unRAID Behemoth Build (Stage 2)

[Spartacus]

Great thread.
@Spartacus - just a heads up. Not sure if you saw my post on the other thread. Don’t go with ‘L’ processors. If you can get cheaper v4 that could save some power during idle. But the idle power draw of L and regular cpus in the same gen is essentially the same.

@IamSpartacus you are missing important docker container - bonarr

Thats the problem the v4 basically triple the price of any given CPU and the "cheap" ones are 140w TDP still.
May as well keep my current chips with that.

I can get a pair of the cheap'o E5-2608L v3 for $50, be it may they dont have a turbo boost but still.
I'm trying to find the lowest consumption for the cost essentially, thats at least 6c/12t.

 

[Markess]

I can get a pair of the cheap'o E5-2608L v3 for $50, be it may they dont have a turbo boost but still.
I'm trying to find the lowest consumption for the cost essentially, thats at least 6c/12t.

There's a listing for E5-2630L v3 for $30 OBO each + Shipping which is coming up as $8.25 for me. Two extra cores (8c/16t) & you won't loose turbo. They base clock lower (1.8 Ghz vs 2.0 for the 2608L), but turbo up to 2.9. They're showing more than 10 in stock, so maybe willing to come down a bit?

Intel Xeon E5-2630L v3 1.8GHz 8 Core 20MB 8GT/s 55W Processor SR209 706199397364 | eBay

 

[Spartacus]

There's a listing for E5-2630L v3 for $30 OBO each + Shipping which is coming up as $8.25 for me. Two extra cores (8c/16t) & you won't loose turbo. They base clock lower (1.8 Ghz vs 2.0 for the 2608L), but turbo up to 2.9. They're showing more than 10 in stock, so maybe willing to come down a bit?

Intel Xeon E5-2630L v3 1.8GHz 8 Core 20MB 8GT/s 55W Processor SR209 706199397364 | eBay

Sweet thanks for the find, those should work great with the transcodes offloaded to GPU its really only using cpu for basic tasks and the actual storage compute.

Its weird I search for that and nothing comes up, direct link works though.
Edit: Although to @nthu9280 's point since the idle is the same shouldnt I get the non-L? (i'm not so strapped on cash $30 will break the bank) especially if I resell the 2690 and 2660
Edit2: looking at the usage the 2690 is the real power hog anyway at 135w i can probably just grab one 2630 and toss that for plex leaving the 2660 alone in the nzb box.

 

[Markess]

Yes, if non-L models are affordable for you. A chip with similar base silicon should generally perform similarly at idle to any other. Unless Intel used different base wafers for different core counts (as a hypothetical example, one for 4-8 cores, and a different one for 10 or more cores.), then generally, all the E5-26xx will idle similarly. If 16xx and 46xx are similar to 2600 in their basic configuration, they will as well. At least that's the theory. So, in theory, your 2690 and 2660 idle just about the same as well. But, they will freely ramp up as needed to their max, and that's where you hit the higher watts and heat.

There's a theory, borne out with some research with the consumer Core series (i3/5/7) that if you are using CPU bound programs (doesn't sound like you are), then there's an argument that you actually save on watts and heat with a higher power CPU. The theory goes that they ramp up really high, get the job done fast, and go back down to idle before they have a chance to get too hot or heat saturate. A lower spec CPU could be a lot longer at a higher wattage state to get the work done, in the end drawing more power and generating more heat.

 

[Spartacus]

Yeah its small dings of compute at best, the longest is when syncing data at night generally for only a few minutes, and once a month when running the parity or integrity check for 15-16 hours.
I think thats the way I'll go 2630 v3 for the main box (w/ gpu transcode helper), and keep the 2660 v3 for the secondary.

thanks for the input

 

[IamSpartacus]

Great thread.
@Spartacus - just a heads up. Not sure if you saw my post on the other thread. Don’t go with ‘L’ processors. If you can get cheaper v4 that could save some power during idle. But the idle power draw of L and regular cpus in the same gen is essentially the same.

@IamSpartacus you are missing important docker container - bonarr

It's not missing, I just have no use for it.

 

[nthu9280]

It's not missing, I just have no use for it.

Just kidding. I don’t even have plex / streaming setup yet. Have been thinking in that direction though. Just hasn’t been on my priority list.

 

[Markess]

Its weird I search for that and nothing comes up, direct link works though.

