Hi! I’ve never built a NAS before and only one custom gaming PC, so I’d love if any of you more experienced folks could take a look at my parts selection and possibly suggest better options.

Of course first my use cases:

  • Nextcloud
  • Immich
  • Jellyfin
  • Possibly more, similar to the above

Planning on using Truenas with a Raidz (1? - 1 disk failure tolerance) and running most of my stuff in Docker containers. The amount of users will likely stay at or below 3, certainly at or below 5, so it doesn’t need to handle that much.

Here’s my parts list:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 4650G
    • iGPU, power efficient, AM4 so cheaper, performant enough (I think)
  • Case: Jonsbo N3
    • This is the component I started with, since I really like the form factor. It did limit my choice on motherboards heavily though.
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte A520I AC
    • I was trying to go for one with ECC memory support, but at least on pcpartpicker I struggled to find ones at this form factor supporting it. However from reading through Forum threads ECC isn’t critically important for a more “casual” build like mine, just a nice-to-have.
  • Memory: Found about 16GB of DDR4 in my old pc, they worked before so I didn’t bother looking at them in detail
    • Cheap
  • Storage:
    • OS: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280
      • Where I live the 500GB version is actually more expensive
    • Cache: Samsung 870 Evo 500 GB
      • Cheap enough, although if I can combine this with the OS drive, then even better
    • Primary Storage: 4x Seagate IronWolf Pro 8TB (ST8000NT001)
      • I have to admit, I can’t recall why I settled on these. 8TB seemed good for price-to-size and I didn’t want the server ones despite them actually being cheaper because they’re extremely loud apparently, but why Pro and not non-pro and why this exact model… I can’t recall, I just remember having a headache that afternoon TwT

I realize I left out the cooler and psu as I don’t think they’re particularly relevant here, I can deal with those myself. Price-wise, I am going by German prices and parts availability. On any of the parts listed, or if I forgot anything else though, I would love advice on the quality of my decision and how to improve it, thanks <3

  • sunbeam60@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    14 hours ago

    You’re not using a CPU that most distributions support for hardware transcoding. You either need to use an Intel CPU with QuickSync or stick a discrete nvidia card in the box. The Intel route is often easiest here, and I say this as a die hard AMD fan.

    Are you intent on building your own box?

    I’m only asking because TerraMaster does the F6-424 (or F4-424) series which has 6 bays (or 4), a decent CPU (1235U) with hardware transcoding support, space for two 4x4 NVME m.2 SSDs, which runs silently and will just work as an appliance, even though it is a full PC. You can then install unraid or truenas on it, or heck bareback Linux and do it yourself. There are decent alternatives to putting something together yourself.

    Regarding disks Seagate EXOS are often cheaper than IronWolfs and have higher MTBF than even the Pro. Don’t ask me why they’re lower cost, for more bang.

    • CatLikeLemming@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      1·
      14 hours ago

      You’re not using a CPU that most distributions support for hardware transcoding. You either need to use an Intel CPU with QuickSync or stick a discrete nvidia card in the box.

      I see, I chose that one based on a recommendation from I believe the channel was called “Wolfgang’s Channel”. They make a lot of home lab content and showed the iGPU working fine for Plex, so I assumed it wasn’t an issue.

      Are you intent on building your own box?

      Yeah pretty much, I think it sounds fun

      Regarding disks Seagate EXOS are often cheaper than IronWolfs and have higher MTBF than even the Pro. Don’t ask me why they’re lower cost, for more bang.

      As I mentioned in my post, apparently they’re way louder since they’re made for datacenters where noise is crazy anyways, and since I am planning to have the NAS in my hallway I’d like to avoid the datacenter vibe, even if a handful of drives won’t cause quite that level of cacophony

      • sunbeam60@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        14 hours ago

        I run EXOS drives in the under-stair cupboard. They’re noisy but they’re not that bad.

        There’s definitely a chance my knowledge is no longer current but I would 100% verify that for your operating system of choice (which I presume is Linux), your AMD CPU can deliver hardware transcoding under Plex. I’ve not heard of AMD CPUs handling this under Linux at least. Ready to be corrected.

        • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.orgEnglish
          1·
          9 hours ago

          but I would 100% verify that for your operating system of choice (which I presume is Linux), your AMD CPU can deliver hardware transcoding under Plex

          How and where can this be verified? (for a not-yet-user of such a feature)

          • sunbeam60@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            8 hours ago

            I’d just search for the specific CPU and “plex” and “transcoding” and see what comes up. I’ve not heard many success stories of AMD CPU transcoding, despite them having good hardware support. Stand ready to be corrected.

        • CatLikeLemming@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
          1·
          13 hours ago

          I run EXOS drives in the under-stair cupboard. They’re noisy but they’re not that bad.

          I think anything described as “noisy” would be too much, especially considering the savings are decent but not huge.

          I’ve not heard of AMD CPUs handling this under Linux at least.

          I’ll double check that then, just to be sure. Although I have noticed that, between me writing it down and now, the CPU is no longer available where I live, so I have to find a replacement either way.