I'm tired of using my main desktop to serve Plex to my living room TV, so I'm looking to create a standalone Plex server. The server will stream and transcode to a PS3 in HD. In the near future, I will add a Roku2 to another room which will serve up SD content. Eventually I plan to add a home theater in the basement that will also stream, but I may install Plex Home Theater, so likely no transcoding will be required. Besides Plex, I plan to use the server as a simple basic file server and also for backups for Windows 10 machines.
Here is what I have so far. I'm not partial to either AMD or Intel or any particular OS. I've only worked in Windows before, but I'm confident in figuring out other software if necessary. I'm looking for the best bang for the buck. I want to keep the price as low as possible (<$300), not including software if necessary. I already have a 4TB Samsung External Desktop HD (USB 3.0) that holds my media collection that is currently plugged into my router. I plan to just plug this into the server.
Plex Server Build
What would you change out? What is worth a little more cash in order for much better performance? Can I get by without paying for another copy of Windows? Are there any decent micro-ATX cases in the $50 range? Everything I saw looked like cheap junk. Finally, how scared should I be of the built in PSU?
Here is what I have so far. I'm not partial to either AMD or Intel or any particular OS. I've only worked in Windows before, but I'm confident in figuring out other software if necessary. I'm looking for the best bang for the buck. I want to keep the price as low as possible (<$300), not including software if necessary. I already have a 4TB Samsung External Desktop HD (USB 3.0) that holds my media collection that is currently plugged into my router. I plan to just plug this into the server.
Plex Server Build
What would you change out? What is worth a little more cash in order for much better performance? Can I get by without paying for another copy of Windows? Are there any decent micro-ATX cases in the $50 range? Everything I saw looked like cheap junk. Finally, how scared should I be of the built in PSU?