NAS/HTPC build

Badfish

Badfish

Badfish

Associate
Joined
12 Feb 2007
Posts
288
Hello,

I want to build a PC which will act as a NAS, Plex server (with transcoding), download/torrent server and TV media player which will connect to my TV with HDMI. So I came up with the list below so far, something fairly powerful as it has a lot to do, and something small (Fractal Node 304 case), but would like some help on deciding the PSU and cooler please.

Can someone please recommend a PSU and CPU cooler that will fit well and be very quiet?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,140.54
(includes shipping: £17.66)
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Thanks for the replies :) Indeed, the K series CPU is bit pointless, was a mistake on my side as I meant to choose the default i5 6600.

As for the M2 drive, indeed for a NAS its over the top, but I'll be swapping out my Samsung Evo from my gaming PC for the M2, and use the Samsung for the NAS. I didnt bother putting this in as its extra info I didnt think people would want to read so much ;)

Thanks for the PSU and cooler advice, looks good. The cooler is a bit large but hopefully will fit in that tiny case ok.
 
You could get a Q6600, board and 8GB RAM bundle for <£100.

It's what my HTPC runs on and is able to record 4 HD streams (DVB-T2) simultaneously, download from Usenet and transcode 2 Plex streams all at the same time. You don't need to spend all that money on a board and cpu.
 
The problem is Plex, I tried to run it on an i5 NUC, and for transcoding 1080 over the web it was pretty bad. So I would rather pay a bit more and have something great than go cheap and get something bad :) The motherboard is a bit overkill though I think, maybe I can find something cheaper.

I did look at QNAP, but after reading the reviews it put me off as Plex runs bad on it apparently.
 
Are you sure it was your upload bandwidth or Plex settings? I've only played short 1080 clips over the web and on a 5Mbs upload the playback was smooth.
 
I'm running a plex server with the following:

i5 4670k @ 4.2GHz
16GB 2400Mhz
250GB Evo 850
18TB of space

Your proposed spec will be very similar performance wise. I find that the extra processing power is useful for unzipping 40GB .rar files and multiple transcodes. If you have large uncompressed videos that need a full audio and video transcode then it hits the CPU hard which is where lesser processors fall over. You could get away with less power but if you can afford the extra power I see no reason not to. I reckon I am good for 4K transcodes as well, if I am not then I will stick in a 4790K.

One use case that the extra processing power comes in handy is if you have friends over and you have to download a movie ad-hoc. Nothing worse than your internet pulling it down at 39MB/sec and then the CPU taking 40 minutes unzip the file so you end up waiting an hour.
 
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fornowagain said:
A QNAP TS-253A NAS will do all of that, with 4K HDMI/transcoding for £280 (+disks)
Click to expand...

Not a hope if plex is trying to transcode 1080 media.

A very basic idea from Plex is 2000 passmark score per 1080 transcode. That NAS box CPU comes in at 1600.


Something based around a 4c/8t xeon would be my choice.

My Plex Media Player/Server has a 1270v2 in it. A bit overkill for some but the price was good at the time.
 
You know you don't have to transcode.. you can get media players (like a Pi or Nvidia shield for example) at each TV.
 
Thanks for the advice, tips, etc all. I decided to go for the items in my basket, and will swap those with the components in my gaming PC which is i5 4690, MSI Z97 ITX board, 16GB ram, etc. I'll use the Seasonic 400w FANLESS '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply for the NAS so it runs fairly efficient at least. And get to upgrade my gaming PC a bit at the same time! Its not a huge upgrade but I made a NAS/HTPC at the same time, so all good :)
 
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