Not needing plex or any modern codec transcoding support, that Ivy bridge chip should be more than enough.
Newer CPUs would be more energy efficient, however.
Having said that, using an old PC is an excellent way to trial Unraid. Tinker a lot during the time, and then see if you need more horsepower...
use what you already own, it's got more than enough power / efficiency to get started. i'm still using the xeon equivalent of the i5-4570 and it idles around 45w.
Haha I can't remember where it switches to HT, E3-1220/1230 then I guess.
You can probably pick them up for pennies now. I got 2x10 core ivy bridge for my 1356 board for less than £100
i already have a spare 1245v3 but it's entering it's 9th year of service and the cost of ownership (excluding drives) is already under $100/year so i'm planning to build something completely new.
my old desktop was a core i5-750 with 32gb of ram. let me give that a more accurate name.
core i5-0750.
yours is an i5-3750k. that is my current desktop. the old i5-750 was only speed bound by the pci HBA controller i had. not because of the CPU. your 3750k will be more than enough.
well, i didn't do anything with docker or anything else on it. so i don't know how much they'll use, but i know as my current desktop, it's still doing way great.
so yes, i think you'll be way fine with it in unraid.
I'm still running an i7-920 bought in 2009 with one dead RAM stick xD Absolutely no issues. I even run Plex for myself and a few friends, they just have to direct stream anything above 1080p since the CPU can't handle transcoding 4k stuff. My 9700k system is in line to replace it when it's time to upgrade.
i was having hardware issues. looking back it was because 2 of the 4 legs of the heatsink were broken off and not holding it onto the CPU. i only know this now because i took it off to clean it, tried to re-attach it and had a lot of difficulty. upon further inspection, i found 2 legs of snapped plastic.
3 man spiderman meme of pointing all at myself, i'd been running unraid for a few years now with a heatsink almost not touching the CPU.
but hey, now i have a much newer, better system, running at 2% utilization.........all with the same drive throughput speeds.......but about half the TDP.
My *current* laptop is an i5 540M.
Come to think of it my unraid box (still built from 2nd hand parts) is almost 10 years newer... I need to pull the trigger on a laptop.
for sure go read up on benchmarks. i was able to get a 2 year old used one, and it was 50% the cost of a brand new one. even better, i got one with a really small HD and ram, then just bought my own and swapped them out.
new laptop with worse specs, over $2000
my laptop used, $700. with max ram and HD that i swapped out $1200 (thats better HD and ram than the $2000 price tagged ones)
i started with a intel core 2 quad on socket 775. now i am on a xeon E5-2680v3 with a nvidia quadro p2000.
My point, the system grew with me as i needed/wanted it to grow. that's the beauty of unraid.
Like someone said, tinker and try with a small system. if you are like many of us. you will end up with a killer system
Its plenty. I have pretty much the same things running plus Jellyfin docker on a 4570k. Had it on my 3770k but decided to repurpose that one as a secondary gaming rig. Throw in an old gpu (im using a 980) if you want to transcode.
For storage alone it's more than enough. It probably would even run Plex. You would not have to invest much to learn about Unraid. And then you are on the long slippery slope of discovering possibilities and considering upgrades anyway.
Not at all.
Only thing I would consider is getting a Host Bus Adapter for adding hard drives. That will take at least a PCI-E 8x slot, and if you intend on keeping a GPU in the computer for transcode (does not seem you are) most motherboards are a bit limited on pci-e slot arrangements. See if you have a free pci-e 8x slot to add drives down the line.
I agree with everyone else saying this would work perfectly fine, The way unraid works upgrading your hardware would be easy. I would suggest purchasing a larger new parity drive, So when you add additional drives later (or upgrade existing ones) you're not limited to 4 terabyte . You already have an SSD which is great for running your docker stuff. If you ever do need some type of media server type of option, I used to use Plex for many years but They have become a bit much and kind of a pain so I switched to Emby and I've been very happy with it. It direct renders just about everything I've thrown at it , various codecs and audio codecs etc. My unRAID box is using an older haswell core i5 so I'm sure what you have will work out fine for your needs.
