Gerr

I have 4x3TB WD Reds to be used in an external 5-bay USB enclosure that I will connect to my TrueNAS server as backup.  I plan on setting it up in RaidZ1 for 12TB of backup space.  To reach that amount, I need a 5th drive.  While I could just spend $90+ and buy a new 3TB WD Red, I have spare 3TB WD Purple & Green drives available and was wondering if I could use either and not have to pay for another HDD.  This will only ever be used as backup storage for my TrueNAS server, so 99.9% of the time will be writes only.  Because the Purple drive is designed for Raid and heavy writes, I think it will fit fine.  Thoughts?

I am building a home server that will run Windows 2016 Server Essentials and be used for Plex, NAS, and NVR(Blue Iris).  I have multiple HDD's that will be used to store Plex media files, NAS data, and NVR recordings.  I have 3 SSD's that will fill the roles of OS Drive, Plex program/transcode/artwork drive, and Stoarge Spaces R/W cache drive.  I have the following SSD's:
512GB Adata XPG SC8200 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD
500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD
256GB Samsung 860 Pro 2.5" SATA SSD
 
My question is which to use for which purpose?

I am building a home server that will run Windows 2016 Server Essentials and be used for Plex, NAS, and NVR(Blue Iris).  I have multiple HDD's that will be used to store Plex media files, NAS data, and NVR recordings.  I have 3 SSD's that will fill the roles of OS Drive, Plex program/transcode/artwork drive, and Stoarge Spaces R/W cache drive.  I have the following SSD's:
512GB Adata XPG SC8200 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD
500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD
256GB Samsung 860 Pro 2.5" SATA SSD
 
My question is which to use for which purpose?

https://www.cdw.com/product/msi-rtx-2080-ti-gaming-x-11gb-gddr6/5663378
 
Seems legit, but too rich for my blood.  Maybe someone could take advantage of it.

To clairify a few things...
 
1.  I already have both PSU's, just need to decide on which one to put into my kids system and which one to put into a PC I am going to sell.
2.  Neither are modular.
3.  While older, I thought the Seasonic might have a slight advantage.  However, with the FSP being newer and having less overall use, not by much, was wondering if that might give it the advantage.  If they are both really close, ie too close to call, I'll sell the FSP since it's already installed into the case I want to sell.

Something to consider....while there is no doubt that Samsung B-die RAM is faster and provides slightly better FPS in games, there is a sizable price difference between standard RAM and the Samsung B-die RAM.  Is that price difference worth it?  In some cases, you can buy 32GB of DDR4-3200 CL16 for the price of 16GB DDR4-3200 CL14!  Just food for thought.

I have a single full copy of Acronis that I was thinking about using on the Windows 10 Backup server and seeing up the traditional montly full, weekly decremental, and daily incremental backup scheme and pull the data from the Windows 2016 Server NAS shares to local drives.
 
For my client PC backups, I like Macrium Reflect and I will just create a boot drive image once a month and store it up on a dedicated share on the backup server.  I will do the same using Acronis on the Win 10 server.  Still deciding on what to use on the Win 2016 server, but will find something free.
 
Every month or two I will hook up an external 5TB drive and copy all the latest full backups over, plus the latest OS client images, and then take that to my parents house for storage.
 
This sound like a solid backup plan?

I have a single full copy of Acronis that I was thinking about using on the Windows 10 Backup server and seeing up the traditional montly full, weekly decremental, and daily incremental backup scheme and pull the data from the Windows 2016 Server NAS shares to local drives.
 
For my client PC backups, I like Macrium Reflect and I will just create a boot drive image once a month and store it up on a dedicated share on the backup server.  I will do the same using Acronis on the Win 10 server.  Still deciding on what to use on the Win 2016 server, but will find something free.
 
Every month or two I will hook up an external 5TB drive and copy all the latest full backups over, plus the latest OS client images, and then take that to my parents house for storage.
 
This sound like a solid backup plan?

Only 2 hours left, so get them soon!
 
128G for $18.99
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B077ZK1FJF
 
256GB for $28.79
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B077ZJ5ZPG
 
512GB for $50.99
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B07LGHJ7R7

Only 2 hours left, so get them soon!
 
128G for $18.99
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B077ZK1FJF
 
256GB for $28.79
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B077ZJ5ZPG
 
512GB for $50.99
https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX850-3D-NAND-Gaming-SSD-SX850-256G/dp/B07LGHJ7R7

Same generation, 200Mhz speed increase, 50% bump in cores.  Short answer is yes, you will see an improvement.  However, it won't be night & day and would be dependant on if the game can take advantage of the extra cores or not.  If no cost, I would probably do it, but wouldn't want to spend a lot of money to do so.

Same generation, 200Mhz speed increase, 50% bump in cores.  Short answer is yes, you will see an improvement.  However, it won't be night & day and would be dependant on if the game can take advantage of the extra cores or not.  If no cost, I would probably do it, but wouldn't want to spend a lot of money to do so.

I caught a good deal on CL yesterday, two mint condition EVGA GTX 1070 TI FTW2(ICX) cards for $500.  Owner said they were used as graphical design GPU's during the day at his work and as mining at night for the past 8 months.  Never gamed on and only ever ran at stock speeds and no BIOS mods.  They looked brand new, not even any dust on the inside.  Both were tested as working and I am testing the first one for it's OC ability, and so far, at stock voltage, it's at +200Mhz on the core and +500Mhz on the memory via Afterburner for a sustained clock of 2050Mhz core and 9000Mhz memory and runs about 65* so far after a half hour of the Valley benchmark.  I hope the other one does just as well.  Once I get a HB SLI Bridge, I will try them in SLI mode, but probably will have to turn down the clocks a bit to keep temps in check, might even undervolt them a bit.
 
