CPU Recommendation (UnRaid Server)

[theselfishgene]

Looking to build a unraid server and trying to figure out what CPU is best for my use case (don't want to over or under buy).

 

I want to be able to transcode videos with Plex to 1-2 users (most content is original BluRay/4K BluRay backups or encoded 1080p files), and run up to 3 VMs (e.g. Volumio, Kodi, Win 10).  Ability to handle 1080p gaming on a VM (with passthrough) would be a plus, but not necessary if its going to drastically increase the price.

ECC would be a plus, and it must support VT-d and VT-x for VMs with USB/GPU passthrough.

 

Intel or AMD equivalent. 

 

Thank you.

[NelizMastr]

On the Intel side:

 

For just media and basic VMs, you'd be set with a 7th gen i3 which will support non-registered ECC on a C-series chipset board.

The next possible step up is the Xeon E3 v5 or v6 models with IGP. No i5 or i7 models support ECC.

 

On the AMD side:

 

Wait for Ryzen APUs like the R5-2400. It'll do both media and VMs without trouble. Should be on par with if not faster than the Xeon E3 v6

and also supports non-registered ECC memory. 

 

These are your cheapest options, mind you, not taking the gaming PC into account. For all of the above + gaming, you'd need to step up to

a Xeon Silver/Gold or 1800X/1920X and a beefy GPU to accompany them. The i7X/i9 series don't support ECC either.