What's the cheapest I could go for building a NAS/Plex server?
Currently running it off my PC, but I don't want to have it on all the time due to power usage concerns.
I just want to get something small and compact that could house 2-4 hard drives and have just enough power for transcoding videos on the fly.
Would NUCs be enough, or would I need to go for a full PC build?
>>53484871
according to plex, you need something that scores higher than 2000 on cpubenchmarks in order to stream 1080p smoothly.
i have an old hp mediasmart server ex485 upgraded to an intel q9550s and it has been working well so far. the only reason i have the server is cuz i got it for 50 bucks. anyway, pretty much any core i series should be more than enough for plex streaming. shitty laptop from 2012 with an i5 or even as low as an i3 should work.
>>53485362
I was considering using an old laptop, but it would accumulate so much dust the system would probably be unusable after a month.
>>53485392
where are you keeping it? before i got my mediasmart server, i was running it off a t420 with no problems. was on 24/7 since 2012 to this past october, when i switched.
>>53485585
Parents house with a dog, this is meant to be a present. It'll likely be stashed on a shelf somewhere so I need to get a case that will pull air from the front and push out the back (some holes leading to a wall). Filters would be ideal.
I use an am1 sempron quad core,it just werks.
>>53485611
I'm in a good mood, had a decent amount of coffee and am finishing a remote. Do you mind building it yourself? What country? Budget?
>>53485683
Yes, I would actually prefer a diy build since I could control its layout. US, idea budget $300 and probably a cheap $50 USP (Live in Florida, wiring is lightning prone).
I heard good things about the HP Proliant Microserver gen8, but the base model doesn't cut it. With some HDDs and upgraded CPU you will end up at probably $400-500
>>53485702
Ok give me a second, this will just be a suggestion and I still expect you to do your own research!
>>53485749
Of course! What I've figured out so far is the recommended passmark score is around 2000. I just need to figure which generation AMD or Intel, or whether AMD would be fine for low power/heat. Cases can vary, mATX would probably be the nicest looking solution. 4/6 port SATA boards hopefully with at least 2 high speed ones would be great too. Thank you.
>>53485783
I know it's a little more than you were looking to spend but I think its worth it. I use the same cpu in my home server.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dLzYyc
>>53485859
>16 GB of RAM
don't need that much
>>53485924
Its a server retard.
>>53485991
I think you could easily get away with 8
>>53486029
Yeah you're right, he should save the extra $3, servers never need extra ram.
>>53485991
That wasn't op, 16gb is good but I'd agree 8 is adequate. I use 8 currently in a regular pc running my plex server and it hasn't had a hiccup. 8 gb on plex only would be more than enough.
>>53486068
Again save the $3, typical user, ask for advice, completely disregards it.
>>53486055
>probably only three users watching at the max
>computer dedicated to plex
>needing that much RAM
Hey OP, This is what I'm doing, I don't know if it will work for you but this is the setup i'm building. AMD quadcore FXchip $99 with a cheap motherboard $70 1TB HDD $50 4GB Ram $30 old case and cpu. Hyper-V(FreeEdition) with Windows 7 running PLEX server. You can run VMware with linux and PLEX. If you don't like windows. Why Virtual? cause when it fucks up you can continue from the last working checkpoint.
