Plex Server, File Server

[AMD Lover]

I want to move my plex server somewhere else, it also will be used for general files and might eventually become a Nvidia Game stream server. I've been looking at computers and some that I have ran across are.... Which one or something differnent would u pick (~450)

 

1. PowerEdge T110 II Tower Server $429-550 (Depending on parts, Core i3, 8GB RAM, 500GB HD)
2. Dell Optiplex 3020 - 3.4GHz Intel Core i3-4130, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD $350
3. Dell Inspiron 3847 i3-4130 4th Gen 3.40GHz 1TB-HDD 8GB-RAM Win8.1 $329
4. Dell Studio XPS 9100 Tower PC 2.8 GHz i7-930 CPU 8GB RAM 1TB HDD Blu-Ray $479
5. Dell XPS 730x Dell XPS 730x, Intel core i7-920 2.66 GHz quad core, 6 GB RAM, Geforce GTX 570 1280 MB, 250 GB SSD, 750 GB HDD $459

[Benjio]

I would just build your own. Save some money and/or get better components.

[ShadowCaptain]

Yep just build one

 

I suggest a nice sound proof case, I am using the Fractal Define mini as it has tons of drive bays and full of sound isolating foam!

 

Grab a decent intel board and CPU and away you go

[91Chris]

A Plex and file server doesn't need great specs. If I were you I would spend the money on the drives and buy a used mobo and cpu combo off ebay or something.

 

I have a FreeNas server that is used for storage and media serving. It runs a general cross platform file server, Plex server, TeamSpeak server, Transmission server, Time Machine server and within a Windows VM a barely used Arma 3 and Terraria server. It runs an i7 860s, 16GB of RAM and rarely exceeds 14% CPU usage. In fact the stats show that on average 99.79% of the CPU stays inactive! RAM is a different story though. On average only 1.1GB of RAM is inactive, but thats due to how the ZFS filesystem works. Depending on what OS you run your results may vary.

[Accidentx13]

I would suggest a case with great storage options if you where wanting a prebuilt or non prebuilt. Intel atom is more that enough, nothing to fancy. Network is the other main thing you need to focus on really e.g  dual nic or quad nic

[91Chris]

I would suggest a case with great storage options if you where wanting a prebuilt or non prebuilt. Intel atom is more that enough, nothing to fancy. Network is the other main thing you need to focus on really e.g  dual nic or quad nic

 

 

Yes. I forgot to mention that the NIC can be important if multiple devices are streaming media and backing up files etc at the same time. I store and serve completely uncompressed Blu Ray files (movies can easily exceed 30GB) so thats where the importance of a multi port NIC comes in. I run a dual gigabit intel NIC with link aggregation to my main network switch. This essential means that my server has a 2Gb connection to my network. This shouldn't concern you unless you experience "buffering" when streaming. If so you can pick up a dual or quad port NIC for nothing. Mine is an Intel one which cost only about £20.

[brob]

Just add some hdd and an optical if it is needed.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($75.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($38.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec NSK3180 MicroATX Mid Tower Case w/380W Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $364.62
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-22 21:26 EDT-0400