I have all parts gathered and I was ready to build. Someone made a comment to me that my CPU is overkill (power hog and slower than modern CPU's). They recommended I get a 12th or 13th gen CPU and a new board to match.

 

My current part list is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900k

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15

Memory: 64GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400mhz

PSU: Corsair RM850X

Hard Drives: 2 WD Red 14 TB's, 2 WD Red 8 TB's, 2 WD Red 4 TB's and a 250gb Samsung 960 EVO SSD for cache

Case: Fractal Design Define R5

 

CPU is brand new, in sealed box. MB was only used for a couple months in my personal computer setup. I see that CPU is selling for quite a bit of money recently and by selling it I could probably upgrade for no money out of pocket.

 

My server needs would be as a Plex Media Server, File storage (photo's and backup's) and a Windows 10 and MAC VM's

 

CPU I was told, " Grab a Gaming X Z690 board with a i3 13100. Less energy usage, more compute power, not a dead end move, much better expansion capabilities, MUCH better transcode performance."

 

Cache drive I was told, "The EVO is overkill (if you move to a board with Gen4 on it). A WD SN770 will give you better performance for less money. You should be running NVME in RAID1 pools. A pair of 500gb SN770's will run you $100. 250gb imo is too small

 

Am I wasting time and potential money building with my current parts? Should I look into a 13th gen build?

If you compare your i9 with a couple of 13th gen CPUs, you'll see how far things have developed:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3334vs5008vs5156/Intel-i9-9900K-vs-Intel-i5-13600K-vs-Intel-i3-13100F

The only 13th gen i3 on that site is the 13100F, which doesn't have an iGPU (you'll want an iGPU for Plex transcoding). but that'll give you an idea of the sort of performance you can expect.

I recently upgraded from a Thinkserver with an old Xeon to a 13th gen i5 (13600k) and although its Max TDP is higher, I'm getting better energy efficiency with my new build with general usage, maybe due to the efficiency cores. I have yet to do much in the way of power optimisation, so I'm hoping I can get further reductions.
I went for an ASRock Z790 RS Pro board with 32GB of DDR5 as I plan on holding on to this for a good few years and figured I'd get the latest stuff now so I have better upgrade options in the future or it'll be suitable for a gaming PC build. I looked into getting a Z690 and DDR4, but there really wasn't much difference in cost so I decided to go with the newest kit.

 

I also have a pair of 1TB 770s as I got them for a good price during the recent Black Friday sales. I'm running them in RAID 1 and plan on using them as a dedicated pool for my Nextcloud storage. Am yet to get Nextcloud working yet, so can't comment on their performance. They'll likely be more than fast enough.

 

Up to you, but I think if it was me I'd be looking to unload your old kit while it's still worth some money and investing in some more recent parts with better efficiency and upgradeability.

On 1/14/2023 at 4:21 PM, -C- said:

If you compare your i9 with a couple of 13th gen CPUs, you'll see how far things have developed:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3334vs5008vs5156/Intel-i9-9900K-vs-Intel-i5-13600K-vs-Intel-i3-13100F

The only 13th gen i3 on that site is the 13100F, which doesn't have an iGPU (you'll want an iGPU for Plex transcoding). but that'll give you an idea of the sort of performance you can expect.

I recently upgraded from a Thinkserver with an old Xeon to a 13th gen i5 (13600k) and although its Max TDP is higher, I'm getting better energy efficiency with my new build with general usage, maybe due to the efficiency cores. I have yet to do much in the way of power optimisation, so I'm hoping I can get further reductions.
I went for an ASRock Z790 RS Pro board with 32GB of DDR5 as I plan on holding on to this for a good few years and figured I'd get the latest stuff now so I have better upgrade options in the future or it'll be suitable for a gaming PC build. I looked into getting a Z690 and DDR4, but there really wasn't much difference in cost so I decided to go with the newest kit.

 

I also have a pair of 1TB 770s as I got them for a good price during the recent Black Friday sales. I'm running them in RAID 1 and plan on using them as a dedicated pool for my Nextcloud storage. Am yet to get Nextcloud working yet, so can't comment on their performance. They'll likely be more than fast enough.

 

Up to you, but I think if it was me I'd be looking to unload your old kit while it's still worth some money and investing in some more recent parts with better efficiency and upgradeability.

Thanks for the info here.
I was looking to update my current HTPC which streams from the PLEX server (direct play).
My challenge was discovering all the new hardware out today that would allow the HTPC (client) to play 4K HVEC / AV1 without any concerns. I only need to upgrade the motherboard and CPU

I stumbled across this and would like to get your thoughts?

• Intel Core i3-13100 Desktop Processor 4 cores (4 P-cores + 0 E-cores) 12MB Cache, up to 4.5 GHz
• MSI PRO-B760M-P-DDR4 (Supports 12th/13th Gen Intel Processors, LGA 1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, M.2, 2.5Gbps LAN, USB 3.2 Gen2, mATX)

I was curious if the Intel UHD Graphics 730 would handle 4k playback from plex, of if I would require from more horsepower from say a:

• GeForce GT 710 2GB DDR3 PCI-E2.0 DL-DVI VGA HDMI Passive Cooled Single Slot Low Profile Graphics Card (ZT-71302-20L

Looking forward to hear your feedback regarding this.

 

Thank you.

GT 710 is worthless for decoding HEVC / H.265.  The transcoding of the UHD Graphics 730 is far superior.

Edited December 23, 20232 yr by ConnerVT

On 12/22/2023 at 5:44 PM, bombz said:

I was looking to update my current HTPC which streams from the PLEX server (direct play).
My challenge was discovering all the new hardware out today that would allow the HTPC (client) to play 4K HVEC / AV1 without any concerns. I only need to upgrade the motherboard and CPU

Are you upgrading your Unraid machine (PLEX server) that currently doesn't transcode?

What's your client setup?

Edited December 24, 20232 yr by Lolight