Media server help

[Voelepater]

Hello, I am looking to build a small media server for running apps like Jellyfin and Immich as an alternative to subscription based cloud storage for pictures and videos. I do want it to have low power consumption and be quiet.

I have found the listed parts and wondered if this would be a good build or if there is something I can improve.

 

Mobo/CPU: ASRock N100DC-ITX ~140 euro

PSU: Generic 19V 90W power brick ~35 euro

RAM: 8GB DDR4 2133 Mhz ~free as I have this already

Main storage for OS: 250GB Kingston NV2 (NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 SSD) ~35 euro

Case: Inter-Tech MI-008 (Mini ITX case) ~40 euro

So total is around 250 euro.

 

As for storage, I plan on maybe getting some 2.5" HDD's, I now have one 1TB 2.5" HDD laying around. But I feel like I'm going to need more later. Also I might add a noctua fan to cool the N100 as I have seen it might throttle otherwise.

 

I would appreciate your input.

 

edit: I currently use a Raspberry Pi 4 with Docker, which is much cheaper but also less capable of course. I do wonder if this build would be a worthy upgrade tho?

 

 

[NikolakiH]

25 minutes ago, Voelepater said:

Hello, I am looking to build a small media server for running apps like Jellyfin and Immich as an alternative to subscription based cloud storage for pictures and videos. I do want it to have low power consumption and be quiet.

I have found the listed parts and wondered if this would be a good build or if there is something I can improve.

 

Mobo/CPU: ASRock N100DC-ITX ~140 euro

PSU: Generic 19V 90W power brick ~35 euro

RAM: 8GB DDR4 2133 Mhz ~free as I have this already

Main storage for OS: 250GB Kingston NV2 (NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 SSD) ~35 euro

Case: Inter-Tech MI-008 (Mini ITX case) ~40 euro

So total is around 250 euro.

 

As for storage, I plan on maybe getting some 2.5" HDD's, I now have one 1TB 2.5" HDD laying around. But I feel like I'm going to need more later. Also I might add a noctua fan to cool the N100 as I have seen it might throttle otherwise.

 

I would appreciate your input.

 

 

That's actually a really cool build. Are you going to run TrueNAS?

 

[Voelepater]

1 minute ago, NikolakiH said:

That's actually a really cool build. Are you going to run TrueNAS?

 

I'm actually a complete noob when it comes to this so I'm not sure yet still learning a lot..  my current build is a Raspberry Pi 4 just running RPI OS with Docker, but it struggled a bit sometimes, so I wanted to get something more powerful. Might have been good to mention that this is basically an upgrade from the Pi 4, and I'm not sure how large of an upgrade it will be and if it is worth it tbh.

[NikolakiH]

12 minutes ago, Voelepater said:

I'm actually a complete noob when it comes to this so I'm not sure yet still learning a lot..  my current build is a Raspberry Pi 4 just running RPI OS with Docker, but it struggled a bit sometimes, so I wanted to get something more powerful. Might have been good to mention that this is basically an upgrade from the Pi 4, and I'm not sure how large of an upgrade it will be and if it is worth it tbh.

Yeah the N100, while not super powerful, will noticeably outperform a Pi 4. TrueNAS Scale is a pretty beginner friendly setup, and a great way to add redundant storage to your setup, but it does like RAM.

 

[m9x3mos]

59 minutes ago, NikolakiH said:

Yeah the N100, while not super powerful, will noticeably outperform a Pi 4. TrueNAS Scale is a pretty beginner friendly setup, and a great way to add redundant storage to your setup, but it does like RAM.

 

8gb should be fine for basic home use. But yeah, more is better for cache. 16 is recommended. 

[Bersella AI]

This should be a decent setup to start with, although some concerns raised in my mind:

1. A generic DC power brick would not bring 12V or 5V power to all hard drives. Thankfully, this motherboard has a SATA power connector, shaped in PH2.0 with 4 pins, besides a native SATA port, as seen in Asrock's official website. Therefore, a SATA power cable designed for Industrial PCs should be grabbed. Also take in mind that such cables could power only up to two spinners.
2. A lower bandwidth of RAM would be inferior to higher ones in video transcoding, especially considering that only one RAM channel or slot is available on latest Intel N-series platforms.
3. Kingston NV2 would be inferior to even a tiny Optane SSD as a boot drive, due to the nature of QLC chips. However, it should be acceptable as this motherboard has only 1 M.2 port available.
4. Recent market of 2.5' spinners has been flooded with SMR-recorded models, and they would not offer a lot of storage as much as 3.5' ones. It depends on you anyway.

[Voelepater]

10 hours ago, Bersella AI said:

This should be a decent setup to start with, although some concerns raised in my mind:

1. A generic DC power brick would not bring 12V or 5V power to all hard drives. Thankfully, this motherboard has a SATA power connector, shaped in PH2.0 with 4 pins, besides a native SATA port, as seen in Asrock's official website. Therefore, a SATA power cable designed for Industrial PCs should be grabbed. Also take in mind that such cables could power only up to two spinners.
2. A lower bandwidth of RAM would be inferior to higher ones in video transcoding, especially considering that only one RAM channel or slot is available on latest Intel N-series platforms.
3. Kingston NV2 would be inferior to even a tiny Optane SSD as a boot drive, due to the nature of QLC chips. However, it should be acceptable as this motherboard has only 1 M.2 port available.
4. Recent market of 2.5' spinners has been flooded with SMR-recorded models, and they would not offer a lot of storage as much as 3.5' ones. It depends on you anyway.

Thanks for the info, this helps a lot

[m9x3mos]

4 hours ago, Voelepater said:

Thanks for the info, this helps a lot

If you want to use a regular power supply, something like this would also work. 

https://www.amazon.com/N5105-N6005-Demon-SATA3-0-I226-V/dp/B0BZ3DJF7J/ref=asc_df_B0BZ3DJF7J/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=674244411766&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11236277927203703382&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1025197&hvtargid=pla-2203384882973&psc=1&mcid=2160a9a6ff053818ab82431250056db4