New build capability: VM GPU passthrough & Docker Plex HW Transcoding

[bigbangus]

Day 3 into my first Unraid box. Love the community and glad I joined. After a couple of weeks of research I've purchased the following hardware, but I'm not sure if I've already limited by options.

 

Goals:

• Keep total build under $1000 (starting with 2 storage drives, expand later)
• Family NAS with up to 8x drives of protected storage
• Win10 Pro VM w/GPU for light gaming (mostly Zwift)
• Plex Docker w/ HW transcoding (80% streaming in house / 20% to friends and fam)
• Possible Nextcloud hosting

 

What I've purchased and built so far ($628):

• Fractal Designs Node 804 - $109
• Ryzen 3 3200g (Picasso APU) - $89
• ASRock B450M Pro4 - $80
• Corsair DDR4 LPX 3200MHz 2x8GB @ 2667MHz - $80
• NVMe M.2 XPG 8200 Pro 512GB (cache) $70
• 2x Seagate IronWolf 4TB (1 Parity) $200

Future Purchases:

• 1TB SSD Sata (for cache, use exisitng nVME in Win10 via HW passthrough)
• GTX 1060 or 1660 (for Win10 VM GPU and plex transcode?)
• LSi 9211-8i to expand SATA ports when if and when needed

 

Questions:

• Does it make sense to pass the GPU to the VW if I want plex transcoding in the docker. Watching all the SpaceInvader1 vids (spanning 4 years) I'm totally confused on how the HW is actually shared between Unraid vs VM and how best efficiently utilize the hardware.
• Was I dumb to buy a Picasso processor since it turns my PCI 3.0 16x down to 8x and the APU graphics are arguably useless for VM or Plex? Please confirm. I'm thinking of upgrading to Ryzen 5 3600 for more power and cores (within 30 day amazon return window).
• Do I have enough lanes / slots on mobo for HW? 1x PCI3.0 (max 16x), 1x PCI2.0 (max x4), 1x PCI2.0 (x1)
• In general, what's the best approach here for GPU in Win10 and Docker Plex HW transcode and any budget graphics card recommendations that are user friendly.
• Does the finally solution require 2 separate graphics cards?

 

Thank you! 

 

[bigbangus]

Nevermind, seems like spaceinvader one answered most of my concerns in this Plex transcoding video.

How to use GPU transcoding in an Emby or Plex

 

Purchased a used 1050 Ti for plex and it's transcoding like a champ at only 75W. Great choice IMO when looking at streams per watt & dollar according to this website for a majority 1080p library with occasional 4K.

nVidia Hardware Transcoding Calculator for Plex Estimates

 

I will plan to buy a main Nvidia GPU for my Windows 10 VM using HW passthrough.

 

I know I'm talking to myself here, but big thanks to spaceinvader, binhex and others for all the work. Really makes Unraid valuable for script kitties like me with limited linux and IPv4 network understanding.