Best, most efficient, protection level for small files - 55KB

Hello,

What would be the best protection level and node count for 55KB files (we store billions of 55k files..) in regards to overhead/efficiency, or does it even really matter with this size?  We are about to purchase a new cluster and would like to get some thoughts on the matter. We currently have an 18 node cluster with multiple pools but are getting killed with the overhead. I'm getting contradicting info from my reps...

Thanks,

Oz