iGPU, Chipsets and confusion.

[Nicolai]

Hello Everyone.

I'm really hoping someone here will have the knowledge I need and the time to edumacate me in the world of servers. I'm brand new to it and only just starting out with it, and there's all of a sudden a world of new features and limitations, that I'm not used to having to consider or even have been a problem before.

I do apologize in advanced, this might be a lengthy thread, but I hope you'll bare with me.

I've set my heart on making a server, and I've got only a couple of things I want it to be able to do:

• Function as a NAS with a shared network folder to my Win10 Pro laptop (if possible cloud access)
• Run a Plex Media Server

My current living arrangements doesn't include a closet, attic, or basement, so it will have to be situated in my living room, thus noise is a concern. Because of this, aesthetics and noise matters, thus I've set my heart on a SilverStone Technology SST-RM400 with a low noise ATX power supply and Noctua fans. Next limitation I have a concern for is the power consumption, I'm a student, so I cannot afford a large power bill. And here's where it's starting to become complicated for me.

Because of my economy, I want to use an iGPU for Plex Media Server for hardware accelerated transcoding, firstly because I have no room to spare in my economy to buy a dedicated GPU, but also because of the additional power it'll consume, even idling.

The RM400 support up to 10 hot-swap bays and the SilverStone Technology SST-FS305B-12G Hot-Swap tray comes with 5x 7pin SATA connections, giving me a total need for 10x SATA3 ports on the motherboard or 2 SAS2/SAS3 ports with an onboard LSI controller (other SAS controllers apparently don't play nice in unraid). I found a few options I thought would work, but on the unraid forum, they explained to me, that the C-series chipsets from Intel wouldn't allow iGPU passthrough to Plex Media Server and Handshake. So here comes my first question:

Which chipset would I need for this feature?

I got my heart set on a Xeon E-series APU, either 4 or 6 core, but which would be the better option and why?

I'd like to run WD NAS drives, and 2 NVMe WD NAS drives for OS (UnRaid) and Plex Media Server cache drive.

I'm really hoping someone here will take the time and advice me in this matter.

Best regards

 

[Marsh]

Do you have URL links regarding this ?

I found a few options I thought would work, but on the unraid forum, they explained to me, that the C-series chipsets from Intel wouldn't allow iGPU passthrough to Plex Media Server and Handshake.

As far as I know , C246 chip set should do the trick.

 

[Nicolai]

Do you have URL links regarding this ?




As far as I know , C246 chip set should do the trick.

I can't seem to find it again, but how do I tell if a chipset can or not?

 

[ramblinreck47]

The C246 chipset should do everything you want it to do. I've had no trouble passing through the iGPU for Plex on all of my C246 motherboards. The Coffee Lake iGPU is a beast and can transcode about 20 x 1080p 8Mbps at one time. The CPU's also idle very low as well. The idle power difference between a 4 core and 8 core Coffee Lake CPU is almost negligible (I compared my i3-8100 and E-2278G).

Shameless plug: I have a Asus C246M Pro motherboard for sale and am also about to sell my E-2278G/Supermicro X11SCA-F combo here in the near future.

 

[Marsh]

The issue is that some early c226 and c236 boards with both IPMI and iGPU.
Some models of boards that using ipmi for video output, but did not enable the usage of igpu.

Are you planning to use a board with IPMI ?
The latest board which use C246 should have support for iGPU.
If you do not plan to use ipmi, then it is non-issue.

 

[Nicolai]

The issue is that some early c226 and c236 boards with both IPMI and iGPU.
Some models of boards that using ipmi for video output, but did not enable the usage of igpu.

Are you planning to use a board with IPMI ?
The latest board which use C246 should have support for iGPU.
If you do not plan to use ipmi, then it is non-issue.

I think I'm truly out of my debth here, I don't even know what IPMI is or how to use it?

My plan is to put it under my TV, run unraid and plex media server, possibly learn how to make a VM and create a VM running Windows 10 Pro I can use on my TV, but I'd get a dedicated GPU for that. I don't even know if an Intel Xeon E-series would be the right APU to get.

The C246 chipset should do everything you want it to do. I've had no trouble passing through the iGPU for Plex on all of my C246 motherboards. The Coffee Lake iGPU is a beast and can transcode about 20 x 1080p 8Mbps at one time. The CPU's also idle very low as well. The idle power difference between a 4 core and 8 core Coffee Lake CPU is almost negligible (I compared my i3-8100 and E-2278G).

Shameless plug: I have a Asus C246M Pro motherboard for sale and am also about to sell my E-2278G/Supermicro X11SCA-F combo here in the near future.

I was looking at the Asus C246 Pro motherboard, because of it's C246 chipset and dual M.2 ports. If I'm understanding this correctly, VMs can be/are stored as .iso files and loaded up, I was then thinking I would use the Raid 1 data security to save my UnRaid settings and my .iso files for VMs. The additional 8 SATA3 ports would allow me to use the first of the 2 SilverStone Technology SST-FS305B-12G Hot-Swap trays without having to invest in an HBA card until I'll need the 2nd Hot-Swap tray. That would still leave me room on the M.2s for a Plex Media Server cache folder, with the 500 GB available on the WD Red SSD M.2 2280 drives (feedback and thoughts on this idea would be much appreciated).

When you say the idle power is very low, I assume you've measured it, can I ask how low?