Hello UnRaid community. I'm hoping to get a couple of you guys to give me some input on my build as I'm looking to do a couple of upgrades.

 

First let me start off by showing you what I'm working with:

 

 

 

 

 

Second, I want to give you guys a bit of context as to what I'm running on the server and what it's being used for.

 

The server is setup in my fraternity house and is accessible to 18 different clients locally, and services a handful of clients remotely from time to time. It's primary function is a media server. I currently have 15.7 TB of storage in my array and the majority of it is HD content.

I currently have the following apps running:

 

Sabnzbd (Headphones, Couch Potato, SickBeard)

Plex Media Server

Transmission

MySql

DropBox

SimpleFeatures (WebServer, and all the other nice graphical interface enhancements)

OpenSSH

SMB

 

I've got a few others installed but not currently running.

 

Some of you can probably imagine the kind of stress placed under the processor with multiple clients connected pretty much 24/7. Especially when Plex needs to transcode files to various media clients (remote users, bearing the highest load).

 

 

 

So as the subject title indicates, I'm in a need of a beefier processor in order to better service the media clients that connect to the server.

 

I've identified that with my current hardware setup I can purchase a AM3 Phenom 2 X6 processor that will considerably improve the servers processing ability.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1724262&CatId=4432

 

I can also pick up another 2gb of DDR2 800mhz ram for about $40 to bring the total current system memory to 8GB.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5223921&CatId=3410

 

After taxes and everything's said and done I'm looking to drop around $200 if I go with this method. However, I'm wondering if it might be a smarter move at this point and time to look into purchasing a Server Mobo and Processor. I've done a bit of research online and as I understand it Server Processors offer a better I/O throughput than Desktop processors. I could also go with ECC ram and benefit a bit from purchasing DDR3 rather than DDR2 memory. Where I can certainly see the benefits of this, the immediate cost for my upgrade goes up considerably with these purchases. Specifically, where I'm hoping to get some input is in justifying just a processor upgrade, and if you guys think it will suffice in meeting the demands I've specified, or if the benefits and upgradabilty of a server setup makes more sense at this time fiscally? 

 

 

 

...my fist reaction was to suggest a new platform...an i3-3220 maybe...you can get way with a good combo for around $270CDN, I'd say.

 

...then I compared the i3-3220 to your AMD X6....http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3220-vs-AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1045T

and tried to make some maths out of it and the stats/monitoring charts you provided.

 

...at third, this is what puzzles me.

I actually cannot make out where stats will be heading when you put in a more powerful CPU or switch to a comparable intel based combo.

Why is your CPU at max, with network only 15% saturated, almost no disk and also not much memory used by applications (only buffer, so I gather no heavy transcoding going on).

 

BTW: what PSU and add-on controller are you using in that current setup?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026&Tpk=cx430%20psu&IsVirtualParent=1

 

That's my PSU

 

I have 2 controller cards:

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815287006

 

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3981741&CatId=1454

 

I know they are not the best of quality, but I started small and cheap. I realize there are far better cards out there.

 

I've also attached a screenshot of my activity stream.

 

 

 

OK, that PSU should give you enough headroom for another 2A, should you opt to go for the X6, with your current setup.

 

In your workload, there is not much to see coming from Plex., but I would have expected quite the opposite, based on your statement.

So as the subject title indicates, I'm in a need of a beefier processor in order to better service the media clients that connect to the server.

The other tasks are not eating your memory but are intense enough to saturate your CPU.

What do you think these are exactly?

 

These may be two dump questions, but I'd better ask 

- you have all cores running in your X2 CPU?

- Did you try and overclock the X2 CPU and see how the load-index scales with that? (don't know if this is possible with your mobo and cooler).

  You have lots of plugins/python processes running in parallel, so I gather your setup would likely benefit more

  from having more cores than having overall CPU-power...but a test might be worth it.

My activity stream shot is with no clients connected. When I have 2 clients transcoding on plex, they each use around 25-30% total CPU. I'm gonna verify that both cores are running, I'd feel really silly if they weren't. I assume they are but I haven't tweaked with the bios much except for when I originally used this mobo for a windows install.

 

I think a large part of my CPU is probably being eaten up by CoachPotato. I think it does a directory scan of about 700 movies every couple hours to try and locate new files.

 

I'll tinker around a bit and see what I can figure out.

My activity stream shot is with no clients connected.

...and your CPU is eaten up already...that's my point!

When I have 2 clients transcoding on plex, they each use around 25-30% total CPU.

In order to serve up to 18 clients of that category alone, you'll need a CPU which is 6 times powerful that your actual X2.

I think a large part of my CPU is probably being eaten up by CoachPotato. I think it does a directory scan of about 700 movies every couple hours to try and locate new files.

I believe that this program is more intelligent...it would find out what has changed and only then get updates for the new files...unless you would simply change/rename every movie in your collection, this

task is not as intensive as you think.