I appreciate that a lot!
A real NAS can be small footprint and simple. By avoiding it, you’re causing yourself a lot of future headache and expensive, IMO.
Check out this guide:
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Is this thing capable of utilizing 10th gen processors or is 9th gen the highest it will go? I know it doesn’t really make a difference but I happen to have a 10th gen i3 sitting around.
8th and 9th gen, via LGA1151-2.
10th gen is LGA1200.
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How are you finding your Proxmox with Ceph?
I got one of these coming…upgrade path to 9th gen
15% Discount code = PREPFOR2021
i just reinstalled windows. though on mine i had to disable the key on the motherboard so i could upgrade to 10 pro. my next box i will do linux but for now i wanted to use something i know. even with the guides i dont want to deal with something going wrong and not sure how to fix it.
I’m currently on the stock Celeron and having tons of CPU spikes when running anything more than Plex (which should be obvious, I know). I’m going to be upgrading the CPU, and was wondering what the best route for me would be. I use an rclone mount, so local storage isn’t really a need for me right now, which is why I’m trying to make the 290 my do-it-all server.
I only have a few people streaming at a time, so the Celeron is great for that. But I currently use NZBs, Sonarr/Radarr, Deluge, for my media and it’s taking its toll on my experience, so much so that I’m scheduling downloads to try to work around when we’d stream Plex.
I want to get something that’s borderline overkill, so I was looking at the i7-9700 or an i5-9600 (or something else that can handle running as a QS box and download center). I know this HP290 won’t be the perfect box for me forever, so I want to get something that would serve as a great base on a future build. Any thoughts on the best route to take here?
How is the mellanox card working out for you in the hp 290? I’m tempted to upgrade to mellanox since my intel 1gb nics are giving me trouble and seems to go down constantly. I had to tape the pins for the intel card also to have it work with the second stick ram. Is mellanox stable and working well in the hp290? Any heat issues?
Just got a 290, and this is exactly what I was afraid of. Are you running windows or Linux?
Did you upgrade the hard drives or the ram?
Do you have Plex pass and HW transcoding turned on?
@JDM_WAAAT, was this use case accounted for, or was the recommendation based solely for a dedicated transcoding box?
I have added a 6TB WD RED and a Mushkin 1TB NVMe SSD. HW transcoding is working much better than I expected. This box is perfect for my use case!
I’m using Unraid only because I have a spare license. After the initial disk scans were done by radarr/lidarr/sonarr, however, things calmed down significantly. I did order an i7 as a filler but I plan to move it into a future server. I do believe JDM mentioned in the OTiS thread that anything more than Plex is going to need more cores, and I knew this coming in based on what everyone said in Discord. I think upgrading to an i3 or i5 8th/9th gen is going to be plenty of power - but it may be different for others.
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Just joined the HP 290 club. I upgraded it with Western Digital SN730 256gb NVMe drive, 8gb of DDR4 memory, and put in HDMI dummy plug. I loaded up Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop and Plex with the hardware transcoding active. Working great!
I also tried adding a Nvidia Quadro P400 low profile video card that I had laying around. I was getting artifacts and freezes in Ubuntu. Either the card is faulty or the power supply is not powerful enough.
My NAS is currently serving my videos in Proxmox with a TrueNAS VM using NFS.
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The recommendation is for a dedicated HW transcoding box, as stated in the post. The CPU isn’t fast, so it’s really only useful in processes where QS can be leveraged. Linux is the recommended OS.
File management operations should take place on the NAS.
I really do not recommend making the HP 290 as your primary server, as it has no room for HDD expansion. Build an extremely cheap NAS Killer 4.0 and use that for all of your storage and file management needs. It’s plenty overkill.
I mean, ordinarily yes, but it depends on what you need out of a server.
OK…?
To clarify, with this setup: [Official] HP 290-p0043w Owner's Thread - #687 by Kong
you idle @4W? (HP ProDesk 400 G4 Micro Tower - 7th Gen Pentium G4560 2C/4T, 8GB DDR4 - $119.00 (seller accepts $90 offers) - #30)
What’s under “normal/average” use and what’s the peak draw from the socket? The savings in power bill could well be worth the extra cost for the 8500T so I just wanted to check before spending a lot more money 
I am really interested in seeing how far we can take some cheap, low power devices.
Here’s where I explore this idea and would enjoy your input: Any technical reasons why we cant have a NAS Killer using the intel HP 290 or ProDesk 400 G4?
Yes, this is with the 290 and these specs. I have since switched from 2 sticks into 1 stick RAM, but haven’t checked to see if it dropped further. If I transcode or Plex is scanning files, it jumps into the teens.
- Ubuntu 20 dual boot with Windows 10 (separate partitions)
- Intel® Core™ i5-8500T Processor with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Thermal Paste
- Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 3D3, QLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPEKNW010T9X1
- Crucial 16GB Kit (16GBx1) DDR4 2400 MT/s (PC4-19200) SR x8 DIMM 288-Pin Memory - CT2K8G4DFS824A
- HDMI Dummy Plug Headless Ghost Display Emulator （Fit Headless-1920x1080 New Generation@60Hz）-3Pack
- M.2 Screw Kit,NVMe Screw m.2 SSD Mounting Kit
Why are you dual booting?
Plex is only running at night. During the day it’s a system for the kids to do homework and class. 