Time for an upgrade! Too many choices, please help (coming from Nas Killer 3.0)

[coldjim]

Hey,

I built, what I think was, a NAS Killer 3.0 a few years ago (from serverbuilds.net). It has worked great for a long time but now I think it's finally time to upgrade this. Theres a few problems and things/features I would like to upgrade in my next build.

 

The main use for my server is Plex. For my own use locally and for a few users streaming. I also use it as a back up drive for general use and as a Time Machine for my macbook. Other uses I would like is to run up a couple VM's, but I haven't got around to this yet.

 

The current set up is:

Intel S5500BC Motherboard

2 x Intel l5630 CPUs

12gb RAM

Corsair CX550M PSU

4 x 6TB (including Parity drive) Western Digital hard drives

Antec Three Hundred Two tower

 

The problems I currently have with this build are:

 

* If the tower happens to shut down, it is a nightmare to get back on! It has to be rebooted several times/get really lucky for it to come back on. Once its booted, its fine and stays up.

 

* Unraid can't be upgraded past 6.7.2, as it crashes every few days if you go past this point. Its stable on 6.7.2, I have tried many times to upgrade but the server stays up for a few days then crashes.

 

* Some of the RAM slots are broken on the CPU, so can't put any more RAM into the machine

 

These are the main problems with my build. They seem to all point towards the motherboard, but I'm not sure what I'd replace it with at this point.

 

However the features I would like in my next build would be:

 

* Smaller, quieter case/build. The Antec Three hundred just takes up too much room, and is quite loud so you can't really be in the same room as it. I'd also like it so I can easily pop out drives and replace them, its not that easy in this case.

 

* Be able to stream 4K video. I currently download 4K videos for myself to play locally and they work great, however the people that stream from me can't play the videos so I have to delete my 4K version to replace it with a 1080 version for them to stream. I would like to just be able to stream these 4k files (even on direct play, it seems to stutter).

 

These are the main two, but I'd also like to solve my problems of not being able to update Unraid, and it booting up first time!

 

If there is any advice, then I would really appreciate it, there are so many options!

 

Thanks