Guys,

 

I had my old unRaid server die, I am looking to buy a new MB+CPU+RAM combo, and 2 new drives. I have been out of the unRaid hardware world for some time, anyone have suggestions on good deals I should grab, I am looking to keep this "decently" affordable while getting back up and running with some performance upgrade.

 

What are the best bang for your buck MB+CPU, and current 2TB or larger drives (also considering power consumption, but to a lesser degree)

 

Thanks,

Intel based is going to be the best band got your buck. Give us an idea of how much you want to spend and we can come up with something more specific.

$150 - $250 =)

CPU: Pentium G3220 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950

Motherboard: BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B85S3+ - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138384

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaw 4GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427

 

Total is $177.97. That's not including the 15% off the RAM with the promo code listed in the link that is good until Sunday night.

 

Performance comparison wise, this should be over three times faster than your old setup and also use a good amount less electricity.

Awesome, thank you so much for the research, ive been pour through the MB forum for the last few hours and it just seems that every board listed there is old or $250+ server board for xen or esxi. Do you see any reason to go quad-core, i will not be touching this system for awhile so if I can go quad-core for 50-70 more, I probably would, if nothing else but to future proof a little.

 

Thanks again!

Awesome, thank you so much for the research, ive been pour through the MB forum for the last few hours and it just seems that every board listed there is old or $250+ server board for xen or esxi. Do you see any reason to go quad-core, i will not be touching this system for awhile so if I can go quad-core for 50-70 more, I probably would, if nothing else but to future proof a little.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

I don't think you need to spend the extra money for a quad core CPU. To move up to a quad core CPU you're looking at an extra $130 bucks and for things like on the fly video transcoding Plex this CPU is plenty powerful enough.

For most activities within UnRAID I agree with mrow -- a G3220 works fine for the basic server, and for a few add-ons.    It should stream a single Plex stream with no problem as well, should you decide to go that route.

 

But it's certainly more "future proof" to use a higher-end CPU.  A few choices, with price and PassMark rating (an excellent measure of CPU "horsepower"):

 

G3220    $70    3220

i3-4340  $160    5133  (A good choice for multiple Plex streams)

i5-4570  $200    7070  (A good bit more CPU power for not much more than a good i3)

i7-4770  $300    9961  [More than triple the G3220s power ... but clearly you pay a premium for this.    This is the CPU I've used in all my recent systems, "just because" -- I don't want to wish I had more processing power  ... but clearly it's not for budget-minded systems]