Advice for custom virtualization / plex server build

[MUDHAULER]

I currently have a Dell Optiplex 9020 SFF (Intel Core i5-4590 3.3ghz cpu (no gpu/igpu), 32gb ram) running as a Proxmox virtualization server. I also have a Synology RS822+ fileserver that also hosts Plex.

I'm out of resources on the Dell, and I want to take the Plex pressure off my file server. So, I would like to build a new server and combine the virtualization and Plex functions into one server. So I guess Plex would run as a VM in Proxmox.

I also have a 2070 Super and a 1080 gpu not being used atm. I'd like to incorporate one of those for Proxmox passthrough / Plex to use.

My thought is doing this:

Xeon E5-2699 v4 2.24Ghz (22c/44th) used from ebay.
min 64gb ddr4 ram (128 preferred) (used from ebay)
Min 4 drives as raid for ~16tb space minimum. (maybe used from ebay)

Will that CPU cut it?

Need recommendations for:
Motherboard?
2u Chassis? (can go 3u if need be)
Riser card?

Thanks for the help....

 

[MountainBofh]

You have several competing requirements here, my 2 cents as follow...

The CPU you're looking at should be more than enough horsepower for all the things you're looking to do.

If you want to run the GPU's, you'll need a chassis, power supply, and motherboard designed to handle a GPU. Not saying you can't find this, but its going to drive up costs, and you'll have less options, especially used.

Make sure the ram you purchase will work on whatever motherboard you get. Usually when you get into server class CPU's, it means you're going to run RDIMM's (aka registered ram), not UDIMM's. Lot of people get bit by messing that up.


Question - does this build have to be a rackmount style case? If not, then your options open up considerably. Here's one possible build that should run your GPU and meet all your requirements.

motherboard Supermicro X10SRH-CF. Supermicro X10SRH-CF ATX Intel C612 LGA2011 DDR4 ATX Motherboard TrueNAS PFSense | eBay
CPU, Xeon E5-2697 V4 (18 cores, MUCH cheaper than the 22 core) Intel Xeon E5-2697 V4 2.30 GHz 18C 2011-3 2400MHz 45MB 145W SR2JV CPU Processor | eBay
Heatsink SNK-P0050AP4 Supermicro SNK-P0050AP4 4U Active CPU Heatsink Fan Socket LGA2011 672042103492 | eBay
Ram - 32GB RDIMM (order 4 for 128GB total) Kingston KSM24RD4/32MEI 32GB DDR4 RDIMM 2Rx4 PC4-2400T Server RAM | eBay

Case - whatever full tower case you want from Amazon or Newegg
Power supply - any decent 80+ gold or better, suggested power 700 watt and up.
Drives - 1 sata SSD for your OS drive, storage drives can be whatever. I'm not a huge fan of used HDD's, I would do a pair of mirrored new 16TB drives using ZFS in your case. ZFS does an EXCELLENT job of protecting your data. I've good luck with Seagate EXOS and Toshiba Enterprise drives for my storage servers at work.

This build gives you a lot of capability for minimal money.

 

[louie1961]

Why such an old CPU? Any modern CPU with an integrated GPU can handle transcoding. This guy sets up a Proxmox server running jellyfin, docker and home assistant on an n100 NUC-style device ($159). I am not proposing that you get an N-100, but just giving you an idea of what modern CPUs can do. I run my workloads on a HP Elitedesk mini 800 g9 with i5-12500T processor. I am currently running Proxmox with 3 wordpress websites on 3 Debian VMs (for isolation), two other Debian VMs running docker (again for isolation, 12 docker images total) and 3 LXC containers. I have memory and CPU to spare. I could easily double or triple the number of VMs, depending on the workloads.

 

[MUDHAULER]

@MountainBofh Thanks for the input, much appreciated.. Yes it does have to be rackmount, I'll make sure I keep the gpu thing in mind..

@louie1961 - Also thanks for the input.. My main reasoning for that old of a cpu was the core count for VMs in Proxmox. I dont really need to transcode in Plex, its all direct play in my setup. I'm thinking you may have a point though, having Quicksync would be helpfull if I do need to transcode in the future. For only a little more I can get a newer cpu..

 

[MountainBofh]

Speaking of rackmount, I just had an idea pop into my head that may be the solution for you.

You can go to newegg, and order a generic 4U rack case, and use the rest of the parts I had in my build list. Or pretty any other motherboard that's ATX compatible. This would let you stick in your GPU and still keep it rack mountable.

A few options I spotted.....

1. CHENBRO RM42300-F 4U Rackmount Server Case - Newegg.com
2. iStarUSA D-400 Black 4U Rackmount Compact Stylish Chassis - Black Bezel - Newegg.com

 

[louie1961]

My main reasoning for that old of a cpu was the core count for VMs in Proxmox.

FWIW, You can "oversubscribe" cores. There doesn't need to be a one to one ratio when it comes to cores, especially if you have low demand workloads like I do and they don't all call for CPU cycles at the same time. For example, I run 3 VMs on my N100 machine, each with three cores assigned (the CPU only has 4 cores total/4 threads) I have assigned a total of 9 cores without a problem. On my i5-12500T machine (6 cores/12 threads) I have 18 cores assigned to a mix of VMs and LXC containers.

You just cannot assign more cores to one VM than the CPU has in total. On most installations you will run out of memory to assign long before you run out of cores to assign. You can do balloon memory which is almost like over subscription, but not really. There's a video out there by Brandon Lee where he stands up something like 10 VMs on a 4 core N100 machine

 

[MountainBofh]

I have XCP-NG VM servers at work that are running 10+ vm's on them, each is assigned 4 cores, and the server itself only has 16 cores. Works great, no issues.

 

[Tech Junky]

Quicksync

Or get an A380 like I dd when i switched to AMD. For $100 to get QSV it's a no brainer and you're not stuck sucking on Intel's tit for a CPU. Plus if you do anything that Intel locked down there's a good chance AMD just works.

For the transcode though using the A380 / QSV knocked down the processing time to 1/8th of the CPU only and thus reduce the power draw / bill.

 

[MUDHAULER]

So @louie1961 you caused me to completely re-think my plan. I decided to go with a more modern processor.. Found a good price on a i7-12700 12c/20t cpu so I grabbed it. 65w, igpu, quicksync, etc.. I can use a 2/3u case (prolly Rosewill) as I dont need the fullsize gpu anymore, and the 65w idle was a big plus. Buy once, cry once..

Thanks for the info on the "oversubscribing", I didnt know that.

Any recommendations on a motherboard for this cpu?

 

[Marsh]

You Have Chosen Wisely

 

[louie1961]

I am sorry, I have no idea on a good mobo for that. I'd probably opt for something on the inexpensive side like this ASRock Z690 EXTREME LGA 1700 (14th,13th,12th Gen) DDR4 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com