May 22, 20242 yr So as I said I'm new to Unraid. And wanted to build a more flexible server to replace my plex server which is 6 years old at this point. Purpose of this server will be to run as a NAS, Photo Sync (via Photoprism) and Plex server (able to transcode 1 stream at 4k). And possibly some other services as well I might add in the future. My budget all in I'd like to stay under $1500. PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/D6wmTY CPU: Intel Core i5-13500 2.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($17.89 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Asus PRIME B760-PLUS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial CT2K16G48C40U5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-4800 CL40 Memory ($87.91 @ Amazon) Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($111.23 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ B&H) Power Supply: MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon) Total: $1099.25 The 4x Seagate drives will be in raid 6, giving about 11 TB of useable storage for the NAS. Sigh....I'm not so sure about these drives though....I've never had issues with Seagate drives, but a lot of people seem to nowadays. Haven't bought a new HDD in nearly a decade, been using SSDs for a long time. But 10TB of SSDs in raid 5 would be cost prohibitive. the 980 Pro will run the OS the 2x 970 Evo Plus will be set to read/write cache. (in raid 1, I assume not sure how unraid handles that yet) I already own the 2x 970 evo NVMEs, so not including them in the total pricing. They were the main boot drives on my main PC before I replaced them. The motherboard has 2x pcie 4.0x4 and 1x pcie 4.0x2 m.2 slots, the 980 I will put in the 4.0x2. So the 970 drives will have the same speed. Also the 980 will run cooler at the reduced speed as well. I haven't ordered anything yet, and don't plan to for a week or 2 yet. (currently waiting on new router and switches to reconfigure my network from 1g to 2.5g, doing that first) If you guys could let me know if my setup is deficient in any way, or could be done better. Please let me know, I'd really appreciate any input. Oh and if you guys know if those Seagate BarraCuda drives are worth it, or garbage that be great input too 😄 I've linked the pcpartbuilder for this setup. And created links for all the individual items directly to the OEM page for them. Regards, Jacek
May 22, 20242 yr Everything I've read says not to use consumer grade drives. Jump for enterprise or "pro" Nas drives. I'm super particular about power supplies, but the one you've chosen won't do you any favors for power efficiency.
May 22, 20242 yr Author You do have a good point about the drives. Hence I was opting for duel parity with those drives. But maybe going with 3x 12 TB seagate ironwolf nas drives would be best. And looking around bestbuy has them on sale atm for $199 each. So for $172 ($600 vs $428) more I would actually be doubling my space available and getting better drives. Bestbuy link And yea the PSU sucks....trying to pinch $$$ where it's probably better to spend a bit more for reliability and expandability. The 550w only has 5 sata connectors, and no way to add more. Also watching more youtube videos, I heard someone say unraid loads off a max 32gb usb stick then runs 100% in memory. So does that mean I don't need the 980 pro ssd for the os? If so I'd probably just nix it.
May 22, 20242 yr Author PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/snyLRK CPU: Intel Core i5-13500 2.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($17.89 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Asus PRIME B760-PLUS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial CT2K16G48C40U5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-4800 CL40 Memory ($87.79 @ Amazon) Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00) Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00) Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 12 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($199.99) Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 12 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($199.99) Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 12 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($199.99) Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ B&H) Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($118.44 @ Amazon) Total: $1229.06 Ok upgraded the PSU and the HDDs
May 22, 20242 yr Unraid lives in memory and loads off the USB stick. No need for that 980. Check around to be 100% on the drives, but as long as they're CMR and have a good long warranty that should be good. IronWolf and IronWolf Pro are different, but I haven't researched recently enough to remember why my memory says "only the Pro NAS drives, or just go Enterprise". I only have 16tb UltraStar or IronWolf Pros at the moment. Seasonic is my go-to. Nice long warranties and an even longer track record of excellence.
May 23, 20242 yr Author Thank _cjd_ for the input. I agree that Seasonics are dependable (I have a 1kw PSU in my main rig for nearly 8 years now). Also this 750w I picked has 8 SATA connections so I won't run out if I add more drives late. And bonus, fully modular. I can't find any 'definitive' answer on the seagate website if there Ironwolf NAS drives are CMR. But some websites selling them do mention they are CMT. Their datasheet on the drives doesn't even say (linked). But they are on sale right now from $260 to $200 on bestbuy, and $200 for a 12 TB NAS oriented drive seems like a really good deal. Oh the link I added is for their ST12000VN0008 drives not the ST12000VNA008. According to Seagate the only difference between them is a few grams of weight, everything else internally is the same. And they come with 3 year warranty and free data recovery attempt if you lose data.
