15-24 3.5 inch HDD NAS / Plex server / encoder

[vallan16]

Budget (including currency): CND $3500

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Plex Media server + home assistant+ encoding 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I plan to use some old gear like my gtx1080 and 32 GB ddr4 2666 cl16 ram, will need a mobo and cpu but looking at ryzen 5900 territory for dealing with multiple Plex streams (think 4x 4k60fps or more).  Would also possibly host extra steam games when going to remote offline work sites for 6 months at a time doesn't have to be easily portable and rack mount is easier to manage. 

 

Case is the biggest issue ATM. 

 

[NelizMastr]

32 Gigs is probably plenty if this is just going to be a server for Plex, HA and some other small bits and pieces. 

I'd recommend looking into Proxmox VE (PVE) as a general OS and build on top of that. 

 

The 1080 can be used for whenever transcoding is needed, just need to run an unlock script so it can do unlimited streams until it reaches 100%, otherwise a consumer card is limited to 1 or 2 streams iirc. 

 

Your biggest issue will indeed be a case that can hold 15-24 drives. I'd personally look for less higher capacity drives to get to the capacity you need. It's better (and usually about the same price) to use i.e. 4x16TB drives versus 8x8TB drives. Less drives means less power and less chance for a disk to go wrong during a rebuild. Especially when the system is actually being moved, less drives is better. You'll also need a beefy PSU for all those spinners. 

 

What kind of capacity are you aiming for? Any particular resilience or performance requirements?

[Dedayog]

No offense, but paying that much for "acquired" shows and music is a bit much no?

 

Pay for Netflix/Amazon.  Done.

 

Though I do like the idea of building it, just not paying for it.  

 

@NelizMastr has a good take on it.

 

 

[mariushm]

For case, you could get a couple of these : https://www.ebay.com/itm/304839931593

 

You get 12 3.5" bays  and 2 2.5" bays at the back, and you also get 2  1200w power supplies for redundancy.  If you consider the psus, it's actually a very good deal.

 

There's enough space for a regular motherboard and a 16 port sas controller or a couple 8 port sas controllers.

 

If you want something new, newegg has some decently priced Rosewill cases, like this $230 one with 15 3.5" bays : Rosewill RSV-L4500U 4U Server Chassis Rackmount Case | 15 3.5" HDD Bays | E-ATX Compatible | 6 Front 120mm Fans, 2 Rear 80mm Fans | USB 3.0, USB 2.0 | Front Panel Lock and Key | Silver/Black - Newegg.com

 

 

 

[vallan16]

Yeah the issue is limited data at remote work sites ie satellite internet that's capped at 5gb a month so not much streaming ability.  The 32gb ram is due already having it on hand from a repair job I did a few years ago.  Thank you everyone for the suggestions, and yeah high capacity drives are the plan as the currently in use ones die

[dogwitch]

15 hours ago, Dedayog said:

No offense, but paying that much for "acquired" shows and music is a bit much no?

 

Pay for Netflix/Amazon.  Done.

 

Though I do like the idea of building it, just not paying for it.  

 

@NelizMastr has a good take on it.

 

 

due to storm and such where i live in the usa.

it worth the cost when power goes out.(o battery back up) shoving content on to tablets.