Hello everyone, I'm ExNova and I've just joined this forum. (MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!)
I would like to assemble my first NAS and i'm looking for advice/opinions on the various components I will need to purchase. 
The NAS will be entirely used for photo/video storage (memories) and as a PLEX media server (Movies/TV series also in 4K).
As HDDs I was thinking (to start with) 2x Seagate Exos 18TB (one of the 2 for parity).

In addition, 1TB SSD as Cache
Here is the configuration I was thinking of:

 

CPU: i5-12500 (maybe i5-13500 to be unveiled at CES in January 2023) With UHD 770 (same iGpu as the 12th gen)
RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 16GB (2x8)DDR4 3600
MOBO: MSI PRO B660M-B DDR4 micro ATX
PSU: Cooler Master XG650 (650w) 80 PLUS Platinum
HS: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO V2
CASE: Fractal Design Define XL R2

 

What do you think of this configuration? Do you think it's overkill for the use I'm going to make of it?

I'm afraid this configuration will consume a lot of power in idle. (I'm not very experienced in this area)

 

Also, I think it's very bulky as a NAS, I wouldn't mind, if possible, assembling a smaller build.
Thank you all for your patience and any suggestions

 

(Sorry for my English)

2 hours ago, ExNova said:

smaller build

Unless you expect to have a lot of disks. I have always used mITX in small cases with only 5 or 6 HDD. And it is easy to replace disks with larger disks if you need more capacity. 

9 minutes ago, trurl said:

Unless you expect to have a lot of disks. I have always used mITX in small cases with only 5 or 6 HDD. And it is easy to replace disks with larger disks if you need more capacity. 

Yes, at most I will need 6 hdds.

The case I put in the build can hold 8. Do you know of any smaller cases suitable for holding 6 hdds? (that do not have airflow problems)

One I am using now that is still available:

 

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-304/black/

 

I also have this one and really like it, but probably unobtainable these days:

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811112339

 

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, trurl said:

One I am using now that is still available:

 

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/node/node-304/black/

 

I also have this one and really like it, but probably unobtainable these days:

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16811112339

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for your help.

In the end, I think I will opt for the Fractal Design NODE 804 which supports up to 8 HDDs. 
I wanted to ask you, is the motherboard I chose able to 'hold' that CPU? Or should I buy a more expensive motherboard?

Will all the components I have chosen fit into that case without any problems?
Does the case include the cages where you insert the HDDs, or are they to be bought separately?

I always use pcpartpicker to check compatibility.

11 hours ago, ExNova said:

In the end, I think I will opt for the Fractal Design NODE 804 which supports up to 8 HDDs. 
I wanted to ask you, is the motherboard I chose able to 'hold' that CPU? Or should I buy a more expensive motherboard?

The Node 804 is a very good case.

I'd say select another mATX motherboard with at least 6, preferably 8 SATA ports that also features a couple of M.2 slots that are configured by the manufacturer not to disable any of the SATA ports when both M.2 slots are in use.

4 hours ago, Lolight said:

The Node 804 is a very good case.

I'd say select another mATX motherboard with at least 6, preferably 8 SATA ports that also features a couple of M.2 slots that are configured by the manufacturer not to disable any of the SATA ports when both M.2 slots are in use.

Thank you for your reply!
Seeing various reviews on youtube, I think I'll keep the Fractal Design Define XL R2, which:
- has sound absorbing panels
- supports up to 8hdd 
- has better airflow being a full tower case 
- also supports internal 4k burners
(in the last few weeks I changed my decision several times so bear with me hahahh).

 

Being a full tower case I can put any motherboard in it and the assembly is much easier. 
Are there motherboards that support 8hdd and 2ssd m.2 by default? 
I would also like to buy a 10gbps card to be able to transfer files from my pc to the nas very quickly. (So I need a motherboard that has more than one PCIe slot)

Do you think an i5-13500 (14C/20T | 6P-8E) is overkill for Plex and some apps? (The cpu will be announced in January at CES 2023)

More than anything else, I am concerned about the idle consumption of this nas

Thank you very much for your patience

20 hours ago, ExNova said:

Are there motherboards that support 8hdd and 2ssd m.2 by default? 
I would also like to buy a 10gbps card to be able to transfer files from my pc to the nas very quickly.

Do you think an i5-13500 (14C/20T | 6P-8E) is overkill for Plex and some apps? (The cpu will be announced in January at CES 2023)

The motherboard's M.2 slots configuration needs to be checked via the mobo's manual.

Thankfully you can find them published on the manufacturer's sites. So do some research before purchasing.

Every motherboard is configured differently.

e.g. my old Asus motherboard disables one of the SATA ports if one of the M.2 sockets is set to the SATA mode when populated by a SATA SSD.

Yet, if the same M.2 socket is set to the PCIe mode and populated by a NVMe SSD then that restriction doesn't apply and no SATA ports get disabled.