Even though you're looking for a different CPU, thought I'd mention that the one I linked is listed in the "Server CPUs/Processors" category nested under "Enterprise Networking and Servers" > "Server Components".

I find that most of the time if I simply search for a CPU, the returned results set the Category to "CPUs and Processors" in the "Computer Components and Parts" section, and doesn't return any from anywhere else. Not sure if that happens for you too, but thought I'd mention it.

Sometimes there's some good finds in the Server CPU area though, so I make sure I check that too.

 

[Spartacus]

Yeah I guess ebay changed their search algorithms at some point? I get about 20% different results by searching for Xeon 2630 v3 vs SR206.
Kinda odd, just have to chock it up to purposeful targeted exclusion, or just poor design on assuming a category/limiting the number of categories it searches.
I normally just do a couple of different search terms for whatever item I'm looking for then watch the best priced/options that have best offer accepted and it seems to cover most of them.

End parts list I picked up:
$50 2630 v3
$125 X10SRH-CF
$8 I/O Shield MCP-260-00042-0N
$150 - 2x 32gb HMA84GR7MFR4N-TF
$65 - U12DX i4 (amazon)
$100 - Antec Twelve Hundred V3 (NIB clist)
$107 - 5x hdd enclosure CSE-M35T-1B (New) ~ waiting to see if this actually arrives Compusource orders direct from supermicro supposedly. I tried to order a refurbed off newegg business for $75 but they were outta stock (ordered then they called and canceled due to no stock).

The main guts purchases were offers made to the sellers, not in a hurry so could afford to shop around and wait on responses.

Still need to pickup:
Quadro M2000 (I wanna get that H265 transcoding capability but dont wanna pay more than about 100$ ~ and I'm lazy so I want the unlimited transcoding with out applying the nvidia patch)
2x CSE-M35T-1B

 

[Markess]

That looks like it will be a nice build. It will get the job done without breaking the bank.

Since I'm coming from storage only on my current Unraid build, I haven't given much thought about how much GPU I need. Is Nvidia the way to go here, or will AMD work as well? Something I'll need to study up on.

 

[Spartacus]

That looks like it will be a nice build. It will get the job done without breaking the bank.

Since I'm coming from storage only on my current Unraid build, I haven't given much thought about how much GPU I need. Is Nvidia the way to go here, or will AMD work as well? Something I'll need to study up on.

I'm pretty much team green all the way, so I can't speak for AMD, I'm fairly sure they work well too though.
nVidia Hardware Transcoding Calculator for Plex Estimates

^ nice visual chart (if on desktop) of the features, simultaneous native transcodes and total streams you can expect to handle on a large list of nvidia cards.

Depending on how much transcoding you do, you may not need a GPU at all though.

 

[IamSpartacus]

That looks like it will be a nice build. It will get the job done without breaking the bank.

Since I'm coming from storage only on my current Unraid build, I haven't given much thought about how much GPU I need. Is Nvidia the way to go here, or will AMD work as well? Something I'll need to study up on.

If you're talking about using a GPU for Plex, Plex does not support AMD GPUs for HW acceleration. If you dont need a ton of cores or PCIe lanes in your server than an Intel CPU with an iGPU for Plex is honestly the way to go. But if you are using something like a Xeon E5 than I'd go for something like a GTX 1650 Super or 1660 for the Turing NVDEC.

 

[Markess]

I'm pretty much team green all the way, so I can't speak for AMD, I'm fairly sure they work well too though.
nVidia Hardware Transcoding Calculator for Plex Estimates

Okay, that is a seriously cool chart. Bookmarked! The old cards I keep for testing (GT730 & K600) will work at the most basic level. I've got older GTX cards too, but the power profile sucks on them.

If you're talking about using a GPU for Plex, Plex does not support AMD GPUs for HW acceleration. If you dont need a ton of cores or PCIe lanes in your server than an Intel CPU with an iGPU for Plex is honestly the way to go. But if you are using something like a Xeon E5 than I'd go for something like a GTX 1650 Super or 1660 for the Turing NVDEC.

Thanks for the recommendations! With Plex and associated ecosystems I'm a total noob. My thought as I upgraded the hardware on my Unraid system, was to beef it up to do more than just storage. @Spartacus 's motherboard for this build is close to one over in Great Deals Right now, so I've been picking his brain on how he liked the build so far.

