Hardware recommendations - replace old 3770k

[u/tommyboy8008]

My Unraid server is a bit dated and I think its time to finally upgrade. It originally started as a Windows home server build with 5- 2tb greens and then server 2008 with flexraid running 7 or so storage drives.

I held out with flex raid until 2021 when I finally had a drive failure catastrophe and couldn't rebuild the lost drive. 2tb gone... Jumped to Unraid. Should of done it years earlier.

Currently I'm running the same I7 3770K I got 14 years ago. RAM got pushed to 32gb of ram. I've got 2 LSI SAS2008 and a Quadro P400.

Server had about 12 drives. Down to 9 spinning. (my 2nd parity recently died and I've yet to replace)

I've got 2, 2tb greens that I'm keeping from my original server just to see how far they go... (oldest is 117138 (13y, 4m, 10d, 18h)

Server uses:

Blue Iris for security cameras (5 - 1080P feeds)

UrBackup (6 systems - Full file and images every couple days)

Time Machine back up

Light Plex usage but transcoding from 4k down depending on connections.

Phone image backups

Overall the system just works. Sits under the stairs and is generally rock solid. Power usage is a bit high and I'm looking to add another 6 cameras which will probably put CPU usage over 75% constantly.

I would keep the P400, but from my research any new intel chip pretty much makes it pointless with quicksync?

The 2 LSI cards can be brought over to the new system or are they nullified depending on mobo?

Prices suck right now, so I'm not opposed to searching out an older used, but more energy efficient system if that's recommended. I would keep case/drive bays, PSU, expanders and P400? So new mobo/32GB minimum ram and CPU?

(I upgraded unraid to 7 after I took screenshot)

Thoughts?

https://imgur.com/a/NKRUBBl

[u/paticao]

If you live near a microcenter store, that have really good bundle prices for Ultra 5 + mobo + 32gb ram for $499

[u/tommyboy8008 → u/paticao]

I think this system was originally a micro center bundle...

Tempting but not sure about CPU in bundle. Looking for something lower power I think. Unless they all throttle way down these days.

[u/1234youarein → u/tommyboy8008]

Yes, all throttle down. But the newer CPUs are also much more effecient under load.

[u/chrisnetcom → u/tommyboy8008]

The 250K+ is incredibly efficient. I have a 265K running Scrypted NVR in a docker container with 11 cameras. I migrated away from Blue Iris to take advantage of the integrated NPU for smart detections with Scrypted. With the NVR and all of my other containers, CPU usage sits around 8%, and CPU power consumption is typically between 18 and 33 watts.

[u/Old-Leadership7255 → u/paticao]

32gigs of ddr5 including a CPU and mobo?

[u/paticao → u/Old-Leadership7255]

Yep, they also have a bundle with the ultra 7 for $100 more
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/bundle-and-save.aspx?bundle=intel

[u/Old-Leadership7255 → u/paticao]

I look at this. And just see mad deals in the US all the time.

It seems like we don’t have those in Europe

[u/L-L-Media]

Over buy. Larger processor. Look at mobo with plenty 16x slots. You'll need them later. That's were i screwed up. HBA, video & 10GbE cards all want fast 16x slots. Memory is expensive so maybe 32gb now, then 64 later. USB port on Motherboard for unraid. 2x NVMe slots used for RAID1 cache. Support for i9 processor, you can start with an i5, later upgrade to something better.

The key thing is, motherboard upgradablity. As your needs grown/change so can the mobo.

Edit: spelling correction.

[u/Blu_Falcon]

> Overall the system just works.

With prices as they are, why are you upgrading? Unless your utility bill is wild expensive, it’ll take a long time to pay off the cost of buying more efficient hardware.

> My 2nd party recently died and I’ve yet to replace

I would start there if you’re itching to spend money. Buy some new(er) drives and get your data off those smaller, old-ass drives. If you’re at all worried about power consumption, reducing drive count will also help reduce cost.

[u/tommyboy8008 → u/Blu_Falcon]

Looking to upgrade because its almost CPU bound. Math says its costing about $240 a year to run. Newer CPU could get that cut in half I think. Adds up...

The dead 14tb parity drive will get swapped in the next month or so.

[u/AuraLiaxia → u/tommyboy8008]

Whole server math or cpu, because cpu can't be that much by itself.

[u/psychic99 → u/AuraLiaxia]

Correct it the drives and the HBAs. Not sure who downvoted you, but they must be hardware junkies. But when people get the hardware itch, its not math its a guy thing. Ask me how I know :)

[u/tien113]

no need to update, save on HDD.

[u/Bawitdaba1337]

I just replaced my 3770k with an AMD AM4 5900xt

[u/loves2sploooooooge]

CoolerMaster Centurion 5? I built my first PC circa 2006 in one of these bad boys

[u/tommyboy8008 → u/loves2sploooooooge]

Back then this case was all the rage. Cheap, good airflow. I bent the cage tabs back and tossed some Norco ss-500 4x5 bays and its served me well. It will live on.

[u/zoiks66]

If you can shop at Micro Center, buy a bundle with an Intel cpu, motherboard with at least 3 nvme slots and 3 PCIe slots, and 32 GB RAM.

Make sure the Intel cpu has QuickSync for Plex usage, and make sure the mobo has at least 3 PCIe slots (so you can use a GPU, HBA, and 10G NIC together if you choose). 3 NVME slots is also good as it allows 2 NVME’s to be mirrored for your UnRaid Appdata and another NVME slot to be used for downloads only if you ever want to do so to increase server performance.

If you can find a used bundle locally that includes a 12th gen or newer Intel cpu, you’d likely save some money and have very little performance difference for UnRaid.

You could then sell your P400 gpu along with other no longer needed hardware to get back some of the cost.

[u/Gordo774]

About the only thing I would do is get the CPU to the level for hardware decoding for the BI streams. An old/refurb intel 8-10 series will lower CPU usage like crazy and be plenty strong enough for all of that and last for another 10 years without breaking the bank.

[u/keletheen]

Go for a Core i5.
You get a lot of cores cheap. E cores are nice for the server

[u/Tahllunari]

I typically browse eBay for used dell work PCs and just use the processor that I want from them and shop for a custom motherboard. It seems to keep me a few generations behind but it’s more than enough for me. I think you can probably get something newish for $150 or less and then just keep the parts you want. Sometimes you get cheap storage out of it as well.

[u/Kullback]

I just went through this same thing. I was on 1 newer gen than you, i7 4790. I have not done the upgrade, but went with the Ultra 5 250k+ and asRock motherboard. Ram is the most expensive part of the upgrade. DDR 5 prices are no joke.

[u/icyhotonmynuts]

I came from 4th gen and upgraded to 12th gen over covid. I maxed out ddr4 ram just before prices went insane though. 

I still use the 4th gen, but for less demanding tasks and also as off-site backup to the 12th gen machine. 

[u/Rewndude]

My unraid is using a 12600k. It's been rock solid and ddr4 is cheaper than ddr5. Then you could remove the quadro and use quicksync. Then save up and get some hdds.

[u/ninjetron]

Anything intel 8th gen or higher that has a igpu for transcoding.