Need help, new to UNRAID and getting ready to build my first new dedicated machine.

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I have been saving for a while to build a new UNRAID server and have two different builds in mind. I have discussed with a friend, who has never used UNRAID. I will be using the server for media, ftp, virtual machines, and whatever other cool ideas I can discover. I have never used any AMD products in the past and want to give them a shot, but don't want to be disappointed either. So I thought no better place to get information than the UNRAID forum and people that have experience.  The difference in the two builds will be the CPU and motherboard, I want to run a virtual gaming rig and don't know which way to go, or if I'm totally in the wrong direction. More cores or overclock potential, I'm really new to this, but for a server my gut says cores, please help. Also with each motherboard I lose SATA connectors when installing M.2 drives do I need a super expensive expansion card or will just about any work now with UNRAID.

 

CPU #1: Ryzen 9 3950X                                     CPU #2: Intel 10900K

MB: #1: Asus TUF Gaming X570 Plus                   MB #2: ASRock Z490 Velocita

 

Cooler: NZXT Kraken X53

RAM: 64GB Corsair Vengeance 3000mhz 

Cache drives: (2) M.2 1tb 970 EVO

HDD: (4) Western Digital Red 4tb drives, 5400?

PS: 750 watt, to little if I add graphics later?

PCIe SATA Expansion ????????

 

 

 

 

[Energen]

While it's entirely possible to have a gaming machine hosted on Unraid  --- a few people do -- I personally feel that it's too much trouble to get working good and still will never have the full experience of a dedicated gaming machine.  I could be completely wrong.

 

If you plan on gaming then you 100% need a graphics card.

 

If you plan on gaming with modern, intensive games, you 100% need a powerful CPU.  

 

A lot of / some of / a few, I don't really know, have gaming rigs using a Threadripper processor.. which means money.  You need the performance.  Is it possible with a Ryzen 9?  Probably. I can't say for sure.

 

If you go ahead with this build .. I'd probably change your configuration to use one of the M2 nvme as a passthrough for the gaming VM since you need fast disk access, or at the least add a SATA SSD drive.

 

Are you planning on using a parity drive? That will be one of the 4TB drives leaving you with 3 for data.

 

For gaming -- 64GB RAM is probably sufficient but I still / always believe more is better so I'd jump up to 128GB, and give 64GB to the VM.

 

SATA expansions cards are cheap if you need one.. nothing major there.

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Thank you for the info, the virtual gaming setup would be a toy to tinker with later. I have a dedicated gaming rig, but interested in the idea for testing. Failed to explain one of the 4tb drives will be parity and I have a couple of 2tb drives to toss in as well.