BestConfigs: NAS PC

jpishgar

Splendid
Overlord Emeritus
It's that time again! Time to update the Tom's Hardware BestConfigs! Once again, we are opening the field to user recommendations to get the best consensus for the absolute best of the best in each category. Post the best configuration you can put together for the following build category and our editorial team will pick 5 of the best to be put up to a public vote right here in the Systems forum. The top-ranking build will go on to become one of Tom's Hardware BestConfigs and you'll get the credit for having put together a brilliant build with a special credit in the feature article.

Post your entries to this thread for the category of:
Network-Attached Storage PC

Stay within $1,000 (without shipping) and no need to include OS, monitor, mouse/keyboard. To keep things fair and level the playing field, we ask that you restrict your product links to Newegg or Amazon. Please be sure to format your list of components as follows:

Joe's Anime/D&D Server
Processor: Component Name and Component Price
Motherboard: Component Name and Component Price
RAM: Component Name and Component Price
Graphics Card: Component Name and Component Price
Hard Drive: Component Name and Component Price
Case: Component Name and Component Price
Power Supply: Component Name and Component Price
Cooling: Component Name and Component Price
DVD Burner: Component Name and Component Price

See below for quick-copy/paste text of the BBcode.

[cpp]
Joe's Anime/D&D Server
Processor: Component Name and Component Price
Motherboard: Component Name and Component Price
RAM: Component Name and Component Price
Graphics Card: Component Name and Component Price
Hard Drive: Component Name and Component Price
Case: Component Name and Component Price
Power Supply: Component Name and Component Price
Cooling: Component Name and Component Price
DVD Burner: Component Name and Component Price
[/cpp]

You can also use the Tom's Hardware System Builder to build your recommendation and use the BBCode export option at the bottom of the build. If you do, be sure to include a link in your post to your build on the app for quick viewing.

Good luck, and may the best builds win!
 

BreadWhistle

Honorable
Sep 21, 2012
628
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11,010

zared619

Distinguished
Sep 9, 2012
966
0
19,160
Zared619's "Mass Relay"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($90.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred V3 ATX Full Tower Case ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $985.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-19 15:07 EST-0500)
 

willyroc

Honorable
Jul 22, 2012
257
0
10,810
'BOX':

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220T 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Enermax ETD-T60-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Kingwin 550W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($90.00 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $830.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-24 03:57 EST-0500)
 

Parmeniooo

Honorable
Nov 21, 2012
3
0
10,510
Parm's Cool, Clean, and Cheap NAS. Suggested to boot from thumbdrive.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 270 Regor 3.4GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ($47.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Aplpine 64 Pro Rev ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 880GMS-E41 (FX) AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX AMD Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 2GB 240-pin DDR3 1333 ($11.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: SilverStone Sugo Series MicroATX ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:SeaSonic 300W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $664.91
 

TripKnot

Honorable
Nov 27, 2012
1
0
10,510
Gimme' All You Got

CPU: Intel Pentium G645 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8H77-V ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Storage (OS/Cache): Samsung 830 Series 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Azza Helios 910 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Kingwin 550W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($90.00 @ Newegg)
Other: ICY DOCK MB153SP-B 3 in 2 SATA Internal Backplane Raid Cage Module ($75.99)
Total: $973.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-27 20:26 EST-0500)
 

wiltronic

Honorable
Nov 27, 2012
1
0
10,510
Saving to build this with 6 drives instead of the 5 shown here.
The thought process behind this build is high storage capacity with minimal power utilization and acceptable performance.

Wil's Dream NAS
Processor: onboard AMD C-60
MotherBoard: ASUS C60M1-I AMD Fusion APU C-60 Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo $79.99(@newegg)
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) $24.99(@newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99(@newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99(@newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99(@newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99(@newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99(@newegg)
USB Flash Drive (for OS): SanDisk Cruzer Fit 8GB $8.4(@amazon)
Case: LIAN LI PC-Q25B $119.99(@newegg)
Power supply: SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W $59.99(@newegg)

TOTAL with 5 Drives: $943.31
 

dork_police

Distinguished
Jul 25, 2011
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18,660
I am planning on building a NAS PC that will also be a "media" PC, I already have the Hard Drives (currently in use on my machine, and I've already got the 500GB HDD I want to use as a OS HDD - bearing in mind I have an extra Windows 8 Enterprise key from my work).

I am not a very big fan of HDD's getting warm, and seeing as the case will be standing in a corner lights wont bother me - thus I chose a case that will have more than enough cooling for the 6 drives I want to insert.

