Question Newbie to NAS looking for advice on budget NAS build

Ethnod

Junior Member
Oct 13, 2020
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0
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TLDR:
Read specs below in "New build, your help needed:", advice needed on new NAS build for home entertainment by newbie to NAS's building and operating but has hardware exp

I'm going to build a new NAS for my sitting room, the last Plex update on my QNAP Server (TS-453A) caused issues, seems the CPU seems to be the issue, my skew is no longer supported.
In fairness it has served me well and I’ve rolled back the server but that does not seem to have worked , I think wiping all the plex files might work but in reality its an old system so maybe its time to retire it to a security server and create something new.

I've been doing a little research, reading and so on over the last couple of weeks and gone through a few iterations, mainly due to the location I had initially intended for the NAS to go in (small area) which I've now scrapped.

Originally I had thought:
Fractal Design Node 304, B460M-ITX/AC m-ITX, Intel Core i5-10400, Noctua NH-U9B, Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB, Intel 660p M.2 512 GB, EVGA 500 W2 80+ & 4 port SATA 6 Gbps PCI Express SATA Controller (I already have tones of HDD's for it, most 4TB WD reds)

But since between m-itx case restrictions and budget I've moved away from that, I'm now thinking (unless someone posts a good argument against it) of getting a cheaper ATX case, I'd like 6+ HDD's, M.2 boot drive (unless there is any reason not to go there). I'm mostly going to be doing 2k streaming via Plex, some downloading via a torrent server and mostly that's it, there will be some backing up of devices and so on but mostly Plex usage.

New build, your help needed:
Corsair Obsidian 750D Case (buying 2nd hand, getting HDD 2 cages and will buy a 3rd new, as I read they are scarce and its in stock now)
Suggestion needed for motherboard (leaning in direction of MSI B460M-A-Pro, thoughts?)
Intel Core i5-10400
Noctua cooler (suggestions welcome)
16/32 Gig advice wanted here
Intel 660p M.2 512 GB (suggestions welcome)
500 power supply, looking for reliable but cheap, ideally modular (I can always want it all and compromise later 🤣)
I already have tones of HDD's for it, most 4TB WD reds so all good here.

Questions:
Looking at unRAID, any hardware I need to avoid?
Any reason to go for 32 gig of ram?
Any reason I should include SSD's in the build as well as the M.2?
1 or 2 Intel 660p 512GB M.2's in raid? If 2, why? What is the benefit?
I've a APC by Schneider Electric, is there any reason why that cannot be sat on, below or around the NAS once built? I will want the NAS to be powered by it.

Recommended info to include by the read first.

I'll mainly be using the NAS for Plex, being realistic. I will be torrenting from time to time, maybe some game streaming but in the main sitting room? Not sure my wife would approve :D
Budget is about €500 ($600) and I am in Ireland so anything available in Ireland or the UK, or Europe is fine.
No preferred brands (Although I do like MSI, Asus and EVGA but just want reliability) and the only part for the NAS I'll be reusing is a 2nd hand case and my HDD's
Also, do major timeline but in the next week or 2 and I am most likely going to buy unRAID unless people advise against it with a good reason.

Thank you in advance
 

Ethnod

Junior Member
Oct 13, 2020
4
0
6
Oh, I am on another forum on this topic too and got a confusing response regarding the M.2 drive, is it useless in a NAS build? What should my boot drive be?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
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unRAID will itself boot from a flash drive. As far as an M.2 NVMe SSD, I *think* newer versions of unRAID can use them for write-cache drives.
 

Ethnod

Junior Member
Oct 13, 2020
4
0
6
If you are new to building a NAS or running servers (as they differ from PC's a bit) and have questions like mine the guys at Level1 Tech are great, see my thread there