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[zrikz]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
File Server (I have a Synology Diskstation - outgrowing it) I also would like to be able to host a good size Minecraft/Starbound & Ventrilo server. (Streaming video to two TV's via google TV & WD Live TV.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~1000ish +-200 if need be

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Augusta, GA, no computer stores in sight.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, Motherboard, PSU, small video card if not integrated.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have a corsair 400R and Corsair H100 Water cooler
5x WD Red 3TB

6) Will you be overclocking? no

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920 x 1080 (will primarily remote in) but I could use a cheap 20-24inch monitor for set up / other uses.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the next couple of weeks unless you think I should wait on some new thing

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
SATA 6, USB3, RAID.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Going to be going with a linux distro of some sort I believe.

 

[Dangman]

How many hard drives do you plan on having in the future? Note that the 400R can fit 10 hard drives if you get this 4in3 HDD module:
$24 - Cooler Master STB-3T4-E3-GPc w/ 120mm Fan

How are you planning on setting up the hard drives? In a RAID of sorts? Literal JBOD? Or JBOD?

Power costs a concern?

 

[zrikz]

Not too concerned about power costs, I mean some savings would be cool, but more worried about being able to play on the server with multiple people without choking it up really.

I'm sure I'll expand sometime in the future, I currently only utilize about 75% of 3 of them, going to upgrade and get 2 more once I do the build, so maybe in a year or two go up another 1-2 HDs

Currently have it as a Raid 5, but up for any recommendations, haven't used JBOD or know much about it

fancy HD module thats nice

 

[Dangman]

Not too concerned about power costs, I mean some savings would be cool, but more worried about being able to play on the server with multiple people without choking it up really.

So here's a preliminary build:
$150 - AMD A8-6600K + Biostar Hi-Fi A85W FM2 MOtherboard Newegg Combo
$133 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$85 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$33 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo HSF
---
Total: $401 shipped

That motherboard is the cheapest way to get 8 SATA ports on a motherboard. Streaming video isn't all that intensive so that quad-core A8-6600K should be able to handle the load just fine even with the Minecraft and Vent server running. That 3rd party HSF is necessary since the CPU runs a tad hot.

Currently have it as a Raid 5, but up for any recommendations, haven't used JBOD or know much about it

For that much storage, you should be looking at RAID 6 at a minimum. Yes you will only get 9TB of storage as result (with your current amount of drives) but you'll increase your chances of

You might also want to look up ZFS. It's one of the more popular file storage OS/file systems over in the Data Storage subforum. You can fgind some links on it in this thread here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1796826

The ZFS equivalent of RAID 6 is called RAID Z2 FYI. There's also SnapRAID to check out as well:
http://snapraid.sourceforge.net/

 

[zrikz]

Nice I'll look at those!

I've got the corsair H100 watercooler, so I believe that works with FM2 mounting and should work pretty well based on reviews.

/edit nm

 

[Dangman]

Nice I'll look at those!

I've got the corsair H100 watercooler, so I believe that works with FM2 mounting and should work pretty well based on reviews.

/edit nm

Ahh forgot about that. Yeah that should work nicely.

 

[zrikz]

Would it be worth it to spend a little more and get a 6 core fx 6300? Or would I really even notice?

Hmm guess I'd have to get a video card then

 

[Deleted member 88227]

For your uses, not really. Sure the FX 6300 is faster but you wont really notice the difference for your use. I'd stick with the APU setup.

 

[zrikz]

Awesome, thanks for the advice Skillz and Dangman. Have the parts on the wishlist, so what I don't get for christmas I'll get myself. Much appreciated.

 

[zrikz]

Just out of curiosity, purely as a desktop use. If I were to drop in a SSD and an AMD 290 would this do better than my laptop i72670QM with amd 6990m?

Just curious how outdated my laptop is. Still runs well though.

 

[Dangman]

Just out of curiosity, purely as a desktop use. If I were to drop in a SSD and an AMD 290 would this do better than my laptop i72670QM with amd 6990m?

Just curious how outdated my laptop is. Still runs well though.

In terms of CPU performance, probably not. In terms of GPU performance, definitely. If you're looking to build a new gaming PC, the server setup I recommended is not a good starting point for a gaming PC.

 

[zrikz]

Ok good deal, don't plan on using it for a desktop was just curious if my laptop had already been outdated by a $100 processor in less than 2 years.

I don't have any issues running games near max settings so far, probably upgrade in about a year, maybe two if I can push it that far.

/edit figured the video card would destroy it but good to hear the processor isn't too bad off yet.