Hello all,
I will soon be moving into a house with three other guys for university, and I think it would be awesome to put together a NAS/home theater PC for all of us to use. However, it seems as though there isn't a ton of literature on part picking for these types of systems, so I'm partly putting up this question in hopes that some others may find it helpful, too. I want to do a full PC build instead of just pick up an out-of-the-box NAS from BezosMart for a couple reasons. First, I am experienced with PC building and setting up RAID arrays, so the greater customization, expansion and serviceability of a full-on PC is a benefit to me. Second, as I mentioned I would also like for this to serve as a home theater PC, so normal PC functions (i.e. a browser for Netflix and the like) are a primary goal for me. So I wanted to ask some general questions and then get help with parts recommendations for a PC that could fit an easy medium between a dedicated server and HTPC.
So first, my use case: Mainly I want this to be a local replacement for cloud storage services like google drive, which means a storage solution for documents, photos, other misc files and the ability to access them remotely, but also for 4k video files and therefore the capacity to stream them to any PC in the house (I do not necessarily need to access 4k video files remotely, these would stay local). As for home theater functions, I really just want this to stream the aforementioned local files, and work as an internet browser for online streaming services (o.e. Netflix) in 4k as well. I will NOT be gaming with this machine. "Prosumer" features like premium on-board audio, overclocking support, aesthetics, etc. are not necessary and happily sacrificed for budget/performance, however onboard optical audio output would be a top priority. Features like IPMI would be plenty convenient, but since it will be hooked up to the TV anyway I already have a UI. I don't plan on encrypting the data on this device.
Now for some questions that I have:
For my use case, would dedicated server hardware like SuperMicro boards, ECC RAM and Xenon processors be worth my while? Or would I be better off basically just throwing together a parts list for a mid-tier daily driver?
Is AMD now a competitive option for server PCs?
For software, I presume Windows would be the best option here for remote desktop to access files outside my local network, as well as general usability, correct? Or is there a comparable/better linux option for my use case?
Some info on these questions will help me pick out a parts list, but any parts recommendations you may have would be greatly appreciated! As far as budget goes, I'm not looking for the cheapest possible option, but since I will not be gaming on this system and its mainly just general use/4k streaming/NAS I certainly hope not to exceed $1000.
Hopefully my conceptual understanding is good here, but please let me know if I've got anything wrong.
Thank you all very much!
I will soon be moving into a house with three other guys for university, and I think it would be awesome to put together a NAS/home theater PC for all of us to use. However, it seems as though there isn't a ton of literature on part picking for these types of systems, so I'm partly putting up this question in hopes that some others may find it helpful, too. I want to do a full PC build instead of just pick up an out-of-the-box NAS from BezosMart for a couple reasons. First, I am experienced with PC building and setting up RAID arrays, so the greater customization, expansion and serviceability of a full-on PC is a benefit to me. Second, as I mentioned I would also like for this to serve as a home theater PC, so normal PC functions (i.e. a browser for Netflix and the like) are a primary goal for me. So I wanted to ask some general questions and then get help with parts recommendations for a PC that could fit an easy medium between a dedicated server and HTPC.
So first, my use case: Mainly I want this to be a local replacement for cloud storage services like google drive, which means a storage solution for documents, photos, other misc files and the ability to access them remotely, but also for 4k video files and therefore the capacity to stream them to any PC in the house (I do not necessarily need to access 4k video files remotely, these would stay local). As for home theater functions, I really just want this to stream the aforementioned local files, and work as an internet browser for online streaming services (o.e. Netflix) in 4k as well. I will NOT be gaming with this machine. "Prosumer" features like premium on-board audio, overclocking support, aesthetics, etc. are not necessary and happily sacrificed for budget/performance, however onboard optical audio output would be a top priority. Features like IPMI would be plenty convenient, but since it will be hooked up to the TV anyway I already have a UI. I don't plan on encrypting the data on this device.
Now for some questions that I have:
For my use case, would dedicated server hardware like SuperMicro boards, ECC RAM and Xenon processors be worth my while? Or would I be better off basically just throwing together a parts list for a mid-tier daily driver?
Is AMD now a competitive option for server PCs?
For software, I presume Windows would be the best option here for remote desktop to access files outside my local network, as well as general usability, correct? Or is there a comparable/better linux option for my use case?
Some info on these questions will help me pick out a parts list, but any parts recommendations you may have would be greatly appreciated! As far as budget goes, I'm not looking for the cheapest possible option, but since I will not be gaming on this system and its mainly just general use/4k streaming/NAS I certainly hope not to exceed $1000.
Hopefully my conceptual understanding is good here, but please let me know if I've got anything wrong.
Thank you all very much!
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