Home server build

Looking to replace an old system. I'm leaning towards Ryzen 3200G + B450 mobo but was wondering if anyone had other thoughts. Would an Intel i3 system have better idle consumption ?

Budget: €300

Needed: CPU, mobo (mATX), RAM (16GB)

Main Purpose: 24/7 machine used as local file server, file storage, media server, downloader

Misc:
-Needs 6x SATA ports (7-8 would be a bonus)
-Needs iGPU
-Low idle power consumption is desirable
-Needs to handle a few Plex transcodes but nothing crazy
-I don't want something that's already a few generations old

z0oT

I wouldn't bother with the 3200G, I'd just get a 2200G since it can be found a bit cheaper. I've a 2200G in my Home Media/File/Plex server and it's perfectly adequate. I've never gone beyond 2 simultaneous Plex transcodes with it though. The bundled CPU cooler is perfectly okay aswell, relatively quite (much quieter than the 8 hard drives anyway) and temperatures in the high 70's for CPU torture tests at stock. The better bundled cooler would probably be the main reason to go AMD instead of an Intel i3.

Here's a list assuming you only need a CPU, memory & a motherboard. The MB pushes the price up a bit but it does have 8 SATA ports & an Intel NIC, I'm not sure if there's any mATX AM4 boards with 8 SATA ports.

The other alternative is to get a way cheaper B450 or even A320 board and put one of these in it to give you more SATA ports. If you're not too bothered about the I/O speed then that should be fine.

Also, if your PSU doesn't have enough SATA power connectors, you can easily solve that by getting some of these.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£73.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock X470 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard (£190.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£52.70 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £316.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-15 18:58 GMT+0000

Cheers, that's some good food for thought

ED E

Whats the file system/soft raid?


Note: Do not listen to Serephucus if he comes online, he'll sell you a board that has a built in kamikaze chip and a pooling/parity system that's run by a maniac :pac:


6 Sata is not enough. 8 is not enough. Plan for 16

Coyler

ED E wrote: »

Whats the file system/soft raid?

Yes. If you want to go best back for buck a 2200G is a good bet. However, if you plan to run Plex, an Intel chip for Quick Sync is almost mandatory.

Serephucus

ED E wrote: »

Note: Do not listen to Serephucus if he comes online, he'll sell you a board that has a built in kamikaze chip and a pooling/parity system that's run by a maniac :pac:

And who's the numpty who said "You hit the nail on the head" and went with exactly that?

As it happens, ED's right: Always plan for more storage than you think you'll reasonably need. You'll find these things tend to snowball a bit.

Coyler

Coyler wrote: »

Yes. If you want to go best back for buck a 2200G is a good bet. However, if you plan to run Plex, an Intel chip for Quick Sync is almost mandatory.

That's definitely useful info which might change my build.

I'm not a big Plex user but I want to handle a couple of transcodes with low power consumption. Low power consumption is a high priority. GPU assisted encoding/decoding is hardly new so I assumed it was much of a muchness between AMD and Intel.

Cuddlesworth

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not a big Plex user but I want to handle a couple of transcodes with low power consumption. Low power consumption is a high priority. GPU assisted encoding/decoding is hardly new so I assumed it was much of a muchness between AMD and Intel.

So many intel IGPU's in the wild, everything just plays nice with them.

z0oT

Deleted User wrote: »

That's definitely useful info which might change my build.

I'm not a big Plex user but I want to handle a couple of transcodes with low power consumption. Low power consumption is a high priority. GPU assisted encoding/decoding is hardly new so I assumed it was much of a muchness between AMD and Intel.

When it comes to Plex transcodes, it depends on the type of transcode you're doing. 4K to 1080p or 4K to anything is the most demanding. That's where the hardware accelerated transcoding that's only officially available with Intel CPUs with an iGPU would start to be an advantage (Interestingly, I've been able to get hardware accelerated transcoding working on my 2200G even though Plex don't officially support it on AMD)

If you're not working with 4K content then the CPU becomes much less of a consideration. According to Plex's guidelines below that uses Passmark scores as a measure, the 2200G should be able for 3 transcodes if you're working with 1080p video on the server.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201774043-what-kind-of-cpu-do-i-need-for-my-server/
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+3+2200G&id=3186

z0oT

z0oT wrote: »

When it comes to Plex transcodes, it depends on the type of transcode you're doing. 4K to 1080p or 4K to anything is the most demanding. That's where the hardware accelerated transcoding that's only officially available with Intel CPUs with an iGPU would start to be an advantage (Interestingly, I've been able to get hardware accelerated transcoding working on my 2200G even though Plex don't officially support it on AMD)

If you're not working with 4K content then the CPU becomes much less of a consideration. According to Plex's guidelines below that uses Passmark scores as a measure, the 2200G should be able for 3 transcodes if you're working with 1080p video on the server.

The power-efficiency of encode/decode is higher on my list, rather than just "here's how many transcodes it can handle".

With that in mind, if Intel Quicksync is more widely supported (by Plex etc) than AMDs equivalent (VCE?) then i'll have to consider an Intel sytem. I hadn't really looked at them tbh, the 3200G at £80 seemed way better value than anything Intel have in that range.

