mealto

So who else runs NAS drives on their desktops?

I thought so too until I saw this: 
 
 
But it's quite funny how PC dudes used to make fun of Apple dudes for buying into looks rather than performance. Many people want windowed cases and RGB these days lol

Nothing has changed even from the Pentium 90 days. Not everyone wants to build a PC no matter how easy it is. 
 
Not everyone likes to buy a branded PC no matter if it's cheaper than a pre-built. 
 
Branded PCs are often lower costing than a pre-built as the clientele could careless about a high end GPU or power supply. If you cannot accept this, then so be it. If you are someone ready to buy a pre-built and you found a good deal, know that there are many businesses and end users who are more than completely happy with their pre-built system. And if you have the budget, getting the 3yr fully covered warranty could save you and your company a ton of hassle. If something breaks, a tech is at your door in 24 hours to fix it. 
 
For those who want a pre-built but don't want to build it yourself, a retailer like NCiX charges a reasonable $50 to build it for you and will do a much better job than most builders here. They have a team of people who build PCs all day long.
 
And for the people who keep going back to finding a low cost or free version of Windows, go back and play games in your parent's basement.

Whether it extends the life of the CPU, having run at lower temps means lower fan speed and less noise. That in itself is a good point to drop temps. 

What about the MSI Z270-A Pro. No extra frills and below your budget. 

It depends on the manufacturer and model. Sometimes, manufacturers change their ports from version to version. Just look at the photo of each unit.
 
For instance, here is an EVGA 1000W unit. You will see 3 SATA ports and 1 Perid (on the unit itself): https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/JBzZxr/evga-supernova-g3-1000w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-220-g3-1000
 
Now go to the specs and see how many SATA ports in total (on each strand of power supply cable).
 

For a rig with this many harddrive bays, be sure to get a power supply with at least 3 sata power ports and even a perif connection that your can adapt molex to sata. With how large this case is and with water cooling and fan header controllers, just make sure youn have enough sata power ports as the ssd's can be installed behind the motherboard and that takes up 1 strand of sata power cable. 

For at least 4-5 minimum harddrives, most newer cases will be out of the question. I would recommend the slightly aged but still one of the best Fractal Define R5. Check it out. 

It's ok to want to maximize your purchase but many content creators are making a full time living with lower spec'ed gear. The phrase that content creators should buy Ryzen is mis-leading. There are many Core i5 business owners who create content and are able to sustain a full time income. Pick something within your price range and focus on your business, not the tech. 

Yes, keep using your SSD and HDD as you need it. As @Gronnie suggets, install Samsung Magician and monitor the health of your SSD. In fact, a good practice is to have Windows load CrystalDiskInfo every time it boots up. CrystalDisk right away shows problems with SMART info and will give you a heads up if it detects any problem. It's a free program.
 
BUT, the most important thing to do is to keep a good backup of your files. SSD or HDD, drives will die, either after the manufacturer's suggested life span or even way before. Keep a good backup system and you won't even need to worry about losing a harddrive.

Love how all the single guys and teenagers are crying fowl because a member's wife wants an iMac. lol
 
1. To the OP, whatever you get, make sure it has an SSD. This will make the purchase much more worthwhile, and should make it more enjoyable to use in the long run, even if it's just for casual tasks.
 
2. Also love the hate for mac because the reason is you are mainly paying for coolness and looks. You mean like how recent PC parts and cases are priced higher because it changes colours and every kid on the block is willing to pay for it? lol
 
People, stop giving bad advice to this guy that is going to get him in trouble with the wifey lol

Love how all the single guys and teenagers are crying fowl because a member's wife wants an iMac. lol
 
1. To the OP, whatever you get, make sure it has an SSD. This will make the purchase much more worthwhile, and should make it more enjoyable to use in the long run, even if it's just for casual tasks.
 