 

Is it going to be a direct connection between your NAS and PC?

If not then the rest of the network would also need to support 10Gbps speeds, e.g. the router, switch...

 

And I would advise to stay away from the newest and untested chips.

All current gen processors are very efficient at idle.

btw, you might also want to consider Jellyfin as an alternative to Plex.

Edited December 27, 20223 yr by Lolight

6 hours ago, Lolight said:

The motherboard's M.2 slots configuration needs to be checked via the mobo's manual.

Thankfully you can find them published on the manufacturer's sites. So do some research before purchasing.

Every motherboard is configured differently.

e.g. my old Asus motherboard disables one of the SATA ports if one of the M.2 sockets is set to the SATA mode when populated by a SATA SSD.

Yet, if the same M.2 socket is set to the PCIe mode and populated by a NVMe SSD then that restriction doesn't apply and no SATA ports get disabled.

 

Is it going to be a direct connection between your NAS and PC?

If not then the rest of the network would also need to support 10Gbps speeds, e.g. the router, switch...

 

And I would advise to stay away from the newest and untested chips.

All current gen processors are very efficient at idle.

btw, you might also want to consider Jellyfin as an alternative to Plex.

But what if I got a SATA PCIe card instead? (the motherboard has 4 sata ports in total) Wouldn't that still solve the problem of few sata ports? If so, which card would you recommend?

1 hour ago, ExNova said:

But what if I got a SATA PCIe card instead? (the motherboard has 4 sata ports in total) Wouldn't that still solve the problem of few sata ports? If so, which card would you recommend?

I personally don't use PCIE Sata cards. I use old 9211 LSI flash IT mode cards for SATA drives. Sata can't go above 6GB speeds on spin disk any way and I've found that those cards the Drives I/O is better when each drive is in use. Example if you make a share and all 3 drives use that share. Then unraid opens reads and writes the I/O on all 3 drives. Raid IT mode cards IMOP seam to handle that better. Now also doing that and adding 10Gig Networking into your mix you will need 2 PCIE slots. and I personally just use older intel CPUs with embedded graphics in them. Then your question is about PLEX and 4k and media streaming. you will get most likely better advice from other here. But thats all I use my stuff for more or less. And What I noticed it depends greatly on how many open running session are in use. I live in a condo with limited room so my old Intel i7 6700k with 32gigs ram runs both TV's and 4k Play back just fine. But if my friend from works plays one of my 4K movies (which I stopped sharing those) Then I might start to see some play back issues.

I dont have another TV setup locally to see how it would do with 3 Local connections. But I have to assume it might put a strain on things. So I would say if you plan to run more than 2 4k sessions you might consider a graphics card and ditch drive I/O speed differences. I found finding mother boards with more than 2 PCIE 2x and above slots way to expensive just to get better I/O But I'm a older guy that likes to run cheap and let my wife kid drain my wallet. So your main build your suggesting to me would be great but only a little light on ram. I like to run min of 32gigs because I run all the regualr dockers for auto grabbing TV and movies (Sonar, Radarr, SABNZB and Plex) 32 gigs might be a bit over kill sometimes. I also run 3 1TB SSD's for Caching. 2 1tb's in a mirror for the dockers (NVME/M.2 Sata). and 1 TB Sata cache pool I use for the download caching. I dont mirror that because its just downloading and unpacking and moving the file over to the array for playback. I'll buy cheap Cache Sata drives for it because in case I over use the wear in tare its a cheap replacement. when I started they were almost 100 each now I can get them for under 50 to 55 bux. Not worth mirroring and burning out 2 of them.

 

15 hours ago, ExNova said:

But what if I got a SATA PCIe card instead? (the motherboard has 4 sata ports in total) Wouldn't that still solve the problem of few sata ports? If so, which card would you recommend?

That's why I've mentioned choosing motherboards with at least 6 or 8 SATA ports to allow for future expansion.

Why to complicate the build by selecting small motherboards with few available SATA ports?

A HBA card will also use non-trivial amount of electricity.

13 hours ago, Lolight said:

That's why I've mentioned choosing motherboards with at least 6 or 8 SATA ports to allow for future expansion.

Why to complicate the build by selecting small motherboards with few available SATA ports?

A HBA card will also use non-trivial amount of electricity.

That's some good point about electricity. But yeah good quality motherboard is good idea with 6 or 8 sata ports. The newer chipsets handle the Sata I/O better anyway now days. Like I said before I usually build alot of my Servers out of extra left over retired parts. So my experience with some of the newer things could be a little outdated.

I just switched out my old 9211 8i HBA for a newer SAS3008 16i chip. I was getting slower I/O speeds till I reshuffled and used the drives on different channels. on my AMD motherboard but on my Intel board I could use it anyway I wanted and got good speeds but its either that or my backup box has some SMR drives and I didn't know.