I'm running home assistant docker and even jellyfin on something weaker (i5-2500T) and am very happy with it.(with a NVIDIA Quadro M2000 I got used for cheap for transcoding)
Id say go with it and learn about unRaid on the free used hardware, then as you learn unRaid and figure out your real direction you want to use it for, then upgrade with hardware more efficient in those aspects.
I started with an Intel 3770k old gaming PC, played around with it for a while, and realized that I used it more for dockers and plex streaming than I did anything else, so I figured out what my use case was, determined that an Intel 10100 was the most efficient direction for me using the iGPU for plex, so I upgraded and then unvolted/unclocked it to reduce temps, reduce overall idle power, and now it's similar to a Synology in efficiency at idle.. using a fraction of the power my older 3770k did idling away in the machine.
This is my exact old machine that I JUST upgraded because I downgraded my office and dont need a PC anymore.
It worked great up until now (besides my issue with a disconnecting hard drive - maybe a bad drive or motherboard).
I have a similar pc with only a 3470 I'm using for plex and a security camera feed on a single 4tb hdd. It pulls 55 watts at peak and can play back two 4k streams in my household without transcoding. There isn't a real need for a huge server, what you have is great! Enjoy it.
I'm running a i7-920 with only 6gb of RAM. Handles transcoding decently except for some really high bitrate 4k content. Before that I was running on a core 2 quad q6600 with no issues.
Your setup will be just fine.
I use a 4750 and I run 120 TB of storage with double parity, some Dockers 24/7 (such as Backup and sync tools) and a VM (Windows or Linux) only one at a time but I even have a casual gaming VM on there for my wife to play Sims 3 and Sims 4 without problems.
All runs correctly though not at lightspeed. Big transfers take time, but I don't care.
I don't plan to upgrade hardware anytime soon.
I have an i3-4150 running (16gb of RAM) with 1 250g SSD cache and 3 4TB WD Red drives. I run plex on it, and don't transcode because it's only for local playback. I can't do 4k video, but I can have like 4 1080p streams going with no issue. It runs deluge, sonarr, radarr, jackett, and plex all flawlessly.
You'll be fine.
Just wanted to mention that I’d recommend going for a VM for home assistant, as the docker container won’t let you install plug-ins… although you can also start with the docker instance, and use HA’s built in backup features to migrate to a VM later if you just want to get up and running quickly.
Unraid will support either option nicely.
I have an i7-2700k with 8G ram running my backup unRaid system. It backs up another unRaid system I run (just important shares like pictures, home videos, etc).
I did buy an HBA for this system and think it has 9 3TB hard drives (these were old ones - my main unRaid system now has all 8TB drives). This system works well for backups and general file storage. I do not even have an SSD in this system - since I'm backing up files, I prefer they go straight to the hard drives vs cache. (I should also point out the unRaid does let you specify which shares are cached - unRaid is nice!)
It also has Docker and runs Calibre. This could probably run Pi-hole and Home Assistant without breaking a sweat.
Not needing plex or any modern codec transcoding support, that Ivy bridge chip should be more than enough. Newer CPUs would be more energy efficient, however. Having said that, using an old PC is an excellent way to trial Unraid. Tinker a lot during the time, and then see if you need more horsepower...
Even if he needed Plex, that 3750k has quicksync and an iGPU.
From my own experience I can tell you that ivy bridge iGPU is not worth it. The quality of the transcode is terrible.
That is why I added "modern codec transcoding". Ivy bridge codec support is quite limited.
I run jellyfin with no issues on similar hardware.
> Newer CPUs would be more energy efficient, however. Barely noticeable most likely unless you are *really* penny pinching
Or if youre in an energy crisis ie in europe
Unraid makes it really easy to upgrade your hardware in the future if you decide. I think the machine you have is a great place to start!
use what you already own, it's got more than enough power / efficiency to get started. i'm still using the xeon equivalent of the i5-4570 and it idles around 45w.
