12TB Stand-Alone Media Server for $1200

Well, the time has come, my existing array has run out of space, so it's time to build a dedicated media server. I've poured over this for a LONG time trying to find the best solution. I've looked at readily available NAS solutions, or a pre-built WHS, finally deciding it will in fact be cheaper, and not all that hard to build something myself. My first stop was building a DIY SATA port multiplier box, but after pricing out everything, and comparing a DIY solution to a pre-build solution that just needs drives, I figured it would be a pain to have to use an existing system to host everything. Then I set about the challenge of building an equally sized full server, without skimping or cutting corners, for the price of the add-on SATA port multipliers I was looking at, and I've done it.

I'm personally going to re-use an existing hard drive and likely an old copy of XPpro for hosting duties, but as I've found there are several open source options, a few of which will run right off a thumb drive, I'm sure everyone here has a spare one of those around, so server software or an OS drive are not included in the $1200 though if you were to go with a cheaper case or power supply you could easily fit one in under $1200 before shipping, as it stands it's less than $1200 with shipping to AZ.

So, the parts list:
Antec VSK-2000 -34.99- Nice Roomy case, plenty of room for drives and dual 120mm intakes right across the drives.
GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L -49.99- Cheapest motherboard I could find with gigabit ethernet and enough expansion slots that the server can be upgraded in the future(pci-e cablecard?)
Intel Celeron 430 -39.99- Cheap, 35W and 775 to allow for upgrade-ability later if needed.
WINTEC AMPO (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 -40.99- More than enough and the cheapest 2GB kit I could find.
SeaSonic Bronze 300W PSU -38.99- Went with the 120mm version. Plenty of power, inexpensive and from a name I trust.
SYBA PCI 4-Port SATAII card -39.99ea-79.98- Inexpensive, silicon immage controller I've used before and will leave room for future expansion in the PCI-e slots.
WD 1.5TB HDDS -109.99ea-879.92- Went with these as they're low power, the 1.5TB drives have the best price/GB right now and it'll be a little while till the 4K sector EARS drives are out and reasonably priced.

I know the one thing everyone is going to stop and scratch their heads on is going to be the RAID controllers. I went CHEAP. I know, but overall drive performance simply doesn't matter in a media server, at least not if you're shopping in this price range. It's been beaten to death in certain threads(not lately unfortunately) but there is simply no need for excessive network or hard drive bandwidth for simple music/DVD or even BD streaming.

Please feel free to leave any comments and I'll update the thread as I get things in and built.

Has one "external" 3.5" bays as well. I had thought it had two, but I guess I was mistaken there. Been staring at too many cases lately. I guess that's going to require another caveat of the design, thanks for pointing that out. I have tons of spares of those laying around, they're the older thermaltake ones, but will work quite fine IMHO. Damn, so close. Will have to look up a new case later.

Wow, a rather odd collection of posts, at least compared to what I was expecting.

No, I don't need all this storage right now, but I don't see prices for hard drives coming down drastically over the next year as there are very few technologies in the pipeline, with 4K sectors being the next big thing, and I highly doubt they're going to push drive prices down any time soon.

I am aware of peak power loads on start-up and having to balance hard drives across multiple 12V rails, however from my experience Seasonic is very easy to sort out which ports are on specific rails, if that even becomes necessary. Also, as another poster pointed out, even if all the drives pulled 2A on the 12V rail, which is high IMHO that is still an amp below the maximum 12V rating of the power supply and should be fine for a few seconds at start-up, that being said, I would generally recommend going higher as well.

As to the reccomended set-up above, why would I want to spend more and get less space? Better CPU and GPU performance would be pointless as this is going to be sitting in a corner or closet somewhere with no keyboard, mouse or monitor hooked up, this is simply a media server.

Finally, I had considered the hitachi drives but after a lot of research I've learned that the hitachi drives are a 5 platter design, and has had a LOT of DOA drives in the last month or so, thusly I went for 1.5TB drives that are cheaper per GB.

I actually have an original stacker, a Centurion 590, a 690 II Advanced, an Elite 360 and an Elite 335 an original Centurion 540 and a 543 just laying around in the garage. And that's just my CM selection. I have about 30 cases out there. I was, at one time, a professional case modder and water cooler. I customized, water cooled or built entire systems for about 300 local people in two years and just got bored/burned out. The new VSK looked really nice and I wanted to play with it. I'm using a 590 for my current HTPC/server and they're a great case, HIGHLY recommended to anyone. I still shop cases regularly just for new ones to play with, I have about a dozen antecs laying around, never been very impressed with them besides the ISK300-65. Lian-Li I'm just sick of, I'm tired of them changing one thing on a case and making it a whole new model in a whole new generation, besides that, they're just so expensive. I built my own cases towards then end of my business, all aluminum or all acrylic, cube, mid tower and full tower designs.

You guys are probably right about the power supply too, I'll have to see what I can find with a revised case and power supply to fit the budger, probably go with one of those Rosewill full towers for $25, I've used them a few times for budget builds, and they're fine if they're built and left sit under a desk or in a closet or something, I wouldn't want to transport them too much though.