Building first budget friendly NAS / VM runner

[sneer]

Budget:

500-600 - it is more learning kind of thing than "my life depends on this data" project 🙂 

 

Hardware (to be bought):

Dell Precision T7610, Xeon E5-2603 v2, 64GB ECC 1866Mhz (found one for ~ 300USD)

 

Drives:

 

8TB Iron Wolf or 4x3TB Seagate NAS drives  (both availabe for 150usd secind hand - have not decided which one would be better)

There is included 500GB SSD and 1TB HDD in this dell server.

But I was thinking it would be better to get 1 at the time with bigger capacity and expand over time if it flays, that populate all slots with smaller drives - is it even doable?

 

Expandability, long term goal:

CPU upgrade if needed. 

Would changing to something like Xeon E5-2637 v2 have significant benefits at start of this project (3.4 instead of 1.8 GHz)?

 

Additional apps:

Docker, VM, Jellyfin

 

Spare parts:

- Main desktop: i5-11700k, 32GB, 4,5TB (2x 500GB, 1x2TB m.2 and 500GB m.2 as system), RTX3070

- eGPU RTX3060Ti, and old GTX 1070

- Synology 920+ 4x4TB

 

 

 

GOAL:

First of all I want to learn. Second - have a decent performance VMs running on it - I have in mind that I would be able to run 2 VMs on this server connected through 1Gb LAN cable to my laptop (to make my office dead silent), with option to access it outside also:

- 1st running GTX 1070, or 3060Ti - for games and fun (i know 3060Ti is a bit overkill, but it is what it is)

- 2nd just for office work - only CPU and RAM (or 1070 if it fits)

 

Apart from it, I would like it to use for streaming media (jellyifn), open for outside access - streaming, and leave Synology as main Backup device for all files or second backup for important files (this is why I am not afraid to put used drives in it, or run old hardware).

 

*Optional option 🙂 : My livingroom rig is quite powerfull (listed above), I was also thinking to convert it into NAS/VM runner. But I am a bit afraid that something may break and I will not be able to revert it to previous state - it is in constant leisure use. (I have it configured the way I want, lots of games and apps - connected to 4k 120Hz display - I guess this may be an issue to make VM support this resolution, unless I spend tons of money on active HDMI cables right? ~30m distance) 

 

 

 

What do you - people with experience - think about my idea? Am I crazy, or is it doable?

Edited May 17, 2022 by sneer