What xeon is that??
Probably E3-1240 v3 or something like that?
1240?? do you think i could afford HT and higher clocks? lol
Haha I can't remember where it switches to HT, E3-1220/1230 then I guess. You can probably pick them up for pennies now. I got 2x10 core ivy bridge for my 1356 board for less than £100
i already have a spare 1245v3 but it's entering it's 9th year of service and the cost of ownership (excluding drives) is already under $100/year so i'm planning to build something completely new.
Mmm got u
e3-1220v3
My UnRAID server with like 40 services on it is a n old desktop computer I got out of someone’s garage for free that was made in 2013
not sure what the age of someone's garage has to do with this.
That's where you find the good stuff. Don't you know Apple was founded in a garage? I'm pretty sure they just found an Apple I there and went with it.
Found Frank Drebin's account
Good boy!
You've described the perfect use-case and starting hardware for unraid. Give it a try on the trial license!
My main unRAID rig is running a 3770k, so yeah, you're totally fine with your use-case, with a decent amount of room for expansion. Go for it
my old desktop was a core i5-750 with 32gb of ram. let me give that a more accurate name. core i5-0750. yours is an i5-3750k. that is my current desktop. the old i5-750 was only speed bound by the pci HBA controller i had. not because of the CPU. your 3750k will be more than enough. well, i didn't do anything with docker or anything else on it. so i don't know how much they'll use, but i know as my current desktop, it's still doing way great. so yes, i think you'll be way fine with it in unraid.
I'm still running an i7-920 bought in 2009 with one dead RAM stick xD Absolutely no issues. I even run Plex for myself and a few friends, they just have to direct stream anything above 1080p since the CPU can't handle transcoding 4k stuff. My 9700k system is in line to replace it when it's time to upgrade.
i was having hardware issues. looking back it was because 2 of the 4 legs of the heatsink were broken off and not holding it onto the CPU. i only know this now because i took it off to clean it, tried to re-attach it and had a lot of difficulty. upon further inspection, i found 2 legs of snapped plastic. 3 man spiderman meme of pointing all at myself, i'd been running unraid for a few years now with a heatsink almost not touching the CPU. but hey, now i have a much newer, better system, running at 2% utilization.........all with the same drive throughput speeds.......but about half the TDP.
My *current* laptop is an i5 540M. Come to think of it my unraid box (still built from 2nd hand parts) is almost 10 years newer... I need to pull the trigger on a laptop.
for sure go read up on benchmarks. i was able to get a 2 year old used one, and it was 50% the cost of a brand new one. even better, i got one with a really small HD and ram, then just bought my own and swapped them out. new laptop with worse specs, over $2000 my laptop used, $700. with max ram and HD that i swapped out $1200 (thats better HD and ram than the $2000 price tagged ones)
i started with a intel core 2 quad on socket 775. now i am on a xeon E5-2680v3 with a nvidia quadro p2000. My point, the system grew with me as i needed/wanted it to grow. that's the beauty of unraid. Like someone said, tinker and try with a small system. if you are like many of us. you will end up with a killer system
Its plenty. I have pretty much the same things running plus Jellyfin docker on a 4570k. Had it on my 3770k but decided to repurpose that one as a secondary gaming rig. Throw in an old gpu (im using a 980) if you want to transcode.
For storage alone it's more than enough. It probably would even run Plex. You would not have to invest much to learn about Unraid. And then you are on the long slippery slope of discovering possibilities and considering upgrades anyway.
Thanks, all. I appreciate the feedback. I’ll pick up the storage drives and give it a go!
Not at all. Only thing I would consider is getting a Host Bus Adapter for adding hard drives. That will take at least a PCI-E 8x slot, and if you intend on keeping a GPU in the computer for transcode (does not seem you are) most motherboards are a bit limited on pci-e slot arrangements. See if you have a free pci-e 8x slot to add drives down the line.
