DiggsNC

Long time user, looking for some hardware advice. Current Motherboard is AM4 with 2 empty NVME sockets. ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING , Version Rev 1.xx I have: CPU = AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Six-Core @ 3200 MHz Cache Drive = 1TB WD Blue SSD GPU = NVIDIA 1650 for transcoding and it does everything I need. I want to upgrade both the CPU and Cache drive. Questions 1. What does the community think the best bang for the buck CPU would be for this existing motherboard? 2. Best NVME drives for durability? Don't care about speed that much, just want something to replace the very well used WD Blue SSD I have now. I understand many say go Intel for transcoding, but I am using my Nvidia GPU for that and don't want the expense of a new motherboard. Usage is pretty tame, several Dockers serving up Media running several dockers along with the basic NAS functions. I would like to fire up home assistant at some point and maybe a few VMs since I would like to migration away from windows to Linux for my day to day PC. Basically just looking to maximize the system since it is getting a bit dated. Considering a Ryzen 5700G just so I have another video out option, but it's not needed. Again, cache drives I am more concerned about reliability than speed. Considered OPTAIN U2 drives, but haven't seen much from other Unraid users trying those, and would prefer them to go on the motherboard for space. But certainly would entertain the NVME-U2 converter cables for the stability if people deem it a worthwhile consideration. Thanks!