The primary advantage I can think of switching from a dual 2011 Xeon to an NK6 is certainly lower energy usage. RAM faster than the stated supported speed would likely clock down to match what the system could use. RAM and PCIe speed aren’t “offsetting” lower CPU performance.
What is it you use the system for? What makes the CPU bench score a concern?
I’m just debating whether the $200 (motherboard and CPU, I already have everything else) is worth it in saved electricity and time to move to the newer platform. Currently I utilize it as a NAS, media server (up to 8 users), and several other docker containers. No VMs and utilizing the 1660ti for Plex transcoding. Just wanted to consider if moving to newer system with lower pass mark score could potentially cause worse performance for my use.
Your stated uses aren’t going to suffer if your cpu passmark is lower. Unless you’ve got some really intense containers. Focus on the passmark if you’re using lots of CPU, else, it doesn’t really matter.
You can ditch the gpu too, save more energy, and potentially money again if you sell it. The iGPU of the nk6 will handle the transcodes.
Supermicro X11SCA-F (~$100), 9500T (~$75), and Thermalright Assassin X120 ($18). Figured the slight boost of the 9500T versus the 8500T couldn’t hurt for the fairly minimal difference in cost. I already have G.Skill DDR4 Trident Z 3200Mhz from an old build I’ll use for the RAM. For ~$200, before selling the old parts to recoup cost, I’m thinking I can cut the electricity usage by more than 75%.
I know I said above, but really appreciate the knowledge and information you post on this website. Was a crucial resource when I initially got into homelabbing.
Great to see the new guide! Thank you for putting this together!
This is similar to the upgrade I performed on my NK 5.0 earlier this summer.
Jumped forward 4 CPU generations from an LGA 1150 E3-1200 Xeon to a:
E-2276G 6c/12t ($230)
X11SCA-F ($100)
64GB DDR4 ECC ($130)
Everything else I was able to carry over from the previous build.
I was originally looking for a i3-9300, or maybe a i3-9320 with a plan to save a little money for now, keep ECC support, and upgrade to a Xeon later, but I couldn’t find an i3-9xxx for under $100 at the time and for twice the price the E-2276G felt like a more substantial upgrade over the previous 4c/8t E3 Xeon.
The E-2276G (Coffee Lake 8th/9th gen) iGPU seems to have good transcoding performance / quality so I moved Plex from a dedicated quick sync box to the NAS and that has been working well so far.
Even though It was a nominal increase in advertised TDP (65W to 80W) the generational improvements actually appear to have shaved 2 - 3 watts off the idle power draw. Went from about 18W to 15W (drives / cache not included) at idle even with the extra 2 cores. At full load it does draw quite a lot more power. It spikes to 100+ Watts under load and even hits as high as 150+ Watts running Prime 95.
That said it also has about double the passmark score. So it was a big upgrade in efficiency (passmark / watt) and in real world usage It shaves a few watts off the older system.
I’ve been happy with it so far, VMs seem snappy and responsive, It now has IPMI, and most importantly memory was expanded past the 32GB limit of LGA 1150 and even has room to expand further if necessary.
Not a necessary upgrade or justifiable at the price, but a satisfying upgrade none the less. I’m happy with it.
I am curious what the CPU speed affects if I use the system purely as a NAS. I currently run Open Media Vault on a Pi4 with some external drives but want to upgrade to a larger, more cohesive, and reliable build.
I only have gigabit networking hardware and likely won’t change that for several years unless I encounter a compelling reason. My NAS is accessed by Seafile (which is primarily used for backing up 4k drone footage), Plex (at most 3 concurrent 1080p streams, I have an Optiplex 5050 that will be repurposed for transcoding), and general network storage via Samba and NFS for backing up my personal and work data and keeping large Steam games downloaded locally.