I currently own a SuperMicro SuperServer 6028-TRT4, but my power bill has exceeded $400 due to its high energy consumption. I am looking to replace it with a much more power-efficient server that also supports ECC memory. While having a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) would be a nice feature, I can manage that with a Raspberry Pi KVM setup.
I am considering whether to buy a UGreen 8-bay NAS box or build a new rig. My absolute budget is $1,500, but I would prefer to spend less if possible. If I decide to build my server, I would likely use an Intel ARC card for transcoding, as I expect to handle around 20-25 streams at 1080p. This includes actual streams and media re-encoding with Tdarr.
I am trying to decide on the platform: Ryzen 7000 or 9000, Epyc 4004, or something from Intel. Regardless of whether I choose to build or go with the UGreen NAS, I plan to run TrueNAS SCALE 24.10, so ECC support is important to me. While ECC is not strictly necessary, I prefer not to risk data corruption from memory errors, especially with 8 x 4TB drives.
When it comes to cases, having hot-swap bays is a priority. If that means using a case with multiple 5.25-inch bays and Icydock adapters, I am open to that option. I have considered purchasing a used PowerEdge tower case and replacing the motherboard, but it appears that standard form factor boards are not compatible.
Additionally, reducing fan noise is extremely important to me. My current server sounds like a 747 taking off, as the fans run between 4,700 and 5,000 RPM 24/7.
I realize that the UGreen NAS in question doesn’t support ECC. But if I build, it must support ECC.
I don’t have much experience with ugreen’s NAS’s but I think it would be a decent fit for you, however, you may need to upgrade the RAM on their box with ECC.
DIY would probably get you more bang for your buck. I’d look into AMD 7000 or maybe even 5000 to see how far you can get your money to work for you. 5000 series CPU’s can be found for pretty cheap atm. For cases I’d look at silverstone. They have a decent selection of DIY NAS cases.
for my own understanding - what does the price delta of buying ECC vs non ECC and that delta vs used high capacity drives on ebay. I picked up two Toshiba 16Tb for $150 each with low wear and 1-year of use. There are Seagate EXOS cheaper I just prefer Toshiba. Would that be a net save?
I have a 5600X NAS build already but ECC support is finicky at best. I had to send the board and cpu and RAM to Wendell to get it to work and even then, it is not guaranteed to work. Id prefer either the Epyc 4004 (AM5) or 7000/8000/9000 builds. Not certain the ugreen supports ECC. They don’t mention it and the i5-1235u CPU in it says no ECC support on Intel Ark.
Very odd that you’ve had ECC issues though I do know some vendors can be more flaky than others. So far my ASUS b450-f has worked with the unbuffered ECC that I have.
That is not ECC RAM. that is On-Die ECC. Not the same as UDIMM ECC or RDIMM ECC. On-Die ECC is not the same as Side-band ECC. ODECC is required on all DDR5 RAM modules.
Have you tried to narrow down which components are using the most electricity?
I would start with adding the Arc 580 to the existing machine and seeing what that does for energy usage under load. It may help a lot if you’re currently doing transcodes on the CPU.
A lot of your idle power draw is likely the 8 spindles you intend to keep. You may be taking half your problem with you into a new build.
