Server PC to store all files in the middle of the house

[Kdar]

I just want to have one PC, somewhere in the middle of the house, which can store all my file (like photos, videos.. etc).. and so that other computers (maybe like HTPC or Laptop) can get files from there(possibly wirelessly).

I got this idea few days ago. How would do you think it would cost to build something like that.. and would it cost a lot in terms of power consumption?

Did any one build something like this before?

 

[Nukem]

it's basically any system you build, but it's how you use it on your network that matters... so depending on what your budget is, that is what will drive it. You'll have to make sure that it's shared between all of your machines and printer (if you want to do that)

 

[Alvin.C]

Hello,

Why not invest in a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive? It's cheaper than building a server, would require less administration and would consume less power.

 

[kmote]

Building a simple file server can be cheap, infinitely flexible and if you are able to find an old machine you are most of the way there. With an efficient PSU the power consumption will not be too bad and the drive configuration can depend on the volume of data and not a hardware limitation. As far as cost of the build that depends on whether you are able to find an old machine and what hardware you already have available.

 

[Hefemeister]

+1 for NAS. It is basically like building a little Linux box.

 

[kmote]

I don't understand that. For less money than you spend on the NAS box + HDDs you could get a RAID controller and HDDs. Then you can actually set up a Linux box (piece of cake). It would be less expensive, you would get more experience from it, it would be more flexible and you could easily add features such as backup.

 

[zedman3d]

I agree with Kmote...

 

[aaronkupen]

You could make a computer to suit your needs for like.... $250 at most. Just get low end equipment, a sizable hard drive, and make sure your network infrastructure is decent and you are all set. Pretty soon you can try turning it into a media server, print server, ftp server, etc...... the list goes on. It's also pretty fun.

 

[trekkie00]

Most likely, an older computer would work perfectly fine (I used a Pentium 3 866mhz as a web/file/print server at home for a year without any problems, and I've had a P2 233mhz set up for temporary access). Only reason I could see building a new one would be if you didn't have an older one or if you wanted a massive amount of storage.

If you do decide to build a new one, though, it doesn't make all that much sense to "just" make it serve files. Why not give it a little bit more juice and let it act like a media center to play back video and music and the like?

Motherboard: EVGA 113-M2-E113 AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $90, $70 after MIR
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e Brisbane 2.6GHz - $60
Memory: Kingston 2gb DDR2 800 - $25
Optical Drive: LITE-ON DVD-Burner - $17
Power Supply: FSP Group ATX300-PA 300W ATX 12V - $25
Case: Rosewill R222-P-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $25

Total (before hard drives): $242 before rebate

If you really just want it to be a server, the above will most likely be overpowered, so then I would recommend switching out these parts:
Motherboard: Asrock A780FullHD - $57
CPU: AMD Sempron LE-1200 2.1ghz - $30

New total (before hard drives): $179

Both the motherboards will work with either processor, so if you want some more power you can always get the faster dual core processor in the second build. I'd say go with AMD because (a) they're slightly cheaper and (b) if you're just serving files, or even just playing back things, either will be more than powerful enough.

Hard drives are dirt cheap now (at least in $ per gigabyte) - they have terabyte drives going for about $100 and smaller ones for even less, so just add how much storage you want. You'll need to get a SATA cable for each drive and a Molex -> SATA power adaptor for every two drives, but each of those are fairly inexpensive.