[SOLVED] AMD vs Intel for Server/File Sharing

[BlueFireAngel777]

I want to build a PC to serve as central file storage and server for my family. Maybe eventually I'll have time to run some games but that will likely not be a primary focus before the next major upgrade. A few years ago I would have said intel is the best bet as most of their CPUs have integrated graphics that would handle the work load required to view files and low grade home movies if I needed to figure out which file to keep or delete. I haven't followed as closely as I used to and I see AMD's Ryzen has really caught up to Intel in performance.
Any thoughts or does this come down to preference and budget and anything above some minimum threshold is going to be fine?
Thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

If you are doing this as a server it does not 'Need' graphical capability of any sort once installed. All of that work is done on the machines that are reading the files.

If you are looking to have it transcode then you need a decent amount of power, otherwise almost anything will do, i'm running win 2012r2 on a regor dual core with 6Gb of ram, and 12+TB of storage. As a storage machine and device that backups every other machine it's great.

 

[derekullo]

If you are willing to do some learning I highly recommend using FreeNas or XigmaNAS operating systems which use the ZFS filesystem for storing files.

https://blog.fosketts.net/2017/07/10/zfs-best-filesystem-now/

Both FreeNas and XigmaNAS are meant to run off of a flash drive and are able to turn most any computer into a NAS.

They are both capable of doing compression and deduplication of data on the fly.

Let me know if you are interested in learning more.

 

[mdd1963]

It does not take much CPU power to serve/dispense/store files on a 1 GbE network...; hence the popularity of the little 2-4 bay NAS solutions by Buffalo, QNAP, Synology, etc...

If wanting to build your own, I'd think even a i3-6100 or 8100, or 2200G on appropriate mITX board would be plenty. (You can choose between FreeNAS, OpenMediaVault, Rockstor or many Linux variants to roll your own)

Although any computer you are willing to leave on could easily have a network share for the family to store files on with effectively only the expense of the drives.

 

[BlueFireAngel777]

"Although any computer you are willing to leave on could easily have a network share for the family to store files on with effectively only the expense of the drives. "

This is more of the direction I was going. A NAS solution isn't what I was going for at the moment. I'd prefer a solution that can surf the web or handle other office tasks (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) as well as hold data accessible for use by other machines in other locations.
Based on the feedback so far, it seems that it really doesn't matter because the workload I'd have on the machine isn't likely to tax even a relatively low end i3.
Thanks for all of the responses!

 

[hftvhftv]

"Although any computer you are willing to leave on could easily have a network share for the family to store files on with effectively only the expense of the drives. "

This is more of the direction I was going. A NAS solution isn't what I was going for at the moment. I'd prefer a solution that can surf the web or handle other office tasks (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) as well as hold data accessible for use by other machines in other locations.
Based on the feedback so far, it seems that it really doesn't matter because the workload I'd have on the machine isn't likely to tax even a relatively low end i3.
Thanks for all of the responses!

An i3 9100/8100 perform the same or better than a 6th or 7th gen i5, would definitely recommend for an office PC. If Zen 2 chips had iGpus then it'd be a different story.