UNRAID Gaming PC / Media Server / NAS

[Starkillerz83]

Hi all,

 

I'm new to the forum and UNRAID so please forgive me if I have posted this into the wrong topic. What I'm looking to do is setup a PC that can pull triple duty as a light-weight Gaming PC, a PLEX media server and finally a NAS. The games I'll be playing on this box are going to be games like rocket league, project cars and some role-playing games like The Witcher 3. I do know the Witcher 3 is pretty intense on GPUs, but I'm happy to reduce quality settings a bit if necessary.

 

As for hardware I have a Ryzen 5 2400g, Gigabyte B450 DS3H mATX motherboard, 16 GB of 2666 Mhz RAM and a Gigabyte RX 580. I also have a bunch of WD Red HDDs I'm going to use for the NAS, and a SSD for the Windows 10 boot disc.

 

My plan was to use the Vega GPU built-into the Ryzen CPU for the UNRAID control panel, and just pass the GPU through to Windows to maximize performance there. The concern I have is the Ryzen 5 2400g only has four cores but does have SMT enabled so it has eight threads.

 

I'm really going to be the only person using the system at all as I don't really have anyone outside my house who will watch movies on my PLEX server or access my NAS. I also have a primary Gaming PC outside of this setup so this just an extra box for titles I want to play on my couch.

 

With all of that said do you all think this will be powerful enough for my use case? I am still acquiring the hardware and I just purchased the CPU so I can return and get something else if necessary. Just wanted to get the opinion of people who are more experienced with this platform.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id suggest just running windows on the host and having the plex server and nas run under windows. its easier to setup, will be faster as there is no vm overhead and you don't have to worry about pcie passthrough.

 

how much storage do you ned?

 

Id probably get a 2600 if it doesn't cost that much more, it will transcode a good amount faster.

 

 

I don't see the point of unraid here, all that will run on windows just fine.

 

[Starkillerz83]

Hi, I wanted unraid so I can expand the storage. I'll have several drives over the long term, and honestly I don't trust Windows to actually maintain my data without corrupting it. I think pretty much anyone can do better than Windows

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Starkillerz83 said:

Hi, I wanted unraid so I can expand the storage. I'll have several drives over the long term, and honestly I don't trust Windows to actually maintain my data without corrupting it. I think pretty much anyone can do better than Windows

You can do this in windows easily. There is storage spaces for the normal mixed drive raid, and drivepool and snapraid if you want the rail on files.

 

Windows will keep your data as safe as linux/unraid. You still need backups for all of these though

[Starkillerz83]

Ok, yeah I'll have to look into that. Never knew Windows had RAID built-in. Do you happen to know if this will work on Windows 10 Home or do you need Pro? Thanks for the info!

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Starkillerz83 said:

Ok, yeah I'll have to look into that. Never knew Windows had RAID built-in. Do you happen to know if this will work on Windows 10 Home or do you need Pro? Thanks for the info!

storage spaces will work fine on home, hyper-v needs pro.

[Razor Blade]

For the setup you're asking about there are a few things you must understand before you actually decide if it is for you.

 

1. As @Electronics Wizardysaid. There will be overhead to manage both your hypervisor AND your NAS function. How much will vary on what you choose to do. I'm not too familiar with how efficient UnRAID is but typically a hypervisor needs very little in the way of resources unless you're performing management tasks. In this sense, a 2400G shouldn't have too much trouble.
2. Startup and shut down of a hypervisor PC is way different. You have to remember Windows is just in a VM. Shutting down the PC will require you to log into the hypervisor and gracefully shut down every VM before finally shutting down the hypervisor. Something to keep in mind unless you're just going to run it 24/7
3. Passing through a GPU is a start. But you will need to also pass through peripherals. Plugging your keyboard and mouse into the host USB ports will not pass them through to the VM. So plan on adding a USB card to your list. Plug the front panel header into the card (for USB devices you want Windows to use) and all your peripherals into the back of the card. You will also need to keep in mind if you need to access the hypervisor you'll have to plug a keyboard into the host USB.

 

I am actually playing with a setup like this in my home lab setup. It is way different to be able to work in a VM with actual hardware rather than VM viewer software or RDP.

[Starkillerz83]

Razor Blade, very good information man. I appreciate it a lot! Same goes to Electronic Wizardy. Honestly, I'm likely going to start off with my computer hardware I mentioned above, and then toss 4 WD RED 4 TB drives into my case. I can run that in a RAID 5 and that should give me enough storage for a while because I'm only going to be putting my personal media library on the array. I don't really plan on doing HD HomeRun DVR for now, but if I decide to do that later then I may make a dedicated DVR rig.

 

With that said it sounds like the built-in Windows RAID will work. Any thoughts at the RAID support provided by the motherboard? I think my mobo supports RAID and just wondering what's easier to work with?

 

Also, what do you guys run for your setups?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Starkillerz83 said:

With that said it sounds like the built-in Windows RAID will work. Any thoughts at the RAID support provided by the motherboard? I think my mobo supports RAID and just wondering what's easier to work with?

Motherboard raid sucks, don't use it.

 

Storage spaces is probably your best option here, or use drive pool and snapraid if you want parity of files(id go storage spaces personally)

 

 

[Razor Blade]

17 minutes ago, Starkillerz83 said:

Razor Blade, very good information man. I appreciate it a lot! Same goes to Electronic Wizardy. Honestly, I'm likely going to start off with my computer hardware I mentioned above, and then toss 4 WD RED 4 TB drives into my case. I can run that in a RAID 5 and that should give me enough storage for a while because I'm only going to be putting my personal media library on the array. I don't really plan on doing HD HomeRun DVR for now, but if I decide to do that later then I may make a dedicated DVR rig.

 

With that said it sounds like the built-in Windows RAID will work. Any thoughts at the RAID support provided by the motherboard? I think my mobo supports RAID and just wondering what's easier to work with?

 

Also, what do you guys run for your setups?

If you have to select a mode for your HDD use AHCI and opt for software RAID like what @Electronics Wizardy said. While RAID cards can be pretty decent, RAID controllers built into motherboards are not so great. Still. Hardware RAID (software on chip RAID) don't offer nearly the features or flexibility software RAID will.

 

EDIT: addressing the last question I am using a Dell R710 running ESXI. It is my NAS, router, NVR, and faithful companion to my working PC anytime I want to offload a task.

[idmjawc]

Is it absolutely necessary to have a gpu assigned to unraid? Or would it be fine to get a 2600 instead and once unraid is up and running access it's interface from a laptop in the same network to setup the windows VM and pass all the components you need?