Looking to build my first unRAID / Plex Media Server machine.

 

I'll be having 3 concurrent 1080p streams coming from Plex and I will have it transcode videos as well. Eventually, I'd like to get into virtualization and run pfSense/VPN/unRAID/Ubuntu with PMS.

 

EDIT 04/10/2014 - Updated with purchased list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $227.49)

Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard (Purchased For $227.49)

Memory: Kingston Technology ValueRAM 8GB DDR3 1600MHz PC3 12800 ECC CL11 DIMM with TS Server Workstation Memory KVR16E11/8  (Purchased For $78.14)

Storage:  Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($73.47 @ OutletPC)

Storage:  Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $169.99)

Storage:  Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $169.99)

Case:  Nanoxia NXDS4B MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Power Supply:  Rosewill Capstone 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Other: SanDisk Cruzer USB 8GB ($9.99)

Total: $1106.54

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-10 08:15 EDT-0400)

If you're really going to want to go the virtualization route down the road I'd fork up the extra cash it would cost for the Xeon CPU/server motherboard/ECC RAM. You're looking at about an extra $100-$150 bucks for the server grade parts depending on the specific CPU and motherboard you choose.

Thanks - any recommendation on a good Xeon or should I wait for the next release?

If you want something with similar performance to the i7 you picked out I'd go for the E3-1240 v3. Then I'd go for something like this for the board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182820

 

For the RAM, try to find a good price on ECC DDR3-1600.

Thanks! I looked at some of the benchmarks for the 1230v3 and 1240v3 and decided to go with the 30. This combo deal looks good to me:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1595394

If you can find a combo of that board with IPMI I'd go for that one. If you're not familiar IPMI allows for complete headless management of the server. Once you've had a server with it you can't go without it. It's awesome.

 

http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-ipmiview-review-remote-server-monitoring-management-ipmi-20-kvm-over-ip/

Thanks for all your help IPMI looks great - I just updated my list above. I went with the SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821