First post!
Over they years, I have become quite fond of using the RaspberyyPi line for hobby/projects. Recently, I have deployed a basic home NAS/backup/seedbox using OpenMediaVault 3.x and hit multiple performance ceilings with this setup.
Obviously, network speeds can only go so far and even with a gigabit network adapter, we saturate at USB 2.0. Even with the 64bit CPU, OMV images and other debian-based rPi capable distros run 32bit. Even when 64bit distros become the norm for ARM, the CPU can't handle much. Attempts to run Plex have been mixed; if the client has the codecs built in, it runs so-so. If not, it poops the bed.
As an experiment, I popped Debian 8 and OMV 3.X onto an older MacBook Pro 13in. (Gen2 i5) I had in my backup stash. This CPU was able to handle a single stream without a hiccup, but kicked CPU usage to 96% - second stream was a bit laggy, third really started causing problems.
So, from this I learned Plex transcoding at 720p+ is going to be pretty resource heavy depending on the files. I can either transcode anything I get elsewhere to play nicer or I need better hardware. Additionally, I began to feel I wanted more overhead on a home server to run other applications like a secure personal cloud as well as have a decent enough footprint to start teaching myself some new skills. My current hobbies/interest are pushing me towards media editing so I am going to need at the very least a slightly faster storage solution that my desktop and backing up to a rPi NAS but I am also interested in learning more about virtualization, testing, scripting, deployment - dev. ops/admin/QA professionally.
My research has been all over the map; from taking a look at various mobile/IoT dev boards (with better i/o like gbit eth and sata) to the intel NUC line and Dell mini-servers. I've also been looking at various "pro-sumer" grade desktop hardware RAID boxes.
The NUC line has some decent options but for the kind of work I want to do and based on what I saw with Plex on an i5, anything less than a Skull-Canyon NUC would not likely handle the kind of multi-tasking I am looking to do with a home server. At the SC NUC price-point, I might as well pay a little more for actual server hardware so this led me to the Supermicro SuperServer E200-8D.
I'm pretty confident that box with 32gb of server ECC RAM and an intel m.2 nvme SSD would work nicely with a desktop e-sata raidbox. You could easily snake a e-sata>sata cable to the sata headers in the case and pop thru one of the removable back port covers. In the future, if the board survives, this system could be rack-mounted and used with a larger format raid array later and is compatible with a PCI riser/bracket for expansion.
That said, a system like this could also be used to learn how to offload rendering work to another system, but I have been catching some references to some video work actually benefiting from a server having a GPU? Way cart before the horse.
Alternatively, I could go Skull Canyon i7 NUC and also have a pretty capable HTPC setup as well.
And, now I am rambling. Really just looking to spur discussion about this hardware. I am quite a long ways from purchasing anything any time soon, but I do want to learn as much as possible. I think a more powerful/secure home server/lab for myself and the work my partner does wouldn't be a bad investment.
