Hi all,

 

As the title states I'm here asking for help from experienced NAS builders to help. I had a large unRAID server before but sold it...with a little help or a lot of help from the significant other.

 

So in search on Craigslist for something with a smaller footprint I came across a Bitfenix Phenom Mini-ITX case for $20, score right? It has space for 6 3.5" drivers. Now to put the rest of the pieces together and hopefully this is where your help comes in.

 

Requirements:

1) Small and "out of the way" as the girlfriend puts it. I think I'm covered for now.

2) Quiet "I don't want to hear that thing" again as she puts it. Seasonic PSU perhaps?

3) Serve 1-2 4K/60 streams simultaneously. I'll be using Intel Nucs (Kaby Lake) and Amazon Fire TV 4K wired.

4) Stream music / Acts as time capsule for backing up computers/iPads/iPhones 

5) Remote access for my dad to the server (for my existing movies)

6) The use of Docker for Sonar and the like

 

I don't have a budget but trying to keep it respectable. I have a couple 3TB Seagates drives and the case. So it would be options for;

Motherboard

CPU

Ram

PSU

 

Any info is greatly appreciated and would go a long way to happy times around here. 

 

 

On your psu, I have a corsair RM450 that runs my system. It has a feature where the fan won't spin up when power usage is under 40%. I have 11 3.5" drives it powers comfortably. I haven't heard my psu fan spin up and it sits next to my lounge tv.

I have seen mini itx boards on these forums that take a passive cooled CPU as well. I think these are with an atom CPU. These might note be able to handle what your after. Maybe go for an i5 CPU.

I hope this helps.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

@BillClinton thanks for the tip on the PSU, much appreciated.

 

I'll add it to the list of possible components. Now to try and figure out which motherboard/cpu to settle on.

Depending on how many drives you need, if you want to go even smaller on the case, check out the Fractal Design Node 304.  It's front profile is smaller than a regular 8.5x11 inch (U.S. letter) sheet of paper in landscape mode.  You already have a small case (although not as small as the Node 304), so, maybe that is not your primary concern.

 

The Corsair SF450 or SF600 (SFX form factor, very small) PSUs have fans that do not spin up until the PSU reaches >50% load.  I have one in both of my small form factor builds.

 

You can get what you need from many excellent mini-ITX motherboards.  Your BitFenix case will accomodate a mini-ITX or microATX motherboard so look at those form factors. 

 

Do you want server-grade (always on, better reliability) or consumer-grade hardware?

 

Plex can be setup for remote access (i do it to my server while traveling) fairly easily.

 

As far as RAM, you should be good with 16GB.  The type and capabilities (ECC/non-ECC, registered/unbuffered, etc.) will be determined by your motherboard and CPU choice and what they support.