2. Also love the hate for mac because the reason is you are mainly paying for coolness and looks. You mean like how recent PC parts and cases are priced higher because it changes colours and every kid on the block is willing to pay for it? lol
 
People, stop giving bad advice to this guy that is going to get him in trouble with the wifey lol

Love how all the single guys and teenagers are crying fowl because a member's wife wants an iMac. lol
 
1. To the OP, whatever you get, make sure it has an SSD. This will make the purchase much more worthwhile, and should make it more enjoyable to use in the long run, even if it's just for casual tasks.
 
2. Also love the hate for mac because the reason is you are mainly paying for coolness and looks. You mean like how recent PC parts and cases are priced higher because it changes colours and every kid on the block is willing to pay for it? lol
 
People, stop giving bad advice to this guy that is going to get him in trouble with the wifey lol

Look into Crashplan. They offer a free app can do remote backups. It's only paid once you start using their online storage. Crashplan has a feature where you can backup to a remote computer as long as it has Crashplan on it as well.

Look into Crashplan. They offer a free app can do remote backups. It's only paid once you start using their online storage. Crashplan has a feature where you can backup to a remote computer as long as it has Crashplan on it as well.

Isolation for less interference I believe. Hey, i appreiate you taking the time to post the image. Thankd again. 

Cool. Is that the outline for where they "separated" the audio portion of the MB? 

I would caution against installing Windows with the 2nd HDD attached. I am not sure how Win 10 works but in Win 7 if additional HDD's were plugged in during an install, all drives would get setup (boot sector) with Windows. If you pull the 2nd drive out in the future, Windows stops to boot until you fix the issue using a Repair disc.
 
I suggest installing SSD only, install Windows, get that up and running, then add an HDD.

I love this old rig. It's still running a Q6600 (with new thermal paste), 4 HHD's of various sizes and age, a low end GT video card and a new power supply + battery. Even with 4 GB of RAM, this thing is pretty speedy for business use. Even for Premiere Pro editing, it works. Not super fast but it works.
 
Who needs new gear! lol

No worries mate. I wish I had 8GB to throw in this rig. It's not easy trying to find 4x2GB PC2-5300 ram these days. And the people who have them wants an arm and a leg for them.
 
Yes, without being able to offload realtime rendering to the Mercury Engine, even the newest rig would have trouble handling 1080 60p content in Premiere Pro.

It still amazes me how well Win 7 works. It's like a soup'ed up Win XP machine lol. New kids these days want the biggest and baddest. There are quite a few of these business rigs in use still (with new HDD and cleaning) and it's doing their job well. Business is much different than the kid who wants the newest and fastest rig so they can show off the low temps

If you love bass and have a sub that can be pushed a bit, you have to download the Ultimate Bass demo files: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1412846/the-ultimate-bass-demo-disc
 
Be careful, start off soft or you may blow a sub on some of these scenes. Flight of the Phoenix is a hoot.

These are not music files. They are movie files. If your sub can handle it, some of these scenes will flex drywall so be careful.
 
Funny how users who spend uber money on expensive amps and speakers who try and get the best sound stage and high fidelity are called audiophiles and guys who want the same for bass are called bass heads lol

Given that most users here are tech and PC savvy, thought I would start my first post with some tips for putting together a home theater.
 
Home theaters mean different things to different people. Some may only consider it a true home theater when there is a 120 inch projector screen and $10K worth of equipment to shake the house, crack drywall and flex the concrete in your foundation. These days, it's not unheard of to enjoy a very modest set up in your living room for games, movies, music and even cable TV. Let's get started.
 
IMPORTANT: Most people think home theaters mean high quality sound and audio. As someone who has been a long time hobbyist in the audio / video arena, I tend to associate home theater with a fun experience... for you and whoever gets to come and enjoy your setup.
 
Given that we are looking to achieve a fun experience, here is what I would do if I was to start to build a modest home theater.
 