May 23, 20242 yr 19 hours ago, JacekR said: So as I said I'm new to Unraid. And wanted to build a more flexible server to replace my plex server which is 6 years old at this point. Purpose of this server will be to run as a NAS, Photo Sync (via Photoprism) and Plex server (able to transcode 1 stream at 4k). And possibly some other services as well I might add in the future. My budget all in I'd like to stay under $1500. PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/D6wmTY CPU: Intel Core i5-13500 2.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($17.89 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Asus PRIME B760-PLUS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial CT2K16G48C40U5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-4800 CL40 Memory ($87.91 @ Amazon) Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($111.23 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate BarraCuda Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($106.99 @ Amazon) Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ B&H) Power Supply: MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon) Total: $1099.25 The 4x Seagate drives will be in raid 6, giving about 11 TB of useable storage for the NAS. Sigh....I'm not so sure about these drives though....I've never had issues with Seagate drives, but a lot of people seem to nowadays. Haven't bought a new HDD in nearly a decade, been using SSDs for a long time. But 10TB of SSDs in raid 5 would be cost prohibitive. the 980 Pro will run the OS the 2x 970 Evo Plus will be set to read/write cache. (in raid 1, I assume not sure how unraid handles that yet) I already own the 2x 970 evo NVMEs, so not including them in the total pricing. They were the main boot drives on my main PC before I replaced them. The motherboard has 2x pcie 4.0x4 and 1x pcie 4.0x2 m.2 slots, the 980 I will put in the 4.0x2. So the 970 drives will have the same speed. Also the 980 will run cooler at the reduced speed as well. I haven't ordered anything yet, and don't plan to for a week or 2 yet. (currently waiting on new router and switches to reconfigure my network from 1g to 2.5g, doing that first) If you guys could let me know if my setup is deficient in any way, or could be done better. Please let me know, I'd really appreciate any input. Oh and if you guys know if those Seagate BarraCuda drives are worth it, or garbage that be great input too 😄 I've linked the pcpartbuilder for this setup. And created links for all the individual items directly to the OEM page for them. Regards, Jacek Server are expensive. When I bought my current system in 2020 during covid I barely spent $1000 on all my hardware... the segate exo x18/x16 16TB driver were barley $100 ... now there 300 + ... ATM Total:$1562.46 to recreate my build. Your PC parts pick isn't bad. If using unraid. This is a similar build that I have run. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BzFxJy Similar build I'm running: CPU: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/sYmmP6/amd-ryzen-5-5600g-39-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000252box Motherboard: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/BHBhP6/msi-b450-gaming-plus-max-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-gaming-plus-max Ram:https://pcpartpicker.com/product/v2KKHx/corsair-vengeance-lpx-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-cl18-memory-cmk32gx4m2d3600c18s Storage: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Zxw7YJ/samsung-970-evo-plus-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v7s1t0bam https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VGxRsY/seagate-exos-enterprise-x18-16-tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st16000nm000j Case and Power supply: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wNrG3C/cooler-master-case-nse400kkn2 https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jRvdnQ/corsair-rm1000x-2021-1000-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020201-na Why AMD/Intel: personal preference - performance / $ Amd 5600G > 3.9/4.1 Boost 6 cor 12 threads. Processor with onbaord IGPU. My Plex does 4k no issues. and this is the CPU. ^- Stock cooler... higher core count all performace cores cooler... MSI B450 > A known Board with decent pcie options and good known iommu support for future project (Maybe a different board. only 1 nvme direct to processor) 3x Segate 16 TB drives. > used as pool 3 disk aray raid z1 zfs (raid 5 configuration...) 1x smasung evo 970 for unraid disk 1 > used more for VMs/Dockers (more to shutup unraid to make it work. this give you 2x 8 slots for pcie expansion for a g card vm later of g card accelerated transcoding. a x8 for HD expansion and/or nvme expansion card latter The only befits you get with your bulid are: ddr5 ram speeds. maby more threads.. I have problems with intel and some AMD cpu not doing cores coreclty. # of Performance-cores 6 # of Efficient-cores 8 While intel build you posted does have a gpu if one right sku: Intel® UHD Graphics 770 Since your doing trasncdoing and plan to have a large meda file. 2 TB in plex media over 1 year and growing ATM my plex content for tv shows / dvd rips is over 6 TB. I don't know you work load but 4K videos take up alot of space. Enterprise drive (make sure your not getting cached shuck drives. are good for 10+ years. I haven't had a issues with segate enterprise drives. Smasung 970 were before the nvme firmware bug.