Ludwig's NAS/Media PC:
Cpu and Motherboard Combo: AMD A6-5400K Trinity 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 65W + MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA III USB 3.0 $124.98
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $40.99
Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD $104.99
Case: COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper $144.99
HDD (OS): Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS-RK 500GB $ 69.99
HDD (Storage): Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB x5 $69.99x5 = $349.95
Soundcard: HT | OMEGA eClaro 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz $184.99


Total: $1020.88

Now I bought the Hard Drives most of them for R600.00 which is about ~$70. So the price is very similar to the one listed on Newegg.
I will in future when I run out of storage probably buy a add in Sata card and slot in the 2tb's as I need them.

I have added a Soundcard seeing as this will be a media PC as well.
 

CrazyCook

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
6
0
10,510
The putting the "S" in "NAS PC," "why wouldn't you use a case meant for the job?," room to grow, and $3.78 left over build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G645 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z68A-G43 (G3) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($142.57 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($142.57 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($142.57 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($142.57 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Habey DS-600S Steel 4U Rackmount Server Chassis w/ 6 x 3.5" Hot-swap SATA HDD Bays 3 External 5.25" Drive Bays ($184.99)
Total: $996.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-29 09:38 EST-0500)

Edit: Markup didn't get link for case.
 
Blazor's 12TB NASa
Processor: A4-5300 $52.99 (Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS $54.99+$5.99=$60.99 (Newegg)
RAM: AMD Entertainment Edition AE32G1609U1 1x2GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V $8.99 (Newegg)
Graphics Card: integrated
Hard Drives (4x3TB): Western Digital Caviar Red 3TB WD30EFRX $156.18x4=$624.72 (Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake ATX Mid Tower VM100M1W2Z $69.39 (Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic SSR-360GP 350W 80+Gold $59.99 (Amazon)
Cooling: EVERCOOL HDAC Aluminum HDD Cooling $24.99+$3.99 shippingx4=$99.96+15.96 shipping=$115.92 (Newegg)
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer $15.99 (Newegg)

Total = $987 w/o shipping, $1008.96 with shipping

Caviar Green is bad for a NAS, especially if you use RAID of any kind (most RAID controllers aren't fully compatible with them, among other reasons, because of Caviar Green's head-parking features causing RAID data corruption due to not being properly supported). CAviar Red was specifically designed for NAS usage and the cooling/silencing/control bays for these drives from Evercool seem quite effective for a variety of purposes. Highly efficient Seasonic 80+Gold PSU keeps power efficiency high and the Trinity APUs are known for having idle power consumption below even Ivy Bridge despite the full process node disadvantage. Assuming that such a system won't spend most of its time above idle by much if at all, power consumption on this system should be quite minimal, especially with these high-efficiency NAS hard drives and otherwise minimalist component selection.
 

anonymous_user

Distinguished
Sep 6, 2010
127
0
18,680
Little Box, Big Storage

Processor: AMD Fusion APU C-60 onboard
Motherboard: ASUS C60M1-I $79.99
RAM: SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) $34.99
Hard Drive (OS): SAMSUNG 830 Series 64GB $69.99
Hard Drive (Storage): Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99
Hard Drive (Storage): Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99
Hard Drive (Storage): Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99
Hard Drive (Storage): Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB $129.99
Case: BitFenix Prodigy $79.99
Power Supply: SeaSonic SSR-360GP $59.99

Total: $844.91
 

CrazyCook

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
6
0
10,510
I generally like your build, low idle power consumption CPU, reliable and efficient PSU. Personally I'd like a more general purpose NAS PC/server with a non-thumbdrive and more RAM approach, but I see the value in this popular approach.





I don't fully agree with this statement though. RAID and NAS predate the existence of "1-5 bay NAS RAID application specific" drives (Red was launched July 10th, 2012). The "I" in RAID was originally "inexpensive." The head parking can be disabled or at least changed, if desired (citation: the internet, haven't tried personally). Any software raid won't have a problem with the Greens such as mdadm in linux, the raid features in windows, or something like freenas.

I don't disagree the Reds offer some features worth paying for. All of the tests I've seen show the Reds perform better in some to most benchmark tests. They offer a 3 year warranty instead of 2, although I've personally never had a drive fail between 2 and 3 years (bathtub curve), it does happen (not sure how well that relates to the 114 years of MTBF). But I haven't seen any reviews or tests that show the Greens magically not working and failing where Reds shine, nor have I seen data to show that the MTBF and warranty are more than just specsmanship and marketing.

The reds add value, but I don't think it justifies the price difference. And with $1000 budget, I'd rather an SSD boot drive over replacing 4 Greens for 4 Reds. Particularly when I would have liked to shave a few more bucks and gotten a motherboard with more SATA ports...

