Advise on a New Budget Build, NAS/HOME Theater (~500$)

[TSF007]

Hello,

I want to build a new NAS/HOME theater PC.

Approximate Purchase Date: Week time from now, If I consolidated the specs.

Budget Range: around 500$ (Not including the HDDs nor OS, just 1 SSD)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Data storage (Huge) and movies watching on TV.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any place that delivers to my country. Which are hard to find and really expensive most of the time.

Location: Saudi Arabia. I will not find everything, I will have to order some stuff online. Specially the case and the PSU. All components have to be common or I can't get them even online.

Parts Preferences:

Case: Fractal MicroATX NODE 804, best I could find around that fits so many HDDs. I don't have much space in my apartment. The room I am using is already a living room, kitchen, and pretty much everything except the bed and bathroom lol. Also my wife will kill me if I brought home something big and ugly

Mobo: MicroITX or MiniATX, Not sure, need a lot of SATA ports,

Processor: Intel Pentium Processor G3240 (3M Cache, 3.10 GHz) , Is this enough? or do I need 4th Gen. I chose this because it is 2 cores, less power consumption and the most I will be doing is at one point is copying stuff into my computer while watching a full hd movie. Maybe downloading something as well.

Memory: Not sure, 4 GB enough?

GPU: Do I need one? or integrated is enough.

Sound Card: Again do I need one? lol, Sorry I am so cheap.

PSU: Researched this more than anything else, still can't choose, 450 watts seems reasonable according to eXtreme power supply calculator. Size depends on the case ofc, if I go with NODE 804, has to be 260mm deep max.

Storage: 1x Intel 530 Solid State Drive Retail Kit 120gb , Random choice. For OS and some programs.

Your Monitor Resolution:1920x1080.

Additional Comments: Quit and very power efficient as it will be running 24/7.There will be 6 to 8 3.5 HDDs so cooling and power are very important factors.

I will be buying 4x WD Red 4TB HDDs later on. not included in this budget. Won't be using Raid, just separate HDDs.

Sorry, haven't built anything or even researched in like 7 years so anything you can offer will be useful.

Going over the budget is not a problem, specially if it will ensure the safety of my HDDs but have to consider that I will be buying several HDDs later on which probably will cost more than the whole set-up itself. If I am not getting a GPU or a sound card then CPU and mobo has to substitute for them big time.

Thanks,

 

[BustaRhymes]

It really just depends on if you want to play games on your HTPC or not. If not then Pentium G3258 and 4GB of Ram would be more than enough.

If you want to play games you may want to go a little beefier.

sound cards are kind of becoming legacy at this point. Just about every motherboard has at least 5.1 surround sound built in. And if you want really good sound there are motherboard with premium sound cards built in as well.

 

[Karsten75]

All the advice I can offer you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA9AKLOVOKk

 

[TSF007]

It really just depends on if you want to play games on your HTPC or not. If not then Pentium G3258 and 4GB of Ram would be more than enough.

If you want to play games you may want to go a little beefier.

sound cards are kind of becoming legacy at this point. Just about every motherboard has at least 5.1 surround sound built in. And if you want really good sound there are motherboard with premium sound cards built in as well.

Thanks for your reply m8,
No gaming, just movies and simple tasks. It will be hooked to my TV so won't be doing much with it anyways.

The main point of it is data storage really. I am sick of having multiple external HDDs hidden away in the closet and has to hook them to my laptop everytime I want something. I bought a LIAN Li NAS which was a huge mistake.

So, CPU and RAM are good enough, no sound card. Thanks ^^

 

[Karsten75]

As a matter of interest, what Lian Li NAS did you buy and what were your issues with it? I bought a small Synology NAS and was not too happy with it either, but I'm considering a larger Synology NAS - once I can reconcile the hurt of paying that much for admittedly excellent software.

 

[TSF007]

As a matter of interest, what Lian Li NAS did you buy and what were your issues with it? I bought a small Synology NAS and was not too happy with it either, but I'm considering a larger Synology NAS - once I can reconcile the hurt of paying that much for admittedly excellent software.

EX-40N. It is extremely slow. You can't run anything from it so you have to copy whatever you wanna use into your computer first. That much I did not know about when I bought it, I think it said 25mb/s on the box lol, it goes to 6 MBs max and rarely. Got 4x2TB WD HDDs (Max it can handle).

Two months short of a year and non of my HDDs failed yet so I haven't cried lol.

 

[TSF007]

All the advice I can offer you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA9AKLOVOKk

Thanks for the video, a bit higher spec than I want, also bigger size. Kingston Memory and the PSU looks good to me.

 

[TSF007]

So you can get the picture of how I am really outdated on building computers, my last build had an intel Pentium4 single core processor and an ATI GPU and that was very high spec at that time

I really need everything you have to offer. Specs, brands, what I need and don't need to get. Things I should really watch out for.

