Hi guys. I'm building a new home server after a HDD failure and would appreciate some advice.
The details:
I've got 150mbps broadband, and a switch that was at least 1 gigabit but may have been more. (Can't access at the moment). All cables are brand new Cat6 for the 6 desktops in the living room (we live to game!)
There are 5 of us in a large house, and it is not uncommon for 3 or 4 people to be streaming video, sometimes from the same drive. I picked up a pair of internal WD Purple 4TB Surveillance Hard Drives w/ 64MB Cache at a good price as I had to replace the drive(s) ASAP. They'll be in the old machine until I build the new one. I want to be able to add more internal HDDs as more media is added, and I will use my current 3 x 4TB external USB3 drives to act as backups. I'll also need a SATA slot for a DVD burner.
This server will be the main file repository for the house, and will also be hosting two or three Ark: Survival Evolved private game servers (or more some day if possible?) on a couple of SSDs. I'd also run WIN10 on one of the SSDs. Down the road I want to add a reasonable video card for some potential gaming on the big screen TV when we have a crowd over.
That said, that's max usage - standard 24/7/365 would be the Ark servers and a couple of streams with some file transfers going on from time to time, little to no gaming. Reboots for updates/maintenance only.
1> So right off this sounds like I need a good power supply - keeping in mind future needs, what should I be looking at here?
2> CPU/MoBo/RAM: Many SATA slots for current/future use. RAM. (Is DD4 over DD3 worth it? Can I have space to add more so I don't have to buy 64 gigs or more all at once? How much do I realistically need in the end?) And I haven't been able to learn enough to know how much weight to put on getting the best value (I'm not rich) in the # of cores vs. higher clock speed debate. How many cores do I need as a minimum for this type of use? In some of my research I saw one article that said streaming a single HD 1080p decode can mostly swallow a core... Should I be looking at 8 or 10 cores at much slower speed, or a blazing fast quad? Or an older Xeon (or two?) Switching to Xeon gets pricey for the MoBo/CPU combo, maybe I require it over the long haul?
3> What do I require for cooling? The tower is isolated and I can keep the side panels off - is a couple extra fans good enough? I don't anticipate putting anything extreme in to this tower for a vid card - old card was a GTX780. Maybe something a little better if I can get it around $300 in a few months (I'm in Canada by the way...) Do I need to plan for that heat and/or extra cooling needs NOW while still choosing a tower?
4> What am I missing? (Because I know it's there...)
That's about all the detail I can think of off the top of my head, aside from the obvious fact that I'd like to do this as cheaply as possible. I'll spend what is required to get the system I need, but I really need to maximize value. I can defer a video card, extra drives, and some RAM to future purchases to get the best system I can today.
Also - if possible (and prices align) I like to deal with Memory Express when I can, they seem to have pretty solid prices and are local. http://www.memoryexpress.com/ (I'm in Edmonton, Canada)
Thanks in advance to everyone, and thanks for this great site!
The details:
I've got 150mbps broadband, and a switch that was at least 1 gigabit but may have been more. (Can't access at the moment). All cables are brand new Cat6 for the 6 desktops in the living room (we live to game!)
There are 5 of us in a large house, and it is not uncommon for 3 or 4 people to be streaming video, sometimes from the same drive. I picked up a pair of internal WD Purple 4TB Surveillance Hard Drives w/ 64MB Cache at a good price as I had to replace the drive(s) ASAP. They'll be in the old machine until I build the new one. I want to be able to add more internal HDDs as more media is added, and I will use my current 3 x 4TB external USB3 drives to act as backups. I'll also need a SATA slot for a DVD burner.
This server will be the main file repository for the house, and will also be hosting two or three Ark: Survival Evolved private game servers (or more some day if possible?) on a couple of SSDs. I'd also run WIN10 on one of the SSDs. Down the road I want to add a reasonable video card for some potential gaming on the big screen TV when we have a crowd over.
That said, that's max usage - standard 24/7/365 would be the Ark servers and a couple of streams with some file transfers going on from time to time, little to no gaming. Reboots for updates/maintenance only.
1> So right off this sounds like I need a good power supply - keeping in mind future needs, what should I be looking at here?
2> CPU/MoBo/RAM: Many SATA slots for current/future use. RAM. (Is DD4 over DD3 worth it? Can I have space to add more so I don't have to buy 64 gigs or more all at once? How much do I realistically need in the end?) And I haven't been able to learn enough to know how much weight to put on getting the best value (I'm not rich) in the # of cores vs. higher clock speed debate. How many cores do I need as a minimum for this type of use? In some of my research I saw one article that said streaming a single HD 1080p decode can mostly swallow a core... Should I be looking at 8 or 10 cores at much slower speed, or a blazing fast quad? Or an older Xeon (or two?) Switching to Xeon gets pricey for the MoBo/CPU combo, maybe I require it over the long haul?
3> What do I require for cooling? The tower is isolated and I can keep the side panels off - is a couple extra fans good enough? I don't anticipate putting anything extreme in to this tower for a vid card - old card was a GTX780. Maybe something a little better if I can get it around $300 in a few months (I'm in Canada by the way...) Do I need to plan for that heat and/or extra cooling needs NOW while still choosing a tower?
4> What am I missing? (Because I know it's there...)
That's about all the detail I can think of off the top of my head, aside from the obvious fact that I'd like to do this as cheaply as possible. I'll spend what is required to get the system I need, but I really need to maximize value. I can defer a video card, extra drives, and some RAM to future purchases to get the best system I can today.
Also - if possible (and prices align) I like to deal with Memory Express when I can, they seem to have pretty solid prices and are local. http://www.memoryexpress.com/ (I'm in Edmonton, Canada)
Thanks in advance to everyone, and thanks for this great site!
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