Overpowered PLEX Server

[Jeff Hodges]

I'll be adding pictures in the morning

Build’s Name: Aphrodite
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Ubuntu 14:04 x64 LTS
CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 Haswell 2.4GHz
Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRI-F
Chassis: Antec Three Hundred
Drives: 4x WD Green WD40EZRX 4TB
RAM: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC DDR4 2133
RAID: 16 TB RAID-5 in Software, ~12 TB usable

Usage Profile: Plex, NFS, backups, and virtual machine lab testing

Other information…
This build took over four months to complete! We started with Sandy Bridge in October and after buying an open box SUPERMICRO X9SRA we thought we had a dead motherboard so we sent that back. In the process and through more research (a lot of done it on serve the home) we decided to switch out the processor and the RAM as well, opting to switch over to Haswell for the performance and power savings.

After getting in those parts and trying again to boot the system, we were once again unable to boot the machine. We tested everything with the volt-meter again and after a lot more research, came to the conclusion we had a bad power supply. At that time I discovered that we also had the wrong size LGA-2011 cooler. (mistaking the LGA-2011 narrow and regular)

So after three months it turns out all we needed was a different power supply that first day and we would have been up and running months ago...

Learned a lot in the process but wasted a lot of time as well.

 

[rubylaser]

Congrats on the new build! What are you using for software RAID (ZFS, mdadm, SnapRAID, btrfs, etc.) and are you using the array for virtual machine storage?

 

[Jeff Hodges]

I'm using mdadm right now. I never did run a benchmark on it while the RAID was un-mounted so I don't know the exact speed I'm getting but it's definitely fast enough for what I need. We've only got one VM running right now that isn't even on all the time so running it off the array isn't a problem yet.

I'm considering visualizing the current physical machine which runs PLEX, Sickbeard, Couchpotato, and SABnzbd as well and converting it to an ESXI build.

 

[urbanracer34]

Congrats on the new build and becoming a member of STH!
I've been looking for something a lot more affordable on the pocketbook and your build might suit what I have in mind. Thanks for posting it!

 

[T_Minus]

Congrats on the build! I started with the E5-2620 sandy and went up, your v3 should sip power THat's going ot be a fun build./

 

[Jeff Hodges]

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Guess I should really go ahead and add those pictures.