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New storage+ server - Need Advice

J

jnick

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
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Myself and two other co-workers are doing a group server build within the next month or two. We have done some research and have spec'd out a few paths for the hardware but I did want another set of eyes to glance over what we were thinking.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
All three machines will be servers. They are looking to build a media server/plex server. They want to stream their content to various devices. At most, each server would have a max of 3-4 stream at once (rare instances).

My server is a little different. I have a Ubiquiti setup so I would need the server to also be able to handle running the Unifi controller. Therefore, I would want my server to handle at LEAST the following three roles:

  • Plex Media Server
  • UniFi Controller
  • Be able to run backups of client machines
  • I would possibly run a mix of two VMs to handle the server listed above. For example, a Windows Server 2012 VM for Plex and another for the Unifi Controller and backups, etc. I would run ESXi. If this isn't feasible, I will just run a dedicated Win Server 2012 box.

In the long run, I may want to run two VMs (Win Server 2012 and maybe linux) to mess around with


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
The lower the better. Honestly, I’m looking at a build cost of $350-$400 without storage

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA, Newburgh NY. We have a micro center 45 min away.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Case (mATX or mini-ITX)
CPU
Mobo (mATX or mini-ITX)
RAM
PSU


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
N/A

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month or two

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0, at least 6xSATA3, On-Board video wouldn’t be bad.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, we already have OS licenses. 64-Bit Win Server 2012

The guys are leaning towards mini-ITX because they like the SFF cases. I, on the other hand, and nervous in dealing with such a small enclosure for future growth. Therefore, I was looking at mATX as well. Therefore, we are really up in the air on which solution to go with.

I started doing some research and came up with the following two mATX builds for you to look over. The build features 8GB of RAM. I know with ESXi and multiple VMs, I would need more. This is just a starting point.

r731zzO.png


A few questions:

1. A lot of users on the Plex boards really like the G-series chips. Are these really enough for streaming? Most of the streams will be direct-play, so there will be minimal transcoding.

2. If the chip is enough for streaming, will it be able to handle running 2x Win Server 2012 VMs? Or am I better off with the i3?

3. I would assume a 500w PSU should be more than capable of handling the server with 6-ish drives, no? The OS drive will most likely be a 90-128B SSD.

Finally, we are also open to AMD based systems. However, I've been out of the AMD game too long so I don't know what they have to offer at this point.

Thanks!
 
Is 8 GB enough for 2 VM's? Actually, your post does say this is a starting point for RAM. Make sure the boards you are looking at have enough slots for expansion.
I'm not too familiar with your Ubiquiti software, so can't comment on that.
I have Plex running on an older AthlonX2 system. It is able to stream to a Roku and Amazon FireStick w/o issue. I've never really monitored to see what kind of CPU resources its using.
I'd recommend at least an i3. If you can save a bit more money, an i5 with 4 cores would not be a bad investment. (Then again, I have an Ubunutu server that was using a Core2Duo for a long time - it ran Apache, Plex, CouchPotato, Sickbard, SABNZB, MySQL, and other misc software for a few years without too many issues. I recently switched it to a Core2Quad (cheap upgrade from Ebay) - not even sweating with this CPU in the system. My kicker is the system uses DDR2 ram - its expensive so I only have 6gb.
 
Well before I get to your questions, there's one major mistake in your planned build: The PSU. At $60, it's a huge rip-off considering its quality. So I recommend this better quality PSU instead if you stick with the mATX route:
$58 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU

1) For streaming, yes the G series are enough for direct-streaming. For really heavy encoding work though, I'd highly recommend going i3.

2) i3 for that case.

3) A good 500W is enough. But that Antec is not a good 500W PSU.

Normally, I don't bother with recommending Microcenter runs if they're more than a 35 minutes drive away. WIth that said, since there's three of you, if all three of you guys carpool together to that Microcenter, it does make it more worthwhile to go to Microcenter with a 45+ minute drive. As such, look at the Microcenter catalog first for the CPU and mobo:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/22f8b1e9#/22f8b1e9/33

A quick glance should tell you that going to MC does mean the possibility of getting a faster CPU and a higher quality motherboard for close to the same price as your planned "High-end-1" mATX motherboard.

As for which route to go for in terms of mITX or mATX, that depends on three factors:
1) mITX generally maxes out at 16GB of RAM. So you would have to know ahead of time whether or not 16GB of RAM is going to be enough. With mATX, you can go up to 32GB of RAM if you start off with a single 8GB stick of RAM.

2) Whether or not you can deal with the higher costs. Generally, a mITX setup will cost more than a mATX setup.

3) Whether or not 6 hard drives is enough. There are mITX cases that do support 6 hard drives. There's even one that supports 8 at one point but it looks like it's not being sold anymore. So figure out if 6 drives are enough. though that I think about it, not many mATX cases can support more than 8 hard drives anyway....
 
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I would not bother to virtualize that. Unifi controller + Plex run smoothly on Linux, takes like 10 commands to install both and get them running. With that low memory it just causes mess (Plex alone wants 4GB).
 
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!

That microcenter link will definitely come in handy. I'm just curious for those that have done combos before, if you add to your cart then do in-store pickup, does it not show the discount online? I tried doing this and I didn't see the change in price on the web.

I think I am leaning more towards the mITX route, now. I will take the suggestion and NOT virtualize the OS. The compact-ness of the Fractal Node 304 has really peaked our interests.

With that said, I was looking to keep a modular PSU on the list to help with cable management. Do you have a suggestion for a better PSU that is modular, but around the same price range? I saw NZXT has one, but I don't know much about it.
 
I'd take the Silverstone DS380 or Lian Li PC-Q25 over the Fractal Node if you're loading up on 3.5" disks.
 
The Lian Li PC-Q25 is actually really nice. It seems as if it's discontinued though. Can't find it in-stock. :(

The silverstone one is nice, however, the price is a bit steep.
 
jnick said:
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
The lower the better. Honestly, I’m looking at a build cost of $350-$400 without storage
Click to expand...
At that price, how about going used?

About a year ago, I wanted a Xeon+ECC for ZFS & got an HP Z210 on Ebay. Under $400 shipped for an E3-1240 (v1), 8GB ECC, 500GB HD & Win7 Pro license made DIY look foolish.
 
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