Home NAS options (FriendlyELEC CM3588)+Server

[Psittac]

I'm tired of owning countless "low" capacity HDD's being run by power hog's.

 

I have a 12x1TB poweredge 6x2TB poweredge and 8x4TB desktop case waiting for internals.

 

I don't need ALL of this space, I just have storage ADHD and keep buying new stuff and not getting rid of the old stuff.  I was recently talking to a friend of mine about options for a NAS/server and this LTT video has really got me thinking.

 

My goals:

Store data for everyone in the family

Run Plex Server for Friends and Family

Run various Game Servers.

 

I have several gaming desktops and two ooold Dell 2U servers.

 

The Dell Servers are going to get sold hand's down because of the noise, heat and power consumption.

 

My latest idea was to part out my Alienware 5800x/2080super and put it into my last case with the 8x4TB HDD's and just run it 24/7 but the idea of sucking up unnecessary power and producing extra heat isn't exactly making me happy.

 

My second thought was to run several different m.2 drives in that Alienware (have a new mb ready for it already)

 

Now this ELEC option has me reconsidering everything.

 

If it was your setup and you wanted to run a few different game servers, like DCS Valheim and MC along with potentially others while running a Plex server capable of at least a couple 4k streams..... how would you achieve this?  I'm not afraid of spending money on new hardware partly because I'm going to sell the Dell's to recoup a little of the upfront cost.  I just don't want my main machine on 24/7.

 

It looks like Nand Flash is currently around $50/TB and HDD's are around $15-20/TB but I really don't want to deal with HDD's crapping out if at all possible.

[OhYou_]

24 minutes ago, Psittac said:

If it was your setup and you wanted to run a few different game servers, like DCS Valheim and MC along with potentially others while running a Plex server capable of at least a couple 4k streams.....

well by not using an arm cpu board like the rockchip 3588 based friendlyelec nas
probably want something based off a intel N100 cpu if you want low power but it depends on the game server requirements

[Psittac]

12 minutes ago, OhYou_ said:

well by not using an arm cpu board like the rockchip 3588 based friendlyelec nas
probably want something based off a intel N100 cpu if you want low power but it depends on the game server requirements

Would it be a good idea to run a separate computer for the server and just use the elec as a NAS?  Or just combine it all into one?

[HeyMeco]

4 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

well by not using an arm cpu board like the rockchip 3588 based friendlyelec nas
probably want something based off a intel N100 cpu if you want low power but it depends on the game server requirements

N100 and CM3588 are both very different. When it comes to low power the CM3588 still wins by a far (don’t get fooled by the 6w tdp from N100 it uses more) and HW video acceleration while a bit more to setup is more capable too. Just as a NAS it’s a pretty strong option. If you want to use ZFS with TrueNAS N100 is the way to go where there is also NAS Mini ITX boards available for <150€ on AliExpress.

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, HeyMeco said:

N100 and CM3588 are both very different. When it comes to low power the CM3588 still wins by a far (don’t get fooled by the 6w tdp from N100 it uses more) and HW video acceleration while a bit more to setup is more capable too. Just as a NAS it’s a pretty strong option. If you want to use ZFS with TrueNAS N100 is the way to go where there is also NAS Mini ITX boards available for <150€ on AliExpress.

but the CM3588 doesnt run anything that isnt compiled for ARM, and just about everything has a version compiled for x86. besides, you can buy N100 boards for around the €200 mark *here in the west* without dealing with aliexpress shipping taking a month.

 

also, the N100 is a beast among low power CPU's, like you state it 'can' turbo up if needed, but the embedded parts dont actually use *that* much more. besides, the RK3588 is quoted as being a 12 watt part for as far as i can find. on top of that, i'm pretty sure all of the embedded intel cpu boards have an option to disable the boosting all together if you absolutely want to go for efficiency.. but we're at the point that the drives will be using more power than the CPU.

 

also, your comment is irrelevant because:

7 hours ago, Psittac said:

run a few different game servers, like DCS Valheim and MC

 

having that said - both of these platforms have one shared issue for OP's requirements:

they're both limited on PCIe lanes, and by extension SATA.

 

if you go up to something i3-something or ryzen 3 something, you can still enjoy quite good idle power draw figures (like, actually shockingly close to on par with the embedded systems these days), but you have the "oomph" to run game servers, and the expandability to add several HBA's for extra drives if so desired.

[OhYou_]

13 hours ago, HeyMeco said:

N100 and CM3588 are both very different. When it comes to low power the CM3588 still wins by a far (don’t get fooled by the 6w tdp from N100 it uses more) and HW video acceleration while a bit more to setup is more capable too. Just as a NAS it’s a pretty strong option. If you want to use ZFS with TrueNAS N100 is the way to go where there is also NAS Mini ITX boards available for <150€ on AliExpress.

ok but the cm3588 wont run a Valheim server