I’ve been using newsgroups and some sort of an HTPC for the last 10 years. My first build was a Micro-ATX PC running Windows 7, a MCE remote and XBMC. I then built a smaller version of it in a mini-ITX case with an atom motherboad/CPU. About 5 years ago I discovered Plex and its ability to serve Rokus and have been using a 2011 Mac Mini + 5TB external hard drive since. I’ve been sharing my library with friends and family and when my brother gave me 4 second hand 3TB WD Reds to make use of, I started planning my next build!
The goals for my build were the following:
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Compact and able to fit into my existing media center while accommodating 6-8 hard drives.
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Ability to do Plex transcoding, take media requests via Ombi, and download/unpack all simultaneously. I wanted the ability for me and my friends to make a request and watch it 5 mins later (with the help of my gigabit internet!)
I looked at the NAS Killer 4.0 and tried to find a case that could fit 6-8 drives and still fit into my media center (max 7" tall and 15" deep) and was not able to find one at a reasonable price. I learned about the HP 290 and its ability to transcode 20+ streams and was immediately intrigued. I started looking at external hot swap bays on Ebay but most were $50-100 and only had 4-5 bays. I started finding some internal server hard drive cages from Supermicro, HP, and Intel and found the price to be right (and they looked awesome!)
I found the Intel AXX6DRV3GEXP 6 bay hot swap cage which is meant for an Intel SC5400 server case, for $35. It has 6 drive bays, an internal SAS1 expander, and a 92mm fan with 4 pin fan connector. The fan moves a TON of air and is very loud. I tried adding a PWM controller inline and even at the lowest volume it was too noisy for my liking and thus why I decided to simply replace the fan. The cage takes 2 x SATA (not SAS) and 2 x 4 pin molex for power. The backplane is SAS1 (this thing was launched in 2006!) therefore my understanding is it’s 3Gb/s per channel or 6Gb/s per cage. Not very fast, but plenty fast for serving Plex streams.
After getting everything up and running I realize the G4900 of the HP 290 wasn’t up to the task of doing everything I asked of it simultaneously and thus why I upgraded the CPU. If i were to do this all over again I might have waited on the HP290 and simply got a SFF Nas Killer 4.0 such as the Dell Optiplex 7010 / 3020 which while not having hardware transcoding for Plex could probably support 4-5 streams plus everything else. However, i expect that once i give my 15+ shared plex users the ability to add their own content, my server will get a lot more usage!
My completed build details are:
| NAS / Plex Server Parts | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| HP 290 SFF (Used) | $105 | Ebay |
| Motherboard, 4GB RAM, PSU (Used) | Included | |
| Intel I5-8400 CPU (Used) | $130 | Ebay |
| 8GB DDR4 2666 (New) | $30 | Amazon |
| WD Blue 500GB NVME (New) | $60 | WD Store |
| NVME screw kit w/ heatsink (New) | $6 | Amazon |
| HDMI Dummy Plug (New) | $6 | Ebay |
| DAS Parts | ||
| Intel 6 Drive Expander Cage (Used) | $35 | Ebay |
| Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU (Used) | $20 | Ebay |
| LSI 9200-8e HBA (Used) | $20 | Ebay |
| SF8088 to 4x SATA (New) | $12 | Ebay |
| 92mm Fan (New) | $8 | Amazon |
| Rubber adhesive feet | $3 | Hardware Store |
| 4 Pin molex to 3 pin fan adapter | $3 | Local computer shop |
| Hard drive screws | $3 | Local computer shop |
| Total | $440 |
Thank you JDM and this community!
Hard drive cage (before removing the top plate w/tab held in with 4 screws)
Back of cage (fan is super easy to replace as it’s just held in with a plastic clip. The included fan grill can also be easily moved as it’s held in with 4 plastic push pins)
Bottom of cage (you’ll want some decently thick (1/4 - 3/8") feet/pads so that the cage rests of them and not the front lip and/or the two round protrusions)
Top of cage (with top cover removed)
Completed build in my media center