 


Greens have a whole set of problems for NAS use, but that's not the point. I've tried them, I'm not speaking from some random guy's perspective. Greens are not good for a NAS and in most hardware RAID arrays, they tend to cause failures extremely quickly. It's not some magical BS, it's some of their power-saving features not being supported by RAID controllers. I'm not aware of any way of disabling them successfully.

The Reds are also far more reliable for such use. I'd skip out on an SSD for superior reliability in a system such as a NAS where that is very important. Regardless, I could easily fit one in if I wanted to. I could just take out the $100 spent on hard drive cooling since I see no one else seems to have done it and throw in a great SSD. A cheaper case and CPU/motherboard combo or PSU are also options for reducing cost even more if I wanted to lessen the expansion options for up-front cost.

Also, the current Reds and Greens have nearly identical pricing. That's kinda the deal-sealer to me.

EDIT: Also, if not for the Caviar Red drives, I'd be suggesting either Caviar Blues or a different brand of drives for NAS. Caviar Green would never get recommended by me for a NAS system unless it was already known that for that system, there would not be issues with it.

I'm not sure if software RAID does not suffer from the issues with the Caviar Green drives that hardware RAID controllers do. I haven't tried software RAID with them.
 

CrazyCook

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
6
0
10,510


WD Utility from their website
This firmware modifies the behavior of the drive to wait longer before positioning the heads in their park position and turning off unnecessary electronics.

Out of curiosity, what hardware RAID controllers have you used? I think generally more people would be using software raid controllers in this kind application.

Can WD's Red Drives Speed Up Your NAS? - The Test
I originally wanted to use WD's Green drives for comparison, since they are the logical alternative to the Red and cost around $10-$50 less, depending on capacity. But the word I got back from WD's PR person was that WD's official policy now is that Green drives are no longer sent out for NAS review purposes.

When WD does this kind of thing where they used to, but don't anymore, it leans me towards a marketing and specsmanship product over actual quantifiable test data.

I'm not aware of other "1-5 bay NAS" specific drives from other manufacturers, can you share some? From what I've read WD is the only company that tries to avoid people using Greens in NAS, I assumed this was because they were the only company which had a more expensive purpose built alternative to recommend.

Right now the price difference @3TB is relatively small, but is about $55 for 4 drives. And those prices have been coming down, I imagine because WD was hoping people would be willing to pay more for these. Might be worth it from a hedge bets perspective, but haven't seen enough data to justify it.

EDIT: The kicker is that if we could use places other than amazon and newegg, I'd get this for $130 instead:
Seagate ST3000DM001 Barracuda 3.5" 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s Hard Drive

What build had you tried the Greens with before? What problems did you have?

I'm a little confused about you SSD comment, would you boot straight from the array or use a thumbdrive or something else with your build? The case I picked out has an integrated fan/drive cooler too. I think it's probably worth keeping in your build.
 
SAdams04's "Half Full" FreeNAS NAS
MB - Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3H FM2 A85X - $90
CPU - AMD A6-5400k FM2 w/ HD 7540D - $70
MEM - Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1333 CL9 1.5v - $60
BOOT - ADATA 8GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive - $12
HDD - 4 x Seagate 3TB - $140 / $560
OPTICAL (OPTIONAL) - LG 24x DVD-RW - $19
PSU - SeaSonic G Series 550w - $90
CASE - NZXT Source 210 - $40

$922


Funny how an external drive is $30 cheaper than just buying the drive. Removing them from the external enclosure saves enough budget to buy a fifth drive...
HDD - 5 x Seagate 3TB - $110 / $550

$912
 


I don't remember what controllers I used, they were for some other peoples' builds and I don't have them anymore. They were a few PCIe x1 and x8 controllers over the last few years and the last time I gave it a try was shortly before Caviar Red launched. I've only tried a few controllers with the Caviar Green drives myself, but I heard much of the same experience from many other people and not much about it being wrong.

I might try that firmware next time I have a spare RAID controller to test it with; thanks for the links.

I don't know of other NAS-specific drives. I used to mostly stick to Samsung Green for NAS usage up until Samsung sold out to Seagate and then I started using some Western Digital drives, especially Caviar Blue and some enterprise models with odd names.

Maybe you're right about Western Digital having tried to milk the Caviar Reds for more money than they should have to get people to pay more than the Caviar Greens cost and that's also why they've come down in price on the Caviar Reds, but I think that at their current pricing, they're worth the money over the Caviar Green drives even if that firmware works.

I've done a few NAS builds and experimented with Caviar Green in two of them with various controllers. The first was two or three years back and I tried using four Caviar Green 500GB (I don't remember the exact model numbers, but they were SATA 3Gb/s and I think that they had 16MB caches) with a mid-ranged PCIe 2.0 controller and I just couldn't get it to work right. They would keep corrupting themselves shortly after setting them up.

