Media PC/Tuner and File Server Advice

[AMD Lover]

So I've got this little Acer Aspire compact PC. Was planning on making it into a media server and recorder. Its got a quad core and 4GB of RAM right now. It only has two PCI expansions, one of them 4x and the other one 8 or 16x. Anyways, the motherboard is fried ($25 off eBay) and the quad core is a little lacking in speed. Its AM3 so I was thinking about picking up a AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition to beef it up. For the one HDD I obviously have to go with a single 8TB NAS drive, since I only have a single slot and then I am lost on the PCI expansion slots. The little 4x is occupied by the TV tuner however I still have a full slot 8x slot. I was thinking either GPU or Intel NIC since its gonna be a server. The biggest GPU I can get in a LP slot is a GT 730, the computer right now has really crappy Nvidia 6150SE onboard graphics. 

 

 

Side note: It has a 5.25" bay so I was thinking about putting a 4x 2.25" hot swap bay and making it all 1-2TB SSDS in a RAID and making that a file backup from our two computers. I've got about 1TB on my computer and the other PC rarely gets used and has around 200GB.

 

 

Give me your advice!!!

[Alice in game]

If you want to install a GPU or NIC card, the question is, what would benefit the most ?

So if you are using it as an HTPC, then onboard graphic only need to be able to handle video playback, if it fail to do that properly, then go for a GPU. If the onboard graphic can handle it, no matter how crappy it is, if it work, it work.

For the NIC card, "because it's a server" seems to be a weak reason. Do you have a network and other computers that would benefit and would you really benefit from higher transfer speed. Do you plan to continuously copy files from one machine to the other ? I am using a macbook over wifi as my htpc and my main computer as a media server (kodi) and there is no issue on video playback. 

And... why do you "have" to use a NAS drive ? And why 2TB of SSD ? that's kind of beyond logic for me.
Question 1 : Why NAS and not SATA drives ? Then you can have a safer storage using RAID or redundant Disc pool.

Question 2 : Why 2TB of SSD ? For speed ? What yould require so much speed. Just put the OS on a small SSD and all the files and backup on the redundant HDD.

 

Maybe there is something I don't see...

[AMD Lover]

1 minute ago, Alice in game said:

If you want to install a GPU or NIC card, the question is, what would benefit the most ?

So if you are using it as an HTPC, then onboard graphic only need to be able to handle video playback, if it fail to do that properly, then go for a GPU. If the onboard graphic can handle it, no matter how crappy it is, if it work, it work.

For the NIC card, "because it's a server" seems to be a week reason. Do you have a network and other computers that would benefit and would you really benefit from higher transfer speed. Do you plan to continuously copy files from one machine to the other ? I am using a macbook over wifi as my htpc and my main computer as a media server (kodi) and there is no issue on video playback. 

And... why do you "have" to use a NAS drive ? And why 2TB of SSD ? that's kind of beyond logic for me.
Question 1 : Why NAS and not SATA drives ? Then you can have a safer storage using RAID or redundant Disc pool.

Question 2 : Why 2TB of SSD ? For speed ? What yould require so much speed. Just put the OS on a small SSD and all the files and backup on the redundant HDD.

 

Maybe there is something I don't see...

I've one got 1 HDD slot but I have a 5.25 bay. I can either get a single 3.5" HDD hotswap bay or 4x 2.5" hot swap bay. So I was thinking I could do the 2.5" and just fill it up with SSD's.

[Alice in game]

4 minutes ago, AMD Lover said:

I've one got 1 HDD slot but I have a 5.25 bay. I can either get a single 3.5" HDD hotswap bay or 4x 2.5" hot swap bay. So I was thinking I could do the 2.5" and just fill it up with SSD's.

OH! I see.

 

.. Then 2 HDD and 1 SSD.

How ?
Find a bracked that can suport it. That's just an example, one HDD and 2 SSD can fit in a single 5.25 bay

 

[Alice in game]

or something like this https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MM52T35/
or hotswap : http://www.techpowerup.com/164976/sharkoon-intros-quickport-intern-multi-5-25-inch-front-panel

[AMD Lover]

I like this because I can keep a disc drive for burning Blu-Rays onto the HDD

 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994146&cm_re=MB994IPO-3SB-_-17-994-146-_-Product

[AMD Lover]

Also I filled up my other PCI slot. I'm gonna need a SATA Add in controller card because that Mini-ITX board only has 2 SATA ports on it.

[Alice in game]

Yes, I see. Well, with those restriction, you have to make choices and see what is the priority for you.

[AMD Lover]

2 minutes ago, Alice in game said:

Yes, I see. Well, with those restriction, you have to make choices and see what is the priority for you.

Yup, so SATA expansion card, Tuner card, that slim DVD drive and 2x 2.25" drive hot swap bay. Gives me two SSD's and a single 8TB HDD. Which should be enough for me.