Sata, SSD, and pcie is not straight. . . I am not sure where to even look to make changes for the better. Right now I have a AMD phenom II 6x with 16gig and 1 gig Ethernet. With seven Sata drives 2 of which are hot spares. My thoughts now. Are as follows. Pcie Sata card? Better nic? More ram? Bad settings? Any help would be wonderful.