Silent Home Server Build

[ces160]

Hi All, 

 

I'm currently in the planing stages of my new home media server build and need some help on deciding what components to use.

 

First these are all the parts I already have:

 

Motherboard: Intel DH67CL (LGA 1155, H67)

RAM: 4 Gb of Kingston 1333 mHz DDR3 (2x2)

RAID Card: LSI 9260-8i

 

These are the parts I have decided on and will be getting in the future (any suggestions would be appreciated):

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Fans Removed)

CPU: Intel i5 (either the 2300, 2400 or 2500 - used)

HDD: 8 x 4 Tb WD RED

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 (One Fan)

 

And these are the parts I need a little help with:

PSU: Something silent (fan less / passive)

OS: Windows 7, Home Server or FreeNas

 

Any suggestions on the PSU or OS (or any part for the matter) would be appreciated. 

Please justify your suggestions, convince me.

 

Thanks for the help. 

[DarrenP]

Hi All, 

 

I'm currently in the planing stages of my new home media server build and need some help on deciding what components to use.

 

First these are all the parts I already have:

 

Motherboard: Intel DH67CL (LGA 1155, H67)

RAM: 4 Gb of Kingston 1333 mHz DDR3 (2x2)

RAID Card: LSI 9260-8i

 

These are the parts I have decided on and will be getting in the future (any suggestions would be appreciated):

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Fans Removed)

CPU: Intel i5 (either the 2300, 2400 or 2500 - used)

HDD: 8 x 4 Tb WD RED

Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 (One Fan)

 

And these are the parts I need a little help with:

PSU: Something silent (fan less / passive)

OS: Windows 7, Home Server or FreeNas

 

Any suggestions on the PSU or OS (or any part for the matter) would be appreciated. 

Please justify your suggestions, convince me.

 

Thanks for the help. 

Hello OP!

 

A few of the things i'd suggest from personal experience with home servers, and running a media server, are as follows. I'd suggest using an OS such as FreeNAS, Now the thing with FreeNAS, Is that you're going to want about 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage. So for your use case, I'd suggest getting a decent 16GB Kit of DDR3, 1600Mhz RAM, some cheap Kingston or Crucial will do. I suggest 16GB because you'll be using 16TB of Storage with RAID 10. Rather than the full 32TB of raw diskspace that you have. Next, I'd suggest going with a software RAID something like RAID 10 would be perfect for your use case, you get the best of both worlds, RAID 1 for redundancy, and RAID 0 for the speed, all mixed into one. 

 

Here's a link to the FreeNAS Website:

 

http://www.freenas.org/about/features.html

 

Now a few questions for you. What is your overall budget for the project? I know you already have a very decent RAID Card, so I'd like to get a sense of what you're looking at in terms of budget, that will better my ability to help you.

 

Thanks OP!

[ces160]

Hello OP!

A few of the things i'd suggest from personal experience with home servers, and running a media server, are as follows. I'd suggest using an OS such as FreeNAS, Now the thing with FreeNAS, Is that you're going to want about 1GB of RAM per 1TB of storage. So for your use case, I'd suggest getting a decent 16GB Kit of DDR3, 1600Mhz RAM, some cheap Kingston or Crucial will do. I suggest 16GB because you'll be using 16TB of Storage with RAID 10. Rather than the full 32TB of raw diskspace that you have. Next, I'd suggest going with a software RAID something like RAID 10 would be perfect for your use case, you get the best of both worlds, RAID 1 for redundancy, and RAID 0 for the speed, all mixed into one.

Here's a link to the FreeNAS Website:

http://www.freenas.org/about/features.html

Now a few questions for you. What is your overall budget for the project? I know you already have a very decent RAID Card, so I'd like to get a sense of what you're looking at in terms of budget, that will better my ability to help you.

Thanks OP!

Hello and thanks for the reply!

My main aim for this system is massive file storage for my bluray collection.

I will be running Plex home server to stream all the content to devices all over my network (might need to trans code some media on the fly that's the rationale behind the i5 instead of an i3).

In regards to budget, I live in Aus so price of hardware here is stupidly high. Each of the WD red 4tb drives is $250, so I'm going to be spending at least $2000 just on HDD alone. I would like to stick to a max of $2750. So that leaves me with $750 for all the parts I don't yet have.