CPU for a home server?

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t4keheart

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Hi guys,
So I'm looking to assemble a new pc for the purpose of a home server. Looking for recommendations for the CPU.
Obviously the market is currently leaning in favor of AMD when it comes to price for performance, so I've been looking primarily at AMD's offerings.

I'm right now looking at the Ryzen 3 3200, and the Ryzen 5 3400. If you have any other suggestions, I'm open to those as well.

The server will be acting primarily as a file server/NAS, and will be running Ubuntu server. But I am a net admin and a dev, so I will likely also make it a LAMP server, plex server, and will be using it as a seed box, among whatever else I feel like doing. I don't think I'll be needing dedicated graphics, so I will probably just stick with the onboard graphics provided by both.

Money is not a concern, but I don't like wasting money and don't want to buy anything that will be overkill for my needs.

So what do you think? Will the ryzen 3 be enough for me? Any other suggestions?
Thank you for reading.
 
t4keheart said:
Well yeah, I know... but I was wondering if anybody had anything to add- maybe another cpu that performs better for a similar price... things like that
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The faster cpus don't have the apu. Cpu wise the best low end cpu atm is the 1600AF at 85 bucks, or the 2600x at 99 if you have a MC nearby. Btw I think that 2600x is gonna go on sale for 79 this weekend at MC.

The other option is to wait for the Zen2 apu to come out. Those will be in line with Ryzen 3 cpus and they are damn fast. Right now they will be released in the form of mobile chips but eventually we will see them in apu form.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-R...00-APUs-with-Zen-2-and-Vega-GPU.449815.0.html
 
I've been out of the pc hardware game for a long time now... last build I did was a sandy-bridge. When you say APU, do you just mean that the chip has integrated graphics which doesn't require a dedicated gpu? If so I think that's what I'll go for, since the server won't be doing anything graphics intensive. Thanks for the info.
 
t4keheart said:
I've been out of the pc hardware game for a long time now... last build I did was a sandy-bridge. When you say APU, do you just mean that the chip has integrated graphics which doesn't require a dedicated gpu? If so I think that's what I'll go for, since the server won't be doing anything graphics intensive. Thanks for the info.
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Yes on AMD its called an APU, accelerated processing unit.



However it's not just an igpu like Intel, since AMD is a huge proponent of the HSA thing, their apus are HSA. A side not, HSA was a primary driver in AMD winning the DOE contract.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterogeneous_System_Architecture
 
thesmokingman said:
The faster cpus don't have the apu. Cpu wise the best low end cpu atm is the 1600AF at 85 bucks, or the 2600x at 99 if you have a MC nearby. Btw I think that 2600x is gonna go on sale for 79 this weekend at MC.

The other option is to wait for the Zen2 apu to come out. Those will be in line with Ryzen 3 cpus and they are damn fast. Right now they will be released in the form of mobile chips but eventually we will see them in apu form.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-R...00-APUs-with-Zen-2-and-Vega-GPU.449815.0.html
Click to expand...

I have to agree, get a 1600AF and a cheap Radeon Polaris series card used. Performance will be significantly higher for a similar price.
 
sover said:
I have to agree, get a 1600AF and a cheap Radeon Polaris series card used. Performance will be significantly higher for a similar price.
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Thank you for the suggestion- I will check them out!
I'm looking to spend ~400 USD for the entire build (minus the drives, already have the drives)... so 400 for the cpu, mobo, psu, and RAM.
 
thesmokingman said:
In a nutshell the future where gpu and cpu shared the same memory space so you don't waste time swapping data between the two.
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Interesting, I will have to do some reading on the topic.
Professionally, I am a net admin and python/javascript dev. Since then I have lost much of my interest in desktop hardware, but being so far out of the loop sucks! So much has changed lol
 
3200 or 2200 should be plenty. My media server handles Minecraft, Mumble, File Shares, and Plex on an old 3xxx series i5 and rarely has enough load to even come out of power saving mode.

Unless you need the extra processing power I wouldn't go with anything that doesn't have onboard video.
 
You have quite a bit of services you want to run but you don't indicate client load nor quantity of storage media attached. You don't mention whether or not you want ZFS (IIRC a ZFS setup is available through Ubuntu server repos).
 
