Cache is king.
Initially, I wasn't sure if my lack of IT skills would be an issue but thanks to good old YouTube and Reddit I had worked out which hardware should serve me well!
After getting my media server set up last year I started to run into problems with the hardware. The HP desktop was struggling and kept shutting down as the cache drive got too warm. It had served me well but I decided to bite the bullet and build a proper NAS system from scratch with better cooling for the cache drive. Initially, I wasn't sure if my lack of IT skills would be an issue but thanks to good old YouTube and Reddit I had worked out which hardware should serve me well!
I had a few final questions I needed advice on and contacted the team at Overclockers who were very helpful. Although I couldn't buy my chosen case from them (Fractal Node 304) I did manage to get everything else I needed so let's have a run down.
Case: Fractal Node 304. This case has been around for a while and is very popular for good reason. The size is pretty small for the capacity it holds with six 3.5" drive bays and an ITX motherboard. It came with three fans to help keep the equipment cool and room for an ATX power supply.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B760-I Gaming Wifi. This ITX motherboard was on offer and had the best connectors for my needs. This included four SATA ports, two NMVE slots and a PCIE x16 slot.
Processor: Intel I5-12500. I knew this chip fitted the motherboard and it offered a good blend of power and performance. The processor came with its own fan.
RAM: Fury Beast 2 x 16gb DDR5. I did wonder whether 16gb total would be enough but future-proofed with 32gb.
Storage: I picked up a 512gb Solidigm P41 Plus NVME drive as my new Cache drive and kept the old 512gb Samsung NVME as a backup. I added a third Seagate Ironwolf 3.5" NAS drive and ordered an LSI controller for use in the PCIE slot. This would provide me with more SATA ports so that eventually I could use all six 3.5" disk bays. I also grabbed some Akasa SATA cables.
PSU: Seasonic B12 650w. ATX Bronze standard PSU with enough power supplies for the motherboard and drives.
The motherboard came with all the instructions I needed and following a YouTube guide, it didn't take me long to get everything fitted into the case. When I switched it on the machine sprang into life and worked right away booting straight into Unraid. I think the system was worth every penny and it will hopefully give me a good few years of reliable service.
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