Building a home server

[Xird]

** Sorry if this is placed in the wrong thread, but the subject is going to touch on network attached storage, so i hope it will be fine **

First of Hi! I'm Mark from Denmark. So any language barriers and shortcomings is because of this, i hope you can still mange to piece together the full intent of this post.

Question #1:
I'm currently looking to build a server. I'm fairly well versed in hardware lingo, specs etc but far from perfect and truth be told I'm looking for a real egg head to help me right my wrongs or push me in the right direction.

I have never played around with anything server-like before (20 minutes total on WHS2011). But now I'm looking to build my own, to increase my knowledge base and have some fun fiddling / building / tweaking.

Requirements:

• 
  Running Minecraft server (10-20 players)
  Running Plex media server
  Running Ventrilo (25+ slots)
  Transcoding video
  FTP server
  Video/music/picture streaming to two network devices

maybe more should i find a need (meaning i want an upgrade-able system with a fair amount of headroom)

Price range: 1000-1300 USD OR 1000-1300 EURO if purchased in Europe.
I don't mind spending my maximum amount if the system provides me more longevity, reliability, upgrade-ability or (noticeable) performance. But I'm still looking to save a few bucks as everyone else.

What I have:

• 
  1 Western Digital Live
  1 HTPC
  TRENDnet TEW-633GR Router (Gigabit)
  40Mb / 4Mb Internet connection (Cable)
  CAT6 gold ethernet cable to every room/device

Hardware I've looked at so far: Thoughts?

Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230V3
Motherboard: ASUS P9D-C
Memory: 2x Kingston ValueSRV DDR3-1600-SC 8GB
Hard-drive(Boot): Samsung EVO 120GB SSD
Hard-drive(Storage): 4x Western Digital Red (2 TB)
Chassis: ??
Power Supply: Corsair CX430
Operating system: Windows server 2012

With thought to also (later):
Raidcontroller: LSI MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i
Hotswap: ??
Capture card: AVerMedia Live Gamer HD

Question #2:
Does WHS2011 really NOT support 16GB RAM?

Question #3:
I don't mind paying for more performance than i need if i get the 24/7 reliability in "server-grade" hardware, such as the CPU, MB, RAM(they are ECC) and HDDs (WD Red). But does it make a diffrence.

Question #4:
Need a suggestion for a Case for my build. I'd like features such as hot-swap (SATA-600) and USB 3.0 but if the case you recommend doesn't have that my next question would be if you could recommend e.g a front panel USB or Hot-Swap cage for my drives.

Question #5:
Recommendations for an always-on (24/7) power supply?
Any recommendations/do's and don't's are much appreciated.

Question #6:
i realize most people use old parts from their PCs for home servers, I don't have any old unused parts. Am i insane for wanting to spend money on a server that I'm not (yet) qualified to utilize fully? Should i start smaller?

Hope one or two of you out there hears my plea and is able to take a minute (or thirty, given the length of this post) to help me out. It would be very much appreciated and I'd be very grateful!

Thank you in advance

Mark

 

[cars12345]

I can answer one of your questions. I have not dealt with servers that much, so I will leave this for others to answer.

2. Yes, WHS2011 has a max of 8GB of recognizable RAM.