Use SSDs for cache instead of ZFS or RAID levels.
Use SSDs for cache instead of ZFS or RAID levels.
No. This is your misunderstanding. I am saying we all knew it would work… but we also knew it is the wrong solution. You CAN install programs on network locations. Again, this is a very normal enterprise use case. But NOT over slow LAN connections, and ESPECIALLY not over SMB. Yes, it will work. There is 0 reason it wouldn’t work. No one is disagreeing with you. I am just trying to tell you why it’s a bad idea. It will not affect your FPS, FPS has nothing to do with loading in assets to render, all of that is loaded into RAM… But load times, saving progress, loading maps etc, all of that is going to be pretty slow over an LAN. But again, yes, it’ll work. Obviously it will work. But your slowing your PC down by doing this. You can disagree if you want, but a 2.5 gb LAN connection is factually orders of magnitude slower then a local NVMe drive, and SMB is not intended for this type of IOPS. Why do you not want to put the SSD’s in your PC? This doesn’t make any sense. And again about the data usage… I also have a Plex server. So again, I understand having high internet usage. I stream much more content then most, and it’s all always in 4k, and I don’t use anywhere near that much data. This is a few months if my total WAN traffic, looks like one month I hit 1TB. Hitting 7…… again, it seems like your just constantly deleting things and re-downloading them. I am just trying to help you understand using an SMB share as your instal location for anything is sub optimal, and weather you can tell a difference or not, or just don’t want to properly test the difference, it is slower - much slower. But it’ll work “just fine”. Same as installing to a USB drive, people do it, but it isn’t ideal. I am not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, having a homelab is all about learning new things, and it’s about the journey. I’m just trying to emphasis what you are doing makes no sense, and your trying to solve an issue in the incorrect way when you clearly have the ability and means to do it the correct way. That’s all.
I reflect the opinions of others, yet because you're firm on this choice, I'll try my best to support it—opting for iSCSI. I’ll provide a link to a Synology review not to copy your actions, but to highlight how iSCSI outperforms in latency and throughput. Check out the differences here: https://www.storagereview.com/review/syn...923-review
I thought I'd share an update. Removed the cache pool, added the Steam Cache SSDs to the array and retained the drives in the Steam cache share. I found a Docker in Unraid that lets you pre-fill the cache without installing anything. It's essentially a simplified version of the Steam launcher packaged as a container. I opened the CMD console of that Docker, ran several commands, logged in with my Steam credentials, and it started downloading all my games straight into the Steam cache—no need to install or download on my PC. It also keeps track of my games and ensures they're always up to date. Really clever. The initial downloads look better now, though that might just be a placebo effect. My whole plan of running Steam games on a server is now unnecessary. Updated on January 15, 2023 by Madmaximus01