Hi guys !
Intro (can be skipped)
I was initally planning to buy a Synology/QNAP pre-built Plug&Play solution and I have been tempted to choose the custom build way as it is cheaper, more powerful and more evolutive/upgradable. Then I have been lurking on forums.unraid.net and serverbuilds.net for days and now it is time for me to jump into the NAS game. Before starting, I really want to thank all of you guys for your awesome work (tutorials, thoughts, discussions, …) that guided me through that hard time we all noob have choosing our hardware parts Oh, final word : I’m from Europe, that could explain why I didn’t chose US best-seller parts ! 
Build’s main goals
Fonctionnal needs
The server will mainly be used for :
- NAS basic features (backup of personal datas, multimedia storage (movies, musics))
- Plex server (Less than 5 simultaneous users), sometimes needing transcoding.
- Private Cloud (Nextcloud for instance, but I didin’t make a lot of research regarding the “App” side)
- Hosting a very lightweight web-app for my personal use (Budget manager self-hosted app)
- Running some Dockers / VM, essentially with the classical Radarr / Sonarr stuff letting you automate downloads (Same as Nextcloud, I didn’t make a lot of researchs)
Technical needs
- It will run unRAID for sure.
- Low power consuming : I would like it to be the less power consuming as possible, I found that reddit guy who reached to have a 7 W idle NAS, that is quite impressive. I mean, having a 100+ W idle server 24/7 will explode my bills.
- I’ve chosen the mATX format as I want it to stay compact and quiet.
Build parts so far
As I am very new to this world, I have some remaining questions and that will explaing the missing parts of my build
| Parts | Name | Amazon | Power Cons. (W) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Fractal Design Node 804 | 90,04 € | 5 |
| MOBO | Gigabyte B365M DS3H | 82,99 € | 50 |
| CPU | i3-8100 - 4C/4T at 3,6 GHz | 122,88 € | 65 |
| CPU Cooler | Artic Alpine 12 | 8,10 € | 10 |
| RAM | Crucial CT16G4DFD8266 1x16Go (DDR4, CAS 19, 2666 MHz, PC4-21300, Dual Rank x8, DIMM, 288-Pin) | 64,86 | 5 |
| PSU | |||
| HDD | 4 Tb HDD | 30 | |
| SSD | Crucial P1 500Go CT500P1SSD8 SSD | 61,24 € | 10 |
| Accessories | SATA Cables x10 | 11,00 € | |
| Total | 441,11 € | 175 |
Questions
- The PSU line is empty because I absolutely don’t know if i need to go for a 500 or 650W - I’ve read that a 80+Gold should be a minimum for power saving. But can you help me concerning whit this one ?
- I’m gonna start with a 2x4TB HDD SATA with RAID. I’ve read that chosing 2 HDD from different brand is the best (avoiding a product flaw due to the serie ?) Is that a good approach ?
- The Crucial SSD has 2Gb / 1.7 Gb Read / Write speed, is that enough or should I go for higher ?
- Should I add a bunch of fans (example) in the case, would it be worth ?
- Finally, If you have any thought / advice about the config (flaw in the MOBO, a better Cooler), did I miss any accessories to achieve the building (sata power cable ?), any advice about the way to manage low power consumption, …, just tell me in the more uncensorized way
Sorry for the long post, hope it will be understandable !
Thank you in advance, very sincerly !
Have a nice day,
Miidnight