Need to build new media server!

Offtopic
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I’m currently using a Core 2 Duo E8600 system to run samba, Plex, and Jellyfin, using integrated graphics/CPU for my needs, which are completely fulfilled by my current system. I only run one stream at a time, no more than 720p, so my resources aren’t ever pegged to any substantial level. Heck, my gigabit Ethernet is running via PCI card, so I’m only getting 60-70MB/sec transfers at best.

I’ve recently gotten some hardware that’s currently lying around, and I wanted to get some potential input on my options.

I currently have a Ryzen 3 2200G and a Ryzen 5 1600AF that currently need a home, and I’m considering building my new media server on one of these chips.

Since my needs are already met with a Core 2 Duo, I’m wondering if using the 1600AF would be overkill since I’d have to get a video card to run it. I’m currently inclined to go with a new system using the 2200G, but if I went with the 1600AF I’d likely get the cheapest Intel Arc card for transcoding needs.

Anyone with experience on building a new home media server? I’d appreciate the input. With any hardware recommends, the biggest thing to keep in mind is that I’m already meeting my streaming needs with near-15-year-old hardware.

Main reason I’m upgrading is because I want to save electricity, and I recently got new SSDs to replace my current single-HDD samba setup.

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Plex

I ve a custom NAS Plex server under fedora server running on Intel e5400 (dual core). It’s headless.

Running Plex and 4x4tb raid 5 with XFS. And running a windows VM for cloud sync stuff.

Reads at 110 Mbytes/s on giga lan.

Can stream 4k with truehd Atmos but it can be laggy (but i don’t know if it’s because of the FireTV or the server)

So for my use it’s enough. My advise go for the lowest TWP but don’t be too cheap on ram.

Récent AMD quad core with 16 GB should be fine.

2.5 GB eth can be cool too and a decent USB for direct copy.

And I’ve create an auto shutdown script (when there is less than x mb of disk activity the Nas shutdown)

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Thank you for your input! So sounds like of the two chips I mentioned, you’re suggesting the quad-core 2200g should be sufficient over 1600AF/purchasing a video card for codec needs. I was thinking of running a quad-SATA ZFS mirrored stripe pool (4x2TB), simply because I have experience with ZFS over other possible software-RAID solutions (may be using incorrect verbiage with that, but I think I got the idea across okay). I only have a gigabit network, so the motherboard’s LAN will be sufficient.

Was planning on getting 32GB for the machine regardless - overkill on RAM is always appreciated by ZFS, and DDR4 is cheap for JEDEC or otherwise low-spec RAM.

Please forgive me in asking what TWP means here, I’ve never seen the acronym.

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Sorry it’s TDP not TWP

Hardware transcoding is only supported on Nvidia or latest AMD (in my experience) so it’s not something I would care off. Better take a good CPU without good GPU (My use is NAS first. So no dGPU for me. For me I would go for a 5xxx AMD)

The motherboard should have a NVME slot for the system. And 4 sata for raid.