So I finally got tired of Plex & SABnzbd maxing out my weak AMD A6-5400K CPU. I went ahead and just ordered the following parts for upgrade:

 

LGA1151 motherboard - $64

Intel Core i5-6600k CPU - $230

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Fan - $25

Kingston (2X8GB) 1866MHz DDR3L RAM - $77

 

I'm hoping this $400 upgrade accomplishes a few things. Can someone please let me know if I'm on the right track?

 

• I want to be able to stream Plex media content (mostly 720p, some 1080p) to 3 clients concurrently. According to Plex website, you need 1500 passmark for 720p & 2000 passmark for 1080p. This i5 has 7772 passmark, so I should be ok, correct?
  
• I want SABnzbd to be able to download and unpack at the same time without maxing out the processor & crashing. I'm hoping this i5 will fit the bill.
  

 

The last question I have: Will the motherboard/CPU combo work for a headless Unraid server without me needing to buy a video card? It says it has integrated graphics, so I'm thinking I shouldn't need to use a video card, but I want to be sure. The A6-5400k is an APU, but the i5-6600k is just a CPU right?

 

You can see all my current hardware/apps below in my sig.

 

Thanks in advance for any help from this awesome community!! 

 

 

I think that processor will be fine unless you throw 3 1080p streams at it.  The Plex guidelines don't account for the fact that your machine needs to be doing other things than running Plex, but I think that CPU will give you some headroom unless you run lots of 1080p high bit rate Bluray rips.  Regarding video, that CPU and motherboard combo are all you need - the CPU has integrated graphics support.

 

If it were me I'd spend a bit more on the motherboard and get more PCI-E lanes (Z170, H170, Q170) as well as DDR4 support, but this one should do what you want on a budget.  I'd also look for an Intel LAN chipset if you choose to spend more on a motherboard and some M.2 connectors.

If it were me I'd spend a bit more on the motherboard and get more PCI-E lanes (Z170, H170, Q170) as well as DDR4 support, but this one should do what you want on a budget.  I'd also look for an Intel LAN chipset if you choose to spend more on a motherboard and some M.2 connectors.

 

Thank you for the response. Considering that earlier today my original plan was to just keep my FM2 motherboard, and max it out with a $122 A10-6800k, I really can't spend more than the $400 I just spent. I doubt I'll need any more PCI-E lanes anytime soon. I don't plan on doing any VM stuff yet, and I won't need many more SATA ports for a while. I just plan on replacing my 1TB & 2TB drives with larger ones as they die. As far as DDR4, it doesn't seem like we'll notice the benefit for a couple years. I've never really had a problem with onboard Realtek LAN, but if it ever becomes problematic I could just get something like this $22 Intel PCI-E LAN card.

 

I'm pretty stoked about the fact that my passmark will more than triple. I just hope that means a real world noticeable difference with SAB & Plex. 95% of my stored video content is 720p, and I don't plan on having more than 3 streams going at once.

 

As far as overclocking goes, I've heard it's pretty much a bad idea with servers. Is that true?

Yep, every fraction of a GHz you go beyond the rated clock speed increases the risk of system instability.  What's the point of a supposedly fault tolerant server that's unstable?  Overclocking is for enthusiasts and gamers, not servers.

• I want to be able to stream Plex media content (mostly 720p, some 1080p) to 3 clients concurrently. According to Plex website, you need 1500 passmark for 720p & 2000 passmark for 1080p. This i5 has 7772 passmark, so I should be ok, correct?

The last question I have: Will the motherboard/CPU combo work for a headless Unraid server without me needing to buy a video card? It says it has integrated graphics, so I'm thinking I shouldn't need to use a video card, but I want to be sure. The A6-5400k is an APU, but the i5-6600k is just a CPU right?

 

You can see all my current hardware/apps below in my sig.

 

Thanks in advance for any help from this awesome community!! 

 

What exactly is Plex media? I play 1080p mkv and mp4 and bluray m2ts to 2 Dune mediaplayers without Plex.

So I don't need a powerfull CPU for that.

 

I ran sabnzb on a pentium class CPU earlier on.

 

If you want to run truly headless, you might want a motherboard with IPMI.

What exactly is Plex media? I play 1080p mkv and mp4 and bluray m2ts to 2 Dune mediaplayers without Plex.

So I don't need a powerfull CPU for that.

 

Plex Media Server is an available plugin for Unraid. It allows for streaming media to remote locations via the internet. Plex client apps are available for just about every platform I can think of. I share my video and music libraries with my grandma in AZ and brother in Colorado who both have Roku 2 devices. When I travel with my family, we bring our Amazon Fire TV to hotel rooms and stream media from our Unraid server at home via the Plex app. I've also shared my libraries with a few other friends who consume the media via Plex using a variety of platforms such as Windows, Android, iOS,  XBOX,  Fire Stick,  etc. In order to stream to multiple devices simultaneously you need a processor that's up to snuff for the transcoding that PMS does to match the remote client hardware specs.

 

Gotta love Amazon!!  All my parts were delivered next day for free today. Amazing that they are able to deliver this early in the morning on a national holiday. It's nice to live so close to one of their distribution hubs.  I guess I know what I'll be doing after the kids go to bed tonight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've read a bit about moving Unraid 6 to a new motherboard and it sounds much easier than I thought it would be. Does anyone have any words of encouragement before I dive in tonight?

What exactly is Plex media? I play 1080p mkv and mp4 and bluray m2ts to 2 Dune mediaplayers without Plex.

So I don't need a powerfull CPU for that.

 

Plex Media Server is an available plugin for Unraid. It allows for streaming media to remote locations via the internet. Plex client apps are available for just about every platform I can think of. I share my video and music libraries with my grandma in AZ and brother in Colorado who both have Roku 2 devices. When I travel with my family, we bring our Amazon Fire TV to hotel rooms and stream media from our Unraid server at home via the Plex app. I've also shared my libraries with a few other friends who consume the media via Plex using a variety of platforms such as Windows, Android, iOS,  XBOX,  Fire Stick,  etc. In order to stream to multiple devices simultaneously you need a processor that's up to snuff for the transcoding that PMS does to match the remote client hardware specs.

 

Gotta love Amazon!!  All my parts were delivered next day for free today. Amazing that they are able to deliver this early in the morning on a national holiday. It's nice to live so close to one of their distribution hubs.  I guess I know what I'll be doing after the kids go to bed tonight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've read a bit about moving Unraid 6 to a new motherboard and it sounds much easier than I thought it would be. Does anyone have any words of encouragement before I dive in tonight?

 

Nice stuff! It has been ages that I bought anything new.

I moved to other hardware and switched cases, motherboards, cpus, controllers and disks offcourse several times. It's not difficult if all hardware is supported by unraid. When booting from USB the first time take some time to run memtest for some time, possibly overnight. And most of all have fun building!