Coyler

Don't forget, folks, that syncing to iPhones and iPads with Plex might require some transcoding. Intel QuickSync helps with that as well. Again, not knocking AMD at all and if all things were equal I'd go with AMD just to support the little guy. But Plex supports Quicksync it out of the box with both Linux and Windows so it's worth considering. Just an FYI, not all Quicksync chips are the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

You can pick up a G5400 (Coffee Lake so encode/decode for all common and newer formats) with a B360m mobo (for the SATA slots you wanted) and 16GB RAM and stay in budget not to mention it pulling less power than the 2200g. But, and this is worth considering, you've no drop in upgrades at this point. With AMD, you can get a nice mobo and a 2200g with the option to drop in a 4200g (or whatever it's name will be) in time. That said, I'd wager a g5400 will do you for some time. I'm running an old i3-2130 in my little server and it's chugging away nicely. Have an old i7-3770k that would do nothing else but up my power draw.

That all said, you could just try Emby while Plex sort themselves out. It's really frustrating.

z0oT

How many 1080p/4K transcodes can you get out of that i3-2130 at once?

I should mention - I've been able to get hardware transcoding working on Windows with the 2200G with the AMD Radeon drivers installed. Now how it compares in performance or power draw to something like an Intel i3 I don't know, but it did work for me.

Coyler

I'm not doing 4K. It'd be wasted on kids programs, reality TV and satirical comedy show. Even if I did, I've nothing to take advantage of it. That said It can handle 2 or 3 1080p transcoding streams but most of the time it's not needed as the format plays fine natively. On a day to day basis, it serves me and the gang just fine and I'm not all that pushed to change it.

I understand you can get transcoding working for AMD on Windows but unfortunately it only works with Intel and Nvidia on Linux. And for these types of boxes, Linux would be my preferable option.

z0oT

Sounds like you hardly need the hardware transcoding at all then. But in general, aside from a discrete Nvidia GPU, if you're dead set on Hardware Transcoding, something Intel with an IGPU is the best choice.

On another note Plex do have a bit of a history of completely ignoring those blatantly obvious kind of requests so I wouldn't hold your breath with the one linked above.

Probably the worst offender is natively running as a Service on Windows/Windows Server. There's threads on their forum dating all the way back to 2012. It's such a glaring omission (who wants their server logged in all the time?) that one forum user actually went away and created a service wrapper himself. (It's what I use myself - it works well).

On Linux, at least in the case of Ubuntu/Debian, it's much better. The package installation handles everything - You don't even have to create custom systemd scripts or another user account for the service.

reklamos

Was in the same boat myself couple months ago when needed to replace aging HP ML110
Now my needs were higher(file server, multiple VMs,containers, DVR, Labs etc) but was not willing to spend much.
Because I have loads of DDR3 ECC server ram I went with Chinese X79 board.
So in the end I got:
Chinese X79 mobo - 60 Euro
E5-2660 v2 CPU - 50 Euro
128GB DDR ECC RAM - No Cost
450W EVGA psu - 24 Euro
midATX Case - 30 Euro
Arctic freezer 34 cooler - 25 Euro
Nvidia GT710 GPU - 40 Euro

Server is running 24/7 in the attic, consuming ~100W as it is constantly running as DVR also.
I know you mentioned you do not want old but in my case I needed RAM and I always found that I'm out of it. So this one should last a while

ED E

Nice setup reklamos, only thing missing is IPMI I suspect?

reklamos

ED E wrote: »

Nice setup reklamos, only thing missing is IPMI I suspect?

Honestly I see very little use for it in my setup.
I had iLO on the old server and almost never used it. It only came handy when I needed to install the server but that was it.

If I need to hard bounce the server I have remote switch for that.

z0oT

reklamos wrote: »

Honestly I see very little use for it in my setup.
I had iLO on the old server and almost never used it. It only came handy when I needed to install the server but that was it.

If I need to hard bounce the server I have remote switch for that.

I would have said the same about IPMI before I actually had it on my server. Now there's no way I'd go back to not having it. :P

Coyler

Speaking of IPMI. If you could find Asrock Rack E3C242D4U it would be a great base to start with. Compatible with the g5400 so you can pair it with something cheap to get you started. If ECC ram mattered to you, the i3-8100/9100 support it. Better again if you can find the low power T model of either for 24/7 efficiency. And finally the E2100/2200 for Xeons with QuickSync support.

It's probably outside of OPs €300 budget but something to consider.

Bit more reading here.

reklamos

Here are my thoughts. I was also into this low idle power and passive cooling etc. It all boils down to what you end up doing with it. If it is truly be idling most of the time then go for it otherwise you may reconsider.
I had HP Microserver for this same purpose and yes it is low power was great but once I put some load on it, it was just painfully slow. CPU would just go to 100% and be there for ages, neither 16GB of RAM nor SSDs helped. So it had to go.
AMD Epyc embedded looks good on paper as an option for low power server(like SuperMicro M11SDV) but price is not appealing to me.