[Recommended Builds for unRAID Upgrade]

Thanks again.  I'm doing my 1080p HandBrake h265-10b encodes (from a 4K source) on an 8700K (Coffee Lake), then uploading to my UNRAID box to stream; I have only encountered an issue when streaming from the UNRAID box to a Roku 3.  Transcoding needed to happen server-side and it basically melted the CPU (8-Year-Old AMD Sempron).  Streaming to Plex Media Player on Windows was fine.  Streaming to my TCL Roku TV was fine.  The clients were direct playing I believe.  I need to upgrade the UNRAID server anyways, otherwise I'd just roll the dive on an Apple TV 4K or something of that nature.  Which is what led me down the current rabbit hole of needing help with suggested parts for a Node 304 build.

[Recommended Builds for unRAID Upgrade]

 

On 4/1/2020 at 6:42 PM, Hoopster said:

Transcoding can be handled in two ways; software transcoding which uses the CPU and hardware transcoding which uses a GPU.  The GPU can be either an iGPU with Intel processors or a discrete GPU with either an Intel or AMD CPU.

 

If you want to do CPU transcoding, you need 2000 passmarks per 1080p stream.  If you want to transcode 4K/HEVC content with your CPU, be prepared to spend more money as 4K takes 17,000 passmarks per stream.  Obviously 4K CPU transcoding should be avoided.

 

Thank you for the latest reply.  I've turned on signatures, and appreciate what you've got listed.  I've been eyeing the Node 304 (your backup) to build in with 6x10TB (50TB w/1 Parity).  I've quoted another one of your replies and have a question.  My use case would be streaming Plex/HandBrake optimized 1080p versions of my 4K collection in h265-10bit.  Does the h265-10bit caveat mean similar things for CPU transcoding as mentioned above?  That is, does the h265-10bit by itself mean I'll likely need a GPU or a higher-end CPU?  Or is it rather the resolution of 4K that pushes the need?

[Recommended Builds for unRAID Upgrade]

@Hoopster Would you mind linking a PCPartPicker for your current build?  I'm curious about what case/components you're using.  Thank you for all of the information you've shared, it's very helpful.