This build is a preparation for another build I will be doing for gaming. Well, I sense there will be a lot more technologies coming out soon so I am not rushing that one.

 

[TSF007]

So, I have made this list, what do you think?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($60.00 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($108.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 530 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($78.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $474.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-21 15:09 EDT-0400

I wish I can reduce the cost a bit, I need a SATA expansion card. Thats about 70$. And maybe 100$ for shipping. So thats about 645 which is above my budget.

 

[BustaRhymes]

i would try to get pentium g3258 becaus it's overclockable.

You can't order computer parts in your country? $100 shipping is really high.

Your build would be good though. 8GB of memory might be overkill, 4GB might make more sense for a HTPC.

 

[Karsten75]

So, I have made this list, what do you think?

...

I wish I can reduce the cost a bit, I need a SATA expansion card. Thats about 70$. And maybe 100$ for shipping. So thats about 645 which is above my budget.

Pretty sure that's not optimal. I've been thinking about your build and I'm trying to remember - Intel brought out a special video decoding set of hardware instructions in a specific range of processors. If you can get that you should see some improvement. I'm trying to find the reference for that.

You should not have to pay that much for a motherboard - are you building here in the US? Also, having just the small SSD isn't going to give you a lot of space - is this because you already have some hard drives? Hence you r need for SATA expansion?

What space limitations do you have, because there are interesting things one can do with some cases and special 3-2 or 5-3 docks for high drive density..

 

[TSF007]

i would try to get pentium g3258 becaus it's overclockable.

You can't order computer parts in your country? $100 shipping is really high.

Your build would be good though. 8GB of memory might be overkill, 4GB might make more sense for a HTPC.

Well, I don't think I need overclocking for this build.

100$ is a bit of an exaggeration, I would say for all the parts shipping and price difference if I can find them here and buy them, that's an additional 30-50$.

True about the memory, I got greedy , I ll get 4 GB like I mentioned before.

 

[TSF007]

So, I have made this list, what do you think?

...

I wish I can reduce the cost a bit, I need a SATA expansion card. Thats about 70$. And maybe 100$ for shipping. So thats about 645 which is above my budget.

Pretty sure that's not optimal. I've been thinking about your build and I'm trying to remember - Intel brought out a special video decoding set of hardware instructions in a specific range of processors. If you can get that you should see some improvement. I'm trying to find the reference for that.

You should not have to pay that much for a motherboard - are you building here in the US? Also, having just the small SSD isn't going to give you a lot of space - is this because you already have some hard drives? Hence you r need for SATA expansion?

What space limitations do you have, because there are interesting things one can do with some cases and special 3-2 or 5-3 docks for high drive density..

Not in the US. The small SSD is just for the OS and some programs, I already have some HDDs and I will buy some later on. The sata expansion because the highest motherboard I found has only 6 SATA ports in it.

About the motherboard, what do you suggest then? I got really tempted looking around for one lol, I almost added the ASUS GRYPHON Z97.

Do you mean space as in a place to put the thing in my apartment? or space as in HDDs? The place, I am trying to get something as small as possible. As for HDDs, I want as much expandability as possible. This case has cages for 8 3.5" HDDs and an extra space for 2 3.5s and 2 2.5s at the bottom.

Really thanks guys for everything you give me ^^

 

[TSF007]

Well, I just found out that Intel Chipsets do not support more than 6 SATA III ports while AMD supports 8 and their processors are cheaper!!

I am not a big fan of AMD, so I have no idea what to get from them. Any suggestions? a Micro-ATX mobo with 8 x SATA III internal ports and a compatible processor that fits my need?

With that I will be set

 

[TSF007]

So here is what I could come up with:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A6-6400K 3.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($55.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($39.74 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $443.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-23 17:34 EDT-0400

So far I couldn't find a website that ships either the motherboard or the case for a reasonable price (Mobo can be shipped with 33$ lol) unfortunately but I ll keep looking.

So what do you guys think? specially the CPU and the mobo as I have no idea what is good from AMD.

Thanks,

 

[TofuLion]

power supply is a bit too much and you don't need 6400K if you aren't going to over clock so you can get a quad core. also, apu uses memory for vram so faster memory

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-5500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI A88XM-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Node 804 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 400W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $458.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-23 18:05 EDT-0400

 

[TSF007]

Thanks a lot m8,

A question tho, Will that PSU handle 10 7200RPM HDDs? and how does that CPU fair in power consumption?

Also, that PSU is fanless, how good is that?

Sorry, too many questions .

 

[TofuLion]

the cpu does well for its type: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/trinity-vs-ivy-bridge_4.html

and i didn't account for 10 hdds so you're right you need more like 750, though the mobo can't support all 10 and an ssd

 

[TSF007]

Thank you very much for the info, I am adding 4 HDDs now, I will get a SATA expansion card later on.