Sell my 3900x or use it in a server

kamikazi

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 19, 2006
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So, I have a 3900x sitting here collecting dust. I replaced it with a 3950x. I plan on building a server in the not too distant future that will be a jack of all trades, backups, security camera DVR, Plex, etc. I've already got all the components needed except motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Originally, I was going to drop in a 3600 for the CPU. I'm guessing I could sell the 3900x and maybe clear $400 after shipping and fees. That would cover the 3600, a lower tier mobo, and leave a little to go towards RAM. But, I could also just throw the 3900x into the server. However, I'm thinking that's overkill for what the server will be doing. What do you think?
 
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It seems a bit overkill, but you can extend what the server does as well.
 
Depends on the load really. With light duty loads, it would really be a waste. Heck a the revised 1600 AF should handle any file serving and light Plex transcoding for super cheap. I would not even waste a 3600 on that.
 
Depends on the load really. With light duty loads, it would really be a waste. Heck a the revised 1600 AF should handle any file serving and light Plex transcoding for super cheap. I would not even waste a 3600 on that.
I would also be running Blue Iris with hopefully 6 to 8 cameras. I'm not sure what kind of load that will be. The blue iris wiki has a lot of stuff about how to tweak settings to reduce cpu load and how the cpu is the limiting factor for how many cameras you can have. They recommend using an Intel quick sync cpu as that is supported.
 
I would also be running Blue Iris with hopefully 6 to 8 cameras. I'm not sure what kind of load that will be. The blue iris wiki has a lot of stuff about how to tweak settings to reduce cpu load and how the cpu is the limiting factor for how many cameras you can have. They recommend using an Intel quick sync cpu as that is supported.

Sounds like you have your answer. Sell the 3900X and buy an Intel cpu/motherboard. I'd just grab a used Skylake 4c/8t and call it a day. If you have an NVIDIA card you could use hardware decoding as well and go with a lower level AMD cpu. Regardless, you'll want hardware decoding with Blue Iris software.
 
Sounds like you have your answer. Sell the 3900X and buy an Intel cpu/motherboard. I'd just grab a used Skylake 4c/8t and call it a day. If you have an NVIDIA card you could use hardware decoding as well and go with a lower level AMD cpu. Regardless, you'll want hardware decoding with Blue Iris software.

Yeah, Intel seems like the smart choice here due to quick sync. I would really like to stay AMD though. I may check out zone minder and xprotect. I did find an interesting forum post on ipcamtalk where a guy tested a 3950x vs. an 8700k. The 3950x actually showed lower cpu utilization. He concludes the 3950x is overkill and that ryzen 8 to 12 core cpus are probably fine. 3950x vs. 8700k Blue Iris
 
Yeah, Intel seems like the smart choice here due to quick sync. I would really like to stay AMD though. I may check out zone minder and xprotect. I did find an interesting forum post on ipcamtalk where a guy tested a 3950x vs. an 8700k. The 3950x actually showed lower cpu utilization. He concludes the 3950x is overkill and that ryzen 8 to 12 core cpus are probably fine. 3950x vs. 8700k Blue Iris
Does it support Radeon encoding? Could look into a 3200G that could handle Plex transcodes and possibly your other software? I personally would stick to the 3900x and throw a cheap GPU in, but it's easy for me to say that when it's not my money :).
 
I would mine monero with server with any excess CPU ability. 3900x makes over $1/day after electricity cost. Server would be on 24/7 anyways and would pay for itself, at least any electrical cost. Would not produce that much heat, looking at 100w and low noise with good cooler. Of course profits can change, it has been slowly going up as a note last month.
 
Use it for a server. You will save more money with it, in the long run than running an old CPU server.
Electricity !
 
I would love using a 3900X as a basic home server CPU. I'm actually planning on upgrading my desktop and server to that CPU.
 
Does it support Radeon encoding? Could look into a 3200G that could handle Plex transcodes and possibly your other software? I personally would stick to the 3900x and throw a cheap GPU in, but it's easy for me to say that when it's not my money :).

I think that Blue Iris only supports Intel Quicksync and Nvidia cuda for transcodes. The Nvidia transcodes option is very inefficient though and you will load up a card which uses a lot of power. I have an old radeon 460 that I will use for the GPU. I think that if you use direct to disc recording, you will only be transcoding when you review video. However, all guides basically that you're a fill not to take advantage of quicksync. However that one test that I linked above shows that Ryzen, at least high core count Ryzen, can handle software transcoding with minimal cpu usage.
 
I would mine monero with server with any excess CPU ability. 3900x makes over $1/day after electricity cost. Server would be on 24/7 anyways and would pay for itself, at least any electrical cost. Would not produce that much heat, looking at 100w and low noise with good cooler. Of course profits can change, it has been slowly going up as a note last month.

I haven't mined in quite a while, since ethereum jumped the shark on profitability.
 
