NAS home server build advice

[Epidemilus]

hey eveyone,

i am new to NAS and servers but rly wanna start with hexOs and a homeserver, but don`t know which hardware to buy.

can someone give a solid advice, Case, CPU, motherboard?

usage is for home storage photos and videos, no streaming or playback.

thanks for your help.

[Dylan]

I just picked up THIS PUPPY for the same use-case but I do stream. For sub $400 it's quite capable. You can spend more and get a more powerful CPU and more RAM but I don't really need all of that. Good luck!

[ETVo]

Following, since I have no idea what I am doing 😅

[Droz]

Watch NASCompares videos for DIY builds 

https://www.youtube.com/@nascompares

[RobotsNeverDie]

Another good option is buying a used office pc from ebay or fb market place. You can grab one with an Intel i5 for pretty cheap. 

[Clixxi]

1 hour ago, Droz said:

Watch NASCompares videos for DIY builds 

https://www.youtube.com/@nascompares

Thanks for this link. I'm considering running HexOs on it until i know more about it/until we have a stable version. Then i will maybe switch to a Jonsbo N5 case with still uncertain hardware.

Are there other interesting offers like the one @Droz posted ?

Edited November 29, 2024 by Clixxi

[Theo]

For my first home build setup i went with the Jonsbo N2 case, initially as wanted something small and minimal - though slightly regret this for 2 reasons.

1. populating 4/5 drive bays already, when 6-8 total would have left more room to expand in the future. (will definitely need to rebuild at some point)
2. The N2 is great. but the form factor requires SFX mobo's + power supplies, which can end up costing more than standard sizes + again issues with future proofing here.

So if you're looking for a home build, and see all the Josnobo cases, take that into consideration, the N3 + N5 seem to be good cases given the size. And echo above comments on the NasCompares review of them + others.

Edited November 29, 2024 by Theo

[Clixxi]

I built my first NAS two months ago with N100 MB and N2 from Jonsbo. Like you said the N5 will be necessary when you want to populate more than five drives. I already have my eyes on this case. When it's available for a reasonable price in the EU i probably will buy instantly. Don't know about the hardware though....

[Theo]

If you want a simple all in one motherboard + CPU + Cooler. You can get decent deals on AliExpress for Topton / CWWk boards. Wide range of chips, so will depend on your use case. I went with a CWWK i3-n305 + 16gb ram. More than enough juice for my home server needs with headroom for VMs etc.

[mineblaster]

14 hours ago, Epidemilus said:

hey eveyone,

i am new to NAS and servers but rly wanna start with hexOs and a homeserver, but don`t know which hardware to buy.

can someone give a solid advice, Case, CPU, motherboard?

usage is for home storage photos and videos, no streaming or playback.

thanks for your help.

as long as you have two cores. 8gb of ram and a couple of spots for harddrives you are good to go. so anything you can get your hands on as you are looking to do the basics. i wouldn't find anything too ancient but 6th gen intel onwards has nvme support or something am4.

[Mobius]

This is very subjective to your needs and budget.
 

• My build that is a hodgepodge of new stuff and old stuff i had handy like my case and psu. I plan on migrating to a jonsbo n5 eventually
• $900 Reasonable High-end build - Boot drive and ram is something you can change and the 12400 can be substituted for a 12100 to save some more.
• $400 budget build with quick sync - uses used cpu/mobo and honestly more corners can be cut like the case. My primary use case is jellyfin server so even tho n100 is probably fine im looking for intel quick sync. (with this combo probably worth asking the motherboard seller if they can update the bios for you, otherwise i think microcenter does it for a fee)

Dylan's n100 prebuilt is not a bad value either.

[Mobius]

I overlooked the power supply sata cables on the psu for the $400 budget build with quick sync

This is the update $400 budget build with quick sync

since editing isnt available in this forms yes

[Teja]

Someone please look into this selection and advise on building a basic setup with two 8TB drives. I never build a PC in my life and any suggestions are welcome. I'm looking to further trim down the specs in order to bring the price.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/3MpGcx

[Dzzope]

48 minutes ago, Teja said:

Someone please look into this selection and advise on building a basic setup with two 8TB drives. I never build a PC in my life and any suggestions are welcome. I'm looking to further trim down the specs in order to bring the price.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/3MpGcx

Is this for a home file server? Are you streaming from plex or similar? are you transcoding?

