Upgrade path for my UnRAID server

[LarveyRGH]

Parts list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/larveyhong/saved/VptXf7

I'd quite like a little more power, with lower power consumption. What would you recommend to upgrade?

Usage:

UnRAID Server acting mainly as a Plex Server and Immich Server. Has a few other misc bits like a Valheim server running but not 24/7.

[artisuke]

A newer CPU (like an 11th or 12th gen intel) will help immensely for transcoding content.

[LarveyRGH]

3 minutes ago, dorwich said:

A newer CPU (like an 11th or 12th gen intel) will help immensely for transcoding content.

In my newest build I went for a 12th gen i3 as it seemed best bang for buck - but its only 4c/8t. Unless that's totally sufficient?

[artisuke]

2 minutes ago, LarveyRGH said:

In my newest build I went for a 12th gen i3 as it seemed best bang for buck - but its only 4c/8t. Unless that's totally sufficient?

I've noticed on my NAS that I generally only use a core or two for transferring files. If you could go for an i5, you would probably have better futureproofing, but 11th/12th gen Intel does really well for encoding (plus Iirc anything below 8th gen Intel does not really transcode or encode that well). If you encode everything to direct play (typically H.264, AAC audio), then it uses very little resources too.

[LarveyRGH]

Just now, dorwich said:

I've noticed on my NAS that I generally only use a core or two for transferring files. If you could go for an i5, you would probably have better futureproofing, but 11th/12th gen Intel does really well for encoding (plus Iirc anything below 8th gen Intel does not really transcode or encode that well). If you encode everything to direct play (typically H.264, AAC audio), then it uses very little resources too.

Ill just do that then - easy peasy - thanks!

[artisuke]

1 minute ago, LarveyRGH said:

Ill just do that then - easy peasy - thanks!

No problem

[LIGISTX]

59 minutes ago, LarveyRGH said:

In my newest build I went for a 12th gen i3 as it seemed best bang for buck - but its only 4c/8t. Unless that's totally sufficient?

I ran my homelab on an i3 6100 for years. 
 

I ran everything virtualized under ESXi, and I have a VM for truenas, windows LTSC, 3x Ubuntu, home assistant and a few other random things. One of the Ubuntu’s ran a Plex server, another had a handful of docker containers. That was a dual core with HT…
 

Point is, a new generation i3 is likely extreme overkill, except for the game servers which I don’t know as much about. A few more cores is likely a good idea.