Home Media Server Help, Question Poll.......

[Adidas4275]

I am currently in the process of migrating from WMC to Plex + HDhomerun DVR. It is not perfect but it is good enough after testing for 3 months to make the change.

I bought Amazon Fire TV boxes for the bedroom and kid's playroom and we have multiple iOS devices that use the plex server regularly from LAN and WAN


Right now I am using my AMD x4 820 HTPC as a recording machine for HD DVR as well as running plex..... AND it is our front end HTPC for our livingroom theater. It does fine with 1 transcode and local direct play but really want more.

SO....

I have 2 E5 2670 CPUs and I am looking to build a media server...... but LGA 2011 x79 motherboards are rare and expensive....


Which leads me to my question.

Should I go with A) Intel c602 based 2u barebones server (dual 2670s) for $399 which i would need to buy RAM and a SSD (OS).
Microtel 2U Server Barebones Intel C602 Dual LGA2011 Xeon E5 CPU 12Bay 400W


or

Should I go with B) Dell T6300 (1x2670, 8/16gb of RAM, proprietary motherboard/PSU) for $399



A gives me more power........ which is nice but will cost more to run long term (but easier to replace parts down the road)
B will be cheaper, less powerful (still enough 12,000+ on CPU mark) but harder to replace parts later.




I have a 8 bay SAN at home so storage is a non-factor


let me know what you think

 

[valve1138]

If this is staying as the front end in your living room, whichever is quieter.

If it's not, then A.

 

[Adidas4275]

If this is staying as the front end in your living room, whichever is quieter.

If it's not, then A.

So actually none of the AV gear is in the room. It is all in. Closet in a rack in my office.

But your right. If it was in the bed room the dell would be much better for noise

 

[skiddy]

I think option B gives you plenty of power for what you're looking for with immediate needs.

Option A makes sense if you want to use something like MCEBuddy on the server as well to strip out commercials on recordings. The extra CPU would be very helpful if you have multiple Plex transcodes and MCEBuddy transcodes simultaneously.

I know on my i5-3570k HTPC, MCEBuddy will bring the system to it's knees if I'm not using GPU encoding (which I generally don't like), and makes even WMC sluggish. So I think if you were trying to use MCEBuddy + Plex, it could tax even a single e5-2670.

 

[rhansen5_99]

Honestly the rack setup looks pretty good, but I cannot make out that motherboard, so if you wanted the hassle, you could part it up:
X9DRL-IF Supermicro -B Dual LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3/ V&2GbE/ ATX Server Motherboard, Bulk - Xeon Server Motherboard - SuperBiiz.com Dual LGA2011 Supermicro Board: $305
Which is an ATX form factor, so any case will do pretty much. Are you wanting to rack mount the case in you media cabinet or something?

But from a price comparison, you are looking at $140 for a case and a powersupply with the dual 8 pin motherboard power connectors to be on par with that Chembro in the ebay auction.

You could do like a silverstone grandia g9
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Plastic Grandia GD09B ATX / SSI-CEB Media Center / HTPC Case - Newegg.com $70

 

[Adidas4275]

I think option B gives you plenty of power for what you're looking for with immediate needs.

Option A makes sense if you want to use something like MCEBuddy on the server as well to strip out commercials on recordings. The extra CPU would be very helpful if you have multiple Plex transcodes and MCEBuddy transcodes simultaneously.

I know on my i5-3570k HTPC, MCEBuddy will bring the system to it's knees if I'm not using GPU encoding (which I generally don't like), and makes even WMC sluggish. So I think if you were trying to use MCEBuddy + Plex, it could tax even a single e5-2670.

Your right! And I do use MCEBuddy on anything that doesn't get watched day it is recorded.

Thanks for your input!

Honestly the rack setup looks pretty good, but I cannot make out that motherboard, so if you wanted the hassle, you could part it up:
X9DRL-IF Supermicro -B Dual LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3/ V&2GbE/ ATX Server Motherboard, Bulk - Xeon Server Motherboard - SuperBiiz.com Dual LGA2011 Supermicro Board: $305
Which is an ATX form factor, so any case will do pretty much. Are you wanting to rack mount the case in you media cabinet or something?

But from a price comparison, you are looking at $140 for a case and a powersupply with the dual 8 pin motherboard power connectors to be on par with that Chembro in the ebay auction.

You could do like a silverstone grandia g9
SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum / Plastic Grandia GD09B ATX / SSI-CEB Media Center / HTPC Case - Newegg.com $70

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I am looking at it as another option


I really like the flexibility of standard components and dual CPU horsepower.

 

[Adidas4275]

Honestly the rack setup looks pretty good, but I cannot make out that motherboard, so if you wanted the hassle, you could part it up:
X9DRL-IF Supermicro -B Dual LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3/ V&2GbE/ ATX Server Motherboard, Bulk - Xeon Server Motherboard - SuperBiiz.com Dual LGA2011 Supermicro Board: $305
Which is an ATX form factor, so any case will do pretty much. Are you wanting to rack mount the case in you media cabinet or something?