Client load is just me, maybe a couple devices around the house if we're streaming something from plex etc. Storage media attached will be 2x 4tb wd red drives probably in RAID 1 mirror. No plans for ZFS at this time.

Any other questions that would help you answer, go ahead and ask.
 
honestly i am a fan old opterons for this duty. they transcode and have a ton of cores and work great in file server duty. the 6366 HE CPU is also low power and cheap. we are talking 100$ for something that will overkill plex/emby and a ton of clients. this one has different but still nice cpu and mad ram.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro...598746&hash=item1cdd762061:g:GQoAAOSwavRdzFLW

this would even make a great VM host (proxmox anyone) and you could virtualize your environment that way.
 
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Just an idea, while drives can age, cpu and mb do pretty well. Ever thought about going green and buying used/refurbed? You can easily get high performance Intel boxes (like Dell Optiplexes) on the cheap (<$100-150 USD). You'll want the bigger MT form factor if you want a couple of LFF drives in it. Just an idea. Yesterday's high end i7 (I wouldn't go below Sandy Bridge) usually beats the heck out of today's lower end. Just saying.
 
t4keheart said:
Client load is just me, maybe a couple devices around the house if we're streaming something from plex etc. Storage media attached will be 2x 4tb wd red drives probably in RAID 1 mirror. No plans for ZFS at this time.

Any other questions that would help you answer, go ahead and ask.
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What you're planning (and what others suggested) sounds fine in this scenario. (y)
 
Get a cheap Ryzen that supports ECC .. 1600AF would be good. Go headless so a video card isn't even needed. You would just need it for initial install but that's it.
 
Zedicus said:
honestly i am a fan old opterons for this duty. they transcode and have a ton of cores and work great in file server duty. the 6366 HE CPU is also low power and cheap. we are talking 100$ for something that will overkill plex/emby and a ton of clients. this one has different but still nice cpu and mad ram.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro...598746&hash=item1cdd762061:g:GQoAAOSwavRdzFLW

this would even make a great VM host (proxmox anyone) and you could virtualize your environment that way.
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That's not a bad idea, I was looking at old PowerEdge servers initially, but then thought of the noise and amount of power used and thought otherwise. However, I could see this working out well if I just bought the board with RAM and cpu and threw it in a new non-rack mount case... I'll consider that as well... but I may as well go for a setup with dual xeons... you can get those for super cheap now-a-days as well
 
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kac77 said:
Get a cheap Ryzen that supports ECC .. 1600AF would be good. Go headless so a video card isn't even needed. You would just need it for initial install but that's it.
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Yeah, the plan is to leave it in the closet and use vnc
 
Use ECC ram for a dedicated file server.

I highly recommend a server board due to the stringent component testing as well as possibly having IPMI type functionality.

Im sure supermicro by now, has something that is am4.
 
If you're doing a lot of transcoding in Plex, you could always pick up a cheapish 6 core Intel chip with an IGP for Quicksync video. I run my Plex server with an i5 8400 (I think I paid $125) for example (in my case I might end up swapping in a R5 3600 though just to play around with it).
 
I would say start off with a 3200 or 3400, if you find you need more cpu you could move all the way up to the 3950x (16c32t) chip. With that being said just make sure to get a decent board that could support those chips. Also get a chassis that can support upgrades you might want, mainly a gpu if you ever need one.
 
Supermicro h8dgi. The opteron gets a bad rap for not being great in single threaded but it isnt bad, and has more cores, works better with iommu and virtualization. Even hardware passthrough.
 
t4keheart said:
That's not a bad idea, I was looking at old PowerEdge servers initially, but then thought of the noise and amount of power used and thought otherwise. However, I could see this working out well if I just bought the board with RAM and cpu and threw it in a new non-rack mount case... I'll consider that as well... but I may as well go for a setup with dual xeons... you can get those for super cheap now-a-days as well
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I have an old power edge, it is loud and sucks down power. I'm thinking about building out a 3600 to replace it at some point to save power and have more single core speed. It's great in threading (dual 6/12 xeons, so 12/24 total with 96gb ram) but a bit slower for single threaded things and power hungry. I am probably going to hold off for the 4000 series desktop parts since I'm $ constrained and what I have works. My point was, while the poweredge is fun with all the advanced server features (you can remote setup the BIOS and remote mount an ISO image for an OS install, etc), it's showing its age (mine is an R710).
 
