Lolight

It sounds like you consider AMD for your PLEX server. You might need to look closer into some potential issues with that choice (if unaware). Depends on your particular use case.

Welcome! As @itimpi has already mentioned, you need an x86 (preferably Intel) platform to start - nothing fancy or powerful for your use case. No need to spend much either - used, older components can be obtained on the cheap and be sufficient for your use case, e.g. even the 6th gen Intel CPU will be more than enough. No need for expansion cards either - just get a motherboard with most SATA ports. The case choice will depend on the main component selection, number of hard drives and desired room for expansion.

And here's Gamers Nexus on the "response":

Gamers Nexus 👍 👍 👍

Yeah, other than that there's no much you can do to increase air flow in small, restrictive cases... Short of removing the case panel or cutting holes for more fans etc... A high static-pressure fan might help somewhat. But probably won't make any difference since the existing fan pulls air out. The product's webpage mentions of increased ventilation for SSDs. Probably done at the cost of reduced air-flow to HDDs. You might want to experiment with blocking out perforations on the top side which might allow more air to enter through the front.

The HDD temps at idle (if reported correctly) are way too hot, even at 28C ambient. What are the temps during the parity check?

Actually as long as the third .M2 SSD is of the NVMe type you will not loose that SATA port. It will only be disabled if you add a SATA type of the .M2 drive.

Intel is still considered to be a preferred platform for Unraid for the following reasons: iGPU efficiency, idle state implementation (C-states) and overall Linux stability. The 8700K's built-in iGPU (UHD 630) is powerful enough for a few streams of 4K Plex transcoding (assuming you transcode and not just direct-play) - no need for a stand-alone GPU for that specific purpose.

You can also copy data over your network. It's not the fastest but might be the easiest way. Check out "Spaceinvader One" videos on youtube for tutorials on Unraid.

You can try this:

Try to repair it with https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

ebay is probably the worst place to get the stick. The trick is to minimize chances of getting a fake one, regardless of the model.

Multiple backups (3-2-1) is a preferred and recommended strategy only for your irreplaceable or hard to replace data which usually consists just a small portion of a common consumer NAS system.

It's usually recommended to complete at least 4 passes. It's not common but sometimes a problematic stick configuration would run fine for a couple of passes but then fail on the 3rd or even 4th pass.

Why not an Intel CPU with a built-in iGPU?

most people in the third world won't have a problem same as the above OCR translation, with the payment processor allowing payments within a certain territory. Judging by the LimeTech's past marketing strategies it does seem like that they are interested in promoting Unraid outside of the first world. e.g. their recent 50% off coupon code (大鹏 YYDS) that's been shared on the Chinese Unraid Facebook page. The coupon worked only if paid with Ali Pay attached to a Chinese ID.

Sure there will be more work involved. That's normally how it goes with rapid business expansion. Assuming that LimeTech do desire to expand at an accelerated pace. If they're complacent with the current situation and are overall comfortable with sales numbers then yeah, why to change anything. Going forward they might be able to maintain their unique position unchanged... until a cheaper and simpler to setup competition comes along. btw, had anyone heard anything of lately on the progress made in development by the supposed Unraid competitor? Referring to the LTT's investment...

The cost of Unraid is fine for rich countries but way too expensive for the third world. On the other hand I'd say that charging $150 for a privilege of being guided in an one-on-one session by a well known and highly acclaimed guru is absolutely reasonable.

A simple solution for discounted licenses would be a requirement to supply a proof of residence e.g. a copy of local ID - problem solved.

I'd say the cost of hardware is normally more expensive in any country due to taxation and/or market inefficiency/size if compared to the U.S. prices. Which makes Unraid even more cost-prohibitive as an add-on cost to an already dis-proportionally expensive system for a someone building a NAS in the third world. There's no much of a choice when purchasing hardware but there are at least several options available for free NAS software.

I think Unraid's worldwide revenues and adoption rates would increase many times over if the license pricing model made it reasonable. The costs are simply unaffordable to the residents of countries located outside of the "first world". I think it would be fairly simple to automate a discount to the full license cost based on the origin of payment. The discount could be pro-rated according to the purchasing power index of a given country: https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ The 12700K or any similar 12th Gen is fine as long as it has enough of cores for your use case to share with the VM. No need to pay any extra for the "K" SKU if it carries a premium in your market. This particular one comes with the UHD 770 iGPU which is more than enough for light Plex transcoding. But the lesser UHD 730 would also be sufficient for a few 4K transcodes. And you'll likely need to keep the 1070 for your VM and CUDA. If you're absolutely sure that you won't be running more than 6 HDDs then you can pick any of the "big 4" brand mATX mobos with 6 SATA ports. As for the NAS case, there aren't many in the mATX form factor. The most recommended by far is the Fractal Node 804. But if you think that you will need some room for expansion then you should get an ATX motherboard with 8 SATA ports and a bigger ATX case (from the Fractal Meshify or Define series). Don't try to save on a PSU - get at least a Tier B, Mid-Range PSU: https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/ You might want to check this post for tips on power consumption: https://unraid.net/blog/energy-efficient-server. Also this thread:

Thank you for the correction. I was looking at the SAS version of the drive.

You'll need to run Memtest for at least 6-8 passes. Before the test clear your mobo's CMOS to reset to factory settings. https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmanager/memtest86.html "Once booted, Memtest86+ will initialize its display, then pause for a few seconds to allow the user to configure its operation. If no key is pressed, it will automatically start running all tests using a single CPU core, continuing indefinitely until the user reboots or halts the machine." https://memtest.org/readme#operation

I don't think you will see any increased speeds over regular HDDs. My understanding is that these dual actuator drives require specialized interface componentry and software in order to be able to realize advertised speed increases. They will present themselves to Unraid as two regular speed, 9TB logical units.