Is this a good build?

[all4dom 80]

I'm wondering if this would make a decent server/desktop combo? It would be for emby & live tv and basic desktop use until I can build a new one. I thought about building a combo with the new amd ryzen chip but am not sure if its worth the extra money and how well will emby run on it compared to intel. I/m using my (4) 2tb hard drives and (2) 500 gig hard drives until I can purchase new drives. Trying to keep cost low and keep build efficient, I.m getting everything from newegg. Thanks for your input.

Dom

 

ASRock B150M-HDV LGA 1151 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

 

Intel Core i5-7500 Kaby Lake Quad-Core 3.4 GHz LGA 1151 65W BX80677I57500 Desktop Processor

 

SYBA SY-PEX40039 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) PCI-e 2.0 x1 Card

 

Crucial 4GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Desktop Memory Model CT4G4DFS8213

 

Antec NSK4100 Black SGCC steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

 

Thermaltake Smart Series 500W SLI/CrossFire Ready Continuous Power ATX 12V V2.3 / EPS 12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply Haswell Ready PS-SPD-0500NPCWUS-W

 

 

 

[Guest asrequested]

Why use the Sybia controller? I would double the memory, but the rest will work welll

[arrbee99 1660]

Doubt if this'll help, but its worth remembering about those USB headers on the motherboard. I have quite a few HDD's inside the PC case and quite a few USB HDD's outside and when I ran out of SATA connectors I almost bought a SYBA card as mentioned. Then I discovered these USB header things that had sat there unused for 2 years and got some USB header connector thingies and ended up with 6 more USB ports. Use the internal drives for Emby streaming etc and the externals for backup.

 

Anyway, just a thought, figure I'm not the only one who left those connectors go unused.

[all4dom 80]

I have 2 hard drives for media and 2 are backups. I have 1 hard drive for os and another for recordings, etc. I'm going to take the blue ray drive from my old system. So I'll use the card for the backup drives. I would be short one sata port without the catd.

[all4dom 80]

I also thought about building a combo with the new amd ryzen chip. Not sure if that's just as good as the i5 for media purposes.

[all4dom 80]

Would the pc run better with 16 gigs of memory instead of 8?

[all4dom 80]

Can I use Intel quick sync with out a video card?

[Guest asrequested]

More memory, the better. For the server, QuickSync works well. I have an i7 6700k in my server. You're getting gen 7, it has a better GPU. I have no other video card. One thing you might look for,is a motherboard with a display port. If you're using this as an HTPC, too, the display port will have a better output than HDMI. That's what I'm about to switch to in my HTPC.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Doofus

[arrbee99 1660]

Am sure you'll hear from people who know much more about this stuff that I do. I guess if you can, or already have, transcoded stuff is always better that doing transcoding on the fly. More memory is good, but no need for more than 16gig. Kaby Lake looks good to me.

 

I just have a 2 or 3 year old PC - i5-4570 and 8 gig, plus an SSD, BR drive, 4 internal HDDs and (not sure why) 8 external HDDs. It seems to stream (pre-transcoded) stuff fine, though I seldom have more than 3 users at the same time.

 

(don't think this helps much, but never mind).

[all4dom 80]

Would u guys go with Intel or try the new amd ryzen chip? This one has me confused as the ryzen seems so much more powerful and only 65 tdp.

[all4dom 80]

Sorry forgot to add that this would be used for a server. I have a separate htpc but I may build a new one down the road.

[arrbee99 1660]

Sorry, really don't know more about ryzen than you do - seems to compare well with intels stuff, though guess it depends on the exact models, and the prices are good. Good value for money. Presumably won't do Quicksync but is there a ryzen equivalent ? Can always use Handbrake if you like that kind of stuff. Seems like a good way to save money.

 

I use my main PC I guess as a server for Emby, just with Win 10 no fancy server software though. Still turn it off overnight, never seen the point of a having a PC on at 3am...

 

Sorry, this is pretty inconclusive stuff again.

[Guest asrequested]

Would u guys go with Intel or try the new amd ryzen chip? This one has me confused as the ryzen seems so much more powerful and only 65 tdp.

 

I've chosen to use Intel for mine, mostly because of QuckSync. Having pre-transcoded files isn't great solution. You still have to transcode them, first. And if the player or network can't support the playback, it'll get transcoded, again. Plus you'll use double the storage. If you're building new, just use a strong CPU, then you'll never have a problem. 