I haven't mined in quite a while, since ethereum jumped the shark on profitability.
In my case I would put the CPU to use, have two Ryzen CPU's constantly mining Monero if not doing something else needing the CPU, have another with Linux that will soon be doing the same. I would keep the 3900X myself, maximize the server for longevity of use to get more usage out of it with less updates needed and then use it if on for anything that can bring in some $. Looking at going with TR in the future as well.
 
Personally I would keep the CPU and use it. It might be overkill for now but you never know in the future. Besides, it's not as if it's going to be using much power sitting there idle. As others have already said, you may expand the server's use over time and a slower CPU may end up costing you more in the long run.

It would be a different story if you didn't already have the CPU but since you have it you might as well use it.
 
Yep keep the CPU. If you really want to I have an MSI B450 Tomahawk and will have an MSI X570 Gaming plus, as soon as I replace it this week, for sale. Shit I could sell you the B450 board in a case with 32GB of Ram and a 2600 CPU and 1060 vid card. But I would sell the board by itself or the X570 one. Cheap. Both are under a year old. Anyway if you already own the CPU I personally would use it instead of dumping it and buying another lesser model.
 
I think the yeahs on keeping the 3900x have it. The server won't sit idle since I'm going to run Blue Iris. Hopefully, I'll have an experience like the one I quoted above where the guy used a 3950x instead of Intel with Quicksync.

Now, it's a matter of price. I purchased it with fun money and this server is a family project, so I'll "sell it back to myself" to replenish my fun money.
 
I think the yeahs on keeping the 3900x have it. The server won't sit idle since I'm going to run Blue Iris. Hopefully, I'll have an experience like the one I quoted above where the guy used a 3950x instead of Intel with Quicksync.

Now, it's a matter of price. I purchased it with fun money and this server is a family project, so I'll "sell it back to myself" to replenish my fun money.
Let us know how it goes. I've got my own plex server that's in desperate need of an upgrade.
 
I think the yeahs on keeping the 3900x have it. The server won't sit idle since I'm going to run Blue Iris. Hopefully, I'll have an experience like the one I quoted above where the guy used a 3950x instead of Intel with Quicksync.

Now, it's a matter of price. I purchased it with fun money and this server is a family project, so I'll "sell it back to myself" to replenish my fun money.
Let us know how it goes. I've got my own plex server that's in desperate need of an upgrade. One of those situation where I don't know where I should put money into for the best result.
 
Personally, I'd sell while the price is still good, then get whatever is out at the time I'm actually doing the build. I've done the "just in case" before and stuff just ends up collecting dust. FWIW.
 
So, I just ordered an Asus x570 Tuf Gaming Board and 32 GB 3600 G.Skill 16-19-19-39 RAM (that's on the QVL for once). I've already got the Coolermaster ATCS 840 case, four 8TB WDs (two reds and two whites shucked from enclosures), 1TB Samsung 850 Evo, two 128 GB Samsung 830s, an old Radeon 460, an old Corsair HX850 PSU (it's about 8 years old, not sure if I should replace or not), and a crapload of Gentle Typhoons. The Tuf board has 8 SATA ports which is refreshing as I'll be using at least 5 right off the bat. Most boards in that price range have inferior VRMs and only 6 SATA ports. The only downer is Realtek LAN, but if I ever have issues, I'll throw in an Intel Card. The only problem is I have a lot of other things to do before I get going like getting my current PC up to speed, moving my wife over to my old PC, mounting my rack in the basement etc. I will end up with a spare Gigabyte X58 board with a 5675 in it and 12 GB of RAM that I hope to sell. Maybe I can get $100 out of it to help defray costs.
 
So, I just ordered an Asus x570 Tuf Gaming Board and 32 GB 3600 G.Skill 16-19-19-39 RAM (that's on the QVL for once). I've already got the Coolermaster ATCS 840 case, four 8TB WDs (two reds and two whites shucked from enclosures), 1TB Samsung 850 Evo, two 128 GB Samsung 830s, an old Radeon 460, an old Corsair HX850 PSU (it's about 8 years old, not sure if I should replace or not), and a crapload of Gentle Typhoons. The Tuf board has 8 SATA ports which is refreshing as I'll be using at least 5 right off the bat. Most boards in that price range have inferior VRMs and only 6 SATA ports. The only downer is Realtek LAN, but if I ever have issues, I'll throw in an Intel Card. The only problem is I have a lot of other things to do before I get going like getting my current PC up to speed, moving my wife over to my old PC, mounting my rack in the basement etc. I will end up with a spare Gigabyte X58 board with a 5675 in it and 12 GB of RAM that I hope to sell. Maybe I can get $100 out of it to help defray costs.
Good stuff. I just picked up a 2600x and x470 for 190
 
B&H is on it. Ordered the motherboard Thursday mid day, got it today, free shipping.
 
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