cheap windows home server

[deann3g]

Hi, this is my first p.c build and I'm a totally new to all this. i'm in the middle of my first p.c build and now want preferably to build a cheap windows home media server for around £200. what would your recommended specification be for all the components ?

or would i be better of buying a NAS Server? I have been looking the HP ProLiant MicroServer G7 N54L 1P 4GB-U Non-hot Plug SATA 150W PS Server for £130 and the Buffalo LinkStation Pro Quad 4TB NAS Drive - 4x 2 x 2TB far but nor sure.

thanks dean

 

[Greenpedro5]

I am doing something very similar currently i would recommend picking up a cheap intel atom board wgich are small quite and have minimal power usable at about £15(my one) - £56 top end brand new (the board is integrated along with processor) buying a cheap case £20 and psu 400 watt £20 and 2gb or 1gb of ram £10 then loading your drives and os. Have you considered freenas as an alternative os its free easy to use web gui and fast. It means you are able to double your money on drives instead of wasting it on windows.

 

[deann3g]

tbh I'm more more bothered about the OS it seems you can do more with windows home server from what i now, but may be I'm wrong.

I also would rather spend on a bit more ao that i not upragding anytime soon.
what about some like this : AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Socket FM2 Quad Core for £55 and ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ AMD Socket FM2 Motherboard for £70 with probably 4gb of ram. not sure about power supply something supper slient. and I'm also looking for small p.c case that i can fit at least four hard drives, something like: Fractal Design Node 804 Black PC Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/645943-fractal-design-node-804-black-pc-case-fd-ca-node-804-bl-w
tell what you think thanks

 

[Greenpedro5]

tbh I'm more more bothered about the OS it seems you can do more with windows home server from what i now, but may be I'm wrong.

I also would rather spend on a bit more ao that i not upragding anytime soon.
what about some like this : AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Socket FM2 Quad Core for £55 and ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ AMD Socket FM2 Motherboard for £70 with probably 4gb of ram. not sure about power supply something supper slient. and I'm also looking for small p.c case that i can fit at least four hard drives, something like: Fractal Design Node 804 Black PC Case
http://www.ebuyer.com/645943-fractal-design-node-804-black-pc-case-fd-ca-node-804-bl-w
tell what you think thanks

But then again for your budget you won't get that ideally you want an AM3 socket or 1150 using an i3 or Athlon that your not getting that cheap £70 then a motherboard £40 then 4gb ram £25. I have this fractal design case it's a tower a black one from scan coat about £30 but then as soon as you add drives £100 OS windows £60 power supply £20. I would also recommend adding a cheap 10/100 pci ethernet card as a management card and a back up £6. Your looking total £280 but you could substitute out your processor for a pentium which is £40 and a pentium is future proof and the new ones have no real difference to the i3. Dropping the price down to about £250.

 

[Greenpedro5]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/z3bP8d
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/z3bP8d/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G2010 2.8GHz Dual-Core Processor (£59.97 @ PC World Business)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£29.42 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 2GB (1 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£16.33 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Toshiba 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£27.72 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£28.26 @ Amazon UK)
Wired Network Adapter: TP-Link TG-3468 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter (£5.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £273.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-26 13:52 BST+0100

There we go not far off my estimate

 

[deann3g]

thanks for all the infomatio so far, so why is it that you would'wouldn't recommend AMD motherboard and CPU i dont understand?? seem cheaper than intel route.

 

[Greenpedro5]

I have no problem with them I have two AMD CPU based servers but you in my opinion intel has better performance in a number crunching sense and reliability I would choose intel at a lower level. Considering you are using it as nas and not APU/GPU then AMD isn't as good but it could be a viable option, end of the day it's your choice.