My First Unraid Server Build

[TurnedHarbour57]

Hi everyone. 
 

I am building my first unraid server and I’ve managed to come up with a build that I think would be able to handle Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, and 1-2 VMs. 
 

I don’t have much experience in this but I do love me a huge case. 
 

Is there any changes I could make to my build or anything you would change. 
 

Build : 

 

 

Intel Core i9-13900k 

 

Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX

 

Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 128GB (4x32GB) DDR5-5200MHz 

 

Corsair iCUE H170i Elite LCD 420mm Liquid CPU Cooler

 

Corsair HX1000 1000W 80 Plus Platinum Certified Fully Modular PSU 

 

SSD 1TB x 4 

 

6 x 18TB Seagate Iron Wolf Pros HDD (I have these already) 

 

Thermaltake View 91 Tempered Glass RGB Edition Super Tower Desktop Chassis

 

any advise would be appreciated. Not sure if I am overdoing it 😅

[marco_yang]

These are very powerful hardware. The only problem I can think about is expandability.

 

Your Z790 mobo comes with one PCIE_X16 slot and dual PCIE_X4 slots. You said you want to run 1-2 VMs on this machine, assuming you plan to add a graphic card on PCIE_X16, then you only left two PCIE_X4 slots for your future 10Gig card and SAS controller cards for sata expansion(you already used all 6 SATA ports on mobo). 10Gig cards on x4 is more expensive and most SAS controller cards are running on x8.

An alternative would be mobo with on-board 10Gig ethernet ports, which will save you a pcie slot. Then use sata expansion card if you want to add HDDs in the future.

[marco_yang]

Oh and I am not sure if 13900K's igpu can be used to codec in plex or jellyfin right now

Edited April 23, 2023 by marco_yang

[Lolight]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:21 PM, TurnedHarbour57 said:

Corsair iCUE H170i Elite LCD 420mm Liquid CPU Cooler

Liquid coolers are generally not recommended for server builds.

[TurnedHarbour57]

2 hours ago, Lolight said:

Liquid coolers are generally not recommended for server builds.

I see, 

Any recommendations to cool the 13900k ? 

[Lolight]

1 hour ago, TurnedHarbour57 said:

I see, 

Any recommendations to cool the 13900k ? 

 

[Aran]

These are very powerful hardware. The only problem I can think about is expandability.
 
Your Z790 mobo comes with one PCIE_X16 slot and dual PCIE_X4 slots. You said you want to run 1-2 VMs on this machine, assuming you plan to add a graphic card on PCIE_X16, then you only left two PCIE_X4 slots for your future 10Gig card and SAS controller cards for sata expansion(you already used all 6 SATA ports on mobo). 10Gig cards on x4 is more expensive and most SAS controller cards are running on x8.
An alternative would be mobo with on-board 10Gig ethernet ports, which will save you a pcie slot. Then use sata expansion card if you want to add HDDs in the future.

^ This

Would it be possible to start with used hardware until you know what you really want to do with your unraid server. It took me 4 years to figure it all out and now that i'm settled i realize i don't need a €800 pc. Yes, your needs may be different then mine but an 8th or 10th gen i7 with 16gb ram can be very capable and bought for €150 (in europe)

What vm's are you planning to run?

[marco_yang]

I'd say 16gb is definitely not enough if you plan to run VMs. Start with at least 32gb.

[Aran]

It depends on the vm's. My server has two vm's running 24/7 with a single 8gb stick.

[tinycatsamurai]

I think the better answer here would be "What are you doing, or want to be doing, with your server?"

If it's just a couple VM's(gaming or productivity?), and the standard plex/ *aaarrrrs set up then no, you do not need those specs:

 

13900k is excessive and unnecessary (i5 13500 with UHD770 is a good alternative)

liquid cooling is usually bad idea because of the potential for pump failure. (go for a AK620 or a even a hyper 212 if you go for the i5)

128GB of RAM is excessive (go 32GB or 64GB for now, expand IF you need to later)

 

I would highly recommend the fractal design 7 xl vs the case you have picked out here.  More space, more sound dampening, etc...