$1.5k AUD NAS + Emulation PC

So I'm looking into network storage for hosting media files, backups and a media library. That being said I thought it might be more cost effective to add functionality for an emulation PC within that I can virtualize.

My budget is around $1.5k but honestly it's flexible since I don't plan on building this for a bit.

I also wish to capture HDTV and store that. Sync data between devices, virtualization, and perhaps offload some tasks like compilation

Parts I got spare (A lot may not be useful)

  • GT640
  • 750GB HDD
  • CD drive

Mostly you just want an i5, this includes an ITX board, should probably chance the case to an Elite 130 or something

You could also drop the GPU if you aren't going to do any real gaming on it, not sure how much emulators can use GPUs nowadays, the iGPU alone should be fine and then it'll be fairly low power

Also if you care about your data you should invest in ECC memory with either an i3 or Xeon 1231v3

If you're using FreeNAS you don't need a drive for the OS it'll run off USB, though you may want a drive as you're going to load it with virtual machines

PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/pxFnYJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/pxFnYJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($275.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.00 @ Umart)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($331.98 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.00 @ IJK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1022.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-19 11:26 AEDT+1100

The GT640 is enough for XBOX emulation which is the most demanding emulation I will perform

Thanks for giving me a good start to my build.

But there's no such thing as xbox emulation yet

There is, it's just shitty and little games work...

Well why don't ya like just buy an xbox with some games or mod an xbox and put all the games you want on it, it'll work much better, do games work besides halo? and I think even halo barely functioned

I got a few disks that do workish and my plan is to remove the clutter.
I don't like having to pull out multiple cords to do that.

Xbox won't be my main emulation it'll be PS2 but xbox will be the most demanding.
Perhaps Wii emulation probably not

Also I realize that the budget I set was too low
$1.5k will be the new budget

1500 is probably more than you need, but really I wouldn't bother worrying about Xbox emulation, PS2 and Wii works fine enough though

For ECC ram and enough ram for virtualization and multiple TB of storage in a safe setup?

Ah, ya I suppose, but I'd have no idea where to get those parts over there, super micro is probably your best bet, and you'll want to use a Xeon 1231v3, it's pretty silly that intel doesn't give the i5s ECC support