right here goes … i am currently using a NAS540 as my storage for my plex server but i am pricing up the components to build my very own server pc . i currently have roughly 10 friends on my server and at any given time usually no more than 5 1080p films being played at once , i do have a 4k section aswell which i want to add a lot more content to!
what i need off you guys (especially the clever ones :D) is some info on whats the best components top use to get the best playback.
i have a msi z270 xpower gaming titanium motherboard spare that is going to be used with a i7 7700 3.6 ghz processor on it and also the cpu has a corsair hydro series h100 cooler on it with 16gb ( 2 x 8) ddr4 corsair vengence memory. the case i am buying is the fractal design r6 specifically for the reason you can mount 11 hdds in it … i already have 4 x seagate ironwolf nas 4tb and will buy another 4 so i have a total of 32tb storgage which i will be using raid 6 which gives me a total storage of 24tb but the option to add another 3 hdds at a later date.
i do know that my current motherboard wont have enough sata ports if i ever need more than 8 inputs but i can always use a pcie express card to get around that issue
for anyone reading this i AM open to suggestions on raid types and components to use etc !
also i intend on buying 2 x samsung 970 evo plus m.2 ssd , one with windows and c drive the other so i can use it for transcoding and a 850 w fully modular corsair gold psu
please please please hit me up with your suggestions ! i am no tech geek at all but i do like to think i am above average for someone who uses computers so anything is welcome !
component suggestions , the way i use them etc etc … any advice is better than none
You’re going down the right path. The only thing I would add is a video card to assist with transcoding all your friends streams. I’d suggest the Quadro P2000. It’s the best I’ve found at hardware transcoding multiple streams…I can get upwards of 30+ clean transcoded streams.
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.
mikeed88 stated 1080p so I’m only working with his data to base my opinions. I don’t try and transcode anything from my 4k library…only 1080p. Where did you see no PlexPass mentioned…I might have missed it.
Also…can you help me with the funding to upgrade my crappy 60TB’s to 1PB??? Pretty please
thanks for the replys guys ! I was trying to not go down hardware acceleration route atm, I do have a 980ti that in could put in it though if you guys think it would run better , as far as I am aware transcoding is more cpu dependent ? ans have a personally transcoding m.2 solely just for that should be quicker than any gpu ? … also do you guys have any experience in raid types to use ? I will have to use 4 x 4tb at first to transfer all my data over and then format the other 4 and add them after , raid 6 to me seems the best but as stated previously I am open to suggestions .
oh and I dont have a plex pass and dont intent to in the future if that helps
just a quick update .. I ordered a lot of stuff last night so just thought I would share it with you guys , ignore the board and processor becuse they are going in my gaming rig to allow me to use the ones in that for my server and as stated before the board is a msi z290 pro titanium gaming with a i7 7700 cpu.
whilst ordering the stuff last night I got thinking, if there was to be a error with windows 10 pro on my server and a fresh install was to be done then how would that affect my drives ? obviously the raid array would be done through windows and if a new one had to be installed would this not notice the array that is already there ? if this is the case what would you guys recxomed ? would 2 installs of windows on each m.2 help ? etc etc . thanks guys
Hey Mike…nice list of hardware. That CPU will transcode fine for most home setups. As for running Windows (software based) RAID…you would need to restore from a Windows backup to recover. Installing Win10 on the second m.2 drive will save some time when restoring…but you will need to have backups to restore the RAID date from. I’d suggest you buy a PCI RAID card…it will store the config on the card and be independent from the OS…i.e. you crash Win10…just reinstall OS and drivers, you’ll see the RAID drive and data without a restore.
My current RAID controller is an LSI MegaRAID SAS 9261-8i https://www.amazon.com/LSI-Logic-Megaraid-9261-8I-Single/dp/B0036RBKD0 (supports 8 SATA drives and RAID 0/1/5/6) I also have an Intel RAID expander (RES2SV240) to allow 18 total SATA drives. I’m run RAID-6 across ten 8TB drives backed up to a Synology NAS…just in case something catastrophic happens.
My setup is overkill for most needs…but I have a ton of other data I have to retain.
that would pay half my mortgage off what’s left hahahha
