I’m looking for some feedback on a potential new build.
My needs are as follows:
Stream up to 3 or 4 devices at once
Support Transcoding (not all clients are the same)
limited to hardware that’s available to me - not all hardware is in stock in my country
This is my current setup
iMac Mini, 2.26 Intel core duo 2GB RAM
Drobo FS
OS X Mavericks
Future Build
Hardware
Seagate IronWolf 4TB x4
EVGA 700 GQ 700W PSU
ASUS PRIME B450M MOBO
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 6 Core,12 Threads CPU
Crucial 8GB DESKTOP DDR4 2666 Mhz
Software
Unraid
Plex Add-on
My rationale behind this build is purely a complete replacement/upgrade. My hopes this build will last a few years - my current setup has been in place for a number of years. It has only been until the last few years that I have noticed “buffering issues” and general hardware relatability issues.
I wanted to throw a decent CPU at the system, currently, under the lockdown, there are plenty of AMD CPU’s available in my country. I’ve been told that RAM isn’t too big of an issue when it comes to these types of builds so I went with something cheap and nasty. Software-wise I decided to go with Unraid as it seems to be a lot more user-friendly than software like FreeNAS.
I have been contemplating the following:
Swapping out a MOBO for one that supports 6x SATA ports OR
Including a raid controller that has support for 6x SATA ports
Including two SSDs for caching purposes
Increasing the RAM to 16GB as I hear caching images in RAM can increase performance.
Swapping out MOBO for one that has two NIC OR
Including a NIC for the additional port(s)
Any feedback/validation/suggestions would greatly be appreciated
8GB ram is plenty for an ubuntu server, sits below 25%. Dunno what benefit a second NIC would provide.
I have OS/plex database on nvme to avoid using any sata channels, and I have made use of my onboard 6… I’d recommend 6 or as many as possible sata onboard.
No transcodes support for Ryzen gpu on linux. Consider Intel for iGPU, great performance and compatibility, and low power efficiency.
8GB ram is plenty for an ubuntu server, sits below 25%.
Awesome, thanks for that.
Dunno what benefit a second NIC would provide.
I had hoped that this would enable further bandwidth for streaming purposes.
I have OS/plex database on nvme to avoid using any sata channels, and I have made use of my onboard 6… I’d recommend 6 or as many as possible sata onboard.
Awesome, this was my line of thinking also. I think i will definitely look for a mobo with more connections.
No transcodes support for Ryzen gpu on linux. Consider Intel for iGPU, great performance and compatibility, and low power efficiency.
Awesome, thanks for this bit of info. It wasn’t something that I was aware of. Unfortunately, the supply of Intel chips in the country are on backorder so I will need to wait to get hold of an Intel chip - this, however, might be worth the wait.
in case you weren’t aware, gpu transcoding requires plex pass.
if you don’t want plex pass, then I would probably stick with AMD.
To be honest I have not thought about it. But I really should put some thought into it. Right now my content is only 1080p as I only have one 4K TV in the home. That, of course, is going to change the coming months/years as we start to upgrade.
otherwise, look for an intel 7000 series CPU or newer, with 600 series igpu.
if you have any intention of transcoding 4k/hevc content, be prepared that the cpu requirements are very steep.
Given yours & @Menel 's feedback, I’m strongly looking into a decent Intel chip. As mentioned this will be down to what’s available. I do have a spare 1050ti sitting around so I will look into what I can expect from that.
1050TI is powerful… but will take more setup to get it to work in Linux. And nVidia restricts to 2 streams.
Intel iGPU has no restrictions. Works out of the box.
I sound like an Intel fanboy I’m not, if I was building a gaming rig, or even an encoding brute force crunching rig, it would be AMD+nVidia. Just for media serving/real-time/plex Intel is just so easy.
1050TI is powerful… but will take more setup to get it to work in Linux. And nVidia restricts to 2 streams.
Two streams are fine for now, I’m happy to upgrade GPU later on down the track when my needs grow. Perhaps this is when I will look into an Intel GPU - I think these are the onboard ones right?
I sound like an Intel fanboy I’m not, if I was building a gaming rig, or even an encoding brute force crunching rig, it would be AMD+nVidia. Just for media serving/real-time/plex Intel is just so easy.
I am def a fanboy, I absolutely prefer going with an intel chip - and it looks as if I can as there is a big shipment coming thru in the next few weeks to my country so that’s working in my favour.
I’m not, if I was building a gaming rig, or even an encoding brute force crunching rig, it would be AMD+nVidia. Just for media serving/real-time/plex Intel is just so easy.
I’m not, if I was building a gaming rig, or even an encoding brute force crunching rig, it would be AMD+nVidia. Just for media serving/real-time/plex Intel is just so easy.
