Thoughts on my potential hardware upgrade?

[cadetdrivr]

Hello folks, I’ve been using TreuNAS at home for years and only been lurking so this is my first post. As the title suggests, I’m looking for a reality check on my ideas for a new server to replace my existing unit(s).

As background, I’ve been using a Lenovo TS140 tower for the past 10 years as my primary server. It started with FreeNAS, then TrueNAS Core, and is currently running SCALE with a 5-disk RAIDZ2. In retrospect, that shell of a tower was the deal of the century when I purchased it new but I’m not finding similar “deals” today from the big guys so I’m on the path to build my own system this time. Although I’ve never “built” a server, I’ve assembled multiple PCs over the years so I’m not concerned about piecing it together.

The TS140 was originally built to house the media library for our home theater and I eventually replaced the i3 CPU with a Xeon E3-1245 v3 for PLEX transcoding. Once 4K HDR transcoding became desired, and the Xeon proved insufficient, I’ve been using a second hand SFF (Dell Vostro 3470 running Ubuntu) as the Plex server with an i3-8100 that handily transcodes 4K HDR using hardware acceleration. Throughout, the TS140 has still been the primary storage for media and files.

So now I’m looking for new hardware that will (hopefully) provide the basis for another decade of painless reliability for our home.

My goals are:

• Consolidate to one server
• Move server to an existing rack for space savings
• Strong PLEX hardware accelerated (GPU) transcoding
• Continue to provide file storage on-site backups for our data
• Upgrade before something fails. After 10 years, I feel like I’ve had my $$$ worth
• Provide myself with a fun project and a new toy to play with

Budget: $1500, but in the end flexible.

The build I’m considering:

• SilverStone RM41-H08 4U Rackmount Server Case (5-disk hot swap)
• 80 Gold (or better) power supply, TBD, suggestions welcome
• 64GB EEC memory (validated for motherboard)
• Migrate existing HDDs and SSD boot drive

Either:​

• SUPERMICRO MBD-X13SAE-F ATX Server Motherboard (Intel W680, DDR5)
• Intel i5-13500 (770 iGPU)

- or -​

• SUPERMICRO X12STH-F Micro-ATX Server Motherboard (Intel C256, DDR4)
• Intel Xeon E-2324G (P750 iGPU)

So my questions are:

1) Has anybody actually used the X13SAE? And with PLEX? I find threads here considering it, but not actual use. Perhaps this may be related to native kernel support for the 12th and 13th gen Intel CPUs which looks like it will be greatly improved with kernel 6.1 in SCALE 23?​

​

2) Feedback for the case, please. It seems to meet my needs, but direct feedback or alternative suggestions would be welcome.​

​

3) The X12/Xeon combo is about $200 less when including memory, but it also has one fewer PCI slot. I can likely live with that but is there any difference in build quality between SuperMicro server and workstation motherboards?​

​

4) The i5 has 14 cores (and 20 threads) compared to the Xeon (4/4), but even the Xeon seems like overkill (if there’s such a thing) for my needs. Thoughts?​

​

5) Any other suggestions or observations? All are welcome.​

Thanks in advance!

 

[danb35]

Five bays in 4U sounds really inefficient--by comparison, my chassis is 4U and has 36 bays, not including internally-installed SSDs. Do you really only need five bays?

That aside, I've been favoring used enterprise gear for a while now. For your budget, you could get a used/reconditioned Dell PowerEdge R540, which gives you eight bays in 2U, a pair of Xeons, room for plenty of RAM. They're still pretty recent hardware and well within support from Dell. If you're willing to install your own CPUs, the Gold 6132s are dirt cheap on eBay right now, at about $30 each. See, e.g.,

Refurbished Dell PowerEdge R540 8-Port

The Dell PowerEdge R540 features a hyper-dense memory in a 2U form factor. It is designed for superior performance on a wide range of applications, impressive for general purpose platforms that is suitable for data centers with limited space. Dell PowerEdge R440 Specs: Brand: Dell...

www.servermonkey.com

Dell PowerEdge R540 Server

At Cloud Ninjas we offer the best deals for the Dell PowerEdge R540 to help increase and maximize your business or home lab. Unleash power of the cloud with the Dell PowerEdge R540 server! Elevate your business to new heights with lightning-fast performance, massive storage capacity, and...

cloudninjas.com

 

[cadetdrivr]

That aside, I've been favoring used enterprise gear for a while now. For your budget, you could get a used/reconditioned Dell PowerEdge R540, which gives you eight bays in 2U, a pair of Xeons, room for plenty of RAM. They're still pretty recent hardware and well within support from Dell. If you're willing to install your own CPUs, the Gold 6132s are dirt cheap on eBay right now, at about $30 each. See, e.g.,

Excellent info!

I had been toying with the idea of making the plunge and grabbing a used/refurbished unit. I’ll need to give this serious consideration as I explore my options. Thanks!

