Home Server + NAS

[MikeyTheDinosaur]

Hello everyone, 

 

I'm looking to change my current build to a server running 2 VM  + NAS using Unraid. I'm basically following the build of "2 Gaming Rigs, 1 Tower..."

I currently have a Ryzen 2700x, the problem is that I don't have enough pcie lanes to run a third video pass through. 

I wasn't sure how Linus was able to access Unraid on another computer (If anyone could kindly explain to me) but say I don't want to use a 3rd computer to setup Unraid, then I would need a third GPU card for video pass through. Since Ryzen has limited pcie lanes and the CPU I have does not have integrated graphics, is there another way to plug in a third video pass through?

Thank you all!

[SupaKomputa]

err... USB GPU maybe?

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/49592-usb-graphics-card-passthrough-is-it-possible/

[SupaKomputa]

You can also install a headless linux system for the NAS, try freenas. Everything can be controlled through a web admin panel.

[Electronics Wizardy]

24 minutes ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

I wasn't sure how Linus was able to access Unraid on another computer

Web interface? SSH?

 

24 minutes ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

then I would need a third GPU card for video pass through.

You don't need the third gpu, but it makes it much easier to troubshoot

 

24 minutes ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

I currently have a Ryzen 2700x, the problem is that I don't have enough pcie lanes to run a third video pass through. 

You can run 3 gpus on that chipset + cpu, just one runs off the chipset, and thats file for the host gpu.

 

Whats the full system specs?

 

11 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

You can also install a headless linux system for the NAS, try freenas. Everything can be controlled through a web admin panel.

Freenas isn't linux, and won't do things like gpu passthrough, and still uses the first gpu for its cli. You would need to have it not take the gpu in the bootloader, or have it switch drivers in the os.

[mariushm]

As people above me said, you can install video cards in any pci-e slot, you're not restricted to a pci-e x16 slot.

 

You probably have a pci-e x4 or a pci-e x1 slot.

You could get a cheap video card and simply CUT the edge connector to fit in x1 slot or x4 slot - the pci-e is designed like that, the card will work.

If you don't want to hack it.. you can use adapter.

Get a pci-e x1 to pci-e x16 adapter, which are very common as they were used for mining virtual currency, and you can connect another video card.

If you use a low profile video card, you will have room to screw the video card to the back of the case while its edge connector is floating above the slot.

 

Here's an example : https://www.ebay.com/itm/A349PC-VER008S-Riser-Card-pci-e-x1-to-x16-6pin-4pin-SATA-power-connector-2ft/193119202138

You can find cheaper, but the above is a US seller and it's most versatile.

You plug the small card in the pci-e x1 or x4 or higher slot (basically any slot) and make a connection to the other card with the pci-e x16 slot using the USB cable.

The USB cable doesn't carry power to the card, so you need to give the video card power through a separate connector : the card has pci-e 6pin, molex(old hdd) or sata connectors, you use just one of them to power the slot.

 

You can get a cheap video cards like AMD HD5450 or HD6350 , but careful not to pick the cards with DMS59 connector, as those would require an extra adapter cable.

Here's a couple examples with regular dvi and dp, for 7 and 8$

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LENOVO-AMD-RADEON-HD-5450-512-MB-PCIe-DVI-DP-VIDEO-CARD-FRU89Y6151-Graphic/123684195056

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-HD-5450-512MB-Lenovo-FRU89Y6151-DVI-Video-Card-IBM/302819569764

 

You can probably get some cheap Quadro cards as well , same warning about dms59

example card: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-NVIDIA-QUADRO-FX-370-256MB-64-Bit-Dual-DVI-Video-Card-454318-001-456136-001/183453755985

 

[MikeyTheDinosaur]

Thanks everyone for the reply, I'll buy a 16x to 1x connector later today and see how it'll work out. 

 

Out of curiosity, would any of you happen to know a easy way to place the VMs in a different room than the server? I.e. The main tower is in room A, but is connected to screen and keyboards in room B. 

I could get a long HDMI cable, but how should I easily manage USB ports and audio cables?

