Presently running unraid on an i7-3770k 3.4ghz and it does OK most of the time, but I do hit limitations when Plex (in docker) gets too many streams going in concert with VMs and other processes.

 

What are your thoughts on something like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Supermicro-X9DRi-LN4F-Motherboard-2x-E5-2690-v2-3-0GHz-10Core-CPU-8GB-DDR3/113461914426?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3Df2973b5bd5d14decbe9cdc5e69d1114c%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D372574069851%26itm%3D113461914426&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A37cea3fa-1dc6-11e9-9edc-74dbd180b148|parentrq%3A726269931680ab1da8525dd1fffb21dc|iid%3A1

 

 

I'm guessing I'll need to replace those passive heat sinks with fans, I'm pretty sure this will fit into my existing ATX case (?) ... then of course I'll have to buy memory. But I'm thinking that I should be able quadruple my performance for under a $1,000.

 

I'm just wondering if I should look at something else that would be a better deal for the money?
 

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!
 

Edited January 21, 20197 yr by CowboyRedBeard

That's not a bad deal, but if you want to compare, the new E-2176 (And thus the i7-8700 it is based on) has about the same passmark score as that dual proc system...an internal GPU and if you are smart with the MB you can get the proc and MB for about the same cost.  Granted, the only real benefits of that are the iGPU and lower power consumption....with power being hugely lower, 2x130TDP vs 1x80.

 

That said, if power and iGPU aren't a concern for you having the extra PCI-E lanes and RAM slots would be nice....but only if you will use them.

 

For reference: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E-2176G+%40+3.70GHz&id=3336

 

P.S. If you consider this route, ignore the E-2186G, there is no real benifit to that processor as it gets thermal throttled anyway.

 

 

Edited January 21, 20197 yr by Tybio

The increased number of cores on the E5's be an advantage right?

 

I mean, I don't use a TON right now... but that's probably because I can't. There's a whole host of things I'd like to be doing on it but don't have the speed.

Also looks like that system is limited to 64G RAM?

 

I'm not a HW guru so ... sorry for the n00b questions

Edited January 22, 20197 yr by CowboyRedBeard

So maybe something like the following:

 

 

What's the difference / advantage of an i7 vs e5?

Well, if you stack them up... the i7-8700 / E-2176 are much faster per single thread process... but the number of cores is a factor. Plus, the below only shows it on a CPU v CPU basis. With the e5-2690v2 system from eBay I'd have 2 processors with that 16404 passmark and 40 threads total.

 

I mean, bang for buck (power consumption aside) the dual e5-2690v2 system would blow the others away right?

 

Are there other things I'm not thinking about as far as packaging, cooling, etc?

 

I myself is in the same situation, plex streams transcoded kills my unraid server. I today have a xeon 1240v2 that has about 10000 passmarks, thats for some files enough to transcode one 4k sdr to 1080p. For 4k HEVC there is no way it can cop and plex states that around 15000 and it seems like ATMOS and such just needs way more than that. My thinking is that CPU power will just not be enough to solve the issue, sure 16000 x2 would be able to transform one stream, but not 2 4k HEVC Atmos files at the same time. For me a build with hardware encode/decode is the only option, I do know that currently there are issues with tone mapping, but it seems to be software and not hardware related. Still pondering what cpu and mother board to get though....

Just to give you guys an option, you could drop a P2000 in your current systems (if you have an 8x slot free) and put PMS in a Windows VM.  That would give you super transcode ability that is portable as you upgrade...Some people like that path as it lets them keep the MB/CPU optimized for their normal needs and offload the transcoding needs to dedicated hardware.

 

9 hours ago, CowboyRedBeard said:

Well, if you stack them up... the i7-8700 / E-2176 are much faster per single thread process... but the number of cores is a factor. Plus, the below only shows it on a CPU v CPU basis. With the e5-2690v2 system from eBay I'd have 2 processors with that 16404 passmark and 40 threads total.

 

I mean, bang for buck (power consumption aside) the dual e5-2690v2 system would blow the others away right?

 

Are there other things I'm not thinking about as far as packaging, cooling, etc?

 

Yes, but in transcoding you could do PERHAPS 2 4k HVEC transcodes by fully loading both of those CPUs.  with the iGPU in the i7-8700/E-2176G series you would have the majority of its power even if you are transcoding due to the offload factor.  I sit at about 10% CPU when transcoding on mine, I haven't done concurrent stream tests, but I have gotten up to 2 transcodes (4k HVEC -> 1080p) with only ~20% CPU usage.  So I have 80% of my CPU left for more transcodes or other tasks.  It is all about what component is doing what task.  With the system you quoted, EVERYTHING happens on the CPU...the i7/E processors gain a huge advantage IF and only IF a big percentage of the processing is transcoding.

 

Please remember, even when the CPU is at 20%, the iGPU is still working hard...so temp/power consumption does go up....it's not "free" ;).

How does the P2000 differ from a GTX GPU? I have a GTX 1060 3G laying around. I mean, in my house for 4k I typically direct stream to my Roku TV so it doesn't transcode at all. It's when mobile devices and friends and family are streaming from outside my house that the server is doing double duty for transcode

Edited January 22, 20197 yr by CowboyRedBeard

OK... for other n00bs that may read this, I just found this.... 
 

 

 

And this in the notes to remove the 2 stream limitation from regular GPUs:

http://slothtechtv.com/2018/09/unlock-the-transcode-or-session-limit-on-nvidia-consumer-grade-gpus

You nailed it ;).  Nothing to add to the video or the stream limitation...those are the reasons!