I'm looking to build a new Unraid server. Which is more energy efficient, a low powered Intel i3 or a cheap AMD?

 

Mobo+CPU combo recommendations are welcome. Anything cost effective and with lots of SATA ports is good.

Without a shadow if a doubt, Intel is going to offer not just better energy efficiency but also better performance per dollar.

That sounds nice, does anyone have data that show potential differences in running costs and performance in Unraid?

Hi,

for Plus license then i looking for a85 chipset with 8sata port on m-atx mainboad.

As now I use g880 chipset and ecc ram for data server.

I only use amd for 10 years until now.

the best deal IMHO still is the HP Microserver N54L

AMD based CPU *with* ECC, ILO and a nice case for a small build.

Also the XEON based HP ML310e v1&v2 servers are a good option.

 

In general, if you want ECC on a desktop grade combo, AMD (check for  ASUS AM3+ mobo ) is your only choice.

However, Intel will deliver more performance and better idle power consumption.

 

That sounds nice, does anyone have data that show potential differences in running costs and performance in Unraid?

 

Most people use http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

 

This will show you the relative performance of each cpu vs any other, and also gives you an idea of budget for the cpu (though pricing isn't always accurate). Any time I am looking to buy a new CPU I use this site to see if I am getting a solid bang for my buck, or if I am better choosing differently.

 

It's also great for checking SSD drive speeds and video cards speeds.

 

Absolutely agree with the recommendations for Intel based setup.

 

There are only two reasons to consider AMD:

 

(1)  You can build a slightly less expensive server (but not by much ... especially if you consider the "power/$$")

 

(2)  As Ford Prefect noted, you can get ECC support for notably less $$ with an AMD based system.    It definitely bugs me that Intel doesn't provide ECC support on any of their desktop chipsets.

 

Despite my Intel bias (which I think is well-founded), I agree the HP Microserver N54L is an excellent choice, if that's enough capacity for your needs.    If you want a more capable system, however, I'd build an Intel-based setup; and if the cost isn't a deterrent, use a server grade board with ECC support and a Xeon CPU (or one of the Haswell i3's or i5's that have ECC support).

 

4 hours ago, robertgalp said:

Gaming is one area where picking a CPU can get tricky. Intel processors include on-die integrated graphics, but the performance isn’t up to par with discrete, stand-alone graphics chips or add-in graphics cards. Meanwhile, AMD’s desktop processors do not include integrated graphics. Instead, AMD combines its processor cores and its Radeon-branded graphics cores into one package/chip called an Accelerated Processing Unit, or APU.

 

Wow, thanks for stating the obvious 4 years after the previous post.  Hint: check the date of posts before replying - if they're much more than a few weeks, no-one cares.

Locking this thread.