Plex Server / Home NAS build

[PenguinMaster]

Hi all,

 

I am looking to build a custom rack mount computer that will act as my home Plex / NAS Server. I am new to this stuff so I greatly appreciate feedback.

 

Originally I was going to use an HPE DL380 Gen9 but after having it on for a while, I decided to sell it because it is unbearably loud. I already have some items purchased for the new server that I would prefer to re-use.

 

I already have an UNRAID license for UNRAID Plus, I would be open to upgrading to Pro if I needed to though. I also already have 2x WD RED 1TB SSDs as cache drives. I also have 6x 4TB Seagate EXOS drives, 4 for storage and 2 for redundancy.

 

I never officially had the Dell HPE server up and running just because it was so outrageously loud that I couldn't keep it on.

 

This is the new computer I proposed to replace it with:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cDNscb

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler  ($59.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($274.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Red SA500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Red SA500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card  ($674.49 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Wired Network Adapter: Intel X550-T2 PCIe x4 10 Gbit/s Network Adapter  ($362.00 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2931.38
 

Not included in this list I need an HBA card because I can't find a motherboard with enough SATA ports and a 4U rack mount case.

The graphics card I did not purchase yet, and I also do NOT plan on purchasing at $700! That is so outrageous!!!

 

The total budget is $1800-$2000 excluding drives. I am open to purchasing things used 

 

Thanks!

[LIGISTX]

4 minutes ago, PenguinMaster said:

Hi all,

 

I am looking to build a custom rack mount computer that will act as my home Plex / NAS Server. I am new to this stuff so I greatly appreciate feedback.

 

Originally I was going to use an HPE DL380 Gen9 but after having it on for a while, I decided to sell it because it is unbearably loud. I already have some items purchased for the new server that I would prefer to re-use.

 

I already have an UNRAID license for UNRAID Plus, I would be open to upgrading to Pro if I needed to though. I also already have 2x WD RED 1TB SSDs as cache drives. I also have 6x 4TB Seagate EXOS drives, 4 for storage and 2 for redundancy.

 

I never officially had the Dell HPE server up and running just because it was so outrageously loud that I couldn't keep it on.

 

This is the new computer I proposed to replace it with:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cDNscb

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S 46.44 CFM CPU Cooler  ($59.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($274.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Red SA500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Red SA500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate EXOS Enterprise 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card  ($674.49 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Wired Network Adapter: Intel X550-T2 PCIe x4 10 Gbit/s Network Adapter  ($362.00 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2931.38
 

Not included in this list I need an HBA card because I can't find a motherboard with enough SATA ports and a 4U rack mount case.

The graphics card I did not purchase yet, and I also do NOT plan on purchasing at $700! That is so outrageous!!!

 

The total budget is $2500 for everything including the drives, I am open to purchasing things used 

 

Thanks!

You likely need way, way less hardware to accomplish your goal. I run a homelab on a i3 with 4 threads and 28GB of RAM. Truenas, a few Ubuntu VM’s, windows vm, and some other random things all virtualized. Plex VM gets 2 threads and 3 GB of RAM and it’s sufficient. I can do multiple 1080p to 720p transcodes at once and this is while also running the other VM’s and the truenas file server… also no GPU needed.

 

Depending on what you want this to do… 32GB of ram is way more then enough, and a current gen i3 or i5 would be plenty, my i3 is a 6100…… 

 

I am finally upgrading to a more proper server with a 28GB thread Xeon, but I am starting to really get into homelab usage with 7+ VM’s and lots of home automation.

[LIGISTX]

Oh, also no need for cache drives… 

[BondiBlue]

Are you planning to use this system for a LOT more things down the line? If you aren't then you're way overspending on hardware. That's way more power than a NAS/Plex server needs. You don't need the cache drives, you wouldn't need that high end of a GPU, and you could easily get away with fewer, more dense hard drives. 

[Blue4130]

Get bigger drives. You have 6 small drives, when you could easily use 2.

[PenguinMaster]

@BondiBlue @LIGISTX @Blue4130

 

I am planning on using this for more things in the future.

 

I need this server to be able to handle at least 3x 4K Plex streams simultaneously but I wouldn't mind if it was slightly overbuilt. I already have the cache drives so I also don't mind using them since I can't really return them.

 

For the Seagate drives, I can return those for different drives if you guys think that would be a better idea. The 4 and 6TB options seemed like the sweet-spot for price / capacity to me though.

