Hey everyone! I'm looking for some advice on building a secondary PC that will serve both as a streaming setup and a home NAS. I currently have an El Gato 4kPro PCIe capture card, alongside three 20TB drives and one 14TB white label WD drive, as well as some spare SSDs. The NAS will mainly be used for storing home media and sharing large work files. I'm open to used hardware as I'm already checking out options on hardware swap sites. My main PC has a 7800X3D and a 4090 GPU connected to an LG C4 and a 27" Lenovo monitor. My budget is under $250, although I'm flexible. Any suggestions on specs and how to get this project rolling?
1 Answer
Before diving in, consider how you’ll be sharing those large files. Are they just for local use or do you need internet access? If it’s local, you might want to look into your Ethernet speed requirements. Getting a 2.5Gb network is pretty simple, while 5Gb, 10Gb, or 25Gb can get tricky. Don't buy a fancy 10Gb NIC unless your current network setup supports it!
For streaming, having Intel or Nvidia hardware is usually better due to the variety of codecs available. If you’re sure H.265 isn’t essential, you can go with an AMD card, but they don't perform as well in that area. Nvidia GPUs, especially the RTX 4000 or 5000 series, are strong for H.265 and AV1 encoding.
If you want something budget-friendly, the Intel A380 is a solid choice; it’s low-power and has 6GB VRAM. I’m personally building my own NAS and that's my pick too. Depending on what GPU you choose, you can pair it with almost any CPU, like a cheap Ryzen 4500.
Thanks for the insights! Since I'm quite new to this, would it make sense to install the El Gato card on my main PC and then set it up to record? Could I still have it work effectively with a NAS?