Challenge of building a home nas thats actual good

Hardware Build a PC
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1

So in true mission impossible terms the mission of this thread is to help me decide on what and if I should build my own home nas.

Whatever the outcome it HAS to suit MY needs. IDC about anyone else on this subject lol

So what are my needs.
I would like to have all my media in one place and accessible by windows and android devices home or away
I want to be able to store my game library on it and potentially play games stored on it on computers on my network as though the nas were a drive in the system.
I want it to be small like very small matx or itx
I want it to be quiet. It may end up all SSD but for what and if to build, drive type is irrelevant I need sata 6gb ports

What do I have
Well my place has gig ethernet throughout and I run the microtik rb2011uias-rm with a separate poe access point and I have a 4k tv along with 2x desktop pcs, a laptop, android phone and a tablet.
everything that’s not a portable device is wired and I have spare ports in my network closet which is where this machine is going to live.

Options.
Hardware recommendations.
software recommendations.

I have never built a machine like this that will use freenas or something so please bear that in mind.
Im also not brilliant at networking for instance ive got my microtik working p&p on all ports to the wan port just fine except I cant move files within the network and I don’t know what to do to solve it.

2

I forgot to mention it has to be able to transcode 4k h265 files in real time

3

Transcode to what?

200kbps mpeg2?

Without that info, we can’t help :frowning:

4

Its actually just occurred to me that I have a very old pc which may suit as a base to dip my toe.

I have got an Asus fm1 board and an old lliano APU A8-3850 quad core with 2x 4gb sticks of ddr3 and an ssd in a small client case with a dvd burner.

Not sure if I can use this as it may not be good enough but I already have it, its matx and a known working system.

5

whatever I need it to be to display on my various devices leaving them nothing but the display and audio to repeat

6

What devices you streaming to?

7

IMHO divide the requirements & related infos to:

  1. Hardwares
  • processor(s)
  • storage
  • graphic
  1. Softwares
  2. Network

My recommendation: start from easiest one first, if your total computers are under 3 then look for direct cabling from one 2x ports 10G NIC to another. Otherwise for somewhat simple cheap & powerful 10G network take a look at Unifi US-16-XG. Any cable connectivity from your server/motherboard/existing devices will be on 10G SFP+, get the appropriate SFP+ to SFP+ cable length from FS. Configure the switch for NFS or Samba will most likely take care 99% of your entire connecting devices. Figure out how to configure & connect from LAN first, then move up from there.