Total noob here. Trying to figure out my hardware requirements more

[Charming Potato]

Hello. It is my first time getting a dedicated computer to run as a server/NAS/media server, and there are a few things I was a bit confused about. My main goal is to be able to host plex/jellyfin with the whole setup (radarr, sonarr, jackett, rtorrent/deluge) etc so I can watch my shows when I'm not at home. It will be transcoding 2-3 4k media whenever needed, but direct play is what we will be mostly using.

 

I have already bought the system, and all the parts should be delivered by the end of the week, so I wanted to know if there is anything missing for my usecase. Here are the specs:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9L CPU

Motherboard: ASRock Z690M-ITX

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 3200 (2x32 GB)

PSU: Corsair RM750 (750W)

Storage (SSD for cache): SAMSUNG 980 PRO (2x500 GB)

Storage (HDD): 2xWD Red Plus 14TB NAS Hard Disk Drive

 

Here are some questions I have:

 

1. I read in the documentation that cache drives are used for write only tasks to speed up the array. If that is the case, will it be used for downloading torrents? Or will it be moved there for heavy-duty tasks such as transcoding by Plex server etc?

2. My understanding is that Unraid runs on a USB flash drive, if that is the case, I can assign both my SSDs as a cache together, correct? I was thinking raid-0 as I don't really care about losing the data on them.

3. Can VM/containers run on cache drives? If not, will a single 2.5" SSD work independently from the array to host VMs/containers?

4. Since I would be accessing my streams remotely most of the time, I have been looking into pfsense firewall with Unraid and I'm confused, do I need an NIC card for it or can I run it off of my motherboard's LAN ports?

5. Since I only have two HDDs for now, what sort of raid setup would be ideal for my use case? I will most likely add more drives in the future, and I don't really care about the data on my drive all that much, so availability and performance is my top priority.

6. Related to the answer in #5, do I need parity drive? As I said, I don't really care about losing the data.

 

I'd really appreciate if someone can help me answer these questions!

Edited October 16, 2022 by Charming Potato

[TimTheSettler]

Hello.  I can help with some answers if you're still interested.