Home Server Build from the Scrath

[OscarWild87]

Hey Guys,

I came to you guys,because I would need your help with building a home server. I have done some pc builds in the past for gaming, but never have done for home server.(I have no idea which parts, how much of it I need or required if possible I could have a use of examples like exact brands,models, amounts etc..
What i know so far is I would like to have a minimum of 15TB to 20TB and up for the future to be able to extend.

For the budget. I dont have yet (but reasonable Im not millioner) since i don`t know what are those part and its price which I need for home server build.(Also if its possible at all to extend an existing gaming rig ,with a large enough case. Like this I have most of the parts already like Intel i7 4790k, 16GB corsair Dominator , GTX 770(4gb), Asus maximus ranger VII.
What I would need the server for, is movies documents and photos (perhaps this will help to predict a possible budget, I have mostly full blu-rays and mkvs and watch them 3-4 times a week.

So my goal is to make a self build, I don`t really have parts lying around I would need to buy everything for it. I would like to use Windows for OS.

Also what I think that for my need I could use RAID5 but correct me if Im wrong pls.

Any advice and comment is appreciated!!
Thank very much guys in advance.

Kind regards.
Richard

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

If you already have a Haswell i7 doing nothing, by all means use it. It isn't a power guzzler and certainly has enough performance. I think the Maximus Hero boards have 8 SATA ports, which should be enough. Use all the RAM. For VMs, RAM is the limit, and DDR3 does not use much power. You definitely want a full case. As for storage, I would say 8x3TB drives in RAID5, which will allow one disk in each set of four to fail without causing damage, and give you 24TB of utilizable storage space. 3TB drives have the best $/GB ratio at the moment. Also, I would get a small SSD, M.2/mSATA/PCIe, to have the OS and possibly another one for a cache drive.

As for OS, it would pretty much have to be something Linux/BSD based. FreeNAS works if you just need storage and a Plex/XMBC server. If you want, say, VMs as well I might try ESXi if VMware is still letting non commercial users have it for free. Make sure to pass through the NAS directly to disks if you virtualize it though.

Edit: I think I misunderstood you. The i7 is your current rig. This would be a good server or NAS.
url=http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ByQFgL]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock C226WS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($116.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Kingston Predator 240GB PCI-E Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 652S ATX Mid Tower Case ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1620.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-06 09:23 EDT-0400

 

[OscarWild87]

If you already have a Haswell i7 doing nothing, by all means use it. It isn't a power guzzler and certainly has enough performance. I think the Maximus Hero boards have 8 SATA ports, which should be enough. Use all the RAM. For VMs, RAM is the limit, and DDR3 does not use much power. You definitely want a full case. As for storage, I would say 8x3TB drives in RAID5, which will allow one disk in each set of four to fail without causing damage, and give you 24TB of utilizable storage space. 3TB drives have the best $/GB ratio at the moment. Also, I would get a small SSD, M.2/mSATA/PCIe, to have the OS and possibly another one for a cache drive.

As for OS, it would pretty much have to be something Linux/BSD based. FreeNAS works if you just need storage and a Plex/XMBC server. If you want, say, VMs as well I might try ESXi if VMware is still letting non commercial users have it for free. Make sure to pass through the NAS directly to disks if you virtualize it though.

Edit: I think I misunderstood you. The i7 is your current rig. This would be a good server or NAS.
url=http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ByQFgL]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790S 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($298.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock C226WS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($183.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($116.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Kingston Predator 240GB PCI-E Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.35 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 652S ATX Mid Tower Case ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1620.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-06 09:23 EDT-0400

Thank you for the fast reply!!
Yes the i7 is my current rig still in use for gaming and so.
This list looks pretty nice thanks!
Will check the components out! Perhaps is possible to reduce the price a bit about 1000-1200 bucks?

Regards

 

[ss202sl]

That MB has 2 storage controllers. Only 1 supports raid 5 - with only 6 sata ports - so you'd get 6 drives max in the raid.
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C226%20WS#Specifications

Also for raid 5, there is no easy upgrade path (you can't just add bigger drives to increase the size) - you have to back up the data, and then re-create the raid, and then recover the data back to the new raid. Or create a totally separate storage system, and copy the data. Also remember that raid is not a backup, if you keep any important data on it, you should have a backup plan.

 

[OscarWild87]

That MB has 2 storage controllers. Only 1 supports raid 5 - with only 6 sata ports - so you'd get 6 drives max in the raid.
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C226%20WS#Specifications

Also for raid 5, there is no easy upgrade path (you can't just add bigger drives to increase the size) - you have to back up the data, and then re-create the raid, and then recover the data back to the new raid. Or create a totally separate storage system, and copy the data. Also remember that raid is not a backup, if you keep any important data on it, you should have a backup plan.

Noted! Thank you!
So with what other MB or solution can I attach more drives?

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

You could just add a hardware RAID card, such as this.

https://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16816124028

To reduce price, it looks like a Xeon D-1520 board runs at $400 if you can find it and an Atom C2750 at $300 or so. Note that the Xeon D uses DDR4. You could use a SATA SSD and save about $100. Otherwise it's all storage costs.