Currently “renovating” my current media server desktop in order to better manage my growing library as well as improve my ability to rip physical media. Current specs are as follows:
CPU - AMD Athlon II X4 640
RAM - 12GB Crucial DDR3
Mobo - Foxconn 2AB1
GPU - GTX 660
HDDs - 1 TB Seagate
6 TB WD Red
4 TB WD My Book (USB)
Case - some old HP p.o.s.
PSU - EVGA 430 watt
Primary things I want to upgrade atm are the case and include a Blu Ray drive such as the LG BH16NS40
Reasons being, currently it works well as it runs an Ark Server 24/7 and Plex. The main issues I have are my external blu ray drive is having issues and I believe it to somewhat be a firmware issue. I have researched the above mentioned LG Blu Ray drive and seen many positive reviews for this use case and the ability to obtain a firmware revision that works very well for ripping media.
A few questions I have
Is it possible to run both a Blu Ray AND DVD drive simultaneously to rip 2 things at once?
Should I even bother to keep that GPU in the machine, I need to better learn what benefits Plex running, but currently anything that accesses it is a better system anyways.
What is a solid cheap-ish case that can support at least 4, preferably 6 or more 3.5" HDDs for the future and a 5.25" front bay or 2, depending on the answer to question 1.
Anyone with any experience with a system such as this, I would really appreciate your input and experiences. Thank you
That is the one I am thinking I am going to get. I just wanna price shop a bit and see if I can get it for less than $100. Still need to find a case that isnt hideous and will work well.
Depends on how much media you have to do? Since I got it like 95% of the time. Once i dont have a stack to do (maybe 50% done with my crap) it would be only when I have box sets.
In that case starting with just one and making sure it works well is probably my game plan. I do tend to find myself with a lot of box sets though and those are often the ones that dont rip well and are time consuming.
What OS are you planning on running on your box? With the time investment would def run mirror on your storage drive. I run RZ3 on a 8x3tb array cuz i dont want to rip stuff ever again. Also would suggest doing raw rips (made the mistake to transcode before upgrading storage, such a waste)
Currently its windows 10. I havent yet established any kind of raid array. I just began last week to backup my library to an external HDD. Until now I have been torn with getting a synology box or not. And 90% of everything is ripped and kept raw.
For now I am going to stick with windows. I need it to run an Ark Server and a few other applications. Synology still often tempts me with its ease of use, maybe one day I will succumb to that urge.