BUILD Upcoming First Build. Looking for suggestions/improvements.

[devexityspace]

So I am pretty new to the game and will be setting up my first media server (OpenELEC), and I want to do it right the first time.

After reading through several forum posts on here, and over on the OpenELEC forums, I have come to the following build:

----------------------------------------------

Case: Fractal Design Node 304 FD-CA-NODE-304-BL Black Aluminum / Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case - $98 @ Newegg

Power: FSP Group AURUM S 400W Power Supply with Intel Haswell Certified - $60 @ Amazon

CPU/Motherboard: ASRock C2750D4I Mini ITX Server Motherboard FCBGA1283 DDR3 1600/1333 - $388.99 @ Amazon

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B $169.99 @ Amazon

Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $299.95 @ Amazon
Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $299.95 @ Amazon
Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $299.95 @ Amazon
Storage: Western Digital Red 6TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive $299.95 @ Amazon

2GB 3.0 Flash Drive

TOTAL: $1916.78

----------------------------------------------

I went with a beefier CPU to ensure I could get at lesat 4 simultaneous feeds of 720p streams at once, and of course ECC RAM. I understand that the recommendation is 1GB RAM per 1TB storage, but to cut costs I wanted to see if 16GB RAM would be suffice, and if not-- I have 2 more slots for RAM and could upgrade after.


Any recommendations/suggestions are appreciated!

 

[AlainD]

Why not 6x 4TB drives? (or even 3TB one's)

 

[devexityspace]

Why not 6x 4TB drives? (or even 3TB one's)

When I was first building this out on notepad, I was going to go big or go home and get 6 6TB drives, and then cut back to 4. I guess economically, it would be better to get the 6x 4TB drives ($1037 vs $1200), I just have to swap my case (which only has 5 slots for drives, and change to a case that fits 6 for an added $20).

 

[AlainD]

4x 6TB as RaidZ2 gives 12TB usable. 6x 3TB as raidZ2 gives 12TB usable...

 

[devexityspace]

4x 6TB as RaidZ2 gives 12TB usable. 6x 3TB as raidZ2 gives 12TB usable...

True, I could save an additional $50 per drive ($300) by going down to the 6 3TB's.. but I'm curious if I should take that savings, or if it's worth it to do a RaidZ2 on 6 4's for a 16GB usable. (Is 4GB worth $300 essentially). With movie files in the 7GB range, and series files in the 1GB/ea episode, I think it wouldn't take long to fill up.

 

[sdgenxr]

I'm planning a similar build and wondered what you would suggest for the boot device? Considering there are many SATA ports, would it be worth using a SATA DOM or some other use of an SSD for memory storage?

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm planning a similar build and wondered what you would suggest for the boot device? Considering there are many SATA ports, would it be worth using a SATA DOM or some other use of an SSD for memory storage?

As of right now, a DOM is wasteful and a USB drive is preferred. However, 9.3 will allow some neat things to be done. I recommend you use a good ol' USB drive for now and later get a DOM, if you deem it to be worth it.