 

Thanks

[mariushm]

You can get a long usb cable and connect it to a usb hub that has its own power supply.

You can connect keyboard and mouse to usb hub, and if you want you can also connect a usb sound card like this Creative one, or you could send the sound through hdmi cable, and take it out from behind the TV if you wish.

 

You could potentially use digital outputs of sound card... ex

12ft toslink cable : https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16882241008?Description=toslink cable&cm_re=toslink_cable-_-82-241-008-_-Product

 

 

example of 32ft (10m) usb 2 cable for 15$  https://www.newegg.com/transparent-sabrent-32-ft-usb-2-0/p/N82E16812156026?Description=usb cable&cm_re=usb_cable-_-12-156-026-_-Product

or this one for <9$ : https://www.newegg.com/black-coboc-33-ft-usb-2-0/p/N82E16812423046?Description=usb cable&cm_re=usb_cable-_-12-423-046-_-Product

 

example of 50ft (15m) usb cable: https://www.amazon.com/Pasow-Female-Extension-Cable-Speed/dp/B018LYWWKM/

 

Example of powered usb hub : https://www.newegg.com/p/0J2-008P-00004?Description=usb hub&cm_re=usb_hub-_-9SIA6PF38C0528-_-Product

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

Out of curiosity, would any of you happen to know a easy way to place the VMs in a different room than the server? I.e. The main tower is in room A, but is connected to screen and keyboards in room B. 

I could get a long HDMI cable, but how should I easily manage USB ports and audio cables?

You could do it over the network with something like parsec, or use a bundle of messy cables to do it, so usb + hdmi. You can get adapters over cat6 if that makes it easier.

 

1 hour ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

Thanks everyone for the reply, I'll buy a 16x to 1x connector later today and see how it'll work out. 

 

Whats cards do you have? What board do you have?

 

Id be tempted to just get a cheaper second pc, as its much easier to setup that way.

 

You can also just use windows as a nasand easily make a fileshare other systems can mount.

[2FA]

You don't need a GPU for unRAID itself once you have the first VM successfully setup and boots automatically with unRAID. You could then just access the web interface of unRAID in the VM. If you absolutely need a 3rd GPU though, something like a GT710 would be fine since it already have a 1x connector.

[MikeyTheDinosaur]

So while following the instructions of setting up Unraid, I left the PC there to format the drives by itself. By the time I came back, I could not log on to tower anymore. I restarted my PC but now the lights are showing but no signal is passing through to my monitor. Any ideas what has happened?

[MikeyTheDinosaur]

17 hours ago, 2FA said:

You don't need a GPU for unRAID itself once you have the first VM successfully setup and boots automatically with unRAID. You could then just access the web interface of unRAID in the VM. If you absolutely need a 3rd GPU though, something like a GT710 would be fine since it already have a 1x connector.

Yes I realized that later, I'm not just using my laptop to access the web interface. Thanks though!

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 hours ago, MikeyTheDinosaur said:

So while following the instructions of setting up Unraid, I left the PC there to format the drives by itself. By the time I came back, I could not log on to tower anymore. I restarted my PC but now the lights are showing but no signal is passing through to my monitor. Any ideas what has happened?

do you see the bios?

 

could be a dead hardware if you don't see the bios at all.

 

 

[Ibanez343]

mostly responding to suggestions for a PCI 1X video solution, a much better recommendation than adapters or cutting the card is to buy the Quadro NVS 290, there is a PCie 1X version of the card (pictured below).  I was able to use it on 3 different motherboards using the PCIe 1X top slot (above the primary 16X) to provide video for the unraid OS.  My best guess is you would need a motherboard with a 1X slot above the primary X16 slot or be able to select the primary video adapter in the BIOS.  I've paid as little as 9$ each for the cards but you will need a DMS-59 adapter as well (usually dual VGA or Dual DVI).

 

Also to the OP: hoping you got you system running again, If not I would try removing any extra video cards leaving only one for unraid and start there.  If you haven't already do all the normal stuff, re-seat ram, clear BIOS, ETC