i dont know/care one way or the other as far as external/internal RAID..hell i'm not even sure if it doesn't make more sense to hook it up to the router instead of a desktop.

both my RAID-2 and WHS crapped out on me so i'm feeling a bit burned on systems that were supposedly 'bulletproof' ways to handle all my media.

i'm hoping the third time is the charm and i set up a configuration that doesn't die in a year.

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Posted by ILikeLSUToo

Central, LA

Member since Jan 2008

18018 posts

Posted on 12/9/14 at 3:47 pm to CAD703X

If you're building a home server like this from scratch you might as well put your storage drives in it. Not sure how well Plex would perform in NAS-to-client streaming/transcoding (of course it depends on the NAS internals). It could very well do just fine in an Atom-based NAS for all I know. Personally, I'm all maxed out on ethernet ports but have plenty of room in my PC for more hard drives, so if I were expanding my home server storage, it would go straight into my desktop as opposed to setting up another access point or a wireless storage solution. Just more convenient and cost-effective for my situation.

Consider this:

PCPartPicker part list: LINK
Price breakdown by merchant: LINK /

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($97.27 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Biostar Hi-Fi H81S2 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.94 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($31.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $318.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-09 16:45 EST-0500

ATX home server for $300 -- just add the HDD storage of your choice. Maybe some NAS-oriented low power drives with a longer warranty, or take your chances with an array of WD caviar blues or seagate barracudas with the 1-year warranties. You could torrent/seed all day long while streaming Plex to every capable screen in your house while you fire up some Quake 3.