Appreciate Feedback on a Plex build

[randomjohn]

I'm planning to build up the unraid storage slowly over time (I'm looking at you, Black Friday deals) because I've still got 2 TB left on a WD MyCloud EX4. I may or may not keep those in the case or move the drives to this server now. But it's just working, so no urgency.

 

I'm replacing a dying Windows 7-based Plex Media Server/sabnzbd/radarr/sonarr/lidarr setup. I've run linux before and want to be able to use dockers to fool around with a bunch of automation stuff. Almost all of the streaming is to FireTVs within the house or when I'm traveling for work. Rarely will there be multiple users.

 

Is this overkill?

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K (Standard Folding Box) 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($392.89 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z390-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($167.89 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($123.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.99 @ Corsair)
Total: $1104.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-25 13:57 EDT-0400

 | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2020-10-24 19:12 EDT-0400 |

 

I'm going to shuck a couple of WD 12TB Elements for starters.

 

Appreciate your attention and comments.

 

Thank you

 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by randomjohn
Fixing formatting

[Decto]

My original plex server ran fine with a couple of game servers and the usual Sonarr/Radarr etc on an E3-1225V3 4c4T so I'd say the CPU is a little overkill.

However as a proportion of your spend, you'll only save 10% or so dropping the number of cores so I'd probably go with it then if you want to run VM's or something later you can grow into it. Plex is pretty lite as a docker and the only spike I see is during the unrar of a download.

 

Motherboard has plenty expansion, the base x4 in x16 slot would be sufficient for at least 8 drives with an LSI SAS card.

 

PSU wattage is also higher than needed, however larger PSU's do give more SATA 'strings' which is better for multi drive usage. Corsair usually provide a maximum of 4 connectors per cable which is fine, adding multiple SATA splitters can quickly overload the cable so better to have more cables if you are intending to add more drives later.

 

 

[randomjohn]

That's very helpful, thank you. The CPU overkill is definitely part of a possibility that I'll run a Windows VM at some point, and a misguided notion that the stronger CPU will help with transcoding (which is why I'm going with the integrated gfx).

 

The PSU was not nearly even that well thought out. Previous PCs were more for gaming and had separate gfx cards with ridiculous power requirements, so I just got in the habit of buying more than I need. I figured it couldn't hurt if I eventually wanted to power a lot of drives, but your point means maybe I just stumbled into a compelling reason anyway.