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Ready4Dis said:
I have an old power edge, it is loud and sucks down power. I'm thinking about building out a 3600 to replace it at some point to save power and have more single core speed. It's great in threading (dual 6/12 xeons, so 12/24 total with 96gb ram) but a bit slower for single threaded things and power hungry. I am probably going to hold off for the 4000 series desktop parts since I'm $ constrained and what I have works. My point was, while the poweredge is fun with all the advanced server features (you can remote setup the bike and remote mount an ISO image for an OS install, etc), it's showing its age (mine is an R710).
Click to expand...

This is almost exactly what I was considering. Was looking at the R710's on Amazon for about $200.... fond memories took over of when I first became a net admin- these were the servers everyone was using. In some ways it's a great deal, but in other ways it just doesn't make sense for a home server... particularly the power usage and noise!

So yes- I believe I'm just going to go with the 3400 and spend maybe 4-500$ on a "cheap" build which should be completely adequate for what I'm trying to do.
Thank you for the input everybody.
 
I am happy with my Ryzen 2700 and 16GB of Crucial 2400 DDR4 ECC on an Asus Prime Pro X470. I purchased and installed the system before DDR4 2666 ECC unbuffered dimms were readily available
 
Look at an ASRock workstation Mobo that has an onboard gpu and ipkvm

ASRock Rack MB X470D4U
 
Funny timing, I'm in a similar situation. I've got a Supermicro X8SI6-F-O, i3-2105 and 8gb ecc ddr3 that doesn't always like to shutdown. It's been on pretty much 24/7/365 for just over 9 years so I can't complain really.

Long story short I'd rather have 6 cores with 12 threads on the 1600AF vs 4 cores and 4 threads on the 3200G (both are about $100 right now). The 3400G is pretty much out in my opinion as a 1600AF with a GT710 is a couple dollars cheaper for much better cpu performance. I'm probably going to go 1600AF, MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, 16GB GSkill Ripjaw V 3600 CL16, MSI GT710 for about $350.
 
daphatgrant said:
Funny timing, I'm in a similar situation. I've got a Supermicro X8SI6-F-O, i3-2105 and 8gb ecc ddr3 that doesn't always like to shutdown. It's been on pretty much 24/7/365 for just over 9 years so I can't complain really.

Long story short I'd rather have 6 cores with 12 threads on the 1600AF vs 4 cores and 4 threads on the 3200G (both are about $100 right now). The 3400G is pretty much out in my opinion as a 1600AF with a GT710 is a couple dollars cheaper for much better cpu performance. I'm probably going to go 1600AF, MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, 16GB GSkill Ripjaw V 3600 CL16, MSI GT710 for about $350.
Click to expand...
I would add ECC cause the chip supports it.
 
Also the 3200G/3400G are the same micro architecture (Zen+) as the 1600AF, so it really is an apples to apples comparison between the 2. Especially with the ECC support, the iGPU isnt really benefiting you in this case.

I honestly think the APU solutions are really suited for systems like the ASrock Deskmini, or things like that, but in this case you would benefit more from the 6 core.
 
I went with a Ryzen 1600 AF and B450M DS3M and 32GB G.Skill Aegis DDR4 3000 (run at 2933 stock) on my UnRaid build I upgraded. I use an Intel Gigabit NIC so didn’t care it came with Realtek NIC on MB.

Before I had a Intel G4600 that worked perfect for just Plex and file server duties with 16GB DDR4 2133.

As soon as I put a VM on it or tried to use Sonar, etc it was getting hammered.

I haven’t seen a need to use ECC for unRAID for my use (few VMs, Plex/Media, Minecraft server and some light file server use).

For 400 you could get a really good 550w Seasonic PSU, Ryzen 1600 AF, B450, 16GB DDR4 3200 a decent SSD for cache, cheap spinner HD and case.

You can always expand the storage later as you need it.
 
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