First build - Multi-use home server - Need help with hardware

Builds [LGA1151,LGA1200] NAS Killer 6.0, Plex QSV Builds
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Hi all, I’m gonna try to get away with keeping this post fairly short. I’m looking to start purchasing some parts so need some critique on my build plan. Assume I’m buying new unless stated otherwise (I don’t like to plan around on what’s currently available on ebay haha).

Requirements:

  • NAS 4-8 bays
  • 2-3 game servers for up to 10 players (Minecraft, Rust, Valheim, DayZ, 7 Days to Die etc.)
    • Most likely scenario is it’ll be 1 at a time with 3-4 players but I don’t want to set the bar too low.
  • Music streaming (for myself and partner)
  • Video streaming (for myself and partner at our home)
    • Very rare, I literally just have a couple of videos we occasionally watch. It’ll never be more than 1 stream
  • Host a couple of small websites.
  • Experiment with home automation and VMs etc.
  • MUST be efficient.

Here’s an overview of what I’m currently looking at (specific questions below):

Part Product
CPU i5 10400
Motherboard ASRock Z590 Pro4
PSU Corsair CX450M
RAM Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB x2
SSD Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB
HDDs 4x second hand SAS drives
RAID Controller LSI 9211-8i
Case Logic Case​ SC-43400-​8HS

Total around £700 (not including HDDs).

CPU

Fairly set on this, it seems like a pretty potent CPU for my needs, includes an iGPU and looks to be very efficient. Open to suggestions if anyone can recommend anything better in a similar price range.

Motherboard

Bit stuck on mobo, but apparently ASRock are quite efficient? Looking for something fairly cheap with 4 memory slots. Must be efficient too. Not too worried about size. I don’t think SATA slots matter much either if I use a RAID controller?

PSU

Again just looking for something fairly cheap and efficient, open to suggestions.

RAM

2 x 32GB gets me halfway though my slots and availability on the motherboard so that leaves me space to double up if/when I need to.

SSD

Mostly for game storage but anything else that needs the speed.

HDDs

Need help with general NAS storage. I think I’m going to aim for SAS as I’ve seen a lot of recommendation and can get some cheap drives off ebay. Could do with some advice here, what should I look for? What should I avoid?

RAID Controller

I see these come up a lot and should allow me to hook up the total 8 drives that the case can hold. I think they also work with SATA and seem quite available on ebay. Again I don’t know much about these so please do comment on storage.

Case

Fairly set on this. I want to go rackmount as I’ve plans for some ubiquiti hardware. I’m also limited by depth and I like the idea of hot swap bays so this case just works very well for what’s available in the UK.

Any advice welcome, please don’t just tell me to go and buy a second hand enterprise machine though, I’m set on building my own and want to try and make it as efficient as possible :smiley:

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Hey… I don’t know if your build can handle 10 gamers at a time, but my recommendation is based on the build that you have written down after your ‘requirements’

  • CPU: I wouldn’t recommend 10th gen, I would recommend 12th gen for 2 reasons…

    1. They are more efficient and powerful
    2. They are more future proof as they are compatible with DDR4 & DDR5
      And in terms of cost, for me in India, i3-10100 and i3-12100 were merely ₹1800 apart, which is around 15% of the cost, but considering you will be keeping your system on 24x7 , you will make up the difference within a year of running considering the electricity usage.
      So I would recommend 12th gen with DDR4 setup and then change that to DDR5 when needed, reason being DDR5 setup is much more expensive right now

  • Motherboard: If you see one of the latest YouTube videos of Louis Rossman, he talks about the warranty issues with the company. That is one main reason why I didn’t go with Asrock, as being able to have the peace of mind of warranty was very important…

  • PSU: Go on PC Part-picker and list down the parts you are going to use, then you should be able to see the total wattage of your build… make sure to add future add-ons to that list… multiply that wattage by at least 1.3 and that is the minimum wattage of PSU that you should get. Dont get bothered too much by the 80 plus standard, because that rating system is all about efficiency of the ‘ideal’ tested samples… and the ratings are approximately in the increments of 2-5%… so unless you are choosing between let’s say bronze vs platinum standards… won’t make much of a difference…

Hope this helps …

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Thanks for the response @NoobOfAll !

I don’t need to run 10 game servers at once, just 2-3 was my goal.

Recommendations sound solid. What CPU would you recommend? I guess the i5-12400 would be the 12th gen equivalent? Is there a better option?

Fair enough on ASRock. The reason I was leaning towards them is because I think they’re known for being quite energy efficient. Do you have any suggestions for other good options?

Yeah I’m using PC Part picker to choose components, thanks for the tips for searching. Main concern for me is that it needs to be efficient. I’m not sure if certain brands are known for being more energy efficient than others?

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Hey… so about the CPU and Motherboard… Here is my two cents…

  • CPU: I would recommend the T series on Intel, they have an option of UNDER clocking the CPU, so the TDP can be as low as 25watts… the only thing being, while running intensive games, you will have to re-adjust the clock speed… so if you can find a quick way to toggle that directly on your server, that basically would be the best choice… unfortunately I couldn’t find the T series in India so I haven’t tried this. Do not go for the F series even if you are buying a graphics card… integrated graphics is a must have backup. Also, in my research, currently Intel is more power efficient than AMD (I am more of an AMD guy but I chose Intel for server)… I have heard that at extremely low power AMD tends to glitch (not sure though)

  • Motherboard: I think the form factor would make more of a difference rather than the brand here… So I went with Asus Micro ATX Prime H610M-E D4, the reason being… It has 4 SATA ports and 2 M.2 Ports (1 SATA port doesn’t work if you use the 2nd M.2 port)… 1 PCIe x16 slot and 1 PCIe x1 slot (under rated slot, IMO)… I intend to use them as follows…
    1 M.2 SSD
    1 M.2 SATA converter for 4 more SATA portS
    3 SATA
    1 PCIe x16 graphics card
    1 PCIe x1 2.5gbps network card

The board DDR4 bur the CPU (i3 12100) is compatible with both DDR4 & DDR5, so to keep the cost low, I went with DDR4 board because the only difference would be RAM and honestly getting double the RAM in DDR4 is still cheaper than DDR5… So may be some time in future when I use 64gb RAM and even that feels slow… I will upgrade to DDR5 board…

The only thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t have bluetooth or wifi onboard, which doesn’t matter to me because I intend to use it as a server, so I don’t want to use WIFI and we’ll bluetooth peripherals aren’t necessary for the rare occasion that I might connect directly to the system.

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Thanks for the advice! Yeah I’m avoiding the F series. Will keep an eye out for T series but they do seem tricky to find. If not then I think I’ll aim for the i5-12400 as i think 6 cores and 12 threads should be good for my needs?

Good point on the motherboard, I’m a bit more limited by space than I first hoped so that will likely dictate my options. No worried about bluetooth or WiFi so that’s not a problem.

Thanks for the help :slight_smile:

1 Like
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You likely do not need to bother with trying to find a T series. They just cap the maximum performance for the heat output, the idle and low power states won’t change much.

Also, don’t host websites on your home server unless you’re totally prepared to know how to properly secure the server and to do it. Hosting them is tremendously easier elsewhere.

1 Like
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Thanks, yeah a few people have mentioned that. I’ll cross that one off the list :slight_smile:

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When you mention game storage what is it you’re expecting to be able to do?
Storing the game files for stuff you’re playing on your primary pc is not going to yield the experience you may be expecting.

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Game Servers, not storage. Game files will be installed locally on my desktop SSD.