Upgrade UNRAID Server

[ptmurphy]

I am in the planning phase of upgrading my UNRAID Server. Hard to believe but I got to looking and the current server was built in July of 2012! It has served me well, but I want to built a new server for a few reasons...

 

1. I would like to add a Windows 10 VM - This would be for basic use and occasional video editing that I do for my wife's YouTube channel

 

2. I use the current system for a Plex server, but given that it's a 2012 CPU (AMD Athlon II X2 260), there is really no transcoding or multiple streams going on! I want the server to be able to handle 2-3 streams at a time.

 

3. I figure 8+ years is pushing it on the hardware.

 

A few questions for the group...

 

1. My current system is ReiserFS, which was the only option when I built the server. I have enough storage to back everything up outside of the array, so should I just reformat all the drives as XFS and start from scratch, copying everything from the backups when done?

 

2. I was planning on an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and an ASUS AMD TUF X570 Plus as the motherboard. Does this seem adequate for what I am wanting to do?

 

3. I like the case I have, and have a decent 650W power supply (Rosewill Hive Series 650W Modular Gaming 80 Pluse Bronze)) that is in my old system, but would you be worried about the age and go ahead and replace it? 

 

Thanks or any help and guidance!

 

 

[JonathanM]

What drives are currently in the array, and how many of them are making the transition to the new build? The fact that you are using ReiserFS would lead me to believe your current drives are relatively small and slow, so my answer to question 1 is to not use any of those drives in the new build and budget for a pair of large drives, depending on how much data you currently have, maybe 3 large drives. I find it difficult to imagine a system with ReiserFS built in 2012 that couldn't fit completely on a very few 12 or 14TB drives.

 

Keep the old drives intact as backup, and copy them to new drives.

 

PSU could probably use an upgrade, depending on the quality of the caps.

 

No comment on AMD, I'm firmly in the intel camp for now.

[Hoopster]

5 hours ago, ptmurphy said:

I was planning on an AMD Ryzen 5 3600

If you want to do transcoding in software (CPU), you need 2000 passmarks per 1080p stream to be transcoded.  The Ryzen 3600 has a 17000+ passmark rating so no problem there with what you want to with Plex.  Always make sure there are 2000 passmarks of overhead for unRAID as well.  Technically, the 3600 could handle 7 concurrent streams and 8 if really pushed.  it takes 17,000 passmarks for a single stream of 4K HEVC transcoding, so, you can't do that with the CPU

 

Your other option is to get a supported Nvidia GPU and do transcoding with it rather than the CPU.  This requires the Nvidia driver plugin.  Most supported GPUs will do at least one 4K stream in addition to several (either 3 or "unlimited" depending on the GPU model) 1080p streams.

 

I personally use Intel CPUs just for the integrated GPU which I throw at Plex, HandBrake, etc. for transcoding, but, your AMD choice should be good as well.

 

Your AMD choice should let you run your VM with at least 2 cores/2 threads (4 total) assigned to it.

 

5 hours ago, ptmurphy said:

but would you be worried about the age and go ahead and replace it?

Since I have had two PSUs fail recently with 5 and 6 years of use, I would probably replace it if you have had it 8-9 years.  As they age, they get less and less efficient and output fewer and fewer watts over time.  I would not risk the rest of the build with an old PSU.  If the PSU has been in the system since 2012, it is "old."

 

I agree with Jonathanm on the drives issue.  Do yourself a favor and put in new larger drives formatted XFS and copy the data over to them.

Edited February 17, 2021 by Hoopster

[ptmurphy]

47 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

What drives are currently in the array, and how many of them are making the transition to the new build? The fact that you are using ReiserFS would lead me to believe your current drives are relatively small and slow, so my answer to question 1 is to not use any of those drives in the new build and budget for a pair of large drives, depending on how much data you currently have, maybe 3 large drives. I find it difficult to imagine a system with ReiserFS built in 2012 that couldn't fit completely on a very few 12 or 14TB drives.