 

[danb35]

I was going to suggest considering a previous generation, but when I priced out a R530 on cloudninjas.com, configured similarly, the cost delta was around $300--not sure if that would make it worth it to you. In Supermicro terms, the 530 would be an X10 series, while the R540 an X11 series. The 540 is still being sold new by Dell, while the 530 isn't--but both still have support available, both have a decent lifecycle controller with remote management capability, and both have the very convenient feature of bulk firmware updating. iDRAC Enterprise license keys are readily, and inexpensively, available on eBay. And, of course, so are both the R530 and R540, but you may not find one configured exactly as you like.

As another option, you could consider the R730/R740, which seem to be more plentiful.

And just for the record, I don't have any affiliation with either of the companies linked above, not even as a customer, though Cloud Ninjas have some pretty informative videos on YouTube about this gear.

 

[cadetdrivr]

And just for the record, I don't have any affiliation with either of the companies linked above, not even as a customer, though Cloud Ninjas have some pretty informative videos on YouTube about this gear.

Yes, you’ve sent me down the rabbit hole and I’ve been watching a few of their YouTube videos. ;)

I’m very intrigued about upgrading to enterprise level hardware, and iDRAC in particular, but I’m also wondering if I’m overshooting my target by not solving the Plex video hardware accelerated transcoding consideration? Sure, a pair of Gold 6132s would breeze through FFMPEG software transcoding on Plex but sucking down 280 watts with brute force instead of a far lessor CPU using Quick Sync and a fraction of the power.

At least this will keep me hyper-focused for while...

 

[Whattteva]

Budget: $1500, but in the end flexible.

Not what you had in mind, but my first build in my signature is the same budget.

The build I’m considering:

• 64GB EEC memory (validated for motherboard)

Honestly, considering you also said this

My goals are:

• Consolidate to one server

I would go with any platform that supports registered DDR4 ECC. Because when your goal is to jam everything in one server, your first limiting factor is 90% going to be RAM first before anything else and getting gobloads of registered DDR4 ECC RAM is going to be orders of magnitudes cheaper than DDR5. The system in my signature is a hypervisor that has 224 GB RAM with room for plenty more (still 4 more unpopulated slots).

 

[danb35]

I’m also wondering if I’m overshooting my target by not solving the Plex video hardware accelerated transcoding consideration?

There's room and slots for a GPU in those systems, so that's certainly an option.

As to power draw, consider that maximum power consumption for the chip isn't something you're going to see all the time--or indeed much of the time at all. It's undeniable that two chips will draw more power than one, and a 6132 more than a E-2324, but don't see the TDP and assume that that's going to be regular power draw. As a data point, as of yesterday morning, I have a pair of 6132s in my NAS. With 30 spinners and three SSDs (not to mention a 10G NIC and SAS3 HBA), its average power consumption over the past 24 hours is 391W. If you assume about 10W per spinner, that works out to under 100W for the motherboard, HBA, NIC, and CPUs. Surely there are lower-power builds out there, but that doesn't seem too bad IMO.

 

[Whattteva]

I’m very intrigued about upgrading to enterprise level hardware, and iDRAC in particular, but I’m also wondering if I’m overshooting my target by not solving the Plex video hardware accelerated transcoding consideration? Sure, a pair of Gold 6132s would breeze through FFMPEG software transcoding on Plex but sucking down 280 watts with brute force instead of a far lessor CPU using Quick Sync and a fraction of the power.

Curious what devices you are using that needs the transcoding? Most of my devices including the TV (has a Raspberry Pi attached to it) can direct play everything and if your goal is to lessen power consumption.. Frankly, I think letting the devices play natively is going to consume far less than any form of transcoding. Especially if the device in question is a low power chip in the first place (iPhone, iPad, Samsung phone, etc.)

 

[sfatula]

The only reason I ever use transcoding (Emby not Plex but same idea), is when remote, around 3-4 months of the year. Playing content remotely, I don't have the upload bandwidth to not transcode.

 

[cadetdrivr]

Curious what devices you are using that needs the transcoding? Most of my devices including the TV (has a Raspberry Pi attached to it) can direct play everything and if your goal is to lessen power consumption.. Frankly, I think letting the devices play natively is going to consume far less than any form of transcoding. Especially if the device in question is a low power chip in the first place (iPhone, iPad, Samsung phone, etc.)

Oh, at home we play everything natively off the server. No Plex or transcoding involved.

The issue is I travel internationally almost weekly (for work) and that’s where Plex is handy in hotels. I don’t always watch anything, but it’s nice to have when it’s there. It’s a crazy world where I can plug a fire stick into a hotel TV and watch something off my own server.

 

[cadetdrivr]

There's room and slots for a GPU in those systems, so that's certainly an option

Yes. I do have a low profile Nvidia Quadro 400 sitting in a drawer that could be tossed in. The irony is the card does not excel at low bitrate encoding, so lots of cores would produce higher quality anyway.

 

[danb35]

It’s a crazy world where I can plug a fire stick into a hotel TV and watch something off my own server.

Indeed. I usually do it with a laptop and a HDMI cable (the former of which I travel with anyway), but same concept.

