Hi guys,
I plan on building a nas server using unRaid and I need some advice on the hardware side. Currently i have an I5 6400 cpu and a GTX1050 graphics card. The server will be used mainly for Plex (4k transcoding will be needed) and running some VM's off of it, no gaming or any stuff like that. I mostly will be using the VMs for linux server and mac OS - web development stuff no photo or video processing .
The problem that I'm facing is related to the cpu, it has only 4 cores with only 4 threads so if I need to run some dockers for plex or deluge and a VM in the same time it's basically running out of resources.
Now i'm faced with a dilema rgarding what to do:
1. Buy a Ryzen 5 2600 (6 cores 12 therads) and a new mb with it, this will set me back about 200$ - transcoding will be needed but I hope to get the GTX1050 to do that
2.Buy a used Xeon processor but the trouble is that I'm not able to find a decent mb for it (only chinese knockoffs) at a reseonable price
The main problem that I have is relating transcoding and VM. If I can't get the GTX1050 to do transcoding will I be able to use plex for streaming with the Ryzen?
Also another question is relating to VM, if I go with the Ryzen cpu will I be able to run a mac OS VM using macinabox? by default mac OS does not support Ryzen so a lot of thinkering needs to be done.
Just to mention, this is my first unraid build. I'm only testing out unraid for a few days now using the the i5 so i'm not very familiar with the challanges and issue that go along with any of the variants that I have. Some advice on this is much appreciated.