Plex server build

[hazefeen]

Hey everyone long time lurker finally have something to post about. I'm building a standalone plex server for my home, and need help from the community.

 

1. Budget and location:

Minnesota united states. budget well trying to go cheap on the hardware and spend most money on hdd's backup protection and cooling since this unit will never shutdown.

 

2.Aim:

the sole purpose of this unit will be for streaming media to other devices in the house. I need it to be able to transcode 2 1080p video streams at once. and a 3rd media stream that does not need to be transcoded ever.

 

3.Monitors:

None it will not have a mouse keyboard or monitor, this unit is being build to sit next to router in basement hardwired into the network. all work on pc will be done via remote desktop and ftp. I have everything I need for initial setup after that it will be left alone and basically forgotten about.

 

4.Peripherals.

None it will run windows 8.1 which I already have a license for or if I need that license it can run Ubuntu or centos.

 

5.why am I upgrading:

Right now I am using my laptop to stream but I use this for multiple purposes and really want a stand alone server.

 

More about my build needs.

 

Low power well as low as I can get running a few hdd's I will not be using ssd's at this point in time.

gigabit lan since it will be streaming and being accessed via ftp and remote desktop.

I need to know if I should run multiple hdd's dedicated to tv shows movies etc? that a lot of read and write going on at once and need to watch the

hdd's bottleneck for that.

and some sort of backup since I'm taking the time to rip all my media I really don't want to EVER have to do this again.

This box will be used by our living room tv which needs no transcoding, my daughters room which will need transcoding I plan on getting her

a cheap roku box unless somebody has a better option for cheap. (she's only 7) and one tv in our rec room which has an xbox one so not exactly sure what formats it has to transcode or not.

 

I'm planning on WD blacks for storage.

 

I hope I covered everything thanks for the help everyone!

[hazefeen]

P.S not a red vs blue person but from what I see Intel may be the way to go based on cpu power consumption. but I am defiantly open to either brand of cpu's for this build. just a cheap cpu that can handle this workload without stuttering on us.

[Gofspar]

WD GreenPowers over Blacks, I use them in my server and I can watch 4k video without stuttering.

[hazefeen]

thanks will look into those I was just looking at the blacks for longevity of drives. never looked at the greens

 

 

Update:

Just looked at them! perfect low sound fast transfer and low power consumption! Thanks a ton awesome recommendation!

[Padunkadunk]

Subbed. Always down for server builds. Not nearly enough of them.

 

See my server in my sig for some low power ideas 

[Gofspar]

Subbed. Always down for server builds. Not nearly enough of them.

 

See my server in my sig for some low power ideas 

dat i3-4130T.

[hazefeen]

Thanks! I was looking into the i3's as a viable option

 

was just a little worried since plex is cpu intensive.

[hazefeen]

Looking at the i3-4130 cpu to run the server? any idea's as to whether this would first off run everything ok and secondly best price to performance ratio?

it's 119.99 on newegg.

[hazefeen]

Ok so heres what I have come up with maybe someone will come by and critique it for me before I order.

 

Intel core I3-4130 cpu .                                119.99

Gigabyte GA-H81m-Ds2v                              54.99

G-Skill ns 2GB ddr3 1333                              19.99

Corsair cs450m 80plus gold 450 watt psu     59.99

Raijintech arcadia case                                  32.90               (case has 4 3.5mm bays for hdd's)

WD green 2TB hdd                                       102.95

 

Then I was just planning on getting a couple Noctua case fans and aftermarket cpu cooler and some dust covers for the case and calling it good.

 

What does everyone think, enough of a computer to get the job done? It does have room for future storage upgrades.

 

total so far 390.81

 

After fans, dust covers and shipping, I'm guessing on the 480ish side.