New NAS build

[The_Hawkeye]

Hi Guys,

 

I've been thinking about buying a NAS to run my plex server for some time now. However, a decent model that is able to trans-code 1080p on the fly is still quite expensive (e.g. Synology DS415+ --> €520 without the disks).

 

On the other hand I have quite some PC parts laying around, so that got my thinking in just building one myself and using Freenass. There is no real budget limit, but I'm trying to get as much bang for the buck as possible.

 

Parts already owned:

• Case: Silverstone Precision PS10b
• Power supply: Cooler Master G450M
• RAM: 16GB DDR3 1333MHz
• Storage: Western Digital Green 3TB (1x)
• OS: FreeNAS on a USB thumb drive
• (Optical: some DVD drive)

Parts on the buy list:

• CPU: Intel Celeron G1820/2.7GHz
• MB: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H
• Storage: Western Digital Green 3TB (2x)

Questions:

• Is this CPU good enough or should I go for a Pention G3258 Annv. instead?
• Any thoughts/suggestions on the motherboard?
• I know WD greens aren't ideal for a NAS, but it's mostly non-critical data and I'm searching for a cost effective solutions, so I hope they will be "good engough"
• Any other remarks from you guys?

Thanks! 

[Djole123]

An SSD instead of thumb drive?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: MyDigitalSSD Super Boot Drive 8GB mSATA Solid State Drive ($19.99 @ Amazon)

Other: mSATA to SATA ($11.99)

Total: $31.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-27 11:51 EST-0500

[The_Hawkeye]

In all the reviews from freeNass I've read that they suggest a thumb drive above an (full-sized) SSD, but this might be a good alternative.

 

I believe it also depends on how big the freeNas image becomes when you start building a Plex server on it: Where does it save Media the metadata like posters etc? if it's stored on the OS "drive". A regular thumb driver maybe won't be enough ...

[Djole123]

You also have mSATA to USB adapters, if you want to leave SATA ports free. Maybe the size of this particular SSD is not enough, but there are similar SSD's that go up to 128GB

EDIT:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: MyDigitalSSD Bullet Proof 4 Eco 128GB mSATA Solid State Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)

Other: mSATA to SATA ($11.99)

Total: $66.98

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-28 05:04 EST-0500