Nas/Media Box mini or micro?

anemos101

anemos101

anemos101

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Joined
2 Oct 2010
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71
I wonder if you could help me with a build.

I'd like to build a Nas box with either freenas or whs. It will serve as the houses server streaming mkv to 3/4 computers probably 2 simultaneously.

  • Should I go for a mini or micro board? I would prefer a board with 6 sata ports for future upgrades.
  • With or without on-board wifi
  • Is there a good case with 6 internal hd bays and comes with a good power
    supply?
  • Which processor should I get a simple dual core or i3/i5?
  • Do I need a graphics card, I'd rather a onboard gpu but will this be enough to stream high-def over a network?

Hope you can help
 
If your main goal is media streaming then id stay away from WHS.
While its great if you dont have much data, once you start ripping your dvd and bd collection the data protection eats disk space fast.
You may want to check out unRAID if thats the case.

*Should I go for a mini or micro board? I would prefer a board with 6 sata ports for future upgrades.
Mini, you will be very very hard pressed to find a micro with more than 4 SATA ports.

*With or without on-board wifi
If you intended to be serving HD then you want wired gig lan.

*Is there a good case with 6 internal hd bays and comes with a good power supply?
Nope, but you can pick up a Corsair 430w for around 30 quid which is more then enough for a Server/NAS and then throw that in say an Antec 300.

*Which processor should I get a simple dual core or i3/i5?
Defiantly i3, they have very very low idle power usage, which is what it will spend 90% of its time doing.
Also consider the AMD Sempron 140 as its very lower power too and frankly you wont need anything more than that.

*Do I need a graphics card, I'd rather a onboard gpu but will this be enough to stream high-def over a network?
On board is fine as its just serving files.
 
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Thanks for that, I'll probably go for one of the newer Zotac boards since it has everything I need. Would Intel be a better way to go with the motherboards or is there no difference really?

Is unraid difficult to setup or is it as easy as freenas? Bearing in mind although I like to think I'm good at everything I'm probably a novice at networking.
 
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I've been having a look at boards, so far I've found either:

Zotac IONITX F-E / BGA 437 / GeForce 9400M / Mini ATX Motherboard or
Zotac H55ITX-A-E (Socket 1156) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard

I'm not sure if I should go for the ion built in or not, the passive heatings a great idea. Though I was thinking of going with the silverstone nt01 cooler since the i3 cooler would be loud.
 
I'd personally go with the i3.
It will idle at the same power as the Atom but will have more grunt when you need it.
Also the i3 board has 6 SATA ports. With a SATA card that would give you a possible 14 drives.
 
The Zotac H55 board is not energy efficient. SPCR did some comparisons and found that it was nowhere in the same league as the official intel boards. Just be aware.
 
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