I've been considering getting a NAS for a while now, and am getting ready to pull the trigger.  Over the past few days I have been doing some reading on what is best and what is possible, and while I have learned a decent amount I am still pretty overwhelmed.

 

What I have figured out is

(a) it makes more sense for me to build a NAS over getting a Synology or some equivalent, as I think I am capable of doing it, and it will have greater functionality for less money

(b) it is perfectly possible and feasible to build a NAS and a desktop PC in one device

© unRAID looks to be what I want for numerous reasons (which is what brought me here)

 

So then I started looking at some hardware.  In the end I want to have at least 8 bays, but up to 12 would be pretty nice.  So first the case:  I think the DS380 case looks great, and I would like to have a small form factor, but if I am looking to use this as a capable computer as well I am thinking space may be a bit too tight.  So perhaps a mATX would be best, the Fractal Node 804?  Or am I better off just getting a full size case?

 

Fractal Node 804:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352047

 

Since I was first looking at the mITX I was initially limiting myself to the ASRock motherboards with onboard processors, as they would fit and have the requisite SATA ports, but now that I am wanting to have the VM on this I think I need a better processor.

 

Would a Xeon processor with this motherboard be a good choice?  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

 

Anyway, that's basically where I am at, and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A) You can build a NAS cheaper and better then Synology with a few other key benefits.

• If you look one a harddrive in Synology or any other nas you cant recover data from another pc unless your a skilled linux person
   
  
• 
  Cache drives makes everything a lot faster
   
  
• 
  Get more space in certain situations.
   
  

 

B) It is possible and works quite well. ( if you want to gaming it takes a bit more planning )

 

The case is amazing i have a corsair 240 and love the look of the case you want. Also the water cooling options is amazing that case.

If you go MATX you can get a wide selection of motherboards.

I would look into a good 4th gen I5 or even I7 if you have the budget.

Make sure the motherboard supports VT-d, for CPU make sure it supports VT-d and VT-x

 

Storage on unraid doesn't take much cpu power at all.

If you want a proper gaming box that is also a nas/san i would look at the i7 4790k/4790 depending on budget.

I will gladly make recommendations but need to know a budget.

To add to this if you go with a CPU with integrated GPU you could alway use that GPU on your desktop and at a later time buy a GPU for gaming.

Thanks for the response.  Yes, I think building definitely makes more sense once I looked into it.

 

Price is a concern, but as you pointed out by building it is possible to do it somewhat piecemeal (both with number of drives, upgrading processor or GPU).  Basically I would like to get a build up and running that would run unRaid and a respectable PC, even if it isn't capable of high end gaming.  But I would like the option of turning it into a gaming rig in the future without starting from scratch.  So essentially "future-proofing".  I would only have 4 drives running in it to start, but I want the option to expand as my data does.

 

I was thinking 1000 for the build, which would include a 6TB drive (~250) so I could be set with a large parity drive, and the unRaid key for 90.  So if I could do the rest for around 660 that would be great, though I'm not sure how feasible that is if I want good VM performance and a MOBO that can support 10+ drives.