Hello Unraid community,

 

I'm currently running a Raspberry Pi 5 server that works well for basic tasks but lacks Jellyfin transcoding capabilities. I'm looking to upgrade to something more powerful while remaining energy and budget-efficient. I'm based in the Netherlands, so my options and pricing reflect the Dutch market (I primarily use tweakers.net for price comparisons).

 

Current Setup

• Raspberry Pi 5 (purchased as kit for €140 in Dec 2023, can resell for ~€100)
• Main limitations: No transcoding support, limited storage expansion

 

Use Case

• 24/7 Containers: Jellyfin, qBittorrent, Gluten (VPN), PiHole
• Periodic Containers: ARR Suite
• Daily Scripts: 4-5 Python scripts including Selenium browser automation (runs 5 mins daily)
• Media: Transcoding 4K Dolby Vision/Atmos movies with subtitles a few times monthly
• Storage: Phone gallery backup (minimal usage), starting with spare 2TB HDD, planning to add 8TB later. It's unlikely I'll need more than these two drives, but having the option to expand is welcome.
• 1GB network satisfied my needs.
• Will be stuffed away in a utilies room so noise isn't a concern.

 

Power Efficiency Priority

• Current electricity price: €0.32 per kWh
• Server idle time: 99% of the year
• Annual cost per watt: €2.77
• Example: 20W idle = €55.40/year vs. 15W idle = €41.55/year (€13.85 annual savings)

 

Options I'm Considering

 

Option 1: NucBox G3 Plus Mini PC (€194 total)

• Mini PC: €160
• Dual 3.5" SATA dock (USB 3.2 Gen1): €34
• Pros: Compact form factor, affordable, easy setup
• Cons: Bulky external SATA dock, awkward expansion beyond 2 drives, reliability concerns (I've seen reports of chinese NUC units failing after 1-2 years with essentially non-existent customer support)

 

Option 2: Custom Build (€263 total)

• ASUS Prime N100I-D D4 Motherboard/CPU: €97
• Crucial 16GB DDR4 SODIMM RAM: €25
• Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD: Free (already own)
• Akyga AK36BK Case (2x 2.5", 2x 3.5" bays): €31
• PicoPSU-160-XT + Mean Well GST90A12-P1M: €85
• M.2 to SATA adapter (for 2nd HDD): €25
• Pros: Better storage expansion, potentially more reliable due to name brand components
• Cons: Higher cost, more complex setup

 

Option 3: PcZinophyte 2-Bay NAS R1 PRO N100 Mini PC (€270)

• Pre-built with N100, 16GB RAM, 126GB NVMe SSD
• Internal bays for 2x 3.5" HDDs
• Appears to be an AOOSTAR R1 clone/rebrand
• Pros: Clean form factor, integrated storage, easy setup
• Cons: Limited to 2 internal drives, highest cost, reliability concerns (unknown brand, potential for similar reliability issues as mini PCs, questionable long-term support)

 

Questions

1. Which option would you recommend for my use case?
2. Is the PicoPSU + Mean Well power supply setup a good choice for the custom build?
3. Are the more expensive motherboard alternatives worth the extra cost?

• ASRock N100M (€150)
• ASRock N100DC-ITX (€140)

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

26 minutes ago, sly-patrol-barmaid said:

Option 1: NucBox G3 Plus Mini PC (€194 total)

• Mini PC: €160
• Dual 3.5" SATA dock (USB 3.2 Gen1): €34

USB not recommended for assigned disks for many reasons.

1 minute ago, trurl said:

USB not recommended for assigned disks for many reasons.

I appreciate the concern about USB-attached storage. While USB 3.2 Gen1 (5Gbps) theoretically provides sufficient bandwidth for HDDs (~160MB/s), I did some searching and learned the following:

1. Connection reliability: USB devices can disconnect unexpectedly or require remounting after system reboots
2. Protocol overhead: USB adds additional processing layers that can impact performance, especially with many small files
3. Unraid-specific issues: Many Unraid users report that USB devices aren't handled as gracefully as direct-attached storage, particularly with sleep/wake cycles and array rebuilds

That said, I've seen users successfully running external USB drives with Unraid for less critical storage. Am I missing anything? Perhaps you could elaborate or link a resource I could read up on.

If direct SATA is strongly recommended, would the custom build approach with internal SATA ports be the better choice here?

No problems using external USB drives for temporary storage as Unassigned Devices. I often do this when making backups.

 

When an assigned array device disconnects, it becomes out-of-sync with the parity array, and so has to be rebuilt. Also problems in multi-disk pools when one disk from the pool disconnects.

 

In addition to disconnects, USB often does not give SMART reports for Unraid to monitor.

 

And USB may not give the disk serial number Unraid uses to keep track of disk assignments. Sometimes it might not give consistent or even unique identifiers so Unraid can't figure out how it is assigned.

 

And USB sometimes even gives a different slightly smaller nonstandard disk size, which means it can't be used as parity since parity cannot be smaller than any array data disk.

 

Different USB implementations may have no problems, or one or more of the problems I mentioned.

 

Enclosures that support UASP might eliminate many of these problems, though disconnects might still occur.

2 hours ago, sly-patrol-barmaid said:

PicoPSU-160-XT + Mean Well GST90A12-P1M

 

I've never attempted to build a computer with something like that. It doesn't have the necessary connectors to power the motherboard or disks.