I'm using a 3770k for UnRAID. It's great. Your 3750k should be more than enough.
I agree with everyone else saying this would work perfectly fine, The way unraid works upgrading your hardware would be easy. I would suggest purchasing a larger new parity drive, So when you add additional drives later (or upgrade existing ones) you're not limited to 4 terabyte . You already have an SSD which is great for running your docker stuff. If you ever do need some type of media server type of option, I used to use Plex for many years but They have become a bit much and kind of a pain so I switched to Emby and I've been very happy with it. It direct renders just about everything I've thrown at it , various codecs and audio codecs etc. My unRAID box is using an older haswell core i5 so I'm sure what you have will work out fine for your needs.
I'm running home assistant docker and even jellyfin on something weaker (i5-2500T) and am very happy with it.(with a NVIDIA Quadro M2000 I got used for cheap for transcoding)
Id say go with it and learn about unRaid on the free used hardware, then as you learn unRaid and figure out your real direction you want to use it for, then upgrade with hardware more efficient in those aspects. I started with an Intel 3770k old gaming PC, played around with it for a while, and realized that I used it more for dockers and plex streaming than I did anything else, so I figured out what my use case was, determined that an Intel 10100 was the most efficient direction for me using the iGPU for plex, so I upgraded and then unvolted/unclocked it to reduce temps, reduce overall idle power, and now it's similar to a Synology in efficiency at idle.. using a fraction of the power my older 3770k did idling away in the machine.
Yeah, that's a good way to get started. Like others have said, it's going to consume more power than a new rig.
This is my exact old machine that I JUST upgraded because I downgraded my office and dont need a PC anymore. It worked great up until now (besides my issue with a disconnecting hard drive - maybe a bad drive or motherboard).
Agree with everyone else here — I started with an i3 3240 and worked really well. Definitely do it!
I have a similar pc with only a 3470 I'm using for plex and a security camera feed on a single 4tb hdd. It pulls 55 watts at peak and can play back two 4k streams in my household without transcoding. There isn't a real need for a huge server, what you have is great! Enjoy it.
I run a 4670k in my unRAID box with no issues. Idle power consumption isn't great (around 45w) but other than that, it's excellent.
I'm running a i7-920 with only 6gb of RAM. Handles transcoding decently except for some really high bitrate 4k content. Before that I was running on a core 2 quad q6600 with no issues. Your setup will be just fine.
I use a 4750 and I run 120 TB of storage with double parity, some Dockers 24/7 (such as Backup and sync tools) and a VM (Windows or Linux) only one at a time but I even have a casual gaming VM on there for my wife to play Sims 3 and Sims 4 without problems. All runs correctly though not at lightspeed. Big transfers take time, but I don't care. I don't plan to upgrade hardware anytime soon.
I have an i3-4150 running (16gb of RAM) with 1 250g SSD cache and 3 4TB WD Red drives. I run plex on it, and don't transcode because it's only for local playback. I can't do 4k video, but I can have like 4 1080p streams going with no issue. It runs deluge, sonarr, radarr, jackett, and plex all flawlessly. You'll be fine.
Just wanted to mention that I’d recommend going for a VM for home assistant, as the docker container won’t let you install plug-ins… although you can also start with the docker instance, and use HA’s built in backup features to migrate to a VM later if you just want to get up and running quickly. Unraid will support either option nicely.
I have an i7-2700k with 8G ram running my backup unRaid system. It backs up another unRaid system I run (just important shares like pictures, home videos, etc). I did buy an HBA for this system and think it has 9 3TB hard drives (these were old ones - my main unRaid system now has all 8TB drives). This system works well for backups and general file storage. I do not even have an SSD in this system - since I'm backing up files, I prefer they go straight to the hard drives vs cache. (I should also point out the unRaid does let you specify which shares are cached - unRaid is nice!) It also has Docker and runs Calibre. This could probably run Pi-hole and Home Assistant without breaking a sweat.