RAID10 Mini-ITX Media Storage Server

[Nocte]

Hello,

 

I have been planning to build something like this for a year now and I might actually do it soon enough. Even with new generations, the price of the part-list has been more or less stable (since dual cores always average the same price regardless of gen), so I wouldn't mind collecting some feedback now even if I end up building it in the 2nd half of 2019.

 

I would like to use the machine to host movies, pictures, etc. on it and also be able to view said movies/media files in streaming from it. I heard that it is best to have 1GB per TB of data, but I am really tight on money (this is already more expensive than I'd like since I wouldn't mind getting a 2070/Navi GPU for my main rig soon too). I would probably be running a Linux distro like Debian or Ubuntu Server (never really used Ubuntu, always stuck with other distros) - I might even consider Win10. I'm still not sure what software I would be using, but Plex seems like the new trend so I might give that a shot.

 

Would this machine be able to do the tasks I mentioned above? Could I make it any cheaper without sacrificing too much quality?

I would have used a cheap Ryzen 2200G for quad-core, but there are no AM4 motherboards with 5 or more sata ports (and those with M.2 slots usually disable a sata port when populated), and I want 4 drives in RAID 10 (+ OS drive). I considered to go with drives of 2TB but the price difference is not that high when only considering drives with long-term warranty (5 years, 2 years is too low for tasks like these imo). I really want the machine to be small, and mATX are usually too big already.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Celeron G4900 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Processor	€58.00 @ Amazon Italia
CPU Cooler	CRYORIG - C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler	Purchased For €0.00
Motherboard	ASRock - H370M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	€105.27 @ Amazon Italia
Memory	Crucial - 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	€44.98 @ Amazon Italia
Storage	Crucial - BX500 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	€21.98 @ Amazon Italia
Storage	Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	€171.10 @ Amazon Italia
Storage	Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	€171.10 @ Amazon Italia
Storage	Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	€171.10 @ Amazon Italia
Storage	Seagate - BarraCuda Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	€171.10 @ Amazon Italia
Case	BitFenix - Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case	€85.90 @ Amazon Italia
Power Supply	be quiet! - Pure Power 11 350 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	€54.90 @ Amazon Italia
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€1055.43
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-29 02:00 CET+0100

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

57 minutes ago, Nocte said:

I heard that it is best to have 1GB per TB of data,

This is kinda bs, esp with home use where your mostly doing sequentical access and limited by network anyways.

 

57 minutes ago, Nocte said:

Would this machine be able to do the tasks I mentioned above? Could I make it any cheaper without sacrificing too much quality?

Should work fine here. Don't expect much plex transcoding if you want that.

 

If you want transcoding, id get a atom based system, like this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157728

 

Even less power, and should work for all your needs.

 

 

59 minutes ago, Nocte said:

and I want 4 drives in RAID 10 (+ OS drive). I

Why do you want raid 10? Id go raid 5 here. You don't need the extra speed as your limited by network anyways.

 

1 hour ago, Nocte said:

5 years, 2 years is too low for tasks like these imo).

I wouldn't worry about warranty that much. Your just getting the drive replaced, no data back(thats what the raid will do), and the failure rate between years 2 and 5 is pretty low anways. Your gonna save money getting cheap drives.

 

Id get these drives here. https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Desktop-Hard-Drive-WDBWLG0080HBK-NESN/dp/B07D5V2ZXD/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=8tb+external&qid=1553825222&s=gateway&sr=8-5

 

There 8tb, much cheaper per tb, and even with a higher failure rate, there still much cheaper. And 8tb lets you upgrade easier later on. Just take them out of there cases and plop them in.

 

 

[Nocte]

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

If you want transcoding, id get a atom based system, like this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157728

Do you think I would need transcoding? I'm aware of what transcoding does, just not sure when it is needed.

 

Is the Atom better than the Celeron because of the shaders? What if I added a GT 730 to the Celeron machine, would that help with transcoding?

 

The motherboard you linked only has 4 SATA ports unfortunately. I would need more than that.

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why do you want raid 10? Id go raid 5 here.

It was because one of the motherboards I was considering only supported 0, 1, and 10. I will go with 5 since this one supports it.

10 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I wouldn't worry about warranty that much. Your just getting the drive replaced, no data back(thats what the raid will do), and the failure rate between years 2 and 5 is pretty low anways. Your gonna save money getting cheap drives.

You do have a point, I will consider this then.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 hours ago, Nocte said:

Do you think I would need transcoding? I'm aware of what transcoding does, just not sure when it is needed.

 

what is the media(codec, resolution)? what are your clients?

 

You probalby don't need transcodiong if you have h264 footage and mostly pcs as clients. You can probably transcode 1 stream at once on either of these cpus.

 

3 hours ago, Nocte said:

Is the Atom better than the Celeron because of the shaders? What if I added a GT 730 to the Celeron machine, would that help with transcoding?

you need plex pass to use any gpu at all, I personally wouldn't bother with a gpu here.

 

 

3 hours ago, Nocte said:

It was because one of the motherboards I was considering only supported 0, 1, and 10. I will go with 5 since this one supports it.

Motherboard raid is crap, don't use it. You want software raid here, and you can run any level and other non raid pooling solutions here like unraid.

 

 

[Nocte]

7 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

what is the media(codec, resolution)? what are your clients?

For now most of the stuff is Blu-Ray in digital format. Most H264, very few H265. I will watch stuff mainly on my PC or Smart TV (probably via an external decoder).

Only one device at a time.

 

What OS would you use for Plex? If Linux instead of Win10 (likely because of the 8GB RAM), what distro?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, Nocte said:

For now most of the stuff is Blu-Ray in digital format. Most H264, very few H265. I will watch stuff mainly on my PC or Smart TV (probably via an external decoder).

Only one device at a time.

 

What OS would you use for Plex? If Linux instead of Win10 (likely because of the 8GB RAM), what distro?

You should be fine cpu wise then.

 

Id probabl y jsut run something like freeNAS on here. Easy to use, good web interface, easy to install plex.

 

Otherwise id run linux as I use it more and like it more, but windows it fine aswell.