Spec me a Media/File Server

FrankDaTank

FrankDaTank

FrankDaTank

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Joined
17 Feb 2010
Posts
236
Location
Newry
Hey guys! I am finally getting round to making a file server. Something I have wanted to do for ages, and hopefully give my networked laptop a rest as it is acting media server at the minute.

I really want to know if there is anything I should be looking out for when building it compared to a Home PC? I don't want to skimp on much, but as usual want it to be nice and cheap :)

Can you suggest a Mobo, CPU, RAM, PSU, Case and anything else you would recommend needed (dedicated lan card for better network performance?).

I have all the HDD's I need for files/OS, have a monitor and KB & M. Any particular OS you would recommend?

To give you an idea I have 4 HDD's - SATA that will be going into it, and it will be connected via ethernet to a SKY router, which then travels to another Netgear router I use as a switch/Wireless AP. The PC using the media is connected to this Netgear router via ethernet.

I intend to watch movies in HD too. 10-20GB file streaming. I am open to upgrading my Home Network setup if needed. Enough waffle from me.

To give an idea, I would like something around £150-£250 if possible.

Thanks as always and looking forward to your input.
 
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I run the following

Intel i5 4570T 35w dual core 2.9ghz
8gb Crucial Sport DDR3 1.35v 1600mhz
Asus MAXIMUS VI Gene z87
Corsair H100 water cooler
Samsung EVO 120gb SSD
3x Seagate NAS 4TB drives
Lian Li V358 case
Seasonic FANLESS 400w psu
Intel RS2SG244 raid card

Windows 7 licence I already had. Very quiet. Never seen it hotter than 30c. Sits beside my tv in the front room. Streams to my sons NUC, my TV, daughters laptop etc. Tad over kill. Plan was to add a GPU if I wanted to game on it. Never got round to it.
 
darknite said:
I run the following

Intel i5 4570T 35w dual core 2.9ghz
8gb Crucial Sport DDR3 1.35v 1600mhz
Asus MAXIMUS VI Gene z87
Corsair H100 water cooler
Samsung EVO 120gb SSD
3x Seagate NAS 4TB drives
Lian Li V358 case
Seasonic FANLESS 400w psu
Intel RS2SG244 raid card

Windows 7 licence I already had. Very quiet. Never seen it hotter than 30c. Sits beside my tv in the front room. Streams to my sons NUC, my TV, daughters laptop etc. Tad over kill. Plan was to add a GPU if I wanted to game on it. Never got round to it.
Click to expand...

Haha, just a tad overkill ;). I like it though

The solution I am looking for will hopefully be more minimal than that. As I said, I want to keep it low budget with out it affecting performance where possible. I would spend more on it but I am hoping to make a new gaming PC build soon also.

To give an idea, I would like something around £150-£250 if possible.
 
Do you need an actual server or would a nas do it? Something like the netgear readynas 4 bay £144

DNLA ready. Would stream for you.
 
i'm still looking for one that I can stream from as well as I want to set up home security with ip cams.
 
Any old stuff will do.

I run a E7200 cpu, 4gb ram, ATI 6450 card, on a P35 board. All stacked inside an old coolmaster case in my garage. 5 hard drives totalling 10gb.

Cost me about £120 for everything (minus the hard drives). 2nd hand from members market.

Is used as a XBMC to my home cinema room, file server, backup, media streamer to various logitech music streamers around the house. All runs fine, no hassle, no slow down etc when streaming 1080p and full DTS sound etc.

Runs windows 7 and I can remote access it from anywhere in the world.
 
Rig in sig.

It's an occasional gaming rig, but primarily a media server and VM server.

If you want something for home security...
Grab a R-Pi to use for remote viewing IP cameras, and use a NAs for media and file sharing.
 
The easiest way to do it would be to get a HP N54l microserver, about £120 on offer atm, and an ATi(AMD) 6450 half height G/card with a possible gigabit router. I suggest the TP link SG 1008d as I have one and it's not given me a problem since I've had it, cost me about £15 about 18 months ago and it's fit and forget.

You can put server 2012r2/windows 7 or 8 on it and anything you want from Serviio or Plex, or even run different OS's in VM's if that's you thing - although it's too much faffing about for my liking.
 
I don't like the idea of a NAS to be honest. I would rather have something I can remote onto and if necessary use as a backup PC in the off chance there's an issue with my main PC. @booyaka that sounds like my sort of rig... Also what is this members market you speak of? Need to follow up on that.

I will have to look into that hominid and see if it fits my needs. That router sounds good too. I think an older setup would be good. As long as it has at least 6 sata on the MOBO to give me room to expand if needed. I dont know if this is the right thread for you jas72 if you have other needs...
 
I've got something *similar* to this (albeit with socket 1155 stuff)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte B85M-DS3H Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £53.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Module (TED34GM1333C901) £29.99
1 x Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £29.99
Total : £113.96 (includes shipping : ).




This appears to be the cheapest Intel board with 6x SATA ports, if you only want/need 4, then you can get any of the cheaper boards.

I've got mine running with Windows Home Server 2011, and using StableBit DrivePool to provide me with a single storage pool with all of my drives - gives me a single, easily expandable (and shrinkable) storage area, where I don't need to manage my folder sizes at all, and I can enable duplication across multiple disks on a *per folder* basis, meaning I only duplicate data that I really *need* duplicating to guard against disk failure (such as documents & photos), and I don't waste disk space duplicating things that can be replaced (music/videos etc)

I know you asked for recommendations on case/power supply - well, I went for the cheapest case OcUK sells with an in-built 500W power supply, and it's been going for 3 years now without any hiccups, so case/power supply are up to you, both down to looks and cost.
 
If I was to try build my own little server, want it for LABS/NAS/backup ect, what would you guys recommend? I did look at those HP microservers but I kinda want something with abit more grunt.
 
 
That's not a bad spec, but what would you need the extra grunt for?

One thing to consider is the running cost, which is one of the reasons i am moving my data storage from the rig in sig to a low power box.

Have you looked at the 8th Gen microserver?
They're fairly grunty.
 
What are you intending to use it for beyond your original post? If nothing, then the N54L is perfect and has enough power for you. If more, then a few more details would be helpful :).
 
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