I’ve been lurking for quite a while now and trying to piece out a build of my own. My objectives are:
An all-in-one build. I know a cheaper build can be put together by building separate NAS and transcode machines, but I’m looking for a single appliance I can put in my rack and manage
The ability to expand over time (increasing RAM and storage as needed)
Separate 4k and 1080p libraries, with enough compute to handle 4-5 1080p streams/transcodes and 4k direct play to an NVidia Shield Pro
All necessary ancillary services (PMS, Solarr, etc.) running on this machine (potentially through containers/virtualization)
Planning to run unRAID
With that in mind, any thoughts on the below build?
Did this get built? Just curious about performance and if there’s anything you’d do differently. I’m looking at this route as well, 1 server rack to do most everything I need, rather than a separate NAS plex and proxmox servers for docker containers and some VMs possibly.
It did end up getting built! All told, I’m really happy with the end result. I made a few changes from the original list:
i3-9100 instead of 9300 due to availability
Rosewill 4u shallow case instead. My rack wasn’t nearly as deep as I thought it was, and there were very limited options to meet my expandability needs Case Link Here
No sliding rails. Static mounted instead
Added a CyberPower OR1500LCDRT2U UPS
Went the shuckable route and snagged 3x12 TB drives for now
Added a few additional fans
I’m far from a power user, but I’ve found it more than enough to run simultaneous streams, local 4k playback to a Shield Pro, as well as some ancillary docker containers (Home Assistant, SWAG, etc.).
Happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Any reason you strayed away from a server rack, like the dell r710/r720? I think I’m swinging the pendulum back into that court again…seems like you can get a lot more for your money that route. I’ve gone back and forth a dozen times.
you can find an 8/16bay 720 with dual core 8’s and 64gb of ram pretty easily around $500 or less. Just not sure I can justify another $500 for something in a much more familiar form factor. Either way i’m not going to be able to have a living room pc anymore…lol my piece of junk i3 3220 is whisper quiet, those days are long gone.
Sorry, was just asking why he went the route he did over something more “pre-built”. I’m trying to decide now, and if there’s more than just the experience of all DIY, i’d hope he’d mention it. I was going to go the DIY route, but I’m not sure it outweighs the value you can get on something like dell r720, but would like to know if i’m overlooking something!
Form factor is the largest limiter for me. My rack depth is ~16" - it was primarily for my networking gear. There aren’t many options (outside of the more popular desktop repurposes) for something this size.
