Cheap used components build for a NAS?

[Hendricks3]

i was looking to build a NAS on the cheap preferable with used components. Or any recommendations yall might have would be greatly appreciate it. Mainly for storage, backups, archives for video editing and a plex server

[aggie113]

If you have the time to wait around, I'd suggest checking eBay for used NAS boxes.  My current 12 bay Synology 3617xs cost me $350.  Now that good a deal isn't frequent, but they do come along.  If you want to build your own then start with a used server box (again on eBay).  Try to find one that can house the number of drives you want, and then if you don't mind used, you can source used spinning hard drives from places that "refurbish" them.  I know every time I upgrade my NAS the cost of drives is the largest outlay.

[Dedayog]

27 minutes ago, Hendricks3 said:

i was looking to build a NAS on the cheap preferable with used components. Or any recommendations yall might have would be greatly appreciate it. Mainly for storage, backups, archives for video editing and a plex server

I first built my Plex/NAS with a b350, Ryzen 1600, 8GB RAM and a 1050Ti.  Worked great.  More than enough for Plex and file sharing.

[Hendricks3]

14 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

I first built my Plex/NAS with a b350, Ryzen 1600, 8GB RAM and a 1050Ti.  Worked great.  More than enough for Plex and file sharing.

was it fast enough for like video editing off of it?

 

[Hendricks3]

18 minutes ago, aggie113 said:

If you have the time to wait around, I'd suggest checking eBay for used NAS boxes.  My current 12 bay Synology 3617xs cost me $350.  Now that good a deal isn't frequent, but they do come along.  If you want to build your own then start with a used server box (again on eBay).  Try to find one that can house the number of drives you want, and then if you don't mind used, you can source used spinning hard drives from places that "refurbish" them.  I know every time I upgrade my NAS the cost of drives is the largest outlay.

hmm it is something to think about i guess

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 minutes ago, Hendricks3 said:

was it fast enough for like video editing off of it?

 

That should be more than plenty as its not doing any video work, just handing files over the network. Your gonna be network/disk limited here, not CPU.

 

If you want good video editing performance, you probably should get local ssds.

[Dedayog]

12 minutes ago, Hendricks3 said:

was it fast enough for like video editing off of it?

 

Yes, just make sure you have a connection that gives you the transfer speeds you need and all is good.  Wire that sucker in.

[Hendricks3]

13 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

That should be more than plenty as its not doing any video work, just handing files over the network. Your gonna be network/disk limited here, not CPU.

 

If you want good video editing performance, you probably should get local ssds.

hmm sounds enticing enough 

[Kilrah]

For Plex use better to favor Intel CPUs with iGPU, 7th gen and up. That supports everything you'd want.

[Hendricks3]

32 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

For Plex use better to favor Intel CPUs with iGPU, 7th gen and up. That supports everything you'd want.

wouldnt a dgpu be better tho?

[johnt]

7 minutes ago, Hendricks3 said:

wouldnt a dgpu be better tho?

Depends. Are you going to pay for Plex upfront? If yes, then yes a GPU will be helpful. Hardware transcoding is behind a paywall. If you are not going to pay for it upfront, then it's not worth getting a GPU for Plex. You also don't need hardware transcoding for content at native resolution. The only material my server has struggled with is AV1, and I'm not sure if a GPU would fix it.

 

I second @Kilrah, you would be nuts to build a NAS/server without integrated graphics. It's easy to add a dedicated card later if you need it. An integrated GPU also gives you the options of "relatively" smaller cases to start if you are going to go with 1 to 4 drives. You could even consider a Jonsbo box without a GPU.

[Kilrah]

No. Just draws lots of extra power and has artificial limitations like concurrent number of streams that the iGPU doesn't.

[Hendricks3]

Okay got it thanks peeps i appreciate you guys