Upgrading Unraid server - Looking for feedback on plan

Decided to upgrade my server and reuse most of the current part to make a gaming system, not having much luck with hardware passthrough and wanted to put in a HBA. Currently looking into it but as a new user to server component, I thought I would check online for validation.

Couple questions/worries I just want to clear

  1. Does Unraid play nice with dual CPU motherboards in general?
  2. What’s the impact of only having 2 DIMMs in Quad Channel? Thinking of getting only 2x16GB DIMM to start with for each CPU. If I recall correctly speed will be impacted but that’s it.
  3. Do I need to match RAM quantity for both CPUs?
  4. Are the passive cooler for socket R good enough with a normal airflow or would active cooling be recommended?
  5. Any recommendation on NVME controler for 2-4 drive that should play nice with Unraid?
  6. I’m looking at getting either the Supermicro MBD-X10DRI or the MBD-X10DRI-T wich has 2 10Gbps port instead of 1Gbps, dual/quad 10Gbps NIC recommendation would also be welcome to see if the price difference with the MBD-X10DRI-T is worth it.

Thanks for any help and feedback, if you need more info from me feel free to ask.

The machine is currently used for

  • File storage
  • Plex (Jellyfin really)
  • Ingesting media (DvDs/BluRays)

Things I’m looking to do in the near future

  • VMs for hosting Foundry (Virtual Tabletop for RPGs)
  • PFSense
  • Cloud hosting/streaming
  • Steam Cache

Current Unraid Server, Parts kept

  • Corsair 750D
  • GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER
  • ASUS BW-16D1HT
  • 2x8TB + 4x4TB HDDs
  • 1 500GB PCIe 3.0 NVME
  • LSI 9207-4i4e SAS HBA
  • 750W PSU from Corsair

New Parts Plan

  • CPU: 2 Xeon e5-2660v3, these seems to have good enough performance at ~100$ CAD each
  • MB: Supermicro MBD-X10DRI or the MBD-X10DRI-T if I can find one for not that much more
  • RAM: 1 kit of 4x16GB ECC DDR4 split 2 for each CPU
  • NVME Controller: looking
  • Dual/Quad 10Gbps NIC: looking

Support for dual CPUs is mostly a function of the underlying OS, and since UnRAID is based on a Linux kernel, it should support just about any x86 system.

Yup.
Latency should be about the same, but the total bandwidth would be halved.

Not necessarily, but it may depend on the particular board or CPU model.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 273 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.