January 29, 201610 yr Hi! I'm planning to build a Plex server that should be enough to store and stream movies and tv shows for years to come. Some quick points before my proposed part list: Will likely be 'always-on' (hence the beefy CPU cooler, just for kicks and longevity) Will eventually go up to 10 hard drives total (case supports 10, so will pick up an IBM 1015 at that point) Streaming to 2-3 devices max, with the potential for some transcoding Primarily streaming to a Roku Any feedback that you might have would be awesome! CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($115.99 @ NCIX US) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC) Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLL-F Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($107.99 @ Adorama) Storage: Western Digital Red 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.89 @ OutletPC) x 6 Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US) Power Supply: Thermaltake 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($86.44 @ Amazon) Other: SanDisk Ultra Fit™ CZ43 16GB USB 3.0 ($8.09) Total cost: ~$1,300-$1,400
January 30, 201610 yr You may want to consider a stronger CPU as my understanding is that Plex transcoding takes an equivalent of a Passmark score of 2000 per stream. Which it looks like that CPU is maybe a 5000 total score. Also, some folks have had issues with Fit Ultra (USB 3.0) models, but the old Fit (USB 2.0) models have worked flawlessly for most folks. You may want to get an SSD or two for a Cache drive/pool as it makes the dockers/VMs run much, much faster.
January 30, 201610 yr I also agree you may want to bump up the "horsepower" somewhat, either to an i3-4370 [PassMark 5540, which should be plenty for 2-3 streams, especially if not all 3 are transcoding] or to an E3 series Xeon, which will bump up your PassMark score to at least 6600 (E3-1220v3) and potentially over 10,000, depending on the specific processor you select. A Xeon will also provide pass-through support (vt-d) in case you should decide to run virtual machines that require this. You also may have the wrong memory listed -- you need unbuffered ECC modules. What you listed does not show "ECC" in the description ... so be sure you are in fact looking at ECC modules.
January 30, 201610 yr r.e. the Ultra-Fit USB flash drives => there have been a few folks who indicated they had issues with these; but that's generally been on older motherboards. I've used nothing but these for the last several systems I've built for folks; and Limetech is shipping these if you buy pre-configured flash drives as well. I've found them to be VERY reliable, and the exceptionally small size is very nice
January 31, 201610 yr r.e. the Ultra-Fit USB flash drives => there have been a few folks who indicated they had issues with these; but that's generally been on older motherboards. I've used nothing but these for the last several systems I've built for folks; and Limetech is shipping these if you buy pre-configured flash drives as well. I've found them to be VERY reliable, and the exceptionally small size is very nice Good to know, thanks.
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