Home Server Builds!

[Anakumulos]

I know this is my first post here, but id best kick it off with a bang.

 

Budget: $1000-500. The lower the better. (University student budget)

 

Aim: Two servers, one for Heavily Modded Minecraft, and one to be used as a Community NAS for family and friends, holding backups and all sorts of files.

 

Monitors: None

Peripherals: None

Why: Im upgrading because Im off at university, and switching between my high-powered desktop and my business class laptop (Dell E6420) is a pain, especially with numerous project that im working on. Google docs does well for word files, but Im looking for something more compatible.

 

Preferences:

Server 1: Heavily Modded Minecraft Server

 

Parts Selected so far:

CPU: Dual or Quad core. As high of Ghz as possible. Minecraft uses next to no cores, so its clock speed i need.

Motherboard: Any motherboard will do. 2/3 SATA connectors, and maybe m.2 if its included.

RAM: Highest Mhz possible, very few GB. Maybe 8

Storage: 1/2 Hard disks. Low capacity. Maybe an M.2 as a special boot drive. Speed of the disks is not a worry.

GPU: None

PSU: Standard 2U ATX Power Supply

Chassis: Norco RPC-231 (62.99 @ Newegg.com)

 

Server 2: Community NAS

This server is going to be at least a Raid 5 or 6 server, with many uses. I intend to have one raid set be devoted to game files, so they are accessible anywhere I have internet. The other Raid will be set to hosting data storage for my friends and family, to be accessible from anywhere via a VPN. I dont know if ill simply need a good internet connection, or better CPU and Motherboard to do things like gaming and other applications over VPN like that.

 

Parts Selected so far:

CPU / Motherboard / RAM: These, Im not sure what i should be looking for.

Storage: I have hard drives already purchased. This is not needed in the budget.

GPU: None

PSU: Standard 2U ATX Power Supply

Chassis: Norco RPC-2008 (189.99 @ Newegg.com)

 

Server Rack: Anything that has a little bit of room for expandability. Not looking for ultra flashy. Something that works.

[Streetguru]

I know this is my first post here, but id best kick it off with a bang.

You could do it with a single build running freeNAS and just doing a virtual machine for the minecraft server

An 1150 Xeon would do fine, and one with intergrated graphics would save you some in the budget

PC part picker is down atm though

Also apparently RAID is dead

[Inception9269]

Made this for the minecraft server part

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus A88X-PRO ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($91.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($47.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $368.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-27 03:55 EDT-0400

 

Cpu speed mattering more than cores. AMD is good for affordable high clock speed cpus.

And like the other person said, higher ram is probably the better option, so went with a 16gb set.

went with a simple ssd, no hdd.

[Streetguru]

I know this is my first post here, but id best kick it off with a bang.

This chip, you'll want ECC for freeNAS if you're going to go the virtualization route

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646e31246v3

It's effectively an i7 with ECC support at $276, uses socket 1150

[Inception9269]

As for the NAS build,

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-E ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $552.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-27 04:05 EDT-0400

 

Not entirely sure on how demanding you need, but that Xeon would most likely do alright.

As for ram, from what I've heard when it comes to NAS builds all you really need is enough for the os. not entirely sure on that.

Case is subjective, went with one that had a lot of 3.5 drive bays.

Power supply is also subjective, but went with something that would support a lot of hdds and be safe and reliable

[leadeater]

I also agree with just using a single server and virtualize. If you have no GPU/rendering requirements then this is the perfect use case.

 

RAID is still very useful and in some cases required, but for large NAS file systems ZFS is excellent. ESXi doesn't support software RAID so this is a case where it is still useful but you can still pass through all the large disks directly to the NAS VM and use ZFS that way.

 

Down side to going with a Xeon is the hefty price premium for high clock rates, nice to have along with ECC ram but likely outside your budget. Would also recommend a workstation motherboard if you can, will just play 'nicer' with virtualization.

 

Just a quick look at parts, someone else will likely come up with a better option, see below. Not listing prices cos I live in NZ so yea....

 

Xeon Build:

Intel Xeon E3-1246V3 (1241V3 no iGPU)

Asus P9D-V

Kingston KVR16LE11/8I x2

Seasonic SSP-650RT

Minecraft HDD: Any

NAS HDD: pass through to VM

 

Or

 

Desktop Build:

Intel i5-6600k

Asus Z170-K

Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C9

Seasonic SSP-650RT

Minecraft HDD: Any

NAS HDD: pass through to VM

 

Edit: Added Asus Z170-K