I'm planning a UK-based home server with a budget of roughly £400–£800, although I'd prefer to spend less if the value is good. It would run NAS storage, OpenMediaVault, Jellyfin, and several Docker containers.
I've built gaming PCs before, but it has been years, so I'm less familiar with current server hardware. I'm considering a Ryzen 5 4500, an ASRock B550M Pro4, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a Jonsbo N4 case, and a Corsair SF750 power supply. The case has room for several hard drives, but I haven't included those in the budget yet because I may wait for a sale.
Is this a sensible parts list for a reliable home server? Would the stock AMD cooler be sufficient, and how many case fans would the Jonsbo N4 need? Since the case has no room for a graphics card, would I need one for initial setup or Jellyfin transcoding? I may be able to get an inexpensive Radeon RX 6600, but I'm also considering Intel Quick Sync or a low-power platform instead.
I'd also appreciate recommendations for reasonably priced, dependable hard drives. I'm not looking for maximum speed, just good value and reliability. Finally, are there any PCIe storage or HBA cards worth considering, and are there any compatibility concerns with using an SFX power supply in this case?
3 Answers
For the drives, prioritize NAS-rated or enterprise SATA disks from a reputable seller, and avoid building a RAID array from unknown-condition used drives unless you can thoroughly test them first. Check their SMART data, run extended surface tests, and keep a separate backup because RAID is not a backup.
Used drives can be inexpensive, but bargain drives removed from old recorders or office systems may already have significant wear. For a new build, spend more on the storage than on an oversized power supply. A lower-wattage, reputable unit is usually enough for a system with no discrete GPU, and make sure the SFX cables actually reach the motherboard and drive bays in the chosen case.
The Ryzen 5 4500 has no integrated graphics, so it won’t provide a video output for setup. A headless server can sometimes boot without a GPU, but troubleshooting is much easier if you have either an integrated-GPU CPU or a graphics card. If you can get an RX 6600 cheaply, it would handle display output, but it is overkill for a NAS and consumes more power than an integrated solution. Also check whether the case and power supply physically support the card; the Jonsbo N4 has very limited GPU clearance.
For Jellyfin transcoding, Intel Quick Sync is worth considering. A 10th-generation Core i5 such as the i5-10500, or a low-power Intel N100 system, can be a better fit than a Ryzen chip without integrated graphics. The Ryzen 5 4500 also only supports PCIe 3.0, so you wouldn’t get the full benefit of a B550 board, though PCIe 3.0 is generally fine for a storage server.
You could also look at a prebuilt NAS platform with Docker support. Some four-bay systems include two NVMe slots and expandable memory, and higher-end versions offer 10GbE. The tradeoff is less control over the motherboard and potentially fewer upgrade options than a standard PC build.
That’s my concern with a prebuilt NAS: I’m not sure how much control I’d have over my data or how upgradeable the proprietary hardware would be. I’d rather build something standard if the cost and power usage are reasonable.
I suspected I’d need some kind of graphics device. I may accept the RX 6600 if the dimensions work, but a CPU with integrated graphics would probably be cleaner for a server that runs continuously.