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T.Bone

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With the current issues going on with my EX-495 its pushing me more and more to new hardware. I have thought about either a Mac Pro, HP Gen 8, or a DIY rack mount build. My current set up is a Ex-495 with a Q9550s processor and a 5 bay san digital esata enclosure. These are the things I would like in my next machine ( give or take):

 
1) Equal or higher performance CPU
2) CPU Capable of multiple 1080p streams (including Audio) Needs to support x265 and 10bit 
3) File server of course
4) Hot swappable HDD (I know the Gen8 doesn't support this)
5) All Drives in same case
6) Small foot print if not rack mount (have home setup to garage where my rack is)
7) Should be #1 i don't want my power bill to go thru the roof. I would like to keep power usage at around the usage of the enclosure and EX-495. 
 
 
I currently use Serviio and Air Media HD to stream my media to iPhones and TV. The current processor doesn't do much stuttering if at all which is nice when watching a movie. Currently I'm having issue with remote access (can get sign in page after sign in it times out) on WS2012e R2 but I would like remote access. Help pointing me in the right direction or suggestions on what i should do is greatly appreciated. With tax time coming up i should have a little extra coin to make something decent if not nice.
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Ok ill make a list of the things I envision and report back

 

I just noticed that your in San Diego. I went to my first Comic-Con last year! I scored 4 days my first year out and this year I got all 5 days! I'm SD bound in July. 

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1 hour ago, T.Bone said:

Ok ill make a list of the things I envision and report back

Awesome. :)

1 hour ago, T.Bone said:

I just noticed that your in San Diego. I went to my first Comic-Con last year! I scored 4 days my first year out and this year I got all 5 days! I'm SD bound in July. 

Yup.  And very nice, on the tickets. I've been going every year for a long while, and .... it's hard to even get a single day pass. I generally only get in because I have a friend on the volunteer staff. 

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Got the Case!!! I wanted Black but I guess it was discontinued. This thing is huge. I put it next to my MSS to give perspective. Sorry for the mess had to move some stuff. My NES is sad it lost its spot on the entertainment stand. Question I had is it bad to over buy the power supply? I mean if I need 500-700 and get 1200 watts is that an issue? I would guess not except on pocketbook.

Beast.jpg

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Very nice!  
If you really want it black, there ARE solutions for that. Head down to a home improvement store, get some painters tap, and .... check out case modding stuff online.  :) 

That said, for the power, as long as the power supply is rated for the load, then it will handle power delivery regardless of how much the system needs.  But the more efficient the power supply, the better (as less is lost to heat/transfers/etc). 

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here is my list of requirements as they stand how. I honestly just want something I can throw just about anything at and not have it choke out:

1 file storage (Docs/Pics/Software/Video)

2 Video server (Plex/Serviio/Airvideo HD remote access)(1080p & 4k as that seems to be the next push)

3 Not a big gamer but I like the concept of AR/VR and I want to be able to do that revolution.

4 Run iTunes more fluidly

5 Remote access (run personal website from my server)

https://www.theofficemaven.com/ (install and run office like this)

7 Run drivepool and scanner (current set up doesn't like tons of disc activity so crashes on most scanners)

8 Run home automation (this is iffy but an idea ive been toying with)

9 Home surveillance

10 Encoding music and Videos as archival backup

I cant think of anything else id want to do at this point. but with more power comes more ideas for things to do. I just want to avoid building something awesome and then cant run some new great thing.

 

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Should I be looking at Motherboards first or powersupply? as the CPU is probably most expensive that will be the last solid decision. I want to get the Most bang for my buck and as soon as I get it I want it up and running. sitting there collecting dust will drive me nuts

 

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ECC RMA Support? 

I'm struggling with MB Choices. So many different choices. I been looking at ASUS. how do I know I'm getting a quality new board or should I say with newer tech. so much info out there. can you point me to good articles on what I should be knowing or learning in this adventure.

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Ugh, I mean ECC RAM support. 

As for newer, it isn't always better.   And most of the "gamer" functions are ... unnecessary. 
look at what you need from the board. CPU support, number and generation of SATA ports, NVMe support(?), ECC Memory support, etc. 
Find what you need, and narrow it down to there.  Then look for a good OEM (ASUS, MSI, GigaByte, for instance). 

If you want more server oriented stuff, SuperMicro is a good (but expensive) option. 

