My hunt started off as an investigation for a CPU powerhouse capable of handling multiple transcodes (high volume)… aka media server but no storage requirements as I already have a Nas doing a great job.
I was comparing the CPU scores and I can’t seem to get close to the dual Xeon x99 2860 v3 option vs. a single CPU Ryzen powerhouse.
I was about to pull the trigger on the Xeons, but started having problems with my very old Main computer at the same time and it got me thinking:
Can I build an even stronger media server and run virtualized environments with the intention of using the media server as my main computer as well? maybe upgrade to dual 2699?
Just curious if anyone else has tried this and is it worth the results? I would also have to get a remote terminal (dummy) box.
how to best get modern features like Bluetooth 5, USB 3.1…
GPU passthrough for my “main” computers virtual environment? I am not a big gamer, but I will jump on now and again, so I have a half-decent vid card I plan on reusing. I would not be used for encoding, that’s all on the CPU.
Summary:
Xeon’s or price comparable Ryzen?
Two separate systems or is there benefit from trying to build a single power house and virtualize?
2011 socket would be more recent intel platform, to be playing around with, when comparing against the 1567.
Guess you’d really need to judge priorities off this 1-Box system [freq. reliant or core/thread dependent programs] and the likes of sufficient PCIe divvying / system power draw
Are you suggesting I would have more capability issues to fight with if I went with the older Xeons?
If I was just in need of server instances I wouldn’t have even posted, But utilizing it as my main desktop is where I’m worried. If i have to troubleshoot every USB connection… its not worth it.
The whole world is going horizontal scaling and here i am trying vertical lol I wanted to make sure im not swimming against the stream.
How are you planning on using your main Desktop? (Linux, Windows, Productivity, Gaming)
What software are you planning to use for the media Server? and also how do you want to virtualize it?
It might also be a good idea to think about the total lifetime cost of the system. (If you’re paying for your Electricity) The AMD System could be more expensive up front but cheaper when factoring in a few years of Electricity bills. I belive the idle power draw would be significantly higher with the Intel CPU’s
I’m actually planning to do a simmilar thing, although on a smaller scale. I want to set up a Nextcloud, a Backup solution for Phone and Laptop, mabe a Joplin server… in Docker Containers. My Dream would that they’d run both under Windows and Linux as my Attempts to free myself from Windows have all failed thus far.
My main Reasons are that I like to leave my main PC on all the time anyway and that as a Student with only one room, quietness is quite important for me.
My main desktop will be running windows, like you I find it difficult to fully step away. Mainly work-related use + casual gaming (not the type to worry about FPS).
I am not an expert on virtualization, but I’m looking @ unraid.
Electricity is the last thing I’m trying to equate. This machine will be running 24/7 but likely heavily processing for ~8-10 hours a day. The idle difference between Xeon and Ryzen maybe my answer right there.
I can grab an x99, dual E5-2680 v3 with 32GB ecc for about the same price as just the CPU (3900XT). Once you match up a decent board with Ram it’s almost 2x the price. ~$500 USD more for the Ryzen build.
I guess I have to crunch some electricity consumption numbers:
where I live its about $0.10/kWh
I’ll target 2 year ROI, $500/24 = $21
Will the Rayzen consume $21/month less electricity than the dual Xeons…
These benchmarks aren’t the end all be all, but they do give a general idea of performance
if you can manage to find one instock, I’d get a 5800X, that leaves an upgrade path for a 5900x or a 5950x later down the road
Now something to say about power consumption, it’s not just about how much it consumes it’s also about the work it does and the heat it produces
If it can do the work in less time that’s less time being spent under full load, it’s also less your AC has to offset the heat as it needs power to cool what your PC heated up
5600x’s are pretty easy to find in stock, comparitivly speaking
I appreciate all the details, I was looking @ the 3900x before i saw your reply. Good point regarding the energy and heat, although a few months a year I can use it lol
I’m going to build out a system with the 5800x (or 3900x with b450) and see how the numbers look. I like the idea of saving the 5950x as a potential upgrade path down the line if it all works out well, Incredible the jump that one gives.
Thanks for the help on this, I’m interested to see how smooth running a virtualized main desktop will be.
You might not want to go with EITHER amd or intel, but rather look into POWER. I can tell you, my PS3 farm will wreck your dual X99 build for years to come.
Look into the Raptor Talos 2 or the Blackbird. BBird should be cheaper, its like a $1000 mobo CPU combo starting at 4 cores, and PPC/Power beats the shit out of transcoding. You could even start with just a G5 and see what you could get.
I’ve been meaning to experiment with video editors like Olive that can run on PPC64 and AMD64 and use PPC chips over the network to render stuff, laptops even. Its gross.
@mehmedbasic; I would say the majority of the transcoding will be from x265 to x264, but I am looking ahead and I want to future proof the system for AV1 and x266 that are around the corner.
I love hardware encoding but it’s always a few years behind, I see an abundance of CPU power as futureproofing.
It looks like the architecture will create challenges getting a windows environment running on it @ full steam.
Impressive benchmarks!
Seems to leave Threadrippers in the dust on some tasks, but the price point is just too much for what I was aiming and I haven’t even looked into power consumption.
So, just skimmed the thread so excuse if i overlooked something.
X99 does not have dual socket boards.
If you mean that Chinesium dual socket board, i myself hughely dislike those because you probably don’t get updates and fixes for the buggy as frick bioses those come with, on top of an old platform that has its security issues.
IPC of a good V3 or V4 xeon should be in the 150 to 180 points single thread CB15 which is ok, but not greate when zen2 and 3 wreck way more.
Power is another, an OCed Ryzen will not take much more then one of your Xeons, and you have two of those.
You have NUMA and cpu internal NUMA on the higher core count chips like the 2699.
The only advantage i can give to the dual socket setup is more pcie lanes, more mem channels and server grade features like Reg ECC and remote management on a good board.
But you can get all that with an Epyc setup as well.
Honestly, i’m still a fan of lga2011-3 but 3k or 5k ryzen has it beat so hard it hurts.
There are naples and rome cpus (ES / QS) out there that make epyc 32 cores at 3ghz affordable for like sub 600$
SM H11 boards go for 300$ new as well, ddr4 Reg Ecc isn’t more expensive then normal ddr4, used it can be had for way cheaper.
But, even that compared with a 3900, or 5900, if you don’t need the pcie or mem channels of Epyc, just go with a ryzen.
Thanks Rage, with the help of this forum I have made my mind up.
I’m going to start with the 5600x to make sure there are no show stoppers from the OS virtualization side of things. If all goes smooth I’ll then sell/upgrade to the 5950x
As nice as more mem channels would be, transcoding doesn’t need it and all the server-grade options come with noise and energy consumption challenges i need to solve.
