I built a separate machine because I didn't want to leave my gaming machine on all the time and didn't want either a)turn off the server while gaming or b)Have the transcodes interfere with my gaming. I also have other people using my server so that is why I wouldn't want to turn off the server. If you want to save some money you could go with the Fractal Design Node 304 for $90 bucks, 6 drives but you could probably fit 1-2 ssds/2.5 inch drives in as well and most motherboards only have 6 Sata connections as well. I would spend the money you save on a 128 gig ssd for the main os, it will speed up all of the library and metadata actions that the server has to do.