Care facility for older adults with intricate needs Support services for seniors requiring comprehensive assistance
Care facility for older adults with intricate needs Support services for seniors requiring comprehensive assistance
Hey everyone, I’m trying to find some affordable Epyc parts—CPU, RAM, and a motherboard—for a media server project in a care facility. It’s a volunteer effort, so we’re okay with used gear. The unit has been hit hard by the pandemic, with many patients having limited interaction and lots of dementia cases. I’ve gathered some TVs, Android boxes, 50TB drives, SSDs for caching, network equipment, and a switch. I’m planning to build a media server and need to stay within budget. I want to avoid unraid but set it up as a Plex server plus VMs for streaming TV via central tuners, watching ripped movies, and handling emails. It’s legal in the UK as long as we keep the original DVDs. Any advice on where to find a 32-core Epyc processor, enough RAM, and sufficient memory? Thanks, Martin!
Do you require epyc? I think a Dell R730 would be a good choice. It's affordable used and quite powerful. What storage solutions are you considering? I’d likely skip Unraid and opt for ZFS or hardware RAID for better speed. How would users access the virtual machines? I recommend using inexpensive desktops or laptops so people can run their own computers, especially if Unraid isn’t ideal for virtual disk setups.
We need to establish a budget first. Then consider why Epyc is a good choice—prices for GPUs are dropping and an NV card can handle heavy transcoding tasks. You can also use an HDHomeRun tuner and pipe it into Plex for DVR functions, letting it manage many clients from consumer devices. Regarding VMs, thin clients exist but often lack the power needed for web browsing; they’re better suited for simpler workloads.
The ZFS extension for Unraid supports multiple pools, but it doesn't allow running just ZFS pools independently.
I have roughly $1500 remaining in the budget, making it a great value. As for epyc, it depends on your taste, but I'm open to other options if they offer better returns. My idea involves 16 rooms each connecting to the Plex server and VMs, using transcoding and HDHomeRun/DVR/Plex. Regarding thin clients, I might need to adjust my thinking. The cases aren't designed for Android; they're actually mini PCs. My goal was to eliminate Android and use a thin client approach with Plex on whatever operating system we choose. I have limited experience setting up thin clients to access Unraid VMs—do you have any suggestions or guides?
I reviewed r730 models and noticed their raid card setup. Are they still compatible with HBA or should I consider reflashing? For alternatives to ZFS, there are options to choose between regular and RAID configurations. The VM hardware you mentioned is suitable for 10G connections in each room. Plex app can run on the VM as planned.
The ceiling panels in the entire area are removable for business use, making it easy to run cables without any issues.
Considering other options, yet focusing on capacity and availability.
Are you looking for info on your own unraid server? Just got 5 IronWolf drives, each 10TB. Plus, you have four 1TB Samsung SSDs.
For everyday users without intensive processing needs, most mini characters should manage the tasks. Estimate your expected load: both maximum simultaneous users and overall traffic.