I just got a new Mobo AsRock Z77M with a i5 1155 / 3570 CPU.  I bought the following RAM G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBSR.

 

However, I cannot recall the post where it said, that UnRaid only support up to 4 GB of RAM and that 8 GB aren't not need it.  Is this true?  Or should I install the 8 GB of RAM?

 

I will be either switching my MOBO / CPU or may be building another server.

In theory it was fixed in one of the RC's (RC15 and up I believe).  But I've seen posts by others that they still need the MEM=4095 option to run correctly.  So I would say go for it.  If you have problems then either use the parameter or remove a stick to drop your memory to 4G.  Memory is cheap and if unRAID goes to 64 bit you could put the memory back in if you remove it.

 

My unRAID servers are all virtualized and at 2G for the VM or 4G for my N40L so am under the limit in any case.

I have found 8gb works for me but 16gb gives me slow writes even on final release. So try with 8gb and see if it works.

 

TheWombat

I'm currently running with 2 sticks of 2GB each. I'm thinking of building another server instead and using he one I've got as back up only.

At least according to Limetech, the >4GB issue that impacted some systems was resolved in RC15 and later.

 

The release notes for RC15 note "... syslinux: remove boot option from syslinux.cfg to limit memory " and a couple of thread on this forum indicated it was resolved (it's also no longer listed in the v5 issues thread)

 

However, as Bob noted, some folks are still using the Mem=4095 line ... whether that's an unnecessary residual config line, or is still needed I can't say.

 

I do know that my Atom-based system has no issues with 8GB; and two systems I've built for others in the past couple months also used more than 4GB ... one was an H77-based system with 8GB; the other was Z77 based with 16GB => both with Ivy Bridge CPU's (i3 on one, i5 on the other).

 

should I install the 8 GB of RAM?

 

As Bob said, "go for it".    The Z77 system I built had an Asus motherboard and the same i5-3570 you have, with 16GB ... and it's running just fine.

 

At least according to Limetech, the >4GB issue that impacted some systems was resolved in RC15 and later.

 

The release notes for RC15 note "... syslinux: remove boot option from syslinux.cfg to limit memory " and a couple of thread on this forum indicated it was resolved (it's also no longer listed in the v5 issues thread)

 

However, as Bob noted, some folks are still using the Mem=4095 line ... whether that's an unnecessary residual config line, or is still needed I can't say.

 

I do know that my Atom-based system has no issues with 8GB; and two systems I've built for others in the past couple months also used more than 4GB ... one was an H77-based system with 8GB; the other was Z77 based with 16GB => both with Ivy Bridge CPU's (i3 on one, i5 on the other).

 

should I install the 8 GB of RAM?

 

As Bob said, "go for it".    The Z77 system I built had an Asus motherboard and the same i5-3570 you have, with 16GB ... and it's running just fine.

 

Garycase,

 

Thanks for the input.  I will be off Monday and Tuesday.  So, I'll probably wait till I am off work, and replace the MOBO, CPU and RAM.  I am hoping this will help with the transcoding issue that my current set up can't handle to stream / transcode to two iPads at once.

I am hoping this will help with the transcoding issue that my current set up can't handle to stream / transcode to two iPads at once.

 

An i5-3570 with 8GB will EASILY handle two simultaneous transcodes 

I am hoping this will help with the transcoding issue that my current set up can't handle to stream / transcode to two iPads at once.

 

An i5-3570 with 8GB will EASILY handle two simultaneous transcodes 

 

I've just finished benchmarking Plex-unRAID combo for transcoding performance using different CPUs and I'm preparing the results for publishing. One of the aspects was whether a synthetic CPU benchmark like Passmark result has a direct correlation to transcoding performance.

 

Based on the results there is and with your i5-3570 (Passmark result 6985) you can transcode ~3,8 streams with 1080p quality and ~5,4 streams with 720p quality. This is when the source video is 1080p 9Mbps. The bitrate of the output quality setting has minimal effect on the CPU usage, the 1080p vs 720p is the main determining factor. If the source material is 720p this will enable to you to transcode even more streams.

 

Disclaimer: I had three different CPU's but all from AMD. I would still expect these results to be valid to Intel also since it's utilising the generic Passmark as the reference.

 

In theory, the current version of unRAID (32-bit + PAE) will work with up to 64GB of RAM.  In practice, running it with 4GB of RAM or more is a really bad idea, as it causes all kinds of strange, and hard to troubleshoot problems.

 

That is somewhat overstating the issue for the many of us that have ZERO problems running with more than 4GB.  Yes, some have problems, but for others there are no issues.

That is somewhat overstating the issue for the many of us that have ZERO problems running with more than 4GB.  Yes, some have problems, but for others there are no issues.

 

Agree -- in fact I'd say the vast majority have no issues.  That's why it was dropped as an issue after the new PAE kernel was adopted ... and no longer has a boot option to restrict the RAM.

 

I am hoping this will help with the transcoding issue that my current set up can't handle to stream / transcode to two iPads at once.

 

An i5-3570 with 8GB will EASILY handle two simultaneous transcodes 

 

I've just finished benchmarking Plex-unRAID combo for transcoding performance using different CPUs and I'm preparing the results for publishing. One of the aspects was whether a synthetic CPU benchmark like Passmark result has a direct correlation to transcoding performance.

 

Based on the results there is and with your i5-3570 (Passmark result 6985) you can transcode ~3,8 streams with 1080p quality and ~5,4 streams with 720p quality. This is when the source video is 1080p 9Mbps. The bitrate of the output quality setting has minimal effect on the CPU usage, the 1080p vs 720p is the main determining factor. If the source material is 720p this will enable to you to transcode even more streams.

 

Disclaimer: I had three different CPU's but all from AMD. I would still expect these results to be valid to Intel also since it's utilising the generic Passmark as the reference.

 

That's what I am doing at the moment as well.  I had Plex installed in my cache drive, but my cache drive went bad, and I had to remove it.  Now, I need a new cache drive as well.  Recently, I've been using Plex to stream to my iPads.  My wife and kids like it because it has a jukebox and they can easily select what they want to watch.

 

I was even able to stream movies with Plex outside my network.  The quality varied depending on the type of movie HD vs SD, but it wasn't very bad.  My internet speed is 55 download Mbps / 11 upload Mbps.