Relatively Cheap NAS & Plex Server


oliverde8

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Hello, 

I am in need of a bit of wisdom, 😊

 

At the moment I am running an old laptop with old drives as NAS/Plex server that was supposed to be temporary (it was already old 4 years ago). The main issue, I have no redundancy(is rsync can be called redundancy) since a drive died over 1 year ago. A bit of a rollercoaster since then, but finally I am ready to build my unraid server. 

 

Basically, I have 2 choices.

 

A brand new NAS :

 

CPU: Intel Core i3 8100

Storage Seagate IronWolf - 6 To * 2 I intend to add 2 more later,

Ram : 8gb DDR4

MB : Gigabyte B360M D2V

Power Supply: I have an old Antec 430W Gold power supply. 

Case: Fractal Design Node 804 

 

Cost : ~750€

 

Or I use my current PC and upgrade that one, in which case the server would be

 

CPU : intel i5 4590

RAM : 16gb DDR3

MB : Asus H97M-E

 

With same power supply and case, 

 

Cost : 450€ Nas + 600€ Upgrade

 

The second option is more expensive as I need to but a more powerful CPU for my main rig. But less money goes into the actual server. What troubles me is I am running an older CPU, which I believe should be able to handle the encoding for plex but will be using more electricity and also the number of cores. I am also a bit concerned about reliability. I know my current rig is stable but it's 4 years old. 

 

If you see anything else wrong with my setup :)

 

Thanks for your feedback, 

Edited by oliverde8
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3 hours ago, oliverde8 said:

Wouldn't I need then a second computer(or mouse keyboard) to access the gui to start & stop the VM? 

 

Well I could give it a try on my current system and see. That could be helpfull space wise as well. 

Your unRAID pc would be connected to your LAN and you can access the gui via any browser e.g. your phone to control unRAID and to stop/start your VM.  You could also set the VM to auto start when unRAID boots.  From your VM you can access the unRAID webgui so you'll only need one keyboard.

 

Edit: That's how I'm setup and a lot of other unRAID users.  Check my sig - I have 4 VMs (3 W10 VMs with keyboards and monitors, and a pfSense VM) running on my unRAID server which is the only PC (other than my wife's laptop) in my household. 

Edited by DZMM
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Hello, 

 

Thanks a lot for your insights, I have been scratching my head since Monday reading and watching videos with the pros & cons. I think I am pretty much convinced. The big pro for me is space and also I could actually have (if I buy a second GC) a linux desktop running as well. Running a Virtual KVM I can then control it through my Windows computer.

 

So I was thinking something like this : 

  • CPU:  Intel Core i5 8600K
  • RAM : 16gb to start with
  • MB: Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
  • GC: My current 970 
  • PS: My Current Seasonic Gold 550W
  • Case: My Current Fractal R5 

I have just one concern with the VT IOMMU support, there are not much in the MB manufacturer websites about it, this MB seems to have.

 

I will also see if I can get a deal for a i7 during black Friday with 8 cores as that would make more sense if I want to run 2 VM's in the near future. 

 

Thanks to let me know if you see anything wrong with my setup plans :) 

 

Edited by oliverde8
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Thanks, DZMM, 

 

I realized yesterday that my current mobo supports VT-d as well. I am writing this from my VM inside Unraid. I am testing things and I have indeed realized that 16gb of ram is not enough. I need 12gb for some moded games I play on my computer and well 4gb for unraid and the rest is to little.

So indeed 32gb of ram seems to be needed. 👍

 

I am quite surprised by the performance I am getting with my old i5, I can't use plex and play at the same time obviously but as long as I do one it works okay and I didn't have any fps issues on the games I tested with. 

 

I have ordered my self a new ssd as a cache drive (unraid detected that my current ssd is dying), and 2 drives once those come and I install an additional 8gb of ram that is somewhere in my mess, I will be able to play a bit more and have a better idea of the resources I will need. 

 

So really thanks for the idea, running it all in one PC works great at the moment, and I can test things up without actually spending money (well I would have bought the hard drives anyway). 

  • Like 2
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Hi,

 

So I have received my M2 Cache drive as well as both my 2TB drives. Installed everything as well as 8gb more Ram I had lying around and power it up to. 

 

And of course things didn't go that well, the computer started and I got a Kernel Panic when unraid started. After a restart the motherboard wouldn't even post

  • Removed disks to no effect
  • Removed the m2 drive (which is a not fun as I had to remove the cpu cooler in order get it in place). 

And completely forgot about the ram, which I was using at work 4 month ago and used to be in this computer before.  Finally I thought about that and it started back again. Houraa. 

 

After a week using it I am mitigated about having everything on one machine. 

+ Space save

+ I can create VM's with ease and test os's and stuff

+ Stuff on my computer is backed up

 

- My i5 is definitively not powerful enough, 

- I got a KVM to switch between my working laptop when I do home work and the main computer (so screen, keyboard, mouse) and it's very heptic. I found a few scripts but they are not solving the issue 100% 

 

So if I want to continue with this I need to spend more money to upgrade to atleast a 6 core i5 or even an i7 to be on the safe side for the future. 

 

image.png.fb5f896c764d12b8fe8a142faa0ba4e9.png

 

But well for now alot of waiting while preclear runs on my new disks. 

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I'm curious, have you noticed any audio/video desync using the VM as your daily driver? I ran a similar setup for a couple months, but the desync was unbearable to the point where I had to switch back to separate machines. None of the recommended changes to fix said desync worked at all, so I just gave up in the end.

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Indeed I did, but haven't had much time to look more into it. I don't often use the PC to watch videos, and it seems okay with streams or with games. 

 

I have recently played with more core configs and now the Windows uses only 3 cores seems fixed. I need to test some more before being able to give a definitive answer

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@Foereaper I confirm that the windows VM using 3 cores instead of all cores fixed the audio/video desync

 

I just spent 30 minutes watching youtube while playing a game just for this purpose, my cpu load is well as you can see

image.png.56dd70412ccc7d877a809edc6def7cb0.png

 

And no issues at all :) On the other hand I need to test the gaming when I have finished installing a few other stuff as well at the moment not very happy but I do have a few background stuff running on the nas side so I need to wait for those to finish. 

Edited by oliverde8
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