 

[Etorix]

I’m very intrigued about upgrading to enterprise level hardware, and iDRAC in particular, but I’m also wondering if I’m overshooting my target by not solving the Plex video hardware accelerated transcoding consideration? Sure, a pair of Gold 6132s would breeze throughthe X12STH is a no-brainer FFMPEG software transcoding on Plex but sucking down 280 watts with brute force instead of a far lessor CPU using Quick Sync and a fraction of the power.

For your needs, a single socket server would do.
If you do want hardware transcoding, go for the Xeon-E after making sure that it is supported by Plex. You have no stated use for extra PCIe slots anyway.
If software transcoding is acceptable, or no transcoding would do after all, look for 1S Xeon Scalable (or Xeon W-2000) and its RDIMM.

 

[sfatula]

Yes, while travelling I actually simply use software transcoding. No one is home when I am travelling, so, only 1 user and thus 1 transcode. Not a problem to software transcode in this usecase. So, I opted for no GPU.

 

[danb35]

For your needs, a single socket server would do.

Agreed. However, finding that in used enterprise gear seems uncommon, and that seems to give much more bang-for-buck than DIY-ing a server these days. Not to mention that E3 (or modern equivalent) boards just don't support the amounts of RAM that are the norm with E5 (or modern equivalent) boards.

 

[sfatula]

I find lots of used x10sra for e5 processors on eBay. I got an unused still in box one for <$100. Have not seen one that cheap since though. If I did, I would buy it as a backup motherboard just in case.

 

[cadetdrivr]

As another option, you could consider the R730/R740, which seem to be more plentiful.

Just want to give you a BIG thanks for sending me down the rabbit hole of refurbished enterprise equipment. After doing lots of research this past week, I’ve settled on the R740. The R540 would meet my needs, and budget, but as you mentioned the R740s are plentiful and priced close enough to the R540 as not to worry about. Plus I’ll have 12 3.5” bays, plenty of pcie slots, and can always pop in the Nvidia T400 if I’m not happy with software transcoding.

This is all very good timing as my Lenovo T140 literally just died this evening when I powered it down to move some stuff around. The power supply is working, but it won’t even give me a beep, or splash screen, or BIOS setup option on power-on. I’ll take a closer look again tomorrow, but what timing...

I have a recent backup so I’m not concerned about the migration other than it’s now one way and there’s no going back.

 

[cadetdrivr]

For posterity, and for anybody else considering a Dell enterprise server for TrueNAS at home, all I can say it’s awesome. The migration was painless and I’m all up and running now. This is my first exposure to iDRAC and it’s been excellent and the Enterprise license was very inexpensive via eBay.

Specs for the curious:

Dell R740xd (12x3.5 front bays)
Internal riser configuration #4 (three x8 & four x16 slots)
Intel Gold 6132 (x2) 14C/28T
128Gb rdimm (4x 32)
Dell BOSS-S1 (240gb SATA SSD x2, Raid 1) (TrueNAS Scale boot)
Intel X710 SFP+ (x2) & i350 (x2) NIC
HBA330 SAS/SATA Controller

I’ve also tossed in a Nvidia (Dell) T400 GPU and a Dell PCIe M.2 NVME (x4) card for an internal SSD pool with Samsung 990 Pros (x4). The SSD card sits in a x16 slot and the ability to bifurcate the slot to x4x4x4x4 was enabled in BIOS.

Positives:

- iDRAC, iDRAC, iDRAC

- Plex software transcoding. Having 56 threads just obliterates 4K HDR (source) transcoding and the quality is far above what my previous Intel 630 or the T400 can do with hardware encoding at low export bit rates. The T400 is redundant and will be repurposed elsewhere.

Negatives:

- NOISE. This 740 came with high performance fans and they blast, even at their lowest setting of 35%. Right now I’m only using 6 HDD bays and the empty ones literally howl in the duct. Some blanks for the empty bays are on the way until I move some other drives over and if they don’t make a difference I’ll look at swapping for the ’normal’ fans and installing an air filter on the front behind the bezel. Luckily this server lives in the basement utility room, but there’s no way I’d want it in a home lab right next to me---at least not it its current state.

Hope this helps anybody else!

 

[Whattteva]

Negatives:

- NOISE. This 740 came with high performance fans and they blast, even at their lowest setting of 35%. Right now I’m only using 6 HDD bays and the empty ones literally howl in the duct. Some blanks for the empty bays are on the way until I move some other drives over and if they don’t make a difference I’ll look at swapping for the ’normal’ fans and installing an air filter on the front behind the bezel. Luckily this server lives in the basement utility room, but there’s no way I’d want it in a home lab right next to me---at least not it its current state.

This is why I went with a custom-built and a massive tower cooler instead. I only have 10 cores/20 threads Xeon Silver, but this thing is so quiet, I can even run it in my bedroom if I want to.

 

[Etorix]

Some blanks for the empty bays are on the way until I move some other drives over and if they don’t make a difference I’ll look at swapping for the ’normal’ fans and installing an air filter on the front behind the bezel.

Beware of non-server fans here, as non-screaming fans may not be able to cool the drives and/or the CPUs.