I would just switch the SSD in as the boot drive. I was thinking of a Plextor M5S 64GB for $49.99 and it'd make a great boot drive.

Also I looked at your case and I do not like those reviews. There were way too many complaints, including complaints about the drive bays being difficult to use and much more. I too considered it for my NAS build at first, but I wouldn't risk it.
 

CrazyCook

Honorable
Nov 29, 2012
6
0
10,510


What was the original idea before switching in the SSD? Boot from the array or thumbdrive? It was your comment about the reliability I didn't understand.
I'd skip out on an SSD for superior reliability in a system such as a NAS where that is very important.
 

I meant that skipping out on the SSD left me more budget for getting better quality components elsewhere, not that an SSD itself is inherently unreliable.

Originally, I was torn between from the array or a thumb drive. I don't think that it'd really matter if it booted from the array considering that it's just a NAS and assuming that one didn't have a thumb drive, I'd probably go with booting off of the array or a live Linux boot CD or DVD.
 

lp231

Splendid
Processor:Intel Celeron G530 @2.4GHz ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard:Asus P8H77-I ($99.99 @ Newegg)
RAM:G.Skill ECO 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card: iGPU
Solid State:Crucial M4 64GB ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive:4x Western Digital Red 2TB ($519.96 @ Newegg)
Case:Lian Li Q08B ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:Corsair CX430 ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Cooling:Stock cooler
Optical Drive:Samsung DVD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total:$967.89

For a NAS PC, there is no need for a high-end CPU. At first I decided on a Intel Atom, but they're crap so I went with a Celeron.
SSD is used for the OS drive, they don't waste as much energy as hard drive when its idle.
I wanted to get a external DVD drive, since it's a waste to get a internal based on amount of time the drive will actually be used. Then again
external has its own set of problems (USB port pooped out when you're copying large files), so I went with a internal instead.
Another option is to grab a DVD drive from another computer, and use it temporarily. Going this route will save you some money, but make it
a hassle when you need to use a DVD drive.
 

Cerunnos

Honorable
Sep 25, 2012
30
0
10,540
The problem with anything but Red (and RE) WD drives is that they don't play nice with RAID at all. I've had Caviar Blacks that keep throwing up fits in RAID 1 because the lack of TLER. The recovery time on non-TLER enabled drives exceeded the 7~8s limit that most RAID card/software have, and thus they label it as faulty even when the disks themselves were perfectly fine. This is why you use Red (or other brands) rather than Green/Blue/ and even Black. Previously the only option was for RE drives, that are notably more expensive, therefore most people moved away from WD drives for RAID/NAS.
 

DRosencraft

Distinguished
Aug 26, 2011
743
0
19,010
DRosencraft's B.C. N.A.S
Processor: Intel Pentium G630T Sandy Bridge 2.3GHz Dual Core $74.99 @Newegg
Motherboard: Intel BOXDQ77MK Intel Q77 Micro ATX $139.99 @Newegg
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 4GB DDR3-1600 1.35V $24.99 @Newegg
Graphics Card: N/A (On-board Graphics)
Solid State Drive: Crucial M4 64GB SSD $74.99 @Newegg
Hard Drive: WD Red 1TB InteliPower $94.99 ea. (x3) @Newegg
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid-Tower $59.99 @Newegg
Power Supply: FSP Group AURUM 92+ Series 450W $94.99 @Newegg
Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H60 $54.99 @Newegg
DVD Burner: MSI DVD Burner $29.99 @Newegg
Add-On Card: StarTech RAID Card $115.99 @Newegg

TOTAL: $955.88

Focused entirely on use as a NAS (minimal attention to other uses such as Media Hub since IMO that would probably be better thought of as a budget gaming machine). For a NAS all you really want is network access with minimal noise and power consumption. Went with lowest power options on the CPU and memory, most efficient power option, and quietest cooling option for the case and CPU cooler. Left out the GPU because of the on-board graphics with the CPU. Board choice was in case you wanted another slot for added RAID cards or other peripherals. Lastly, the case is small, but still large enough for a few more HDDs when needed.
 

xTechBeast91x

Honorable
Oct 1, 2012
35
0
10,540
TechBeast's Weapon of Mass Storage

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/u7Am
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/u7Am/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/u7Am/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Celeron G555 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($53.37 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Foxconn H61S Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Wintec Value 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($15.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.00 @ B&H)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 350W ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ SuperBiiz)
TOTAL: $481.34
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-25 20:41 EST-0500)