 

Keep the old drives intact as backup, and copy them to new drives.

 

PSU could probably use an upgrade, depending on the quality of the caps.

 

No comment on AMD, I'm firmly in the intel camp for now.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. Right now the array is based on 2TB hard drives (didn't start out with those in 2012) - a combination of Samsung, Western Digital, and Toshiba drives. I have a total of 5 array drives, so a 10TB capacity altogether. I wasn't planning on getting new drives at this point, since 10TB is meeting my needs, but now you have me thinking!

 

I will probably go ahead and upgrade the PSU.

 

 

[ptmurphy]

37 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

If you want to do transcoding in software (CPU), you need 2000 passmarks per 1080p stream to be transcoded.  The Ryzen 3600 has a 17000+ passmark rating so no problem there with what you want to with Plex.  Always make sure there are 2000 passmarks of overhead for unRAID as well.  Technically, the 3600 could handle 7 concurrent streams and 8 if really pushed.  it takes 17,000 passmarks for a single stream of 4K HEVC transcoding, so, you can't do that with the CPU

 

Your other option is to get a supported Nvidia GPU and do transcoding with it rather than the CPU.  This requires the Nvidia driver plugin.  Most supported CPUs will do at least one 4K stream in addition to several (either 3 or "unlimited" depending on the GPU model) 1080p streams.

 

I personally use Intel CPUs just for the integrated GPU which I throw at Plex, HandBrake, etc. for transcoding, but, your AMD choice should be good as well.

 

Your AMD choice should let you run your VM with at least 2 cores/2 threads (4 total) assigned to it.

 

Since I have had two PSUs fail recently with 5 and 6 years of use, I would probably replace it if you have had it 8-9 years.  As they age, they get less and less efficient and output fewer and fewer watts over time.  I would not risk the rest of the build with an old PSU.  If the PSU has been in the system since 2012, it is "old."

 

I agree with Jonathanm on the drives issue.  Do yourself a favor and put in new larger drives formatted XFS and copy the data over to them.

 

Dang it! Everything always gets more expensive that I counted on!  LOL.  Good advice, I appreciate it.

[JonathanM]

16 minutes ago, ptmurphy said:

 

Thanks for the recommendations. Right now the array is based on 2TB hard drives (didn't start out with those in 2012) - a combination of Samsung, Western Digital, and Toshiba drives. I have a total of 5 array drives, so a 10TB capacity altogether. I wasn't planning on getting new drives at this point, since 10TB is meeting my needs, but now you have me thinking!

 

I will probably go ahead and upgrade the PSU.

 

 

2TB older drives are probably 1/3 or less of the data speed of 12TB drives. So there is that.

[Hoopster]

17 minutes ago, ptmurphy said:

Dang it! Everything always gets more expensive that I counted on!  LOL.  Good advice, I appreciate it.

As I upgrade drives in my main server, I repurpose the old drives as array drives in my backup server.  I like having a redundant copy locally as well as cloud backup and backup of irreplaceable data to external USB drives.

[ptmurphy]

I think you guys might be talking me into a more complete build to better handle the VM and Plex Encoding, as well as more storage space with faster drives!

[ptmurphy]

Well, you guys talked me into it... I upped the budget a bit, realizing that what I was doing was not really going to be enough to run UNRAID, a Plex server, and a windows VM. Also, I am adding all new disks. Here is what I came up with

 

- AMD Ryzen 9 3900 - 12 Core, 24 Thread

- Asus AM4 TUF Gaming x570-Plus Motherboard

- Nvidia Video Card (low end) for the VM

- 32 GB RAM

- New Power Supply

- 3 8TB Drives - 1 for parity, 2 for data (this takes my storage capacity from 10TB to 16TB, and plenty of room to add new disks)

- 1TB SSD for Cache and VM image

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction and making me spend more mone! 🙂

 

[Hoopster]

6 minutes ago, ptmurphy said:

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction

Looks like a system that should meet your needs well.