How to setup drives for optimal Media/Docker/Gaming VM performance

[unRaide]

Hi,

 

Based off an earlier post I'd like to get some advice on the best way to configure my drives for optimal performance as there didn’t seem to be a strong consensus looking through the forums.

 

Here are the current approaches I'm thinking about:

 

Option 1

• Cache Pool - used for Dockers and speeding up large transfers (2 x 250GB SSD in Raid 1)
• Un-assigned Drive - used for VMs (Win10 VR gaming + macOS + Linux) (1 x 500GB NVMe)
• Array - (4 x 8TB WD Red Pro 7200rpm drives)

 

Option 2

• Cache Pool - used for VMs (Win10 VR gaming + macOS + Linux), Dockers and speeding up large transfers (2 x 500GB NVMe  in Raid 1)
• Array - (4 x 8TB WD Red Pro 7200rpm drives)

 

Option 3

• Cache - used for Dockers and speeding up large transfers (1 x 500GB SSD)
• Un-assigned Drive - used for Win10 gaming VM + macOS + Linux VMs (1 x 500GB NVMe)
• Array - (4 x 8TB WD Red Pro 7200rpm drives)

 

My main use cases are as a media/Docker server with weekly VR gaming.  Seems like there's a lot of opinions on how to set this up so I'd love to hear your thoughts on which approach to go with.

 

Build:

• CPU: i7-8700K
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S 92mm SSO2 U-Type Premium CPU Cooler
• Mem: G.SKill TridentZ Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 SDRAM 3200
• Mobo: ASRock Z370 Taichi LGA 1151 (300 Series)
• Storage:
  • Samsung 960 NVMe 500GB OR Samsung 850 Pro Series 500GB SSD
  • WD Red Pro 8TB x 4
• GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti FTW2
• Case: Fractal Design Define R5
• PSU: Corsair RMx Series, RM850x, 850W, Fully Modular Power Supply

 

Thanks