Converting gaming PC to an Unraid server (VMs/Docker/NAS Storage)

[dynomite567]

Hello everyone!

Recently I have been gaining interest into Unraid recently, and since my now 4 year old gaming pc has spent most of it's time collecting dust and being idle most of the time, I wanted to make it into an Unraid server.

Here are the current specs on it now: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/dynomite567/saved/yr24Mp

 

I want to be able to use the server in the following ways:

• Storing some data (Probably not a lot)
• Hosting a media server (Plex, Jellyfish, etc., want transcoding)
• Hosting docker containers, a LOT of docker containers (I end up experimenting with a bunch of different services time to time, and I tend to start up and tear down containers a lot of the time)
• A primary Windows VM that can both be used for gaming and for work related things (GPU Passthrough). Will be running most of the time, but may shut it off if I need to.
• Multiple VMs to test out different Linux OS's or run other publicly available images. These would only be running if I want to use them, and will be shut off when I am done.

 

I am thinking of using the SSD as a cache drive and mainly using two HDDs to store the files, with one HDD being a parity drive.

 

Most of the hardware right now I have is existing hardware I have for a while (again, I am re-using a gaming station that mostly sits dormant in the back of my room). I am planning on upgrading the hard drives to implement RAID 1 Storage and to have more storage space (Probably about 3-4TB) to work with when making VMs or storing data

 

I want to make sure this build would work well with the use cases I described above. Any and all feedback is appreciated and if I need to clarify some things in my use cases, please let me know and I'll try to provide more detail if I can. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Whoops, it seems like I made a mistake when I was explaining my storage plan above (Saying I was going to use my 250GB SSD as Parity :/). I corrected this so that I don't sound like an absolute fool in my storage explanation.

Edited April 27, 2021 by dynomite567

[Phetheron]

Pretty much thinking the same with my older gaming PC. Did you ever get this setup?