Building a PC to replace a NAS

[kisserik93]

Hi everyone!

Currently, I use a NAS for the following tasks:

• Running a torrent client
• Running a Plex or Emby media server
• Storing photos and videos
• Running Home Assistant

Since Synology is getting expensive, especially with their own HDD/SSD requirements, I'm considering building a small PC that can fulfill all my needs 24/7 with reasonable power consumption.

Since it will run nonstop, please keep power usage in mind when recommending hardware.

There might also be some 4K movie transcoding involved, so please consider that in your suggestions.

Windows will most likely be the operating system.
It would be great if I could upgrade the PC later if the hardware ever turns out to be insufficient.

What do you think—is this a good idea, or should I just stick with a NAS instead?
Thank you very much!

 

[SpellowHouse]

I've done that.
I bought a used low power CPU. A 12400T.
It works as a NAS and a Media Server and without a graphics card it can happily drive a 4K Tv too.
I think it's very difficult to justify a shop bought NAS these days.

 

[hornetstinger]

If you Synology Nas does everything you need then why change it?

Unless the new firmware locks you into their own overpriced drives?

Have Synology ds418 does everything I need two spare bays, quad core 2gb...but my use is storage, some torrent and that's about it. No media services

 

[*Chris]

I was contemplating getting one of those old Optiplex SFFs / Elitedesks to do something similar.

 

[Pulseammo]

I picked up an HP 290 G2 about a year ago, it was an ex-office pc and quite cheap, it came with a 256gb nvme drive which was adequate for the base OS and VMs, all I've added hardware wise was hard drives for NAS storage and ram to 32gb. The cpu is an 8500. The system isn't particularly upgradable but it'll happily do 3 sata drives. I use it for most of the things you want, proxmox and then under that TrueNAS, Jellyfin, Immich (photos & videos), vaultwarden etc.

If I had more budget I'd be trying to put together some intel 12th gen rig so that I could increase the RAM. Extra cores might be nice too.

 

[Tetras]

Since Synology is getting expensive, especially with their own HDD/SSD requirements, I'm considering building a small PC that can fulfill all my needs 24/7 with reasonable power consumption.

How many SSDs/HDDs do you plan to run? It makes picking the parts tricky.

I've gone with a full-size board and case just because it gives you plenty of M.2 slots, SATA ports and drive bays that can support 3.5 or 2.5.

Important: if you buy this build, the CPU must be the 14400, NOT the 14400F (no graphics).

I'd suggest having a look at Fractal's Node and Pop cases if you need lots of bays.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-14400F (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-02972) = £128.99
• 1 x Intel Gamers Days - Battlefield 6 Bundle (SKU: DIG-INT-06117) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BU-GI) = £129.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast 16GB (2x8GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-29M-KS) = £47.00
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x Jonsbo C5 - Black/window Midi Tower Case (SKU: CA-00A-JB) = £59.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Thermalright Assassin X 120 R Digital Black CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-04203) = £14.99

Total: £527.84 (includes delivery: £11.98)​