For this week’s build, I am going to piece together what I would likely buy if I were constructing a home media server. As a forewarning, I have been known to over-spec a machine from time to time, and this will likely be no exception. I like to ensure that my builds are future-resistant, as there is no such thing as future-proof, so you may feel that this machine has more power than you would want in your home media server. That’s totally fair – feel free to use my recommendations as a base on which to build, toning down my hardware choices to fit your needs.

For me, a home media server needs to fulfill several requirements. It must:

1. Provide ample storage with room for expansion
2. Provide ample power with room for upgrades
3. Be robust enough to last at least 5-7 years
4. Be reasonably quiet
5. Be somewhat attractive – I’m not looking for a Lian Li case here, but the computer should look fine sitting under my desk, or in a closet, should I so desire.
6. Finally, it should be relatively affordable

With these rules in mind, here is what I came up with, all for less than $1,200…

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor – Newegg

Tuniq Tower 120 Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Cooling Fan and Fan Controller/Heatsink – Newegg

[$307.98 Combo Deal after $10 Mail-in Rebate]

This is a pretty solid combo deal from Newegg. The processor is one of the faster models in Core 2 Quad family at 2.83 Ghz. While not the power sipping 65-watt model, this processor provides a lot of bang for the buck and stays relatively cool at the same time. To help keep the server’s temps down, I have also opted to include this Tuniq cooling tower. Many of the aftermarket socket 775 coolers have a fan that straps to the side of the large cooling fins. I happen to prefer this cooler because that metal cap on top is attached to a fan that fits inside the cooling fins. That way you save some space inside your case, but you still get ample air flow. Since I don’t plan on overclocking this processor, I can keep the fan speeds and noise relatively low while preventing the processor from getting too hot.

If you were building a simple home media server, you might opt for a less powerful chip. However, I find myself cross-encoding video files and encoding large batches of lossless audio quite often, so this quad core chip will come in quite handy. Even if I was not cross-encoding, I download a lot of content from Usenet, so this processor is great for handling all of my file repairs and un-raring needs.

ASUS P5Q SE PLUS ATX Intel Motherboard – Newegg

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W Power Supply – Newegg

[$199.98 Combo deal after $10 Mail-in Rebate]

This ASUS motherboard is a solid choice, but without a lot of frills. It’s a simple P45-based board with pretty standard features; 4 memory slots, a trio of PCI-e slots, and the ability to use 1066 MHz memory. It also sports solid capacitors, so I will likely not ever have to worry about the caps going bad and affecting the server. My main reason for choosing this board was the fact that it has 6 SATA ports. Sure, they are not 6 Gbps ports, but they will do the job all the same. It’s lacking the ability to use RAID, but that does not pose an issue for me with this project.

The power supply from this bundle was a great deal between the combo discount and the mail-in rebate. It weighs in at 750 watts and is 80 plus Silver certified, so it should provide plenty of stable, clean power to our system for quite some time. Additionally, it is a modular PSU, so it allows us to cut down on unnecessary cable clutter inside our case, which helps with air flow.

Kingston HyperX T1 Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

[$95.99 - Newegg]

The memory is pretty standard fare, 2x2GB Kingston HyperX 1066 MHz modules. They can likely be easily overclocked if I ever wish to do so, and the 2GB density ensures that I can save two slots on the motherboard for expansion at some later date. I doubt I will really need 8GB of memory in this system, but it never hurts to plan ahead.

EVGA GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

[$84.69 after $30 Mail in Rebate - Newegg]

I currently have an EVGA card in my computer at home, and I have never had the slightest problem with it whatsoever. This card happens to be packing half a gig of memory and an nVidia GTS 250 processor. It is not quite as powerful as one of the new Fermi-based cards, but it will be more than sufficient for the day to day server maintenance tasks as well as boost performance when encoding video, should I choose to do so. At less than $100 it’s a great buy.

Kingston SSDNow V Series 64GB 2.5″ SATA II Internal Solid State Drive Desktop Bundle

[$104.99 after $30 Mail in Rebate - Newegg]

I like solid state drives…a lot. I like the reliability, the longevity, and most of all the speed they provide. This drive is very reasonably priced and it is based off the same technology as more costly Intel branded SSDs, so it fits my needs nicely. Keeping the OS segregated from the data drives is something I like to do so that one never impacts the other. It’s a personal preference, but I think that it is the best way to go about things. The OS and applications should be very responsive with this drive, and it is large enough that I should likely not need to upgrade any time soon.

Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive WD20EARS

[$239.98 - $119.99 each - Newegg]

There’s not a ton to say here. Since we will be storing all sorts of media, storage volume is a high priority. These drives give us 4 terabytes of storage off the bat, which should be sufficient for quite awhile. These drives are from Western Digital’s Green line of storage components. This means that they only spin at 5400 RPM, which is not optimal, but it should not be a huge impact on our streaming capabilities. On the flip side, these drives are very energy efficient, keeping noise and heat to a relative minimum.

The fact that I selected a board with 6 SATA ports allows us to add one more large drive some time in the future. This means that at a minimum, the system can have its storage capacity increased by 50% to 6 terabytes. As time passes however, drive density is likely to increase, and we might be able to stick an extra 4TB into the chassis if drives that large make it to market.

LITE-ON Black SATA 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader iHOS104-08

[$64.99 - Newegg]

This is a simple, reasonably priced Blu-ray player. It will be useful for ripping Blue-ray discs to our media server, and that is about it.

LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner – Black SATA Model iHAS124-04

[$19.99 - Newegg]

As usual, I have selected the cheapest DVD burner on the market for this system. In the event that we need to burn some media to a DVD, this will come in handy. You might almost consider dropping this from the build and adding another large hard drive in its space.

COOLER MASTER Storm Scout Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – SGC-2000-KKN1-GP

[$59.99 - Newegg]

This is a decently-sized Cooler Master case with a bottom mount for the power supply. I really prefer these newer bottom mount units. There are plenty of internal slots for the hard drives, a built-in 2.5″ slot for our SSD, and a handful of external 5.25″ slots for our Blu-ray and DVD drives. The case is somewhat attractive, and not an eyesore, so it should fit our needs nicely.




That’s it for this build. The total cost comes in just below $1,200 after shipping and rebates. It is not a top end machine, but it does meet all of my requirements for a home media server.

It is reasonably priced and has plenty of storage, which can still be expanded upon.

The board we chose can be fitted with a new processor and more memory should the need ever arise.

Finally, it should also be reasonably quiet given our large CPU cooler and Green drives, plus it’s not terrible to look at.

More on this topic

Weekly Build – The $1,000 Gaming Rig
Weekly Build – The $1,000 Video/Photo Editing Machine
Weekly Build – The $500 Email Machine for Grandma

7 Responses to “Weekly Build – A sub-$1,200 Home Media Server”