Budget 90k+ Need help building Unraid PC

N

newbie123

Novice
Hello all,

I need help building a PC for Storage, Plex, Home Automation services (Home Assistant, etc).

Need help wrt PSU, Case. Please suggest if you think a better Motherboard choice is available.

  1. What is your budget?
    • 135K
  2. What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
    • None
  3. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
    • NA
  4. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • CPU - i5-13600k
    • Motherboard - Msi Pro Z690-A DDR4 (Please suggest if you think something cheaper/better is available. I chose this because it has Intel NIC and 6 SATA ports)
    • GPU - Not required. Max I have 1 1080p FireTV stick that needs to transcode. Intel iGPU will suffice.
    • RAM - Corsair Vengeance Lpx 16Gb DDR4 *2
    • Cache disk - Samsung 980 500GB *2
    • HDDs - WD Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB *2
    • PSU - Need help as it will run 24*7
    • Case - Need help. Preference to quiet, cheap, at least 6 3.5" HDD bays
  5. Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
    • Yes, will upgrade the following within 24 months
    • Add more HDDs
  6. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
    • Bangalore
    • Open to online purchase
  7. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
    • NAS
    • HTPC
    • Home Server
    • Download rig, 24x7 operation
  8. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
    • Do not want to buy XYZ company product as I heard the after sales service in India is pathetic
  9. If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
  10. What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
  11. Are you looking to overclock?
    • No
  12. Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Unraid
 
I am assuming this will run 24x7, I would suggest getting power efficient PSU and CPU. (13400 instead of 13600K or even a 13100 - you can always upgrade later)

Also, if you're downloading 4K (or 1080p) content and playing it back in 4K (or 1080p), you don't need transcoding at all. This will run perfectly fine even on a pentium.

A few things to note:
Unraid isn't free.
If you need transcoding, plex pass isn't free (jellyfin is though - native app for fireTV works excellent).

Regarding the OS, I have always found TrueNAS scale to do an excellent job of everything a NAS should do. This is a personal recommendation.
Easy to create and manage storage pools, permissions, notifications. Plethora of pre-configured apps (and of course you can add even more as docker containers).
I am using a 16GB optane 2x mirror as a boot drive, and added 2 more 16GB optanes as L2 cache for the HDD array.


PS:
I was using Raspi4 with external HDD for 1080p plex + downloading + hass. Ran fine for 1 1080p client.
Now running R3 3100+1060 3G with 6x hdds in a CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced case.
I would definitely recommend searching local deals for an old CM case. Good airflow, plenty of storage.
There's a fractal case I think with lots of drive bays as well. Check the LTT video making a NAS for Mark Rober. They covered almost everything you need!
 
Thanks for the suggestions @napstersquest. I was thinking of i5-13500 initially as that has better iGPU compared to 13400/13100 but for few thousand rs more I can get 13600k and it is better in so many ways. If both run at same load, power usage is similar but if there is more load 13600k can help there albeit with more power usage.

I currently have Plex on a old laptop but it can't transcode 4K to 1080p for HD firetv stick and firetv stick isn't able to play 4k without transcode. My other devices don't need transcode.

Unraid is $50 sth as there is sale this month (for 6 disks plan) and I am fine with paying that as I can add more disks easily down the line and would not want to spend a lot of time on CLI, etc.

Main concern is PSU. I am think of Corsair RM650x but if some server grade PSUs are available, would be preferred. I didn't find in India Seasonic models that many people recommend. I don't have much awareness of server grade PSUs in India, if someone could guide, would be very helpful.
For the case, Cooler Master K380 would suffice (it's the cheapest I could find) but again if there are any better/cheaper cases, I would much appreciate if someone could point that out.
 
The PSU seems good enough.

I would still suggest to give TrueNAS Scale a try (you can obviously switch back to unraid if you don't like it). ZFS is pretty good. No CLI required.