 

I also planned on using this as a game drive so I could save a game from one PC and pick up where I left off on another PC. This was the main reason for the cache drives and the faster CPU. There is a chance where the system would need to transcode for PLEX and also be used to access game files at the same time which I would think would put a lot of strain on the system, but let me know if I'm wrong about that.

 

Also for the drives Im looking for speed over capacity for the most part which is why I wanted more smaller drives instead of less larger capacity drives.

[PenguinMaster]

Also just for reference here are the specs of the HPE DL380 Gen9 Server I have:

 

2x Intel Xeon E5-2650L v4 (14 cores each)

64GB DDR4 ECC memory

Dual Redundant 800w 80+ Platinum Power Supplies

Dual-port HPE 10GbE Network card

All the drives listed above

[FloRolf]

12 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Get bigger drives. You have 6 small drives, when you could easily use 2.

Why have less redundancy and worse performance though? I'd always go for more smaller drives. 

[Blue4130]

3 hours ago, FloRolf said:

Why have less redundancy and worse performance though? I'd always go for more smaller drives. 

Less points of failure when you use less drives that are bigger. And if you have proper backups, single disk redundancy is usually adequate for homelab uses. Also plex doesn't really need that much disk speed. Even 4k...

[LIGISTX]

5 hours ago, PenguinMaster said:

I need this server to be able to handle at least 3x 4K Plex streams simultaneously

Direct play or transcode....?

 

If direct play, that takes effectively no power at all, I give my plex VM 2 threads of my i3 and itll play full bluray 4k/DV/Atmos all day long with almost no CPU usage.

 

If you are trying to transcode 4k down to anything else...... the first 3 rules of 4k are do not transcode 4k. Keep a separate library of 1080p content.

 

Seriously tho, if you don't believe me on the transcoding... https://forums.plex.tv/t/info-plex-4k-transcoding-and-you-aka-the-rules-of-4k/378203

 

5 hours ago, PenguinMaster said:

access game files

Accessing data on the NAS takes relatively no power at all. You can build a NAS that would saturate gigabit on an old core 2 duo machine. 

 

5 hours ago, PenguinMaster said:

I am planning on using this for more things in the future.

Thats fair. When I built mine it was really just a NAS, now it has turned into a full on homelab. As I said, I have 7+ virtual machines running, and they have all been happy. But your RAM is likely overkill unless you do plan to get into running lots of VM's (can always upgrade later) and a GPU is more or less a waste of money - just no need for it. Would be better off buying more harddrive space to keep 1080p copies instead of trying to transcode 4k.

[PenguinMaster]

@LIGISTX

 

Thanks for the input! I think you're right about the RAM being overkill. I think I am going to stick with the i5 and at least 16GB of ram, although I'd prefer 32GB just for future sake. Most of my content is already in 4K so it would be annoying to change everything over to 1080 so there would be some transcoding possibly from 4K to 1080P occasionally. For the most part not though. Do you think a GPU is necessary at all or will the CPU be able to handle all of that?

[LIGISTX]

1 minute ago, PenguinMaster said:

@LIGISTX

 

Thanks for the input! I think you're right about the RAM being overkill. I think I am going to stick with the i5 and at least 16GB of ram, although I'd prefer 32GB just for future sake. Most of my content is already in 4K so it would be annoying to change everything over to 1080 so there would be some transcoding possibly from 4K to 1080P occasionally. For the most part not though. Do you think a GPU is necessary at all or will the CPU be able to handle all of that?

If you need to transcode 4k.... I would potentially run a cron job script to run every night to just start transcoding things down to 1080p while your asleep. Eventually you will have a 1080p copy of everything. Transcoding 4k really isn't a winning battle. If you think this is a hard requirement, I would maybe do a lot more research on the plex forums. CPU's are certainly a lot faster then they used to be, and a GPU would likely do it fine, but I know most folks will just say "your attempting to move an immovable object".

 

I would go with 32 GB, that would be plenty, and do 2x16GB sticks so if you do end up needing to go to 64, you can throw 2 more sticks in and be happy. That said, 32 GB will be massively overkill for a long time. I run my homelab on 28 GB of RAM and its been fine until now, thats with 50TB of ZFS storage under truenas (freenas) which I give 16GB, and the hypervisor itself and all the VM's as I have mentioned get to fight over the remaining 12GB