Suggestions: First NAS for all of my media

[Yaru Sasaki]

Hi everyone, 

I'm new here and have been wanting to build my own NAS Server for ages now, but most of the times I had other priorities that came in first; and since I have never run a server and kinda need some guidance in this topic, that's another reason why I've always avoided actually starting one.
My dad had bought many external hard drives for his computer, some for expansion, some for back ups - it's a big mess and I want/need something for myself which is well organised.
I do know how to build PCs and what components to look out for, but that's mainly for gaming. Been building 15 PCs for friends and myself in the past 5 years, which all still exist and run fine.

 

But I have the following problems: I'm a sort of perfectionist and my focus lies on easy and seamless usability (probably stems from me growing up in an Apple ecosystem); and secondly, the amount of media that I continue to produce, just keeps growing without an actual storing solution. If I go on a holiday, I usually fill up a 1TB drive of videos and photos with ease. So not having a permanent solution, my "vacation drive" is now a vacation-specific storage. Not the idea I had in mind when buying the drive...

 

DISCLAIMER:
Thank you so much for your time and help, should you manage to address at least some of my mentioned points. I understand if this is too much to read, I just want to make sure I'm as precise as I can be!

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So! With that introduction, is anyone able to help me choose my components for a big data storage tank?
Here's my requirements/preferations for my build:
 

• I want to start rather small (to finally get going) and expand capacity over time
• I don't have an actual budget, but I'm also not rich - I think of having a build that initially costs around 1500€ - 2000€ (~1800$ - 2400$ US)
• I am aware of the current global shortage of silicon, hence let's assume recommended hardware can be bought at MSRP
• I need my NAS Server to store all of my media, that is photos and videos/movies
• I want to access all of said media on my devices, like my iPhone, iPad, AppleTV/Smart TV. So I guess PLEX would be the right direction? (no experience)
• This is a hobby - so things may cost a bit more or seem overkill, but I do like building PCs. Should I however eye super money wasting stuff - please feel free to suggest I better not do that. I'm here to learn, seeking your help!
• While I want my NAS to be powerful and responsive (for what it's supposed to do), I probably have a bad sense of power consumption. 1 kWh hereabouts costs me 0.30€, which equates to about 35 cents US. FInding the right balance, or rather the right options to choose from, seems key.

 

Let me tell you about my thoughts on what components I imagine to acquire!
 

CPU

Since the introduction of Ryzen I have wanted to build an AMD system! So I'd prefer an AMD based system. I have built maybe 3 Ryzen systems for friends, so actual knowledge is not as big as with Intel CPUs.
Usually I'd like to get a new top-of-the-line CPU, but I have no clue how unRAID uses CPUs. How important is CPU power for an unRAID NAS, that serves media consumption to (probably) 2-3 clients simultaneously in full resolution?
Right now I'd be eyeballing with a Ryzen 3600 at prices around 170€ (200 USD).
Feel free to suggest the Intel way!

MAINBOARD
So I'd need a board that of course fits the CPU, in my case B450/B550 or X470/X570, right? Or am I thinking way too gamery? 
Does the CPU-MOBO combination make sense for my use case? Is it way too overpowered? Prices ranging from as low as 50€ (60 USD) up to 250€ (300USD), not counting the absolute enthusiast boards.

I definitely want to connect a huge amount of storage to the system, longterm™. I'm definetely not scared of having 10+ or even 20+ drives at some point. (might wanna upgrade until then, but for now let's assume I want to build a machine that still easily does its job perfectly fine in 5-10 years)
At this point I think I'd want as many SATA ports as possible, but to get more drives connected I'd either way have to get a SATA expansion card. Any suggestions on solid products?

I've upgraded the house's network to 10G Ethernet already like 5 years ago, so 10G is definitely a must - either on board or via add-in card.

 

RAM

As I am still unsure which component plays the biggest role in an unRAID Server with PLEX, should I get a lot of RAM? Or why might RAM not matter that much? I'd probably go for at least 32GB DDR4 at... idk, 3200 MHz? Brand currently irrelevant to me, perhaps the G.Skill RipJaws V. 
Currently those can be bought for around 170€ (200 USD).

 

GPU
Yes, GPU! I have heard of PLEX's capability to run hardware accellerated transcoding. I have no idea in which scenario this could benefit my needs, but it sounds cool! I know that CPU's have sufficient GPU power these days (in AMD's case I'd ofc have to change my CPU choice), but are they really that good? Yes, GPUs are pretty much impossible to obtain currently, but I think I've once read about the nVidia Quadro Series being a good choice for this use case.

I'm a sucker for the highest resolution (let's realistically settle on 4k for now), HDR and Dolby Atmos experience. My dad and I own several Blu-Rays which I'd like to have a back up of. So you kinda get a sense of what kind of content I plan on storing and streaming in house. 

Yes, this significantly adds to power consumption, but then again only at times where I actually need it, so idles are (hopefully?) negligible. Though I guess I'll probably have to switch over to the PLEX community for further details on this topic.

 

STORAGE

Okay, now the heart of the system.

While I mainly focus on purchasing Seagate IronWolf (Pro?) HDDs, I assume it's wise to buy those from different retailers and probably not only buy those, but also maybe WD Reds (which should be CMR, as I heard is kinda mandatory). 
Prices are currently as follows:

• 4 TB roughly 100€ (120 USD)
• 8 TB roughly 200€ (240 USD)
• 12 TB roughly 300€ (360 USD)
• 16 TB roughly 450€ (530 USD)

Ideally I want to run on SSDs, but for the time being those are still just too expensive for this scenario, as seen here:

• 1 TB roughly 100€ (120 USD)
• 2 TB roughly 250€ (300 USD)
• 4 TB roughly 550€ (650 USD)

Would I actually benefit from running SSDs, aside from thermals, power consumption and noise levels? Like, would there be noticeable speed gains?
But again, for now I'd probably be getting 2-3x 8TB HDDs to finally start the project.

 

PSU
As long as we're talking about the regular products, I do know what kind of PSU I'd need. I'd probably just go with a standard 80+ Gold ATX PSU from a known manufacturer, probably EVGA or Corsair or bequiet! or whatnot. However there has been one product catching my eye, the Power Combo by Phanteks, which let's you connect 2 PSUs to 1 PC, adding either a higher power headroom or redundancy, in case one PSU or outlet fails. But then this product solely focuses on supplying the mainboard, so if one PSU dies some HDDs equally go offline with it. Unless someone here knows about a solution that I don't know of yet.

Then there's server grad PSUs, which typically cost more, are hot swappable (which I don't need) and much louder. At least that's what I believe to know. In the end of the day, I guess one standard ATX PSU will do just fine.

 

CASE

Last, but not least, the case. Actually I don't need one. Or let me specify, I don't think I need one (off the shelf). I like to believe it's rather easy to come up with a simple DIY casing that fullfills my needs. Looks are important to me, just as much as efficiency (cooling and right amount of space, that is). But since I chronically lack time, please suggest some cases that house 10-20 or so drives with room for the other components. Preferably rack mountable ones, but beautiful ones. Should you believe I'm missing out on a good and affordable case that does the trick without looking ridiculously ugly, go on and let me know. :) 

Thanks a lot in advance, stay healthy and have a nice one!