And if you do plan to go with 13600K, make sure to downclock and undervolt it.

Also make sure the motherboard supports using all sata ports + m.2 slots simultaneously.
 
newbie123 said:
Thanks for the suggestions @napstersquest. I was thinking of i5-13500 initially as that has better iGPU compared to 13400/13100 but for few thousand rs more I can get 13600k and it is better in so many ways. If both run at same load, power usage is similar but if there is more load 13600k can help there albeit with more power usage.

I currently have Plex on a old laptop but it can't transcode 4K to 1080p for HD firetv stick and firetv stick isn't able to play 4k without transcode. My other devices don't need transcode.

Unraid is $50 sth as there is sale this month (for 6 disks plan) and I am fine with paying that as I can add more disks easily down the line and would not want to spend a lot of time on CLI, etc.

Main concern is PSU. I am think of Corsair RM650x but if some server grade PSUs are available, would be preferred. I didn't find in India Seasonic models that many people recommend. I don't have much awareness of server grade PSUs in India, if someone could guide, would be very helpful.
For the case, Cooler Master K380 would suffice (it's the cheapest I could find) but again if there are any better/cheaper cases, I would much appreciate if someone could point that out
Click to expand...
For your requirement a 12th gen Intel i5 12500 with igpu uhd 770 would be more than enough , you could also get a cheaper ddr4 motherboard. Also i think a lower power but high efficiency psu would be good. As the system wont be using that much power Money saved could be use for getting a bigger storage. You could also buy a ups depending upon power backup available with you.
 
I have a query.
Which one is better objectively?
  1. Dividing storage and compute work into two separate servers (eg, synology 6/8 bay for pure storage and a dedicated server that can access synology via a 10gig network).
  2. Housing the HDD's in the high performance compute server as OP mentioned.
 
Cost wise option 2 is better. Will take less space as well. If you won't be running the compute server 24x7, (or running multiple nodes of compute in a cluster like a bunch of tiny PCs) then option 1 is better.
 
OP - please plan your build with things that cannot be upgraded in the future easily - in the order of essential HW+SW, then addon HW+SW

On essentials

HW - case, then motherboard. Plan for something with a 3-5 year lifecycle or as per your plan. If you plan to add extra HDDs and the system cannot accommodate, you will need to find ways to work around that limitation.

SW - unraid is a good paid choice, and there are others as well if you want.

Others - RAM - Dont bother with ECC unless you are superanal about bitrot and what not. CPU - put whats best. Buy SAS controllers and flash to IT mode and use instead of onboard. Ensure PSU is higher rated for your requirements. Also go for refurbished stuff. GPU - try to be futureproof with AV1 encoding support if possible, most of the newer Intel iGPU can decode it.
 
Thanks all for all the suggestions/feedback.
I got the PC and HDDs.
If it helps, these are the final config I went with and the prices for the same.
PC specs -
CPU: i5-13600k
MB: MSI Pro Z690-A Wifi DDR4
RAM: Corsair 16GB 3200Mhz * 2
Cache SSD: Samsung 980 500GB *2
Case: Antec P101 Silent
PSU: MSI MAG A750GF (not ideal but still good enough)
Cooler: Deepcool AK400
Dell keyboard
MSI MP223 monitor (for initial setup purpose, I have another use planned for the monitor later)
Extra SATA cables
Total PC Cost Rs 87100

For HDDs, I got WD Ultrastar HC550 16TB *2. Cost of HDDs 24900*2=49800. Got good deal online and paid with CC (shops ask for extra for paying with card)

Total: 1,36,900. Lil over 1.35L budget but I got monitor as well in the price.

I am doing trial of Unraid as of now. Running badblocks on the HDDs. The case itself is very silent but 1 of the harddisks make periodic thump sound. The other hard disk of same model doesn’t make that loud of a thump but I have searched online and found that it’s normal but I am running badblocks to test both the HDDs thoroughly.
 
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