NAS + HTPC or Server

[djsvet]

Hy folks,
I am in a process of "furnishing" my new house with entertainment system and I need help deciding on couple things. I am an a complete newbie when it comes to NAS.

My set up so far:
Downstairs:

Dedicated network closet with 6ft, 24" deep rack ;
- HDHomeRun (OTA) network tuners;
- Old PC (C2Q era) with additional TV tuner that feeds the projector in the Living room upstairs - TV, Blu-Rays, Amazon Video;
- All receivers, IR controllers, cable modem, router, switches and so on
​

Basement entertainment room will most likely be Audiophile stereo - to be done at later stage
​

Upstairs:

-Living room with 5.1 in-wall, in-ceiling, 106" projector screen (0 cables exposed, even USB ports are extended up stairs and in-wall).
-Kitchen/Dining - AOC Android AIO (android monstly used to control receivers via apps and background music). On the back of the AOC, I have slapped on the back of it a Zotac CI320 Win 8.1 with WMC for live TV (from HDHomeRun) and more (24/7); 3rd input of the AOC (VGA) mirrors whatever is playing in the living room
This is on a swivel mount so it articulates between kitchen and dining; Cat6 link to the rack down stairs;
​

All cabling is done at this point - and I have to start filling up the rack with new components.
This is my usage/requirements so far:

- Recording TV and storing them to a central network drive
- Energy efficient
- Watching Blu-Rays (either via dedicated player or through PC)
- Watching live TV in Living room
- Some gaming (Guitar Hero, some racing games, may be more demanding games once a year - I really wish I can play FarCray3,4 and MaxPayne3 one day when I have time for this)
- Record radio shows (currently done on the Zotac CI320)
- Watch live and recorded TV to bedroom(s) in near future
​

My thoughts/options so far:
Option 1:
Build a rack mountable server with Windows7/(10 next year) with 4x4TB in RAID10 and 256GB SSD.
This will have to be 24/7 as it will serve is NAS, DVR and HTPC
Option 2:
Build a HTPC that will not be 24/7, buy Synology 814 rack NAS ($580) 4x4TB RAID10 and use the Zotac CI320 as the TV/radio recorder to the NAS (since the Zotac is 24/7 and it only uses 10 watts).

My doubts:
I have a feeling that I can build a descent PC for the $580 price of the Synology 814. That model is capped at 130Mb/s write, 210Mb/s read and I wonder why is that. Is it's processor that limits it?
Will I not achieve faster speeds with Windows build RAID10?
Next available rack mount NAS is ~$1000 and I think that is too much.

I also consider installing 4-6 IP cameras in the future - based on what I read so far NAS can server as NVRs fro security cameras.

I know its a huge post so far and a lot to ask but the bottom line is this:
Do you thing I should get a dedicated NAS based on the needs above?
Will Synology 814 be sufficient to record 4-6 IP cameras, record HDTV and perhaps playback on at the same time (RAID10) ?

 

[mfenn]

You can absolutely build a NAS PC for less money than a Synology NAS. The advantage of the Synology NAS is that the software stack is very polished and has a ton of features built in. It's not doing anything that you can't do yourself, but it saves you a ton of software configuration. Whether or not that's important to you depends on your desire to/tolerance for fiddling.

By the way, you should keep in mind that your typical wired client is going to be limited to ~100MB/s in each direction due to the client's Gigabit Ethernet port. Wireless clients will be limited to much less in the real world.