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New Server Build Sanity Check


Malleus

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Malleus

So, I've been running my Emby server off of an old HP Pavilion for far too long now and I want to build something that'll allow multiple streams (preferably up to 10), excellent transcoding, and be able to handle all the peripheral tasks that come with adding content to the server. Downside, I don't have the funds to build the best thing ever. After perusing this forum for tips and suggestions, I've narrowed things down to the following build, and wanted to get some feedback and see if this will at least be close to getting what I want:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-8500 Desktop Processor

Mobo: GIGABYTE Z370P D3

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case

PSU: Corsair CX Series 550 Watt 80 Plus Bronze

Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper RR-212E-20PK-R2 LED CPU Cooler with PWM Fan

RAM: Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB Kit (2x4GB)

SSD for OS, etc.: SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB

OS: Windows 10 Home Edition

 

What am I skimping on? What am I spending too much money on? I have also never built a computer before so I really have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice at all would be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance!

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Happy2Play

Looks like you are getting the wrong ram ddr3 instead of ddr 4.

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CBers

Have you had a look at an enterprise server off of eBay with dual Xeon processors?

 

They're normally complete units and are much cheaper than buying components to build yourself, plus ram will be cheaper, as they'll probably use DDR3.

 

Also look for a Windows 10 licence on eBay, as they'll be a tenth of the price you've posted.

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mastrmind11

^^ this, but if you insist in building your own, definitely look into the older Xeon CPUs (starting at v3).  They're cheap and designed for servers... so super efficient and powerful.

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dcrdev

^^ this, but if you insist in building your own, definitely look into the older Xeon CPUs (starting at v3).  They're cheap and designed for servers... so super efficient and powerful.

 

 

^^ this - although even the latest v6 Xeons have come down since Spectre. My E3-1245v6 is about £100 cheaper than when I bought it 6 months ago.

 

Also for a server that's on 24/7 don't skimp on a 80Plus Bronze psu - go for a Gold or Platinum. 

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Harblar

Just going to throw this out there...  If you're looking to run a dedicated server for your movies, Consider setting up an unRAID. I've been using this for 8 years and (other than some occasional tweaking here and there on the software side of things) it's been pretty bulletproof. It runs off from a Linux build and Allows you to use any combination of HDD's you want. Also has the ability to to provide file redundancy against up to 2 simultaneous drive failures.

 

The OS runs off from a flash drive, so it's already pretty quick there. I run Emby in a docker, along with makemkv and several other handy video tools. With an LG WH16NS40 Bluray drive I'm able to rip MKV's of my Movies (DVD, Bluray, and UHD) straight to the storage on my server. Once setup it really is a simple solution that I hardly ever have to think about. And that alone is it's biggest flaw... when I do have an issue crop up I gotta go digging through the Limetech wiki/forums because it's been so long since my last issue I've completely forgotten something (usually really simple).  lol

 

Finally, if you do consider something like this, I'd look for a Mobo that has at least 6- 8 sata ports on it. 1-2 drives will be used for Parity (depending on whether you want/need protection against 1 or 2 simultaneous drive failures). Not sure how much storage you need, but 4TB drives are getting cheaper all the time and you can freely add when ever you need more (providing you got enough sata ports). unRAID supports up to 30 drives (2 parity and 28 data drives). That's 336TB if you stock it full of 12TB drives!  lol

 

(It also supports virtual machines, so you could run a windows os at the same time and use it for gaming and other things remotely if you were so inclined.) ;-)

 

Worth considering if your putting a whole new build together.

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Malleus

Wow... OK. Lots of good info and stuff I did not consider. I thought buying a server would be way more expensive than building. Some comments and questions:

 

 

Looks like you are getting the wrong ram ddr3 instead of ddr 4.

 

Good catch! No wonder it was so cheap  ;)

___________________

 

Have you had a look at an enterprise server off of eBay with dual Xeon processors?

They're normally complete units and are much cheaper than buying components to build yourself, plus ram will be cheaper, as they'll probably use DDR3.

Also look for a Windows 10 licence on eBay, as they'll be a tenth of the price you've posted.

 

 

Based on your suggestion, I started looking around and I found this media server on eBay that looks decent (according to what I know) and is definitely in my price range. Will this do what I need it to? @ talks a lot about QuickSync with the i-series processors and their ability to transcode well. Will a dual Quad Core Xeon system be comparable?

_______________________

 

Just going to throw this out there...  If you're looking to run a dedicated server for your movies, Consider setting up an unRAID. I've been using this for 8 years and (other than some occasional tweaking here and there on the software side of things) it's been pretty bulletproof. It runs off from a Linux build and Allows you to use any combination of HDD's you want. Also has the ability to to provide file redundancy against up to 2 simultaneous drive failures.

