Home server questions - unraid

OctavianC · 4 Feb 2022 at 18:01

What's the benefit of having a dedicated GPU in an Unraid server?
I am starting with a Haswell i7 mITX , which allows either an extra HBA card or a dedicated GPU.

chroniclard · 4 Feb 2022 at 18:10

OctavianC said:
What's the benefit of having a dedicated GPU in an Unraid server?
I am starting with a Haswell i7 mITX , which allows either an extra HBA card or a dedicated GPU.

Hardware transcoding for Plex/emby/jellyfin and other things. Possibly some other uses.

Mine just had a Nvidia 710 gt as it's cheap and ryzen has no onboard.

BigT · 4 Feb 2022 at 18:12

OctavianC said:
What's the benefit of having a dedicated GPU in an Unraid server?
I am starting with a Haswell i7 mITX , which allows either an extra HBA card or a dedicated GPU.

Either if you wish to dedicate it to a VM for gaming or something - i.e. your UnRaid becomes dual purpose as both a NAS and end computer - or if you don't have an intel integrated GPU and want to do an insane amount of Plex transcodes. To put it into context, I have at most three concurrent streams running off my Haswell i5 with transcoding down from 1080 to 720 (bandwidth reasons) and it never breaks a sweat. I'd even go as far to say that I'd take more care of media curation and multiple copies stored for native client play ahead of worrying about a GPU for Plex transcoding.

I suppose crypto mining as well if you wanted to do that on your UnRaid server.

OctavianC · 4 Feb 2022 at 20:18

I don't game, I have a main PC for what I do.

The server's purpose will be :
- local media storage
- local and remote backup
- some plex transcoding (haven't used plex transcoding yet)
- VM, unlikely, my main PC is powerful enough to handle that.

AMD is at a disadvantage since you can't have a lot of drives on an mITX setup, but maybe in a few years, I'll go AMD mATX ( the reason I didn't go from the start was I couldn't find a Node 804 cheap enough at the time, and now I'm too invested in the mITX build).

chroniclard said:
Hardware transcoding for Plex/emby/jellyfin and other things. Possibly some other uses.

Mine just had a Nvidia 710 gt as it's cheap and ryzen has no onboard.

How capable are Nvidia GPU's for transcoding?

OctavianC · 4 Feb 2022 at 21:58

I didn't know that 4U racks are so cheap.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-professional-x-case-xk465f2-4u-rackmount-chassis-sa-02s-op.html

I guess if the space for storage is there, these make nice hidden storage cases.
ATX/mATX boards are so much easier to find.

Berserker · 4 Feb 2022 at 22:58

Had I known what I now know, I might have gone that route instead of OEM. It'll do everything I got it for and I do very little real-time transcoding so a GPU isn't a must, but it turned out a bit louder than I'd hoped now that I've got a bunch of drives in there. Apparently, there's a software hack that may help with that. Still haven't actually put Unraid on it yet though (too busy!)

chroniclard · 5 Feb 2022 at 00:10

OctavianC said:
I don't game, I have a main PC for what I do.

The server's purpose will be :
- local media storage
- local and remote backup
- some plex transcoding (haven't used plex transcoding yet)
- VM, unlikely, my main PC is powerful enough to handle that.

AMD is at a disadvantage since you can't have a lot of drives on an mITX setup, but maybe in a few years, I'll go AMD mATX ( the reason I didn't go from the start was I couldn't find a Node 804 cheap enough at the time, and now I'm too invested in the mITX build).

How capable are Nvidia GPU's for transcoding?

Depends what you need to do. Have a Google , lots of info about which cards can handle what. Personally I don't need to transcode much, we don't use Plex that much and what we do use the 2700x can handle it. So I don't have a gpu for transcoding.

A 1050ti for example could handle several transcodes at once. A high end Nvidia card could do 20+....best to Google for info as never actually tried it.

Street · 9 Feb 2022 at 17:09

OctavianC said:
How capable are Nvidia GPU's for transcoding?

I'd go the Intel route if you are looking at needing to transcode. Quick Sync is a game changer and even an entry level chip from 7th gen onwards can handle multiple transcodes with ease.

Avalon · 6 Mar 2022 at 18:00

chroniclard said:
Depends what you need to do. Have a Google , lots of info about which cards can handle what. Personally I don't need to transcode much, we don't use Plex that much and what we do use the 2700x can handle it. So I don't have a gpu for transcoding.

A 1050ti for example could handle several transcodes at once. A high end Nvidia card could do 20+....best to Google for info as never actually tried it.

It's less to do with high end and more to do with RAM, but in all situations where you intend to transcode several concurrent streams, especially 4K (not a great idea) or any H265 (really not a good idea), iGPU is the more efficient option as stated on page one of this thread, as a really low end Celeron w/iGPU does 15+ H264 1080 transcodes.