 

As for Ryzen compared to Intel. Without the gpu, the Ryzen will have to work harder to transcode the data. You could go that way, I've been considering it. But here are some things you need to consider. By comparison, there are very few motherboards that support Ryzen, so your choices are limited. It just got released, so you know there will be teething problems. And you'll want one with a high thread count. I was thinking the 1700X. 8 core, 16 thread. But I'd recommend Intel, for your needs.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Doofus

[all4dom 80]

OK thanks doofus.

[PenkethBoy 2066]

Ryzen 7 has no GPU

 

Ryzen 5 has just been announced which would be a potential better comparison for an i5 - not looked at the spec yet to see if it has a gpu - but even if it does then support in emby/ffmpeg would have to be added for transcoding support.

 

Normal cpu transcoding will be fine and with the extra cores and threads over an i5 should be quicker etc .......

 

The early adopter issues will get ironed out - it just depends how long it will take

[all4dom 80]

I'm just gonna stick with the i5 for the server. I may build a desktop with ryzen during the summer. Mist of the motherboards are out of stock at new egg.

[all4dom 80]

Hey guys am I OK with adding a cheap sata pci add on for 2 or 4 more sata ports. The motherboards with 10 ports are way to much and I am trying to.keep the cost down.

[all4dom 80]

 

Why use the Sybia controller? I would double the memory, but the rest will work welll[/quote

 

I have 6 hard d4ive and 1 blueray/DVD rom. I would use the card for the 2 backup drives. A motherboard with 10 ports and a good rating is 2 much money. Am I OK using the card because I see mixed reviews with them.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1150]

I have that motherboard and it works well for me. I am only using an i5 6400 (skylake), though. It has been up and running for over a year without hardware problems. I also have a similar SATA card in it but the four port variety, not the two port. Again no problems with it. Windows 2016 Server Essentials recognized it immediately and I didn't have to search for drivers. The computer is used for an Emby Server as well as a Web Server for family stuff.

 

Not a fan of top mounted power supplies but that is a personal preference. I always find they make things top heavy and it is a pain to access the top drive cage in a tower. My current build is using a Node 804 cube so the power supply is behind the motherboard and below my eight HDDs. The system drive and Server folders drive are 2.5-inch SSDs that are mounted to the floor of the case on the same side as the motherboard. Only other idea about the power supply is to look for a modular unit. Then you can remove the cords you don't need like the 6-pin PCI-E. If you add a video card later, just plug in the power cord and go. I am using this power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0198QDQHA/ref=twister_B01A86ZDGQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Though, I got it for less than that.

 

External USB Drives are nice but I like having my ten drives in a single enclosure with the rest of the PC. Plus USB still offers an expansion opportunity for the future. In fact, I put my Bluray Writer in a USB-3 enclosure and just plug it in when I need it.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Koleckai Silvestri

[tyr_88 4]

More memory, the better. For the server, QuickSync works well. I have an i7 6700k in my server. You're getting gen 7, it has a better GPU. I have no other video card. One thing you might look for,is a motherboard with a display port. If you're using this as an HTPC, too, the display port will have a better output than HDMI. That's what I'm about to switch to in my HTPC.

 

 

How good is quick sync working I have i6700k too but my evga ftw 960 2gb card chews through

[Guest asrequested]

How good is quick sync working I have i6700k too but my evga ftw 960 2gb card chews through

I record a lot of shows, and I transcode them on the fly. It handles three at once with ease.

[Jennice 19]

Sorry for the late follow-up.

 

I, too, am considering an Intel i5 build. Is QuickSync transcoding on-the-fly fairly stable by now (for an Emby server), or does it require mods (custom ffmpeg or other)?

 

Regards -

Jennice

[dcrdev 252]

Sorry for the late follow-up.

 

I, too, am considering an Intel i5 build. Is QuickSync transcoding on-the-fly fairly stable by now (for an Emby server), or does it require mods (custom ffmpeg or other)?

 

Regards -

Jennice

 

It is stable yes, but does require you build ffmpeg with support for it.

[Jennice 19]

Hi dcrdev,

 

Thanks for posting. Do you know if it's planned to be included in Emby installer (standard), or how I would obtain such an ffmpeg build (and how to tell Emby to use QuickSync). Unfortunately, I'm too much amateur to build ffmpeg packages myself. I plan my build (when the plan is complete) to run Windows.

 

Jennice

[dcrdev 252]

I'm not a Windows user - but from a cursory Google search, I believe these builds do: https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/

 

^ Atleast that is inferred from this thread:

https://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2562

 

Also yes I believe @@Luke is looking at making the process of enabling hw acceleration simpler, there's not an eta yet I don't think.