Processor!

[jakebake]

Hey guys so I am planning on building a unraid server. It just needs to be about 4-6tb, but I want to use it for streaming movies, pics, music, as well as have sickbeard, SAB, couch potato, etc on it. I want it to be able to download stuff on SAB while still streaming a movie.

Will the processor used in the recommended builds work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103698

Or do I need a dual core?

 

thanks!

[jamerson9]

Unless your planning to do transcoding or running VMs a single core should be fine.

[jakebake]

Sorry what is VMs and transcoding as in?

[aiden]

VM = virtual machine (multiple environments installed on the same hardware)

transcoding = compressing or decompressing media on the fly into different formats

[jakebake]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103698

 

So this wouldn't work for say changing flac music files into mp3 or apple loseless etc? Or are you more referring to movies

[aiden]

For media servers, transcoding generally refers to video conversion, usually compression to make a smaller filestream.

[Rajahal]

The Sempron will work for any of these tasks, it will just be slower than a dual core.  I believe you'll be fine with the Sempron as you haven't mentioned a desire to do anything too CPU-intensive.

[jakebake]

The Sempron will work for any of these tasks, it will just be slower than a dual core.  I believe you'll be fine with the Sempron as you haven't mentioned a desire to do anything too CPU-intensive.

Great!

I was also wondering about the memory. Is 1 2gb stick good or should I be using 2 x 1gb? It looked like the kingston you've been recommending is only 1 stick but then I saw this on the main website "Similarly, RAM speed makes little difference as long as you are running dual-port.  So make sure you get two sticks of RAM, one for channel A and one for channel B."

 

 

 

 

[Rajahal]

I disagree with LimeTech on that point.  First of all, RAM speed makes little difference no matter what.  I've used single and multiple sticks of anywhere from DDR2 667 to DDR3 1066, and I haven't noticed any differences whatsoever.  The only thing that seems to matter is the amount of RAM, and even then it only matters for certain tasks and add-ons.  Stock unRAID behaves the same anywhere between 1 and 5 GB of RAM (those are the limits that I've personally tested).

 

Secondly, two RAM sticks (which allows you to use dual channel mode) will use slightly more power and limit your upgrade options.  Say you buy 2 x 1GB sticks today.  Then in a few months you start using cache_dirs, or torrents, or some other add-on that would benefit from more RAM.  You want to upgrade to 4 or even 8 GBs of RAM.  Chances are you will have to completely replace both 1 GB sticks with new 2 GB or larger ones.  The cheaper and better option would be to buy a single 2 GB stick now, then you can simply add more 2 GB sticks if/when you want to upgrade.  Even if you never upgrade, you are still getting the same amount of RAM with less power usage.

 

Finally, I believe that 2 GB should be the new minimum that anyone should buy.  They are about the same price as a single 1 GB stick, but of course they are twice the size.  1 GB sticks are obsolete, in my opinion.  The only time I've bought 1 GB sticks in the past year or so was for an older Supermicro board that was picky about RAM and I could only find 2 x 1GB sticks that were on its approved RAM list.

 

I'll add a caveat to this that I don't do anything too intense with my server.  If you are running VMs or something like that, then faster RAM will definitely make a difference.

[jakebake]

I disagree with LimeTech on that point.  First of all, RAM speed makes little difference no matter what.  I've used single and multiple sticks of anywhere from DDR2 667 to DDR3 1066, and I haven't noticed any differences whatsoever.  The only thing that seems to matter is the amount of RAM, and even then it only matters for certain tasks and add-ons.  Stock unRAID behaves the same anywhere between 1 and 5 GB of RAM (those are the limits that I've personally tested).

 

Secondly, two RAM sticks (which allows you to use dual channel mode) will use slightly more power and limit your upgrade options.  Say you buy 2 x 1GB sticks today.  Then in a few months you start using cache_dirs, or torrents, or some other add-on that would benefit from more RAM.  You want to upgrade to 4 or even 8 GBs of RAM.  Chances are you will have to completely replace both 1 GB sticks with new 2 GB or larger ones.  The cheaper and better option would be to buy a single 2 GB stick now, then you can simply add more 2 GB sticks if/when you want to upgrade.  Even if you never upgrade, you are still getting the same amount of RAM with less power usage.

 

Finally, I believe that 2 GB should be the new minimum that anyone should buy.  They are about the same price as a single 1 GB stick, but of course they are twice the size.  1 GB sticks are obsolete, in my opinion.  The only time I've bought 1 GB sticks in the past year or so was for an older Supermicro board that was picky about RAM and I could only find 2 x 1GB sticks that were on its approved RAM list.

 

I'll add a caveat to this that I don't do anything too intense with my server.  If you are running VMs or something like that, then faster RAM will definitely make a difference.

 

Thank you! You mentioned that if doing torrents you could benefit from more ram. I was hopefully going to set up my unraid server with sickbeard/couchpotato/SABnzbd running these would you recommend more than 2gb?

[Rajahal]

I don't use any of those so I can't really comment.  My generic advice would be to start with a single 2 GB stick and then upgrade if you find you need more.

[prostuff1]

Thank you! You mentioned that if doing torrents you could benefit from more ram. I was hopefully going to set up my unraid server with sickbeard/couchpotato/SABnzbd running these would you recommend more than 2gb?

 

You don't need more than 2 GB.  I run torrents off of my server using the Transmission package available and I only have 2GB in my server right now.

 

With that being said, I just purchased 8GB more to add to the server.  I am planning on rebuilding my server and running VM's off of it in the near-ish future.

 

If you have the extra cash to spend put 4GB in to start

[jamerson9]

Memory prices are at an all time low, so I would just buy 4GB and pack a lunch for a day or two. 

[twg]

I'm in the same boat, but I do want to run airVideo which will transcode 1080p stuff, but that's the most cpu intensive task, could I still use the Sempron or should I use another processor ? And if another, I already have an AM3 MB, so which cpu to get?

 

Thx

[Rajahal]

For video transcoding I would choose a dual core CPU, such as one off this list.  The 3.1 GHz seems to be the best value at the moment.

[twg]

Here in Canada, here are the Athlon II prices:

 

Athlon II x2 (65W):

 

245 2.9GHz - $54.88CAD

250 3Ghz - $64.99CAD

255 3.1GHz - $67.99CAD

260 3.2GHz - $72.99

 

However there is a sale:

 

Athlon II x3 (95W):

 

445 3.1GHz - $79.99

 

The only downside to the x3 is the higher power consumption, which I don't really care about... but I do have a Corsair CX600 Watt to be used for a 15 drive build...

 

thoughts ?

[Rajahal]

Any of them should work, so just decide based on how much you want to spend.  I personally would avoid the triple core because of the higher power usage, but I also leave my server running 24/7.