Getting Started / Newbie questions

[eric.frederich]

This covers many questions / topics so I wasn't sure which sub-forum to put it in.

I don't want to split them up because I want context.

 

Currently I have...

 

• AMD FX-6350 Vishera 6-Core 3.9 GHz
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113327)
• BIOSTAR TA970 Ver. 5.3
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138372)
• EVGA SSC GeForce GTX 650 Ti
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130839)
• 16G RAM
• 1TB Mechanical
• 120GB SSD

 

I use it as a desktop Linux machine / Samba file server.  I'm at capacity right now with 1TB hard drive and 120G SSD.

 

Hard Drives:

I need to repalce the single 1TB with some 4TB hard drives.

Question 1)... How many 4TB Hard drives should I get and in what configuration?  3 of them with 1 for parity?  or just 2 of them in RAID 1?

Question 2)... Should I use the 120GB SSD as a cache and maybe just boot from a USB?

 

VM Gaming / GPUs

While shopping around I see that a GTX 1050 Ti can be had for $140 and I'm thinking about running a Windows VM with GPU passthrough for gaming.

 

• MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137056)

 

Question 3)... can I also run a desktop Linux VM using the same GPU as long as they're both not "on" at the same time?

Question 3.1)... I don't really care if my Linux VM has a GPU or not.  Is this possible too?... to maybe just use VNC?

Question 4)... unRAID still requires that the host OS unRAID needs a graphics card all for itself?

Question 4.1)... I heard maybe with AMD graphics cards it was okay but not with NVidia?... if that's true, what AMD card would be able to get 60fps 1080 on GTA V and Battlefield 1?

 

If I do need to have a 2nd video card just for unRAID, then 650 Ti that I currently have is probably overkill and maybe I'd just get some $30 video card which'll use less power.  Here were the two I was looking at.

 

• EVGA GeForce 8400 GS
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N83U90867)
• ZOTAC GeForce GT 710 ... since it's just PCI Express x1
  • (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N849V2356)

 

Question 5)... given my motherboard and GPUs I currently own or was looking at, does it look like it'll work?... 2 graphics cards on my motherboard?

 

If you see the motherboard listing below I don't know what this x16 and x4 mean.  Does that mean one of them is x16 and the other is x4?

I'm thinking it should be okay since the board is advertised with ATI Crossfire which is meant to run 2 discrete graphics cards.

 

 

Expansion Slots

• PCI Express 2.0 x16
  • 2 x PCI-E x16 2.0 Slots (x16, x4)
• PCI Express x1
  • 2 x PCI-E x1 2.0 Slots
• PCI Slots
  • 2 x PCI Slots

[trurl]

39 minutes ago, eric.frederich said:

Hard Drives:

I need to repalce the single 1TB with some 4TB hard drives.

Question 1)... How many 4TB Hard drives should I get and in what configuration?  3 of them with 1 for parity?  or just 2 of them in RAID 1?

Question 2)... Should I use the 120GB SSD as a cache and maybe just boot from a USB?

unRAID is not RAID, but if you do have only 1 parity and 1 data, then the parity calculation does result in them being mirrors, so it would effectively be RAID1. Just don't want you to get the idea that traditional RAID in general is supported.

 

You MUST boot from a USB flash drive. Your license (even if using trial) is tied to the unique GUID of that USB flash drive. That is not really a performance concern like you might think, though. The entire OS is unpacked fresh from the flash into RAM and runs completely in RAM. The flash just holds the archive of the OS and whatever configurations settings you make in the webUI. The flash is read/written very little and very infrequently.

[dboonthego]

On 3/12/2017 at 5:50 PM, eric.frederich said:

Question 1)... How many 4TB Hard drives should I get and in what configuration?  3 of them with 1 for parity?  or just 2 of them in RAID 1?

Question 2)... Should I use the 120GB SSD as a cache and maybe just boot from a USB?

 

If you want 4TB of storage, get 2.  If you want 8TB, get 3.  You can always add to it later.  Yes, use the SSD as a cache disk, especially since you mention the desire to use VM's.  Like trurl said, booting from USB is your only option.

 

On 3/12/2017 at 5:50 PM, eric.frederich said:

Question 3)... can I also run a desktop Linux VM using the same GPU as long as they're both not "on" at the same time?

Yes, I'm pretty certain you can, although I have not tried this myself.

 

On 3/12/2017 at 5:50 PM, eric.frederich said:

Question 3.1)... I don't really care if my Linux VM has a GPU or not.  Is this possible too?... to maybe just use VNC?

Yes, you can use remote tools like VNC or remote desktop to connect to your VM.  You can also connect using the built-in VNC remote which is browser based.

 

On 3/12/2017 at 5:50 PM, eric.frederich said:

Question 4)... unRAID still requires that the host OS unRAID needs a graphics card all for itself?

I've never tried to boot unRAID with a board that didn't have onboard video.  I never thought it was required, but it looks like it is.  You might actually need a card for the OS.  I don't know for sure.

 

On 3/12/2017 at 5:50 PM, eric.frederich said:

Question 5)... given my motherboard and GPUs I currently own or was looking at, does it look like it'll work?... 2 graphics cards on my motherboard?

 

If you see the motherboard listing below I don't know what this x16 and x4 mean.  Does that mean one of them is x16 and the other is x4?

I'm thinking it should be okay since the board is advertised with ATI Crossfire which is meant to run 2 discrete graphics cards.

 

It looks like it will work, but you should install the 30 day trial to a flash stick and trying things out for yourself.  x16/x4 refer to the number of transmit/receive pairs/lanes available to cards occupying those PCIe slots.  Generally speaking x16 is twice as fast as x8, four times faster than x4, and sixteen times faster than x1.