Look to slowly add to your gear over time. Unless you have a big enough budget to pick up all your gear right away. A home theater for movies, music and gaming, you will need a TV - personally, I stay away from 3D TV's as I don't enjoy it You will need an A/V receiver to power your speakers, accept all input (probably HDMI these days) and send video signal to TV. Most of the brand names like Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer will do a similar job in the entry to mid level price range. I prefer Denon as I know their audio calibration system, audyssey, does a good job right out of the box. If budget allows, I would start with a 5.1 setup ie. 5 speakers and 1 sub. If not, consider saving up enough for 2.1 (2 speakers + sub). Contrary to popular belief, 2.1 almost always beats out on 3 speakers for a starter system Most people think floor standing speakers are better than bookshelves. This may or may not be true. A $500 pair of Paradigms may sound better than a $700-$900 pair of floor standing speakers (less the bass). But don't let the "less bass" fool you. That is where you .1 comes in. You want a good sub so your can dial your A/V receiver to dish out all low end bass to your sub. More on this later. Center channel and sub woofer are the 2 most important speakers in your set up. Speaker brands sound different to different people. Some may prefer the warmer / more neutral sound of Paradigms and others may prefer the crips high and sound stage of Klipsche horn speakers. Go listen and compare how you like each brand versus the price you have to pay. Stay away from home theater in a box where possible. More often than not, most people with this will end up spending more money to upgrade at a later date. Speakers is where you should spend most of your budget. Computers, servers, electronics, A/V receivers have a short life cycle when compared to a good set of speakers. Most home theater buffs will keep their good speakers for 10+ years and still enjoy them after that. Save up as much money as possible for the sub. To enjoy movies and booming music with the family once a month, a $500 sub will be fun. To enjoy moves often, really feel the pipe organ rumble your sofa, you will need to spend $1000 (in Canada, less from the US). Unless you follow a specific retailer where they blow out a particular Klipsch sub for $299 but this is not the norm. To scare your house mates or family when they are not in the same room, and to feel the sub-sonic (not hear) frequencies between 10-20 Hz, you will need to spend $1500-$2000 (Canada and US). Beyond that, most enthusiast will run dual subs to even out the frequency response in a room. And anyone who runs more than 2 subs are just bass heads... we have love for you too! Funny how users who spend an enormous amount of money to get high fidelity music are called audiophiles where users who spend crazy money to feel sub sonic bass (less than 20 HZ) are called bass heads. Once you have a good sub, you should crossover on your receiver to 80Hz. This will send the bass from your speakers to your sub. Even if you have floor standing, you may want to consider this. It will free up your receiver power to push clean power to your speakers and let the sub do the heavy lifting. It is VERY taxing on a receiver to output 60Hz of bass to your speakers. The biggest take away is that the home theater should be fun. The more money you spend, normally the better the quality of gear and the more fun you will have. But, there is a diminishing rate of return. You will see a huge jump in fun factor from a $500 system to a $1000 system. Then another from $1000 to $2000. Then from $2000 - $3000. Anything beyond this, you are probably a hobbyist already.
 
Don't worry about needing $2K - $3K to build your theater. This is NOT a PC build where you need all the up front money now. Most users build their theaters over time.
 
This is off the top of my head. If you have any questions, just ask on this thread. Or, if you are a super enthusiast looking to re-model your basement to build a large scale home theater, still ask. If I can help, I will. If you want to see pics of how people crack their stairs and drywall from running 8+ subs in the theaters, then search that on the Internet
 
Edit: Thanks to @knight_40k for taking the time to write up some good tips. Initially, I was going to merge our posts but I have not heard back from our admins as to how I can edit his post. In addition, setting up a home theater is often times not black or white. In the hopes of helping as many people as possible, I have decided to not merge any tips provided in this thread. It's already clear that suggestions may differ and we should respect and debate the issues at hand. I see lots of good advice here already. keep them coming.

No worries mate. I wish I had 8GB to throw in this rig. It's not easy trying to find 4x2GB PC2-5300 ram these days. And the people who have them wants an arm and a leg for them.
 
Yes, without being able to offload realtime rendering to the Mercury Engine, even the newest rig would have trouble handling 1080 60p content in Premiere Pro.