$185 Mini ITX PC or NAS???

[Ovazealous]

Hey guys,
I've been thinking about getting a NAS for my home (hopefully holding about 4TB), but then I considered building a Mini ITX PC. I want to keep the costs for the device (without hard drives) under $200 AUD.

My options here in Australia are:
NAS -
Thecus N2200+ ($185)
Netgear ReadyNAS RND2000 ($186)

and for the Mini ITX PC I can build a system composing of these-
ASRock AD2700 ITX ($99) (mobo, graphics and cpu)
G.Skill 2G Kit SoDIMM ($12)
Apex MI 008 ($74 (i have to ship it...) (PSU included as well)

so the Mini ITX PC would be $185 - exactly the same as one of the lower end NAS.
Which way should I go? I think with a Mini ITX, I can set up printing and scanning and torrenting over that mini ITX.
Also the Apex MI008 has 1 exposed 3.5" and 1 internal 3.5". Does that mean I can put in 2 3.5" drives? (I'm not too sure what the exposed is)

Thanks!

 

[striker410]

H! Welcome to the forums.
Hmm, interesting proposition. I would stay away from that Apex PSU, it's not good.

Not sure what website you are looking at, but this E-350 build will FAR outstrip the Atom you have up there. I'll use newegg as a placemarker of sorts.
APU: ASRock E350M1 $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157247
Case: Antec Mini-ITX desktop $75 (Quality PSU included)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129068
RAM: Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066MHz $13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148149

Similar price, much faster. The AMD 6310 is really what makes the E-350 win here, the D2700 appears to have the same processing capability but it's going to be held back by the PowerVR GPU chip.

 

[newt183]

^1 lol

 

[striker410]

^1 lol

=p I have a day off. Hence my overactivity on the forums, hehe.

 

[omega21xx]

H! Welcome to the forums.
Hmm, interesting proposition. I would stay away from that Apex PSU, it's not good.

Not sure what website you are looking at, but this E-350 build will FAR outstrip the Atom you have up there. I'll use newegg as a placemarker of sorts.
APU: ASRock E350M1 $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157247
Case: Antec Mini-ITX desktop $75 (Quality PSU included)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129068
RAM: Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066MHz $13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148149

Similar price, much faster. The AMD 6310 is really what makes the E-350 win here, the D2700 appears to have the same processing capability but it's going to be held back by the PowerVR GPU chip.

^+1 on the e-350.
I would much rather go the mini-ITX route than a NAS, it's about features and expandability mainly
I believe there are however NAS that will do torrenting and a few other things as you set them up to do it through your network. Not sure as to the price on those as i wasn't too interested since you can just build the mini-ITX like you mentioned

 

[Ovazealous]

H! Welcome to the forums.
Hmm, interesting proposition. I would stay away from that Apex PSU, it's not good.

Not sure what website you are looking at, but this E-350 build will FAR outstrip the Atom you have up there. I'll use newegg as a placemarker of sorts.
APU: ASRock E350M1 $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157247
Case: Antec Mini-ITX desktop $75 (Quality PSU included)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129068
RAM: Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066MHz $13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148149

Similar price, much faster. The AMD 6310 is really what makes the E-350 win here, the D2700 appears to have the same processing capability but it's going to be held back by the PowerVR GPU chip.

Hmm! Thanks for that! I'll have a look into it, see how the prices are in Australia - Your build should be fine for 24/7 use?

 

[omega21xx]

Hmm! Thanks for that! I'll have a look into it, see how the prices are in Australia - Your build should be fine for 24/7 use?

The power supply suggested will have no problem running 24/7.

 

[striker410]

Hmm! Thanks for that! I'll have a look into it, see how the prices are in Australia - Your build should be fine for 24/7 use?

Yup, it'll handle HTPCin with ease.

 

[Ovazealous]

Yup, it'll handle HTPCin with ease.

I'm also looking for a lot of space to put big 3.5" internal hard drives.... The case you suggestted only seems to support 2.5" drives..

 

[Guest]

the AD2700-ITX also has a pci card card what you could insert a 4 port sata card into expanding your sata count to 6 in total