Unraid Server for Capture One and Lightroom

[jakebake]

Hey guys,

 

I currently have an Unraid server I built years ago with very unpowerful hardware. I currently upgraded my main PC to an AMD 3900x and 32gb 3600 Ram. 1080ti and I was thinking about using my old 1700 and 16gb ram as the unraid server. 

 

1st question is since the 1700 does not have a integrated graphics do I have to purchase a card for it or will it work since I'll be setting up from the GUI on my main PC? 

 

I'm also wondering how people best set this up that use Unriad with Capture One? More interested in this than lightroom but I guess that would help too. I want the best performance possible so it might make more sense to put everything on my main PC and then move it over to the unraid server for backup. It would however, be awesome to just be able to have everything stored on the Unraid server but edit from my main PC or even a laptop.

 

What matters for performance the most? LAN speed? Internet speed? How powerful the server is? 

Whats the best way to set this up?

 

Thanks!

Edited August 13, 2019 by jakebake

[jakebake]

19 hours ago, jakebake said:

will

Anyone? I'm sure theres not many people doing this but has to be someone?

[JoseN]

I would love to have unraid handle my photo editing software.  Just not sure how to proceed.  I have an extra graphics card laying around that I would love to put to use and especially if it could handle Photoshop/Lightroom/Capture One!

[testdasi]

On 8/13/2019 at 10:48 PM, jakebake said:

1st question is since the 1700 does not have a integrated graphics do I have to purchase a card for it or will it work since I'll be setting up from the GUI on my main PC? 

What matters for performance the most? LAN speed? Internet speed? How powerful the server is? 

Whats the best way to set this up?

Unraid does not require a GPU to boot but your motherboard may. The only way to know is to try booting without a GPU.

 

In terms of performance, it depends on how you define "performance". I don't use Capture One but am very familiar with Lightroom.

From my experience

• Core count matters with parallel-able tasks e.g. exporting, generating preview. There's diminishing return but my 24-core performance is still better than 8-core performance.
• Base clock matters with snappiness e.g. moving between modules
• > 8GB of RAM only matters if you edit very large files e.g. 100Mpx kinda thing
• SSD matters for db and previews. Matters even more if you can separate the image files from the db and previews.
• NVMe barely makes any dent
• GPU-acceleration matters when it works (but only to parallel-able tasks). Unfortunately, my 1070 has issues (e.g. blank screens, blank previews etc.)
• LAN speed matters if working remotely but I have found Wifi-level speed sufficient.
• Why would Internet speed matter?

I do RDP to my workstation VM and found it usable. However, I do use my VM directly when dealing with serious works.

 

 

3 hours ago, JoseN said:

I would love to have unraid handle my photo editing software.  Just not sure how to proceed.  I have an extra graphics card laying around that I would love to put to use and especially if it could handle Photoshop/Lightroom/Capture One!

You probably shouldn't hijack someone else's topic. Better to start your own topic to ask your own questions to minimise confusion.

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by testdasi

[jakebake]

5 hours ago, testdasi said:

Unraid does not require a GPU to boot but your motherboard may. The only way to know is to try booting without a GPU.

 

In terms of performance, it depends on how you define "performance". I don't use Capture One but am very familiar with Lightroom.

From my experience

• Core count matters with parallel-able tasks e.g. exporting, generating preview. There's diminishing return but my 24-core performance is still better than 8-core performance.
• Base clock matters with snappiness e.g. moving between modules
• > 8GB of RAM only matters if you edit very large files e.g. 100Mpx kinda thing
• SSD matters for db and previews. Matters even more if you can separate the image files from the db and previews.
• NVMe barely makes any dent
• GPU-acceleration matters when it works (but only to parallel-able tasks). Unfortunately, my 1070 has issues (e.g. blank screens, blank previews etc.)
• LAN speed matters if working remotely but I have found Wifi-level speed sufficient.
• Why would Internet speed matter?

I do RDP to my workstation VM and found it usable. However, I do use my VM directly when dealing with serious works.

 

 

You probably shouldn't hijack someone else's topic. Better to start your own topic to ask your own questions to minimise confusion.

 

 

 

Thank you! I guess I really wanted to be able to have the  RAW files and finished edits store on the server and then just use my Main PC to edit. think there is a way to do this with Capture one or Lightroom with just the previews but the actual raw is on the server? Not sure what the performance is like though. My main PC is a 3900x (12 cores) with 32gb memory, nvme, 1080ti. If I use my old hardware in the unraid server it would be a 1700 with 16gb of ram and ssd cache. 

 

I guess I am just trying to figure out the best workflow for this or what others are doing.

[testdasi]

1 hour ago, jakebake said:

Thank you! I guess I really wanted to be able to have the  RAW files and finished edits store on the server and then just use my Main PC to edit. think there is a way to do this with Capture one or Lightroom with just the previews but the actual raw is on the server? Not sure what the performance is like though. My main PC is a 3900x (12 cores) with 32gb memory, nvme, 1080ti. If I use my old hardware in the unraid server it would be a 1700 with 16gb of ram and ssd cache. 

 

I guess I am just trying to figure out the best workflow for this or what others are doing.

Yes, Lightroom has that feature to allow you to edit stuff locally with the RAW on the network. I have never used that functionality in any serious manner though. Performance is better than editing RAW after the initial ingress wait. That's expected though since you are essentially editing a simplified version of your RAW files.

 

If I were you, I would set up a VM on the 1700 and editing via RDP. Would be a waste of the 1700 otherwise. Of course if you use the server for other purposes then you can use the Lightroom feature you mentioned.

 

My workflow is generally have my files in "local" NVMe SSD for things that I still need to edit. Once done, I move everything to the NAS. But then my NAS and workstation is the same machine so it's different.

[am3ncorn3r]

Jake did you every figure this out? Wanting to do the same thing.