I'm looking to build a server that can store a lot of data, and service media directly to my PC. I don't see the point of running a separate NAS server, really. I've figured most of it out already, but I still need some advice. First, the requirements:
- Has to be energy efficient and silent. This is big, because it'll be placed in the living room next to the TV and will only sporadically be turned off.
- Has to hold at least 7 hard drives. One to boot off of, 3 for storage, 3 for backup. Yes, I need 6 terabytes of space and data redundancy is important. I'm not sure whether I want to run a RAID 5 unit instead of using backups, but I care more about redundancy than saving a little money, and hard drives are ridiculously cheap anyway.
- Has to be able to stream 1080p video smoothly.
- HDMI output would be preferred over DVI and S/PDIF. If it's DVI and S/PDIF it has to be coax S/PDIF. Stereo output only so multichannel performance is not a concern.
- Has to be a vertical case, not one of those horizontal media PC cases. Not that there are any that can hold 7 hard drives
- No need to game on it, so no need to splash on expensive video cards.
- Price isn't a huge issue, but no need to go overboard.
So, with all that in mind, I figured out the following:
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 - big, silent and relatively cheap for its features. Cheaper alternatives would be better, but this'll do.
Power Supply: Seasonic S12II 520W - Quiet, plenty powerful and fairly cheap
Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3 - Solid board, 6 SATA/600 connections are the main reasons why I'd go for this one. The on-board GPU should suffice, but it's easy to add one if it doesn't.
CPU: AMD Ahtlon II X2 - cheap and sufficient for what I want.
CPU-Cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken - not as unwieldy as the Mugen, cools well and very silent. I'm not going to be overclocking, so sound production is the most relevant issue here.
RAM: One stick of cheap-ass Kingston 2GB RAM. I don't need high performance so whatever.
Hard Drives: one old hard drive I have lying around to install the OS on. 4 2TB Samsung EcoGreen 5400rpm hard drives for storage, for now. To be expanded to 6 in the future, but I'll need an extra hard drive controller for that.
Total cost: about 450 euros. Not too shabby, but I have a feeling this can be done cheaper. Any thoughts?
- Has to be energy efficient and silent. This is big, because it'll be placed in the living room next to the TV and will only sporadically be turned off.
- Has to hold at least 7 hard drives. One to boot off of, 3 for storage, 3 for backup. Yes, I need 6 terabytes of space and data redundancy is important. I'm not sure whether I want to run a RAID 5 unit instead of using backups, but I care more about redundancy than saving a little money, and hard drives are ridiculously cheap anyway.
- Has to be able to stream 1080p video smoothly.
- HDMI output would be preferred over DVI and S/PDIF. If it's DVI and S/PDIF it has to be coax S/PDIF. Stereo output only so multichannel performance is not a concern.
- Has to be a vertical case, not one of those horizontal media PC cases. Not that there are any that can hold 7 hard drives
- No need to game on it, so no need to splash on expensive video cards.
- Price isn't a huge issue, but no need to go overboard.
So, with all that in mind, I figured out the following:
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 - big, silent and relatively cheap for its features. Cheaper alternatives would be better, but this'll do.
Power Supply: Seasonic S12II 520W - Quiet, plenty powerful and fairly cheap
Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-M/USB3 - Solid board, 6 SATA/600 connections are the main reasons why I'd go for this one. The on-board GPU should suffice, but it's easy to add one if it doesn't.
CPU: AMD Ahtlon II X2 - cheap and sufficient for what I want.
CPU-Cooler: Scythe Big Shuriken - not as unwieldy as the Mugen, cools well and very silent. I'm not going to be overclocking, so sound production is the most relevant issue here.
RAM: One stick of cheap-ass Kingston 2GB RAM. I don't need high performance so whatever.
Hard Drives: one old hard drive I have lying around to install the OS on. 4 2TB Samsung EcoGreen 5400rpm hard drives for storage, for now. To be expanded to 6 in the future, but I'll need an extra hard drive controller for that.
Total cost: about 450 euros. Not too shabby, but I have a feeling this can be done cheaper. Any thoughts?
