cadetdrivr
Cadet
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2023
- Messages
- 8
Hello folks, I’ve been using TreuNAS at home for years and only been lurking so this is my first post. As the title suggests, I’m looking for a reality check on my ideas for a new server to replace my existing unit(s).
As background, I’ve been using a Lenovo TS140 tower for the past 10 years as my primary server. It started with FreeNAS, then TrueNAS Core, and is currently running SCALE with a 5-disk RAIDZ2. In retrospect, that shell of a tower was the deal of the century when I purchased it new but I’m not finding similar “deals” today from the big guys so I’m on the path to build my own system this time. Although I’ve never “built” a server, I’ve assembled multiple PCs over the years so I’m not concerned about piecing it together.
The TS140 was originally built to house the media library for our home theater and I eventually replaced the i3 CPU with a Xeon E3-1245 v3 for PLEX transcoding. Once 4K HDR transcoding became desired, and the Xeon proved insufficient, I’ve been using a second hand SFF (Dell Vostro 3470 running Ubuntu) as the Plex server with an i3-8100 that handily transcodes 4K HDR using hardware acceleration. Throughout, the TS140 has still been the primary storage for media and files.
So now I’m looking for new hardware that will (hopefully) provide the basis for another decade of painless reliability for our home.
My goals are:
The build I’m considering:
Thanks in advance!
As background, I’ve been using a Lenovo TS140 tower for the past 10 years as my primary server. It started with FreeNAS, then TrueNAS Core, and is currently running SCALE with a 5-disk RAIDZ2. In retrospect, that shell of a tower was the deal of the century when I purchased it new but I’m not finding similar “deals” today from the big guys so I’m on the path to build my own system this time. Although I’ve never “built” a server, I’ve assembled multiple PCs over the years so I’m not concerned about piecing it together.
The TS140 was originally built to house the media library for our home theater and I eventually replaced the i3 CPU with a Xeon E3-1245 v3 for PLEX transcoding. Once 4K HDR transcoding became desired, and the Xeon proved insufficient, I’ve been using a second hand SFF (Dell Vostro 3470 running Ubuntu) as the Plex server with an i3-8100 that handily transcodes 4K HDR using hardware acceleration. Throughout, the TS140 has still been the primary storage for media and files.
So now I’m looking for new hardware that will (hopefully) provide the basis for another decade of painless reliability for our home.
My goals are:
- Consolidate to one server
- Move server to an existing rack for space savings
- Strong PLEX hardware accelerated (GPU) transcoding
- Continue to provide file storage on-site backups for our data
- Upgrade before something fails. After 10 years, I feel like I’ve had my $$$ worth
- Provide myself with a fun project and a new toy to play with
The build I’m considering:
- SilverStone RM41-H08 4U Rackmount Server Case (5-disk hot swap)
- 80 Gold (or better) power supply, TBD, suggestions welcome
- 64GB EEC memory (validated for motherboard)
- Migrate existing HDDs and SSD boot drive
Either:
- SUPERMICRO MBD-X13SAE-F ATX Server Motherboard (Intel W680, DDR5)
- Intel i5-13500 (770 iGPU)
- or -
- SUPERMICRO X12STH-F Micro-ATX Server Motherboard (Intel C256, DDR4)
- Intel Xeon E-2324G (P750 iGPU)
1) Has anybody actually used the X13SAE? And with PLEX? I find threads here considering it, but not actual use. Perhaps this may be related to native kernel support for the 12th and 13th gen Intel CPUs which looks like it will be greatly improved with kernel 6.1 in SCALE 23?
2) Feedback for the case, please. It seems to meet my needs, but direct feedback or alternative suggestions would be welcome.
3) The X12/Xeon combo is about $200 less when including memory, but it also has one fewer PCI slot. I can likely live with that but is there any difference in build quality between SuperMicro server and workstation motherboards?
4) The i5 has 14 cores (and 20 threads) compared to the Xeon (4/4), but even the Xeon seems like overkill (if there’s such a thing) for my needs. Thoughts?
5) Any other suggestions or observations? All are welcome.
Thanks in advance!