Anyways, on to the topic.  The 1070 Ti's are replacing a single MSI 1080 Ti that doesn't OC well, 1987Mhz max OC, which is currently in my main gaming PC(7700K@5.0Ghz - 32" 1440p@165Hz).  I am moving that card to my bedroom PC(6700K@4.7Ghz - 27" 1080p@144Hz) and it will replace a Zotax 1070 mini for high refresh gaming.  Before anyone says anything, I know, it's better to have a single card rather than SLI as not many games are optimized for SLI.  The way I figured it, if I play a game that isn't well optimized for SLI, I'll just play it on my bedroom PC with the 1080 Ti and use my main system for the games that are well or at least decently optimized for SLI.  Plus my main PC is a bit of a show-off rig, ie TG case with RGB, so having a pair of GPU's looks more "high-end" than a single GPU.  I know, I'm vain, and will accept less preformance at times for better looks, at least on that PC.  My bedroom PC is all business, ie preformance & silence, no looks, but gets the hand me down parts from my main rig as that's where my money goes.
 
What I want to know is if a game is well optimized for SLI, can I expect it to just match the preformance of my 1080 Ti or maybe beat it?  I have looked at various benchmark reviews and their numbers seem all over the place.

My CPU & GPU are both overclocked and I am hitting thermals more on my GPU.  Can't OC any higher on air, but I know it can go higher on liquid.  Plus hoping that the AIO pushes the heat directly out the top and should allow for a slightly cooler inside for more GPU headroom.

Check with the miner to see if it was undervolted and if so, I would say yes as the card wasn't running at top speeds and was producing minimal heat.
 
However, avoid it if there was a moded BIOS installed.
 
As for the fans, just keep an eye on them, easy & quick replacement if they fail.

That's still a very powerful gaming PC.  Unless you want to game at 4K or 1440@144Hz, that is more than powerful enough.
 
Since the CPU isn't OC'ed, buy a better cooler and try to OC it.  Also try OC'ing the video card if you have not yet.

I ended up getting a used system off of eBay that should suit my needs...
 
Xeon E5-2680 v2 (10c/20t-2.8Ghz)
CM 212 EVO cooler
x79 ATX mobo - unknown make/model
16GB DDR3-1866 ECC RAM - unknown brand.
240GB PNY SSD
1TB WD Black HDD
Blu-Ray Combo drive
GTX 1060 3GB by Asus
Corsair TX650W PSU - unknown if Gold or Bronze.
Corsair 100R case
Windows 10 Pro 64
 
$625 shipped.
 
I figure I'll sell the GTX 1060 and use that money to buy more RAM, 32GB min, trying for 48GB or 64GB, pending on mobo capacity.  Outside of that, I thought it was a good deal and should be a good VM & Handbrake system.

Interesting article...
 
https://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/client-hyper-v-vs-virtualbox/
 
 

I was thinking of more like a E5 1650/1660 v2 or i7 4930K/4960X, all are overclockable HEX core CPU's.  Pair that up with a  4x4GB DDR3-2133 CL9 set of RAM and a good videocard, should at least match Ryzen 5 speeds and might even approach Ryzen 7 or Coffee Lake speeds in games.
 

For something used, what about a pair of E5-2680v2's(10c@2.8Ghz each) on a C602 mobo and load it up with DDR3 ECC-RDIMMs, which will be MUCH cheaper than DDR4.

Actually, it's got most of the hardware I want.  It will not only be a VM training system, but will also be a Blu-Ray ripper & transcoder as well as a secondary gaming PC.  Selling the 1060 3GB as I already have a 1060 6GB waiting to install.  Getting a new mobo that accepts registered ECC and getting 64GB of that so I have plenty of memory to go along with the 10c20t CPU.  Blu-Ray drive is needed for ripping, then the high core count will help with the transcoding.  SSD is good for quick OS boots and running the VM's, but the WD Black is an ideal gaming drive.  Replacing the PSU with a new 650W 80+ Bronze and putting the old PSU into a spare system to sell.
 
At some point I might setup ESXi, but for now, just running Windows 10 Pro and all VM's through Oracle's Virtualbox.

I ended up getting a used system off of eBay that should suit my needs...
 
Xeon E5-2680 v2 (10c/20t-2.8Ghz)
CM 212 EVO cooler
x79 ATX mobo - unknown make/model
16GB DDR3-1866 ECC RAM - unknown brand.
240GB PNY SSD
1TB WD Black HDD
Blu-Ray Combo drive
GTX 1060 3GB by Asus
Corsair TX650W PSU - unknown if Gold or Bronze.
Corsair 100R case
Windows 10 Pro 64
 
$625 shipped.
 
I figure I'll sell the GTX 1060 and use that money to buy more RAM, 32GB min, trying for 48GB or 64GB, pending on mobo capacity.  Outside of that, I thought it was a good deal and should be a good VM & Handbrake system.

I would love a Ryzen 7, but the prices of DDR4 are way too high, so sticking with a DDR3 solution at the moment.

I would love a Ryzen 7, but the prices of DDR4 are way too high, so sticking with a DDR3 solution at the moment.

65*C on a stressed CPU is pretty good.  Anything below 80*C is considered good and 90*C is when you start to be concerned.
 
You have some room to OC it if you want.