New home server parts questions

[Z3R0C00L]

Hello everyone, 

 

I currently have a home server with the following specs:
CPU: AMD FX-6100 (O.C@4.0Ghz all cores)
MOBO: MSI 970A-G46

RAM: 2x 4GB G.Skills 1866MHz CL9
Hard drives: 5x 2TB Seagate (ST2000DM001) SATA 6GB/s  -- 4 of them are in RAID10 onboard
SSD: 1x 50GB OCZ Agility 2

NIC: 2X TP-Link TG-3468 GBe
Video: EVGA 8600GT

OS: Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2
Case: fractal design define xl r2

PSU: 650W 80 plus bronze cheap TopPower

Purpose of the server:
Active Directory Domain Controller
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Plex Server -- 2 Smart TV's at the same time 
Minecraft Server -- 4 players minimum at the same time
Mumble Server (Murmur) -- 4 users minimum at the same time

Web Server 
FTP Server

 

I would like to upgrade to something more suitable for my needs since the one I have is becoming sluggish.

 

For the CPU, i'm looking at these :
AMD FX-8350 -- Which fit my motherboard and would it be powerful enough?

Intel i5-4690K -- I would need a new motherboard and would it be powerful enough?
Intel i7-4790K -- I would need a new motherboard but I know its going to be powerful enough
Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 -- I would need a new motherboard which support ECC ram and its going to be powerful enough

 

For the ram, its either I add 8GB more to have 16GB in total (8GB would be used for a ramdisk)
OR buy 16GB DDR3 ECC (for the XEON)

 

I would like to add a RAID controller instead of using the onboard. I would also add another 2TB disk to either do 6X 2TB RAID 10 OR 6X 2TB RAID5:
HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL or HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL OR LSI Internal SATA/SAS 9211-8i ??
 

 

Note: heat and power consumption is not an issue and i'm looking for the best performance for the least $ that I can get.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions about the above ?

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shd0w2]

Instead of the xeon 1246, do a 1230v3

[Z3R0C00L]

It's a good CPU suggestion and it's 100$ cheaper than the 1246. 

Only thing (my bad I forgot to write it down) I would like to get rid of my graphic card and use an integrated GPU.

Unless I buy a Server motherboard which has a onboard graphic chipset. (which are somewhat expensive)

[Vitalius]

I'm just throwing this out there as an option.

Note: heat and power consumption is not an issue and i'm looking for the best performance for the least $ that I can get.

Then I would get used parts off of Ebay. Good example. Here's my server:

Dual 4 core Xeon E5472s SLANR (total: 8 threads)

32GB of DDR2 ECC 800MHz RAM
Super Micro X7DWN+ Motherboard

I bought all that for $235. I got good deals, but I doubt you'd go over $250 by much, if any, assuming you buy identical stuff. I purchased only from 100% feedback sellers and the only issue I had (slight damage on the motherboard) was replaced without cost on my part. In other words, buy from reputable sellers on Ebay.

I have the following running on that server:
Plex (3-4 TVs streaming through consoles/Chromecast/PCs at most)

Minecraft (1-2 players at the same time)
Transmission (Bit Torrent client)
Daily backups
(There might be other stuff, but I'm not at home and can't remember exactly right now)

I don't believe FTP, Web & Mumble will have a significant effect on the server unless they actively have several people using them at the same time. 

With my stuff, the CPU load % never goes over 40%, even with streaming using Plex. If you still feel that would be too weak, there are 4 socket motherboards, but obviously that gets more expensive and the point is lost there in buying the cheaper used stuff.

It's using FreeNAS 9.2.1.5. The only thing that I think that can't do well is Active Directory, but the newer versions (9.2.1.6+) have updated Samba so they can handle it better. 

It'd be a lot to learn to set it all up again, but it's possible. Just thought I'd throw it out there since your concern is saving the most money. Then you just have to consider how much your time is worth.

[Z3R0C00L]

I thought of buying used but I still prefer to buy new mostly because of the warranty. I used to have FreeNas installed but I switched to Windows Server since it does everything I need out of the box AND provide free dynamic DNS via M$ services.

I'm really interested in the Xeon's CPU but all the compatible motherboard I see are either too expensive OR cheap but lack features