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/supermicro-x10srh-cf.28009/

Mine won't be a Behemoth, more like Runt of the Litter, but will be much more capable than the current dual core E3-1220L and 8GB of RAM.

 

[Spartacus]

Okay, that is a seriously cool chart. Bookmarked! The old cards I keep for testing (GT730 & K600) will work at the most basic level. I've got older GTX cards too, but the power profile sucks on them.



Thanks for the recommendations! With Plex and associated ecosystems I'm a total noob. My thought as I upgraded the hardware on my Unraid system, was to beef it up to do more than just storage. @Spartacus 's motherboard for this build is close to one over in Great Deals Right now, so I've been picking his brain on how he liked the build so far.

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/supermicro-x10srh-cf.28009/

Mine won't be a Behemoth, more like Runt of the Litter, but will be much more capable than the current dual core E3-1220L and 8GB of RAM.

So my backup box has actually been running the X10SRH-CLN4F for about 6 months which is almost the exact same board as the CF just 4 NICs.
I only called it Behemoth build because of the amount of drives going in a full tower just seemed ridiculous while not being a 4u rackmount.
I will say both of the antec twelve hundreds work great behind a couch, the draw in air from either side and blow it towards each other and upwards with that big ass 200mm fan.

If you're talking about using a GPU for Plex, Plex does not support AMD GPUs for HW acceleration. If you dont need a ton of cores or PCIe lanes in your server than an Intel CPU with an iGPU for Plex is honestly the way to go. But if you are using something like a Xeon E5 than I'd go for something like a GTX 1650 Super or 1660 for the Turing NVDEC.

I need the slot below it, so gotta be a single slot gpu for me and I wanna future proof myself to be able to transcode the 265 compression files.

 

[IamSpartacus]

I need the slot below it, so gotta be a single slot gpu for me and I wanna future proof myself to be able to transcode the 265 compression files.

Sorry yea my comment wasn't directed at you, I hadn't seen your requirements. But given you're looking to future proof, not sure it makes much sense to use a card that can't do 4:4:4 or lossless h265.

 

[Spartacus]

I figured, just notating my usecase, but hence why im lookin at the M2000 not really interested in paying that much for the high end quadros.
Though I've considered getting a riser to be able to install a custom vertical dual slot bay for a 1600 series card.

 

[Spartacus]

Something like this:

FINAL UPDATE --- PC rebuild- X99 6850K with 90 degree GPU mod

FINAL UPDATE: Please see the posts towards the bottom of the page. It would not allow me to add additional pictures to this OP due to size limitations. As requested, I am going to put the link to the bracket in this original post so that it is easier to find. I am also going to link the PCIe rise...

linustechtips.com

With the mountain mods bracket: Amazon.com: Mountain Mods 2 PCI Modular IO Bracket: Computers & Accessories

 

[Spartacus]

Got the enclosure in today 5/4, it took just shy of 3 weeks to arrive ordering from Supermicro drop shipped via Compusource (ordered on 4/15).
But its brand new from supermicro and only cost $107.60 (no tax oddly enough) for a brand new CSE-M35T-1B (was on sale for 10$ off at the time).

Considering the used/refub stock is mostly dried up and are selling for about $85-90+ shipped I gave it a shot, works well highly recommend if you're looking for high quality enclosures: CSE-M35T-1B | Supermicro&reg Cse-m35t1 Mobile Rack Csem35t1b

They also have the CSE-M35TQ, but they're 30-40$ more ~ CSE-M35TQ | Supermicro&reg Cse-m35tq Mobile Rack Enclosure Csem35tq

Not worth it IMO since the 1B can still do SAS drives, you just don"t get the failure LED light and I'm not using the sideband cable anyway.
I do however replace all the fans with the Noctua Redux as the deltas are fuggin loud: Amazon.com: Noctua NF-B9 redux-1600 PWM, High Performance Cooling Fan, 4-Pin, 1600 RPM (92mm, Grey): Computers & Accessories

Should have this pieced together by tomorrow, with some updated pictures.

 

[Lost-Benji]

Behemoth ehhhh, can't be if on UnRAID, limited number of drives = UnRAID suckiness.

 

[Spartacus]

Behemoth ehhhh, can't be if on UnRAID, limited number of drives = UnRAID suckiness.