Hi All,
I've been an Unraid user for several years now, but I'm currently in between setups. I moved from NYC to London two years ago and in the process I had to disassemble my server and put it in storage. Now, I'm looking to reconstitute the system, albeit with a bit of an update.
Previous Build
The old server was as follows (some are approximate guesses due to a lack of records!):
MB: ASUS Z97-A ATX
CPU: 4th or 5th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 (honestly can't remember exactly what I had, and I inherited it so there are no old order histories to consult!)
RAM: 20GB of DDR3 memory (one 2x8GB Kingston kit and a random 4GB Samsung stick)
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 850W (PS-TPD-0850FNFAPU-1)
GPU: GTX1080Ti
HDDs: 8x 3.5" SATA drives (a mix of 5400/7200 RPM and a mix of vendors)
SSD: Samsung EVO 970 Pro 1TB M2 NVME
Extension card: LSI LSI00301 (9207-8i) SATA Host Controller Card
Enabling 8x SATA connections via two x4 mini-SAS connectors and mini-SAS to SATA breakout cables, running on PCIe3.0 x8
Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD PCI Express TV Tuner Card 1609
The setup was great, albeit I know it had some issues. It was cobbled together over time, and on a serious budget, but it did what I needed it to do.
Now, a couple of years later, only the underlined items have survived 😢 There's a great story about going through airport security with carry-on bag containing eight HDDs, a GPU, a PSU and a couple of extension cards wrapped in bubble wrap and being asked to "remove any large electronics" 🤣 But let's not dwell on that sad story, because out of the ashes a phoenix shall (hopefully) rise!
New Build
I've ordered some components to rebuild and I wanted to see if anyone here had any gotchas with the component list:
MB: Gigabyte B760M AORUS ELITE AX
Has just enough PCIe lanes for me: one x16 for the GPU and one x4 (size x16) for the SATA controller
I'm aware that the SATA controller is PCIe 3.0 x8 and will be going into an x4 slot, so half the bandwidth it requires
It's capable of hosting 8x6Gbps SATA connections, but I'll only be using four (the other four HDDs will go into the MB)
So by my calculations the 4x8Gbps PCIe bandwidth should be enough to handle those four HDDs, right?
CPU: Intel Core i3-13100
Went for the cheapest option here with a view that in a couple of years I might upgrade to an i5/i7 but wanted to keep the cost low.
Planning to use the stock CPU cooler until I upgrade or if I notice any performance issues.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this should be about as capable as the 4th/5th Gen Core i5/i7 that I might have had before?
HW transcoding: from memory, Plex wasn't able to HW transcode using the CPU - I had to make special efforts to use the GPU for transcoding. I'm not sure if this was simply because the CPU didn't have an iGPU or because the architecture didn't support it. This should be different now, right?
RAM: 32GB of DDR5 memory (CORSAIR Vengeance 2 x 16GB DDR5 4800 CMK32GX5M2A4800C40)
Limited to 4800Mz by the Core-i3
Case: Fractal Design Node 804
Questions
Now that the details are out of the way, I'll summarise the major questions:
Given that the MB only has four SATA ports, the SATA controller is pretty important. Are there any major reasons to think it won't work now, given that it did work before in the old system?
Did I sacrifice too much going for the Core i3, or will it be about parity with what I had before (4th/5th Gen core i5/i7 idk sorry)?
Is it really as simply as plugging everything back in and my array going back to how it was? I'd hate to lose all the data that's on those drives and have to wipe them and start from scratch, but also nothing on there is critically important so I'll survive if that's the case. Is there a strategy here?
Thanks in advance for reading and helping!
Grant