Looking to upgrade for more VM's/Plex transcoding.

[detz]

So my machine is running great but it's hard to keep the Windows machine (running Blue Iris) running while people are trying to stream Plex. If I have more than two streams going plus the Windows box the load spikes up. Ideally I want to keep the windows box running 24/7 since its for my security cameras and have up to 4 streams of plex capacity.

 

Here is what I have, I looked at just getting a better CPU but I think my motherboard needs replacing. Then after reading threads on here I was thinking of going the Xeon route to give me more power.

 

Model: Custom

M/B: ASRock - H61iCafe

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz

HVM: Enabled

IOMMU: Enabled

Cache: 256 kB

Memory: 8192 MB (max. installable capacity 16 GB)

Network: eth0: 1000Mb/s - Full Duplex

Kernel: Linux 4.1.13-unRAID x86_64

OpenSSL: 1.0.1p

Uptime: 133 days, 23:10:17

 

Would like to keep entire upgrade under $500, so that's motherboard/cpu/ram as long as it fits in my case.

[detz]

This is what I've come up with. Some questions.

 

• SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600
  
• Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B
  
• Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 SkyLake 3.4 GHz LGA 1151 80W BX80662E31230V5 Server Processor
  

 

 

1) This should allow me to run Windows 10 (24x7) for camera recording and Plex (Docker) for streaming, right?

2) I currently have 11 drives, I'm assuming these would all connect to the MB directly now without the need for a card?

3) If I wanted to game could I throw a decent video card in this machine and it would run pretty well?

 

Thanks.

[chip]

Doesn't the MB have to be  CPU Socket Type LGA 1151?

 

Which would be one from this list - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007629%2050001655%20601186375&Manufactory=1655

 

[imagoodusername]

Can I ask you how many cameras you're running? And what fps and resolution? I'm looking to run a blue iris in windows and trying to get data points on how processor intensive it is.

[SpaceInvaderOne]

For socket 1151 I would think the i7 skylake would be better

 

                                    cores.........base speed............turbo speed.........graphics...........tdp

xeon E3-1230 v5              4                3.4                      3.8                  none              80w

core i7 6700                    4                3.4                      4.0                  hd530            65w

core i7 6700k                    4                4.0                      4.2                  hd530            91w

[HellDiverUK]

As a data point, I run BlueIris on a Windows 10 machine with an E3-1226v3.  With two 1080p cameras it uses 10-15% CPU for BlueIris.

 

Oh, and as chip points out, a Skylake Xeon won't go in a Socket 1150 board. 

 

Personally, I wouldn't fuss about a Xeon, unless you specifically want to run ECC RAM.  An i5 or i7 will do the job just as well, and will be cheaper.  Also, most Xeons don't have a GPU, so you'd have to waste power with an external GPU too if you go that route, where the i5 and i7 have a GPU built in.