Plex Media Server - NAS Build

[Migit]

So I want to build a NAS/Plex server for my home, to cut on power costs of running my PC 24/7

 

Does this build look good?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($152.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($89.00 @ Centre Com)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($57.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Kingston HyperX Fury 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($64.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($235.00 @ PLE Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($145.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: Corsair VS 350W ATX Power Supply  ($47.00)
Total: $789.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-26 20:58 AEST+1000

 

Thanks

[Oshino Shinobu]

Is the SSD for running the OS? If so, I wouldn't bother, at least not with one that large. If you're using FreeNAS, the OS is loaded into RAM and run off that, so the drive that stores it really doesn't matter. You could use a USB stick, or get a cheap 30GB SSD. 

[Daan101]

I don't know if the 6 core cpu is needed, does plex use that much of cpu?

Also you might want to do a couple of smaler drives instead of 1 big one, for redundancy and later expanding should be easyer

[Oshino Shinobu]

26 minutes ago, Daan101 said:

I don't know if the 6 core cpu is needed, does plex use that much of cpu?

Also you might want to do a couple of smaler drives instead of 1 big one, for redundancy and later expanding should be easyer

If transcoding, Plex puts an awful lot of load on the CPU. An FX 6300 wouldn't cope too well with multiple transcoding streams. 

 

While more smaller drives can offer redundancy, it also sacrifices capacity and would actually make it more difficult to expand in the future. 

[Daan101]

Transcoding, fair point,

I do feel the oposite way about the drives tho, if you want to expand now you need to get another 4tb drive and would lose on redundancy while 3 2tb drives woud give some redundancy at the costbof 1 drive, expanding woud be just adding a drive and no loss of redundany plus if 1 drive was to fail, replacing would be cheaper, just my opinion tho

[Migit]

3 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Is the SSD for running the OS? If so, I wouldn't bother, at least not with one that large. If you're using FreeNAS, the OS is loaded into RAM and run off that, so the drive that stores it really doesn't matter. You could use a USB stick, or get a cheap 30GB SSD. 

The SSD is for the OS, as currently only familiar with Windows (will look into FreeNAS) and I may have misunderstood but I was under the impression that even though transcoding is done using the CPU having plex on a SSD can improve speeds 

 

As for the CPU it should be able to handle 3 streams. But currently only use 1. 

2 hours ago, Daan101 said:

Transcoding, fair point,

I do feel the oposite way about the drives tho, if you want to expand now you need to get another 4tb drive and would lose on redundancy while 3 2tb drives woud give some redundancy at the costbof 1 drive, expanding woud be just adding a drive and no loss of redundany plus if 1 drive was to fail, replacing would be cheaper, just my opinion tho

Drives I've been struggling with. 3TB drives are best value for money (for WD Red where I am) so considering them or the 4's. Just budget isn't really going to stretch well for multiple drives currently. So was considering the bigger one so I can add drives less frequently

[Daan101]

1 hour ago, Migit said:

The SSD is for the OS, as currently only familiar with Windows (will look into FreeNAS) and I may have misunderstood but I was under the impression that even though transcoding is done using the CPU having plex on a SSD can improve speeds 

 

As for the CPU it should be able to handle 3 streams. But currently only use 1. 

Drives I've been struggling with. 3TB drives are best value for money (for WD Red where I am) so considering them or the 4's. Just budget isn't really going to stretch well for multiple drives currently. So was considering the bigger one so I can add drives less frequently

In that case I would say get 2 2 tb drives and add another later when you need it.

 

As for plex ive seen people get a usb 3 to usb adaptor and put it on a usb stick which you can put inside the case and drop the SSD completely, which would make room for my drive idea in the budget

[Migit]

3 minutes ago, Daan101 said:

In that case I would say get 2 2 tb drives and add another later when you need it.

 

As for plex ive seen people get a usb 3 to usb adaptor and put it on a usb stick which you can put inside the case and drop the SSD completely, which would make room for my drive idea in the budget

Hmm okay. 

I haven't tried a RAID array before. 

Are they easy to keep adding drives to?

(I'm assuming that's why you're telling me to get multiple HDDs) 

As for the redundancy they provide. This isn't for any special backups. 

Currently it's plan is simply media. TV and Movies pretty much. So a drive dying is annoying but not the end of the world. 

 

But I did pick the case as I like the design and it has 10 hard drive bays

[Daan101]

2 hours ago, Migit said:

Hmm okay. 

I haven't tried a RAID array before. 

Are they easy to keep adding drives to?

(I'm assuming that's why you're telling me to get multiple HDDs) 

As for the redundancy they provide. This isn't for any special backups. 

Currently it's plan is simply media. TV and Movies pretty much. So a drive dying is annoying but not the end of the world. 

 

But I did pick the case as I like the design and it has 10 hard drive bays

So I think your overestimating me here, I don't know how easy it is to keep adding to a raid, ive done some research for you but couldn't find anything helpful, so I would not decide on my recommendations only. If I were you I would do some more looking up on how one could add drives because I think it is something you will encounter anyway.

 

If I cant help you further then good luck with you're build ect.