Home Media + Game Server + Home Security display

[HK-77]

Hello LTT community,

I would like to build a home server for LAN use. I am a bit overwhelmed by all the home-server-related words out there and not sure what I need or don't need. (freeNAS, Unraid, proxmox etc.)

From my understanding I can run all of what I want on a standard Windows 10 installation and don't need virtual machines... but I'd welcome your expertise.

Server/Desktop
Budget (including currency): US$700-$2000

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 
Simultaneously using/accessing: 
1. Plex for streaming to 2-4 devices

2. private MMO server (2 local connections)
3. Calibre ebook library (rarely used)
4. General file storage/backup.
5. Displaying several security cameras to one or two monitors (LAN connection with a Camect device)

Stressing LAN only. No internet use to be used except for updating software. 
 

Other details: 

I know how to build a gaming PC. No clue what is appropriate for this kind of setup. 
I have all peripherals on hand.
Welcome suggestions on cases, routers and network equipment.

Would like to get from a combination of Newegg or Amazon, could do a little eBay.

Thank you.
 

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

From my understanding I can run all of what I want on a standard Windows 10 installation and don't need virtual machines... but I'd welcome your expertise.

You can, but id run vms as it makes it easier to manage and backup

 

4 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

. General file storage/backup.
5. Displaying several security cameras to one or two monitors (LAN connection with a Camect device)

How much storage do you need for this?

 

How about something like this

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GQyMYg

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($164.99 @ Best Buy) 
Motherboard: ASRock B460M Steel Legend Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($117.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($139.63 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($123.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1056.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-04-10 20:31 EDT-0400

 

Add more drives if needed. Cpu should be enough for that use, but depends on exact needs.

[HK-77]

14 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can, but id run vms as it makes it easier to manage and backup

Ok, what do you suggest for doing that? Links to setup guides and explanations also OK instead of an answer.
 

14 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

How much storage do you need for this?

 I am fine doing the research on size requirements later, but what drive type for that? same NAS?

 

14 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

 

How about something like this

RAM?
Would there be any reason to wait for any Ryzen with graphics CPUs if I'm not in a hurry to get this built?



 

[Electronics Wizardy]

17 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

Ok, what do you suggest for doing that? Links to setup guides and explanations also OK instead of an answer. Or if you want a 

Id probably use proxmox here for the hypervisor, but any hypervisor will work.

 

Then make a vm for each task. Then you can easily backup the vm, and make snapshots and roll them back. And if you mess up in a vm, it only breaks one service, not the whole sys

 

18 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

 I am fine doing the research on size requirements later, but what drive type for that? same NAS?

 

Yea you had general file store. IDK how much you want to store, so get the amount of drives you need for that.

 

18 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

RAM?
Would there be any reason to wait for any Ryzen with graphics CPUs if I'm not in a hurry to get this built?
 

Oh yea, you need ram, id probalby go 64gb if you can ,but 32gb is fine.

 

I wouldn't go amd unless its cheaper here. The intel igpu has a better hardware encoder if you want to use it. At least for the zen 2 based apus. The intel apus are a pretty good deal now.

[HK-77]

13 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

 

I wouldn't go amd unless its cheaper here. The intel igpu has a better hardware encoder if you want to use it. At least for the zen 2 based apus. The intel apus are a pretty good deal now.

Hardware encoding is not something I'm familiar with I gather it's part of Plex streaming to a TV? How does the encoding impact other tasks or display?

Any reason to not spend another $20-30 on the B560 steel legend? I understand It would not benefit the CPU but any benefit to RAM frequency? What frequency am I shooting for?

Would it be worth going to a 10600k and a quadro card for encoding so that the CPU can focus more on tasks and the card can do dedicated encoding? 

With such a card, I assume the display is still coming from the APU but the GPU does encoding over the network?

[Electronics Wizardy]

53 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

Any reason to not spend another $20-30 on the B560 steel legend? I understand It would not benefit the CPU but any benefit to RAM frequency? What frequency am I shooting for?

You probably won't be speed limited for fam here, but yea might as well spend the extra.

 

53 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

Hardware encoding is not something I'm familiar with I gather it's part of Plex streaming to a TV? How does the encoding impact other tasks or display?

Plex will encode some streams so codecs are compatible(like for older h.264 only devices) or for lower res playback. This can be done on cpu, or gpu with hardware(needs plex pass).

 

54 minutes ago, HK-77 said:

Would it be worth going to a 10600k and a quadro card for encoding so that the CPU can focus more on tasks and the card can do dedicated encoding? 

I wouldn't bother, the hardware encoder on the cpu is a seperate part of the chip, it won't affect performance of other tasks, and is doing nothing if you don't use it.

[HK-77]

deleted

[HK-77]

Would you be willing to provide a little tech support for me get the VMs set up once I get the hardware put together in about 10 days?

Will $ tip