New build recomandations


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Hello,

 

I am looking for advice on a new build for unraid pro.

 

What i need from it:

 

- NAS server to serve media to the network

- Plex and emby/kodi for media UI and transcoding ( emby has a problem atm with diacritics in romanian language) - 2 clients on local network and 2 mobile devices

- maybe 1 vm for x264 encoding at night

- as disk: 2 parity 8 tb WD reds or Seagate ironwolf, 2 seagate archive 8tb for data, 1 tb hdd wd black cache, 1 ssd 256 gb for emby /kodi/plex database and files + the VM files. I will add later more hdd, planning 24+ as the case can hold it

 

Hardware:

 

Case:

 

Lian Li PC-D8000B - has good space for the amount of hdds i plan to use in it

 

Motherboard + processor + memory:

 

SUPERMICRO X9SRL-F ATX Server Motherboard LGA 2011 DDR3 1600

Xeon E5-2670 SR0KX - ebay

64 gb DDR3 - already have the ram ( ibm server grade ecc)

 

or

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236

Intel Xeon E3-1240v5

Kingston 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 * 2

 

I am leaning towards the LGA2011 path but i need some advice there - pros and cons - as the second build is significantly costlier ( 2 times) 

 

Cooler

 

Noctua NH-D15S

 

HBA

 

HighPoint Rocket 750 40-Channel SATA 6Gbps PCI-Express 2.0 x 8 HBA 750 - kinda expensive but supports a huge amount of disks but expensive

 

Alternatives for it?

 

Power source:

 

Seasonic Prime SSR-750TD 80PLUS TITANIUM

 

or

 

Seasonic Platinum 760W SS-760XP2

 

I am leaning towards the Seasonic Platinum 760W SS-760XP2 as it has more power on the rails.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

 

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The only things I would consider are the 8 core 16 threads CPU is a better choice over the quad core, in your case the more cores the better for what you want to do, you may even want to consider a 10 or 12 core CPU. Some users on here have experienced issues with certain Supermicro boards so you may want to look into that. As for the HBA I am not familiar with that model but there are cheap alternatives such as a flashed Dell Perc H310 or flashed IBM M1015. Seasonic is a great choice for power supply.

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It sounds to me like the E3-1240v5 could handle your CPU requirements.  If you're trying to transcode 4 streams simultaneously at the same time as encoding, you'd want more CPU.  But if it's only a couple of simultaneous streams of transcoding and off-schedule encoding the E3-1240v5 would be fine.  The Skylake CPU would be much more power efficient and easier to cool as a benefit.

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Mostly for transcoding, I would think you would want to assign at least two physical cores for transcoding, another two for x264 encoding, thats four physical cores already, 8 will give him extra head room.

 

I see where you're coming from now. You should know that core / transcode isn't the best way to determine CPU requirements.. Plex has always recommended 2,000 passmarks per 1080p transcode. 2,000 passmarks does not translate into a single core.

 

If the OP could use the handbrake docker instead, then all CPU horsepower is available to all process whenever its needed. An i7 would do nicely in this situation.

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I have been using my current build for just over a year. I originally had an i3 6100T (dualcore hyperthreaded ECC)

Running dirextx modern games it struggled so i upgraded to the 1245v5 passing through x3 cores with threads. Gaming is a little CPU bound but i enjoy most of the games i have tried. Games like GTAV and Mafia III suffer with all the geometry calculations needed for the world environment.

 

You may want to consider that a integrated GPU makes passing through a discrete GPU very easy for VM`s

 

My honest opinion would be go the slightly cheaper route away from the C236 platform because the equivalent i7 6700K is the same chip less the ECC support(thx Intel) it also uses LESS watts than the e31245v5 and was cheaper when considering upgrades. I had to RMA this board because the bios corrupted after manual power cycle just killed it(never have i had that happen. ever) 2months to fix it aswell.

 

I use a Raspberry Pi2 for my media so i dont transcode from the server.

 

If you dont mind higher power consumption the E5 2670 sounds like a great build and ultimately cheaper with great performance.

 

Seasonic is a great choice not sure you need that much wattage though. they are rated higher than they state in test articles i have read. Mine runs fine 450w with a gtx980 with 9 drives atm.

 

 

 

 

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Have a look at the E5-2620L i think thats what im using at the mo.

Lga2011  6core 2ghz xeon it has really low thermal. I wish i could provide more info.but im not at home.

 

I believe i have the x9 srl-f  with that cpu and 64gb ddr3 ecc etc.

On the other hand im also running the x11ssh-l4nf with 32gb ddr4 and the very nice xeon 1245v5  runs a low tdp aswell.

 

My concern is the cost on the ddr4 vs the older ddr3 on x9.

Both have pros and cons.

 

 

 

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Motherboard + processor + memory:

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X11SSM-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1151 Intel C236

Intel Xeon E3-1240v5

Kingston 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 * 2

 

 

If you go this route with the MB + CPU + RAM please note that the board/CPU combo requires *unbuffered (non-registered)* RAM.  The Kingston part number you need is KVR21E15D8/16 if you want 16GB ECC unbuffered RAM modules.

 

I have a C236 based server MB (ASRock C236 WSI) and the Xeon E3-1245 V5 (integrated GPU) and am running the Handbrake docker.  My setup has no issues with a couple of Plex transcoded streams while simultaneously doing a Handbrake transcode.  Passmarks (as has been mentioned) are the best measure of suitability for Plex workloads and my CPU, or the non iGPU, 1240 you have specified are 10k+ passmark CPUs and very good transcoding workhorses.

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Thank you all for your recommendations.

 

I will probably get the build that i can acquire in Romania and through ebay / amazon in EU as importing from US or China is more expensive.

 

Another question: Do people build their own sata power cables for this many hdds or buy molex splitters?

 

Have a great day.

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