 

The OS runs off from a flash drive, so it's already pretty quick there. I run Emby in a docker, along with makemkv and several other handy video tools. With an LG WH16NS40 Bluray drive I'm able to rip MKV's of my Movies (DVD, Bluray, and UHD) straight to the storage on my server. Once setup it really is a simple solution that I hardly ever have to think about. And that alone is it's biggest flaw... when I do have an issue crop up I gotta go digging through the Limetech wiki/forums because it's been so long since my last issue I've completely forgotten something (usually really simple).  lol

 

Finally, if you do consider something like this, I'd look for a Mobo that has at least 6- 8 sata ports on it. 1-2 drives will be used for Parity (depending on whether you want/need protection against 1 or 2 simultaneous drive failures). Not sure how much storage you need, but 4TB drives are getting cheaper all the time and you can freely add when ever you need more (providing you got enough sata ports). unRAID supports up to 30 drives (2 parity and 28 data drives). That's 336TB if you stock it full of 12TB drives!  lol

 

(It also supports virtual machines, so you could run a windows os at the same time and use it for gaming and other things remotely if you were so inclined.) ;-)

 

Worth considering if your putting a whole new build together.

 

This looks awesome but I'm guessing that for me, it would break the bank. Maybe someday  ;)

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Guest asrequested

 

Based on your suggestion, I started looking around and I found this media server on eBay that looks decent (according to what I know) and is definitely in my price range. Will this do what I need it to? @ talks a lot about QuickSync with the i-series processors and their ability to transcode well. Will a dual Quad Core Xeon system be comparable?

_______________________

 

 

That'll do, nicely. Those CPUs will give you a total of 16 threads. More than enough. And no headaches with hardware acceleration. 

 

https://ark.intel.com/products/37109/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X5560-8M-Cache-2_80-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI

 

Just be aware that the OS is 2016 Server Evaluation. And it might be more noisy than you're expecting.

 

5acbb0212351f_Snapshot_35.jpg

Edited by Doofus
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mastrmind11

That thing's a beast!  But as @ mentioned, not something you're going to want sitting in the same room as any of your streamers :)

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Malleus

Hahaha! No worries about that. This'll be in a far off place.

 

Nevertheless, should I swap out the OS?

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CBers

Just be aware that the OS is 2016 Server Evaluation.

I'd suggest a new licence and re-install afresh anyway.

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Malleus

I'd suggest a new licence and re-install afresh anyway.

 

Could I do Windows 10 Home Edition? Or would that include too much crap?... cuz Windows

Edited by Malleus
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CBers

Could I do Windows 10 Home Edition? Or would that include too much crap?... cuz Windows

Not a Home edition.

 

Either Windows 10 Pro, or Windows Server 2016.

 

You can either from eBay for not a lot.

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CBers

Windows 10 pro should support 2 CPUs. But get the latest build here

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

It does, as it runs quite happily on my HP server with dual Xeon processors.

 

Also, if you don't want all of the bloatware that comes with Windows 10, go for Windows Server 2016.

 

If you go Windows 10, make sure you install SpyBot Anti-Beacon.

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CBers

I'm thinking about putting Server 2016 on my machine. 

 

I have it on my SuperMicro I bought.

 

The licence was only £5 on eBay  :ph34r:  :ph34r:

 

I had downloaded the EVALUATION ISO, but a quick powershell session fixed that.

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Harblar

 

 

This looks awesome but I'm guessing that for me, it would break the bank. Maybe someday  ;)

 

No more spendy than what you had listed in your first post. The HDD's are up to you and can be anything you've got lying around (1TB, 500GB, 4TB, etc... or any combination there of) to save money. Can easily be swapped and upgraded as funds and storage needs dictate. When I built my server 8+ years ago it was recycled components out of an old HTPC (that got upgraded with new recycled components handed down from my desktop when I built a new one from scratch). 2 years ago I did a fresh overall for my server (New cpu, mobo, ram, psu, case). I can't remember the exact figure offhand, but it was under $500 and got me a i3 6320 cpu and 32GB DDR4. Granted, that was before the RAM prices went nuts, but still...  it works great for my needs. I don't do a ton of transcoding or multiple streams, but when I do it handles them all very well (with Full UHD rips being the only exception). Here I am two years on and for $300 I could drop an i7 6700 and be able to handle quite a few simultaneous streams/transcodes. Only issue might be bottleneck in the hdd read speeds (depending on number of streams, quality, and whether or not the selected files are all on the same HDD or not), which is something no processor is going to be able to fix.  Just something else to keep in mind. :-)

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Malleus

One last thing... Say I didn't mind having to rebuild my entire library if I lost it, is there any reason I should go Raid 10 over Raid 0?

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Malleus

Wow!!! Why such a huge price difference between that and the one I found? Looks like the processor in this one is a little less performant... but not by much.

 

Come to think of it... why are these so cheap compared to regular home PCs?

 

EDIT: Kept adding stuff.

Edited by Malleus
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