$70

this motherboard only supports ECC ram?

 

[rhansen5_99]

Well I am not 100%, but it looks like from this link: http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/memory/X9_DP_memory_config.pdf that the board can use ecc or non ecc ram as long as it is un-buffered.
On a side not if you do not already have ram to use, you can get 8x8gb or 64GB for around $120 from multiple sellers on ebay, like Samsung 64GB 16x4GB PC3-10600R 2Rx4 DDR3 1333Mhz CL9 ECC REG Registered Memory if you were wanting the benefits of the ecc stuff. 32GB is more in the 70-80$ range.

From a personal note, I have run dual e5-2687w's on an asus board that worked with ecc or regular ddr3 desktop ram, as well as running one of those on a x79 EVGA Dark with ecc ram, so I think it is really up to the bios/ firmware code, as the chips really support both.

I also noticed that the board I linked is listed as 10" by 12" so it is a little bigger than the normal ATX boards, but still within spec. But something to keep in mind when looking for a case.

 

[jimh425]

Plex is going to be cpu intensive, but not that intense. Buy a system with low power fast cpu, or buy a single cpu motherboard for the existing E5 you have. I don't think you will likely need a dual cpu system for the plex server, but you don't mention what else you will be running on the media server.

I run my Plex server on a HP ML310e Gen8 v2 running Windows Home Server 2011. It does dual duty of backup and also host for the Plex application and works fine with 8 GB the limit for Windows Home Server 2011. I believe it is the Xeon E3-1220V3/3.1. I built my 4ps and 2p that I use for folding primarily, but they are really expensive for a media server and use a lot of power!

You don't say what software your SAN is running, but Plex has addins for a few different devices now. You might check that out as well.

 

[Adidas4275]

Well I am not 100%, but it looks like from this link: http://www.supermicro.com/support/resources/memory/X9_DP_memory_config.pdf that the board can use ecc or non ecc ram as long as it is un-buffered.
On a side not if you do not already have ram to use, you can get 8x8gb or 64GB for around $120 from multiple sellers on ebay, like Samsung 64GB 16x4GB PC3-10600R 2Rx4 DDR3 1333Mhz CL9 ECC REG Registered Memory if you were wanting the benefits of the ecc stuff. 32GB is more in the 70-80$ range.

From a personal note, I have run dual e5-2687w's on an asus board that worked with ecc or regular ddr3 desktop ram, as well as running one of those on a x79 EVGA Dark with ecc ram, so I think it is really up to the bios/ firmware code, as the chips really support both.

I also noticed that the board I linked is listed as 10" by 12" so it is a little bigger than the normal ATX boards, but still within spec. But something to keep in mind when looking for a case.

Yeah I have 32gb of ram in my x79 with a 2670 that works


Just didn't know if that board allowed it :/ and I have another 32gb non-ECC ram

Plex is going to be cpu intensive, but not that intense. Buy a system with low power fast cpu, or buy a single cpu motherboard for the existing E5 you have. I don't think you will likely need a dual cpu system for the plex server, but you don't mention what else you will be running on the media server.

I run my Plex server on a HP ML310e Gen8 v2 running Windows Home Server 2011. It does dual duty of backup and also host for the Plex application and works fine with 8 GB the limit for Windows Home Server 2011. I believe it is the Xeon E3-1220V3/3.1. I built my 4ps and 2p that I use for folding primarily, but they are really expensive for a media server and use a lot of power!

You don't say what software your SAN is running, but Plex has addins for a few different devices now. You might check that out as well.

My SAN is a drobo and I want the CPU horsepower for conskip and transcoding

But your probably right that 1 2670 would be enough.


Thanks for your input

 

[Adidas4275]

So i ended up buying a supermicro motherboard for 1 CPU
X9SRL-B Supermicro LGA2011/ Intel C602/ DDR3/ SATA3/ V&2GbE/ ATX Server Motherboard - Xeon Server Motherboard - SuperBiiz.com


ill use my 32gb non-ECC until i buy some ECC. I have a rackmount 2U case it can go in ...... only odd thing is the narrow CPU cooler.... so ill have to work that out.


love the idea of the IP KVM for the rig


I decided not to go with a 2P rig due to power use and the amount of the the rig will be running idle and the hassle/cost of a PSU powerful enough, case and CPU cooling.

In the end the coolness or "[H]ardness" wasn't worth the expense for my use case.

 

[jimh425]

I'd put it in an ATX case and put quiet fans and full size cooler like a Cooler Master on the CPU. That gives the capability of adding other cards later if needed and will keep the rest of the chips on the board cool. Barring that, a stock cooler will probably fit in the 2U case.

 

[Adidas4275]

yeah from what i can tell not all coolers come with the narrow mounting brackets.... it isnt normal 2011 mounting


but it will be in a 3u or 4u case.... i have a couple.... it is going in my rack.