I finally had to join so that I could participate in the conversation here after lurking for a long time. I am currently looking to upgrade my unraid server (AMD A6-5400K on Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN Mini ITX mobo). The passmark of this CPU is only 2164 and although it currently serves my needs for one stream (1080P max) at a time in our home, I would like to potentially share it with family or even have multiple plex streams locally.
I was currently already using the Node 304 case, but in an effort to slim it down to fit in a media unit I already picked up a used Node 202 case. I currently have 2 x 8TB drives and an SSD cache drive. I realize the 202 isn’t designed for full size drives and I will be making use of the GPU space to mount these. While it does not leave much (or any) room for internal expansion I am not too concerned about that at this time or for a few years to come.
So far the DQ77KB seems to be a bit elusive (I’m located in Canada), and I’m probably looking at ~$100 for this motherboard. The recommended E3-1260L CPU is also proving to be a little pricier than expected, and 8GB of RAM is looking to be around $40.
I guess my question is whether the suggested parts are worthwhile at these prices, or if I would be equally well served by finding a CPU with the FM2/FM2+ socket to use with my existing Gigabyte board. The best one I see based solely on passmark score is the AMD Athlon X4 845.
I would still need a new PSU since the Node 202 requires SFX compared to the current Node 304 that fit an ATX.
I appreciate any feedback, and I will continue to read and review others’ builds and learn as much as I can.