Should I use server or desktop hardware? Dual Xeon e5-2690v2 or i7-8700K

[Sudomeid]

I have two available boxes for my Unraid and need to decide which box to install it on:

 

Option 1 (server variant):

HP DL380p

2 x Xeon e5-2890v2

192GB ECC RAM

 

Option 2 (desktop variant):

Intel i7-8700K

16GB RAM

 

Main Uses for Unraid:

- NAS

- Blue Iris in VM

- Pi-Hole (docker)

- Plex Media Server (docker)

- Emby Media Server (docker)

- Deluge VPN (docker)

- Nextcloud (unsure docker or VM)

 

I am trying to decide which is the best box to use for my Unraid box. 

 

The main con against using the HP server (option 1) is the noise and power consumption, but taking that aside, which is the more powerful machine for Unraid?  I want to future proof it as much as possible, as I'm sure I'll find more dockers or VMs for my Unraid in the future.

 

[sota]

I'm a vote in the "server" camp.

I believe in using the most robust, stable hardware I can find, when I can afford it.

if you're worried about power consumption, halve your processor and memory count, unless you really need the horsepower.  also if you have the choice, pick a low power variant of the processor.  that one you listed is 130W max; the ones in mine are 35W.

As for noise, that's a function of how hard it has to work anyways, and I can tell you mine isn't all that bad.

[JonathanM]

3 hours ago, sota said:

if you have the choice, pick a low power variant of the processor.  that one you listed is 130W max; the ones in mine are 35W.

It's not that simple.

 

If you want lower power consumption overall, you pretty much need to use a newer model cpu die.

 

The low TDP versions of the same die will likely consume more power overall than the unrestricted version. If a task requires X cpu cycles to complete, the low TDP version will take longer to do that task, keeping your drives and memory spun up longer, causing the overall power for that specific task to increase compared to the unrestricted CPU that will spike to a higher instantaneous power, but complete the task sooner allowing the system to get back to idle.

 

Idle power for the same die type CPU is largely identical across all models, low TDP or not.

 

Low TDP is there for enclosure cooling limits, if you have a normal desktop or server you don't need to bother.

[sota]

considering all the choices I was looking at are rated the same 8.4GT/s, I think I was fine in picking the L version.

[Sudomeid]

Thank you both for chiming in.  

 

I just did a watt meter test and the DL380p is consuming around 100 watt (CPU usage was less than 5%, so that explains the low power usage), which is about 10% higher watt usage than the desktop 8700K.  So power consumption is not an issue for me.

 

For my intended use (which is Unraid, 10 dockers, and 4 VMs), which would you choose?  Server-grade dual e5-2690v2 with 192GB ECC RAM or desktop i7-8700K with 16GB DDR4 RAM?

 

Or another way of looking at it, should I go with a noisy, robust & stable hardware with high core count and large ECC RAM, OR a consumer-grade quiet machine with faster CPU/RAM, but lower core count and lower RAMs?

 

At the end of the day, which of the two is the more powerful/optimized machine for Unraid?  I know I will never max out the CPU or RAM... I just want to have the better of the two machines for running Unraid.

 

If you were me, which direction would you go with?

Edited May 19, 2020 by Sudomeid

[JonathanM]

5 hours ago, Sudomeid said:

I know I will never max out the CPU or RAM.

4VM's running simultaneously with 16GB of RAM? That's going to be extremely tight, unless all those VM's are happy to run with 3GB RAM each.

[MadGuy]

For your use case, out of the two options i would use the xeons and alot more ram. But seeing that thats comparing 20 cores / 40 threads to 4c8t and 192gb ram to 16GB seems a very big difference, and i would doubt the requirements you said would perform as you want on that old i7. Are you sure its a 2800k? since i cant find it on the ARK site from intel.  Also you mentioned the 8700k in the OP, which is a 6c12t cpu

 

Then again, im a sucker for just (re)using desktop hardware for home use. Servers tend to be loud and i dont have a place to store said hardware where the sound wouldnt be a problem.

[Sudomeid]

On 5/17/2020 at 8:13 AM, jonathanm said:

4VM's running simultaneously with 16GB of RAM? That's going to be extremely tight, unless all those VM's are happy to run with 3GB RAM each.

You're right.  My mind was thinking of the 192GB RAM in the HP server when I wrote that statement.  But yeah, if I go with the i7-8700K setup, I would need to add additional RAM to run 4 VMs, which I can do with two available memory slots.

[Sudomeid]

9 hours ago, MadGuy said:

Are you sure its a 2800k? since i cant find it on the ARK site from intel.  Also you mentioned the 8700k in the OP, which is a 6c12t cpu.

Good catch... I must have had a brain fart.  I have the i7-8700K, not 2800K.  I've corrected it above.