You are way over spec needed for a "basic" build.

 

A basic build looks more like a 2012ish PC, 8 ish GB ram, good network connection and ability to add lots of drives later if needed.

 

Check out this reddit post as a bit of a guide for what you need on a personal PLEX server with transcoding etc

 

 

A used office PC or old entry level gaming pc should be more than sufficient for a file server. Over €1000 for a "basic" file server with only 2 drives is not good use of money or the hardware.

If you really want new, look at something much less powerful 

Another good guide for specing out a server:

https://forums.serverbuilds.net/t/guide-nas-killer-6-0-ddr4-is-finally-cheap/13956

[Teja]

Yes, it's purely for home usage. I will be using it for file storage and Plex streaming.

[Mobius]

1 hour ago, Teja said:

Someone please look into this selection and advise on building a basic setup with two 8TB drives. I never build a PC in my life and any suggestions are welcome. I'm looking to further trim down the specs in order to bring the price.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/3MpGcx

Dzzope makes a good point. Another thing to keep in mind is that even tho amd cpus make great sense for pretty much every other use case, for plex servers Intel makes more sense because of quick sync for video transcoding. 

AMD will probably work fine for one steam but if you are gonna be dropping an entire grand your build is not well balanced. 

 

If i can figure out how to set pc part picker to Germany i can try to make a more reasonable build for you

[Mobius]

1 hour ago, Teja said:

Yes, it's purely for home usage. I will be using it for file storage and Plex streaming.

it took some time but i figured it out and was able to shave off around 150 euros

Here is the build

• went for an intel cpu/mobo for quick sync. you can save even more by going for a 12100 and h610 mobo but i figured you didn't want to go cheapest possible.
• for the cooler in germany the arctic freezer 36 co (continuous operation) provides a better value than in the states since every other cooler i would pick is far more expensive. HOWEVER the non k sku intel cpus like the 12400 in this part list comes with a stock cooler and i think its more than good enough. so if you are comfortable with using the stock cooler i would just save the money and use the stock cooler.
• for ram i left it alone but i'm sure you know buying 2x32gb costs less per gb than 1x32gb
• For ssd i swapped it out with the cheapest decent 1tb ssd with dram
• I assume you already have your case but the off chance you didn't the case i replaced it with is very cheap and 1/3 of the size while being able to hold up to 3 full size hdd.
• I picked the cheapest 80+ gold power supply from a brand i trust.
• I didn't touch the HDDs but you can save a bit more buying new on ebay if you trust the site. I would only purchase listings that are in the country personally.

[Teja]

1 hour ago, Mobius said:

Here is the build

Thank you! This helps a lot 🙂

[Dzzope]

On 12/1/2024 at 3:01 PM, Teja said:

Thank you! This helps a lot 🙂

Quote

 

What about 4K? I want to transcode 4K. [Updated this section in mid-2023] Transcoding 4k to 1080p (or lower) resolutions, with 'tonemapped' HDR (to give an approximation of HDR in the finished output) is now a PlexPass feature.

A modern Intel iGPU (or nVidia 1050/Ti) can handle several (reports vary from 3-4 to 8-9) simultaneous transcodes from 4k (with HDR)

 

 

If you havn't bought it yet, it's still over spec.. I'd save some bucks on an i3, will still be more than enough for what you are doing. Also the ram, 32 GB is way way more than you need and doesn't need to be super fast, you can easily save more there too.

 

Also look used, I know I can get something like 9th or 10th gen I3 with 16GB ram for like 150-200 Euro bucks that will be plenty powerful enough. Just add storage.

And if you don't mind a little jankyness, look at damaged but working laptops. Can be had for next to nothing and if it's screen / keyboard issue, you won't be using them anyway and so long as is has expandable storage &/ fast USB it will easily work.

But it really is a bit janky

 

If you still really want new... Just buy a dell or something. You can't beat their prices on these things, €500 will sort everything bar the storage drives (and similar ones used are much, much less.. there is a reason most people use old office pcs for servers, they don't need a modern gaming/workstation cpu/ram)