I currently have a Synology 220+ and a couple of VPS’s, and I’m looking to consolidate, while getting out of Synology’s walled garden. I’ve already got a couple of 3.5’s in the Synology, and 4 2.5’s lying around and I’m planning on running a number of docker containers and a couple of vms.
That said, I’ve never built anything before, and basically just went to PCPartPicker, started with the case, and checked 5-stars on each component and went from there. So… how absurd is my build?
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor | $135.00 @ Amazon |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360L Core ARGB Liquid CPU Cooler | $90.71 @ Amazon |
| Motherboard | MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $165.99 @ B&H |
| Memory | TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $26.99 @ Amazon |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $179.00 |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $179.00 |
| Storage | Seagate IronWolf NAS 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | $159.99 @ Adorama |
| Case | Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case | $173.89 @ Newegg |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM650 (2023) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $89.99 @ Corsair |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1200.56 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-23 19:32 EDT-0400 |
You really don’t need an AIO with a 5600X. Just grab a reasonably sized tower cooler and call it a day. There’s less to fail, and less risk of water damage if it fails catastrophically. I’ve found thermalright to be exceptionally good for how well priced they are. Not as quiet as Noctua, but damn near the same cooling performance.
Another thing to consider is that a 5600X doesn’t have built in graphics. I think you’d need to jump up to AM5/7600X for that.
Thanks! Wasn’t sure about the cooling, so that’s good to know. And yeah, I didn’t know if I actually wanted graphics or not. Whether integrated or a card. Actually, now that I’m typing this out, I do need something for Jellyfin transcoding at least.
There is a part of me that wanted to run my own small llm to go with home assistant, but I don’t think that’s really necessary.
If you’re considering video transcoding, I’d give Intel a look. Quicksync is pretty well supported across all of the media platforms. I do think Jellyfin is on a much more modern ffmpeg than Plex, and it actually supports AMD. But, I don’t have any experience with that… Only Nvidia and Intel. You really don’t need a powerful CPU either. I’ve got my Plex server on a little i5 NUC, and it can do 4k transcodes no problem.
You most likely want graphics for initial install and troubleshooting (like when your NAS loses connection for example). I would recommend a 5600G instead. Nice little APU that works great with Jellyfin transcoding. It’s what I have in my own DIY NAS.
Everyone else seems to be recommending going with Intel because it’s apparently the gold standard in transcoding. But you don’t have any problems with yours and being an amd?
I have not had any problems on my end. I do know that for encoding, there are some quality issues with AMF when comparing it against Nvidia and Intel at equivalent bitrates that was only resolved with the latest 90xx series, but for Jellyfin purposes it works perfectly fine.
I prefer AMD over Intel because for 3D acceleration, AMD wins hands down. I also like AMD CPUs over the absolute power-hungry heaters that are Intel CPUs because it allows me to use lower profile coolers and cheaper PSUs.
planning on running a number of docker containers and a couple of vms.
Just FYI, you can probably do ALL of that on a $200 Dell Optiplex 7050 SFF.
Source: my $200 Dell Optiplex 7050 SFF running 3 VMs, 3 LXC containers, and 16 docker containers - not including the multiple containers within the Nextcloud AIO “mastercontainer”. There is plenty of overhead to spare.
Can I make use of two existing 3.5" and 4 2.5" drives with that?
Is there harm if you continue to use your existing nas just for storage?
Honestly I’d just buy a mini pc for a few hundred bucks, and a 5-6 bay DAS like a terramaster for a few hundred more. Way easier for someone that has never built a pc or a nas.
You can save money on das by getting a 2 drive enclosure. Im not sure if drive enclosure is just marketing for non tech enthusiast das or if there’s a real difference.
But in practical terms haha storage go brr either way.
Yeh a DAS is basically just an enclosure, well most of them. Some do have hardware raid though.
I’ve heard hardware raid is not preferred since it is unreliable and it takes no effort for a modern apu or cpu to do it software wise.
Yeh I’ve read more and more people choosing software raid, and you can still do that with the DAS.