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yeah I have been looking at server motherboards and ECC memory (which seems way more expensive). with how things work is there still a real world benefit to ECC? with saying that I would guess yes since business run it, if it wasn't needed it would have died out. 

is there really that big of a difference in buss speeds from Desktop to server boards? I read that server MB are better built for multi data stream support. 

for me personally the only thing I have to compare to is the MSS ex-495 with the Q9550s which has served me well. its limited by ram, at the very least. 

Christopher, I appreciate your helping point me in the right direction. 

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On 4/3/2018 at 10:24 AM, T.Bone said:

yeah I have been looking at server motherboards and ECC memory (which seems way more expensive). with how things work is there still a real world benefit to ECC? with saying that I would guess yes since business run it, if it wasn't needed it would have died out. 

ECC memory detects corruption and other issues.  It's much more stable.   

For instance, random bit flips can actually occur in memory. For non ECC memory, there are one of two outcomes: corruption, or BSODing.  For ECC, it may be able to actually correct that corruption and continue on as if nothing happened.  These can be cause by cosmic rays, but more likely: electronic bleed from adjacent memory cells.

The reason that I mention this, is that the most likely place that corruption will occur is actually in memory. 
SATA and SAS implement some ECC checking, IIRC, too. And on disk storage uses ECC, as well.  So, "at rest" corruption is exceptionally rare (and StableBit Scanner actually helps to detect and cause your disk to correct it, before it may affect your data, as does any reading of the data). 

So, for a storage server, I would HIGHLY recommend ECC.  And if it's business related, I'd say it's mandatory.  Both of these are why all of my servers are using ECC. 

On 4/3/2018 at 10:24 AM, T.Bone said:

is there really that big of a difference in buss speeds from Desktop to server boards? I read that server MB are better built for multi data stream support. 

Yes and no. Server stuff tends to not support XMP profiles, so it won't be quite as fast.  But this shouldn't be a huge impact (or even a moderate one).   
Amount of memory is more important than speed for servers.  

On 4/3/2018 at 10:24 AM, T.Bone said:

for me personally the only thing I have to compare to is the MSS ex-495 with the Q9550s which has served me well. its limited by ram, at the very least. 

Oh man, I love those machines!  DDR2 though. Suuuuuuuuuper slow compared to modern machines (DDR3 was much faster, and DDR4, just a bit more). 

But those machines were fantastic.  I'm sad that WHS is dead, and and that WSE machines are pretty rare.

And ... I would recommend 16GB of RAM, honestly. Or more.  You can get away with less, but I wouldn't try it. 

And actually, I have a EX495 sitting on my desk. :)

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21 hours ago, T.Bone said:

So any board that support xeon and EEC memory should be fine right? or is there other features I should be keeping an eye out for?

Yes, that should be fine.

 

These are optional though: 

 

However, I would HIGHLY recommend Out of band management functionality.  Out of Band Management allows you to access and control the system over the network, as if you were sitting down in front of it.  Think VNC, TeamViewer, or the like, but with the ability to get into the BIOS and other such things OUTSIDE of the OS. :) 

IPMI is the better option, but Intel vPro is fine too.    But reinstalling Windows from 100 miles away is pretty awesome. :)

 

Also, a lot of server boards have an internal USB type A connector, so you can plug in a USB drive into the motherboard, internally.  You could use this for ESX, or ... my personal option: the Windows install disk. 

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well after looking at CPU pricing, im thinking LGA3647 CPU's are out since ive only seen them in the $2000 area. I want something a little future proof. where i can upgrade the CPU in a few years if I have to buy a lower model today. 

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Yikes, yeah, that's expensive. :)

 

And as for future proofing, it looks like it may be a while until there is a major change.  Intel has only been making incremental changes to their CPUs for a while. And it looks like AMD is starting to fall back to that as well (Ryzen 2 is a small, incremental change).

So, as long as it has all of the features you need, you may not need to worry about future proofing it too much. 

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Honestly, I don't have one. I'd have to look. But "whatever is current and works" is good. 

On 4/21/2018 at 7:47 PM, T.Bone said:

is there a universal socket like supports i9 and xeon?

Nope.  well, yes and no. Some xeons will use the same socket as consumer stuff. Some wont.  It varies a LOT. 

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ok here is my question of the month haha

Difrences in these?

 LGA 2011

LGA 3647

I feel like I should be looking at the 3647 because it is the new thing and future proofing but is that really a thing?

Ive been looking at these boards today:

 

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRL-F Server Motherboard

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRA-O ATX Server Motherboard

 

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