May 23, 20242 yr 11 minutes ago, JacekR said: Thank _cjd_ for the input. I agree that Seasonics are dependable (I have a 1kw PSU in my main rig for nearly 8 years now). Also this 750w I picked has 8 SATA connections so I won't run out if I add more drives late. And bonus, fully modular. I can't find any 'definitive' answer on the seagate website if there Ironwolf NAS drives are CMR. But some websites selling them do mention they are CMT. Their datasheet on the drives doesn't even say (linked). But they are on sale right now from $260 to $200 on bestbuy, and $200 for a 12 TB NAS oriented drive seems like a really good deal. Oh the link I added is for their ST12000VN0008 drives not the ST12000VNA008. According to Seagate the only difference between them is a few grams of weight, everything else internally is the same. And they come with 3 year warranty and free data recovery attempt if you lose data. All of the iron wolf drives are PMR, it is part of the premium price on them. I would still recommend exo series but that is wher you will need to make sure they are not cms drives. Due to contact hardware and technology changes . I forget which one is worse and better. I though cms drives had a lower cash on the controller, which meant more hd spin and noise. not a problem in a datacenter. but a big problem for a home lab user. Redit: Quote: There's no such thing as "Parallel Magnetic Recording"(+) BEWARE - HERE BE DRAGONS - The preferred marketroid term for "normal" drives is now "CMR" - Conventional Magnetic Recording. BE VERY CAREFUL TO USE IT WHEN ASKING QUESTIONS - PMR stands for "Perpendicular Magnetic Recording" (the way the magnetic domains are packed on the platter, vs Longitudinal magnetic domains of yore) - Shingling (SMR) is Shingled PMR. It's built on top of PMR - TGMR is a head technology needed for PMR and is the same for SMR or CMR - TDMR( Two Dimensional Magnetic Recording ) is a weaselly way of saying "zoned media" and the only reason you have zoned media is.... because it's SMR (you need the zones to be able to do rewrites) - Helium does not imply CMR or SMR. You can get squeaky drives in both formats,- HOWEVER you can infer probable SMR for air-filled drives above 4TB/3.5" 2TB/2.5" So: - If you are told a drive is PMR, therefore not shingled.... BZZT: see above. - If you are told a drive is TGMR technology, therefore not shingled, see above - If you ask "is this drive SMR or PMR?", the correct answer is "yes" (All mechanical drives on the market use PMR, whether CMR or SMR and regardless of speed. This is because all 3 makers use the same platters and heads - each made by only one manufacturer) Some other points: - Drives whose datasheets show them as being substantially lighter than their predecessors are likely to be SMR - Drives with large cache (256MB+) are extremely likely to be SMR - they need it to work (there are data tiering functions in Drive Managed SMR drives (DM-SMR) akin to those found in TLC/QLC SSDs - but much MUCH slower....) - Drives reporting "trim" functions _ARE_ SMR, even if they don't report zoned media (Reporting zoning is a ACS-4 function - whilst that was codified in 2016, many drives are still only ACS-3 which doesn't support this reporting function.... hmmmmm... I wonder why that might be? Nothing suspicious to see here citizen, move along!) - HOWEVER - Not all SMR drives report trim functions and the only way to find out is to benchmark the things - (Seagate barracuda ST3000DM003 being a good example) - PAY ATTENTION TO THE SUFFIXES, READ THE SPEC SHEETS. - COMPARE WITH PAST MODELS - a generational change (from 003 to 004, or from EFRX to EFAX) may well mean a change has been submarined into the channel. Check the drive mass. Losing a platter at the same size is a sure sign of it having happened. Above all: Complain loudly to your local marketing regulators about this misleading behaviour. WD and SG KNOW we don't want SMR, which is why they're going out of their way to keep it off their datasheets (European and Chinese regulators should be especially receptive to fraudulent marketing and cartel behaviour complaints) (+) see the IEEE article below. The only references to "Parallel Magnetic Recording" anywhere on the web are on review sites and it's 100% clear they're a result of an utterly clueless reviewer guessing what the initials meant, then that guess spreading meme-style amongst other cluess reviewers who apparently don't know how to read tech documents (ie: You can pretty much surmise that such reviews are paid-for, as anyone independent will be doing their homework - and murketers aren't going to be falling over themselves to correct such an error) (there ARE reference to lab work for recording calibration and sync tracks in parallel, but what THAT means is that they're activating multiple heads at once instead of the normal sequential switching between individual heads. (Attempts at parallelising heads in-service have never worked well due to differing thermal expansion of platters due to slight temperature changes across the case internals)) EDIT: This IEEE article is worth reading. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4694034 Edited May 23, 20242 yr by bmartino1
May 23, 20242 yr Author 12 minutes ago, bmartino1 said: All of the iron wolf drives are PMR, it is part of the premium price on them. i would still recommend exo series but that is wher you will need to make sure they are not cms drives. Very interesting read and good info, thankx. As to going with EXO drives instead of the NAS ones. I don't know, the current discount that best buy is giving on the IronWolf NAS is very tempting. And this server will not see overly heavy use, basically just me using it as a photosync for my family's phones (me, wife, 2 kids) and a plex server only I will probably use LOL. They all just watch stuff on netflix and hulu, while I like to rewatch older shows sometimes that aren't on netflix or hulu. Right now, besides that I don't know what else I might use the server for in the future. Oh yea, I also have seen a lot of people complaining about getting EXO's on amazon. Either getting refurbished drives sold as new, drives with like 10k hours on them already. Or Drives that are new but 6-7 years old (mfg date), surplus stock that resellers are buying from data centers which never installed them. And those data centers don't trust the drives due to their age already, so the resellers seem to be getting them on the cheap and reselling at new market rates. So cheapest place (that I'd trust) that has those 16TB ones in stock seems to be B&H at $329.99.
May 23, 20242 yr This is the best I can find from Seagate: https://www.seagate.com/products/cmr-smr-list/ Edited May 23, 20242 yr by bmartino1
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