eXtreme

Tanscoding probably, or as previously suggested I can precompress the videos before putting them on the nas So 95% of the time there will be only one stream. 1080p in my home, 720p from my girfriends home. No super quality / high bandwith stuff

OK, I understand, the Avoton boards from AsRock seem a good value proposition ECC, processor embedded.. I will keep an eye on them, because at the moment I have no rush to start this build I am also trying to get a feel on how much power (computational) is needed for such a machine? For example I heard that for Plex I would need a CPU with a passmark score of over 2000. Is this a good measure? or what should I be looking at when looking for a CPU for such a machine, in terms of raw power?

I've edited my comment after I saw your question. ECC is not a must, I won't have critical data on there (movies, photos, maybe some of my work) Critical data always has a backup, so a failure will not be catastrophic

I am from Romania (prices are a little higher than anywhere). But I travel frequently to Germany, so I can buy from amazon.de without problems The internet speeds here are one of the best in the world (1Gb or at worst 100Mb). Internet speed is not a problem. Regarding budget, I don't have something in mind. I can get an Avoton if that is what it takes to have a good experience. But I think that would be overkill and I don't want just to throw my money out the window. The main idea is to have a good experience I would like to have my data secure (a failure is not catastrophic but I would much prefer that not to happen)

I am primarily going to use it from home, but i will also use it from my girlfriends home (but she has a 720p TV), so I don't think it would be a big problem

These two choices seem a little outside of what I am willing to pay for this NAS. Can't I get a good experience with some less expensive hardware?

Thanks for the response @millerb415 Just wanted to mention that I don't see it as a priority (FreeNas forums seem to implode if you do not mention ECC) As for the other questions: 1. I never used Plex before. But from what I've read, that would be my use case. 2. It is going to be sending to my PC, Laptop, Smartphone, Tablet (I don't know if Chromecast can use it ... but I will see) usually these are all powerful devices in their categories (i7's for the pc and laptp, Pixel C tablet, Nexus 5 phone) 3. usually straming at 720p/1080p, I don't have many BluRay's ... so acceptable quality 4. 1 or 2 streams maximum.

Hello, This is my first post here, a long time follower, but please be gentile I want to build a NAS for home use, nothing very fancy, NAS + Plex and maybe some other experiments (maybe a git server or who knows what will cross my mind tomorrow) I never had such a dedicated machine (NAS or Plex machine) and I am not sure what are the hardware requirements. What I want: - FreeNas with ZFS - Plex - maybe other services/servers but nothing that should use a lot of resources - mITX motherboard with at least 6 SATA ports - LOW PRICE, LOW POWER and most important VERY LOW NOISE The idea is that I am the only one who uses it, from multiple devices so, it will not get hit very hard bay multiple users. What I figured out until now: Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Power supply: Corsair SF450 RAM: I can find RAM HDD: probably some WD Red What I don't know: motherboard + CPU??? I was thinking of: - an Intel Pentium G4400 + some mobo - or AMD Athlon 5370 + some mobo I like the small power consumption of the 5370 because this machine will run 24/7 but the intel platform seems a little more powerful. Another big problem is the number of SATA ports, most budget motherboards have 4 of them, I would rely like 6 or more. (maybe a PCI-E Sata card, but I don't know how that will behave with ZFS, FreeNas, never had something like this. If it is feasible I am willing to try) I like the Avoton boards, they seem to check all the right boxes but it is way too expensive for what I am willing to buy in this build. Also I saw a lot of talk of ECC RAM, I will be using normal RAM, the extra costs are not worth it in my opinion for what I am trying to do. a weekly backup should keep me safe. Can you suggest a CPU + Motherboard combo?? I am also open to embedded CPU motherboards, not necessary socket motherboard. Thank you!