One server to rule them all

[nightmarevoid]

Okay, so the server doesn't have the best hardware, but the idea is that it won't need to. I've had this idea for a while, actually a year, and I've recently rehashed it to take advantage of modern technology.

 

My idea started out as just a new way to make an oil cooled PC. rather than using power hungry hardware and radiators to pump oil through, I'd use a tall fish tank, low power low heat hardware, and only fill the tank up half way with the hardware in the lower half. I would then pump the oil up to the top of the fish tank and let a smooth and thin stream of the stuff flow down the glass (effectively cooling it by using the glass as a heat conductor) and back into the oil in the bottom half of the fish tank. The idea was that this would use less oil and be rather pleasing to look at. My next big endeavor with the system was to split the fish tank, which was also quite long, in half and actually have fish on the other side of the separator. After thinking it through, I decided that I would need to use a two pane barrier to stop heat from conducting to the fish side of the tank from the server part of the tank. The server was originally going to be extremely basic, only taking orders through microsoft's remote control UI and automatically backing up computers as well as streaming content to users when requested. I've since had a change of heart.

 

After sitting on the idea and most of the hardware for a year now, I've re-evaluated my plan. instead of being so limited, I now want the server to be able to stream directly to the TV in the living room without requiring someone to connect a laptop, mess with resolutions and sound, and then stream from the server. Now I want the server to stream my family's backed up content to the TV using a miracast device and stream games from my own computer using steam in home streaming. I believe my hardware choices will complete the task, but I'm also lost in another respect now.

 

Before I was determined to use Microsoft's home server 2011, but it would be quite hard to open up the server operating system enough to allow for the versatility that I want. I've been considering instead to use a normal operating system, either windows or linux based, and configure it to work as a backup and remote control server. XBMbuntu looks like a good option, and so does windows 8.1 (if i can configure it properly). I was hoping someone in the community could tell me what you thing of the idea and give me a hand with what operating system to use. The operating system would need to be able to support a RAID 5 array, but  I can install the operating system on an SSD. I've installed linux before, and briefly used it, but I always seem to screw it up. I'd rather not have to reinstall a server and risk losing data. Does anyone out here have a recommendation?

 

Here are the server specs. If they aren't powerful enough to meet certain OS or hardware requirements, just let me know and leave a recommendation.

 

processor:        intel pentium D 945 @ 3.4 Ghz dual core (tray, so awesome price for the power!)

motherboard:   MSI G-41M P34 LGA 775 (it supported DDR3 memory and pci express X1 and X16)

Memory:          2X 4Gb crucial DDR3 CL 9 1333mhz memory

GPU:                EVGA gtx 520 (single slot and extremely low power requirement and heat output)

RAID card:       vantec IGT-ST310R (it was cheap and I don't need anything faster than sata 2 speeds)

storage:           3X western digital red 1 TB HDD in RAID 5

                        possibly a 180 Gb corsair force GS SSD

PSU:                Corsair CX 430W non modular PSU (I don't need much power)

CPU heatsink: Thermaltake CL-P0466 SpinQ Quiet (it's going to look and work awesome in oil)

miracast:         Belkin Miracast HDMI 2.0 adapter

networking:     asus PCE-AC68 wireless AC 1900 adapter (I need a lot of signal strength)