[Spookshow]

Title says most of it. I am moving soon and going to change my setup. Instead of using my Main rig as the house server, I am going to be building a new PC for NAS and might as well build a new HTPC.
So to get down to it my question is should the HTPC also BE a NAS? If so what processor is enough but not to much? If it should be 2 diff PC's again how much processing is enough but not to much.
The features I will be using are as follows:

• NAS
  

FreeNAS (storing main movie files and misc backup data/folders)
Will need to be powerful enough to stream to 4 diff sources at 1080p
Room for 3 WD Red 3 TB drives and an SSD

• HTPC
  

HTPC will be running KodiBuntu
Lots of Addons and Heavy Skins such as Aeon MQ
The HTPC will need enough power for decoding 1080p movies
Steams in home streaming.
Netflix and Hulu streaming.

If both in one PC then Ubuntu for Steam in home streaming + Kodi
Do you recommend a Xeon? If so which one is enough power?
I will be going with a Gold+ PSU to save on power
Will going with a combo unit save on electric? Will it compensate for the higher cost of the PC?
Are there any features I have not listed that would help with feedback or is there anything else I should look into?

I will be wiring the place with 10 gigabit Ethernet
I have an old i5 2320 I can use for either the NAS or the HTPC (or the combo if its strong enough)
I am not to concerned with budget (not saying there isn't one) just as long as I can justify it then it fits.
ITX is my friend
Any feed back is greatly appreciated. I am new to the Server world and not sure how much processing power I will need.

I am mostly looking for CPU recommendation but any pcpartpicker build links for over all recommendations are more then welcome!

[blah]

Hi Spookshow, I'm considering a Linux build at the moment so thought I'd weigh in. I also struggle with whether to separate or combine my NAS and HTPC, in my case it comes down to what else I may want to use the PC itself for rather than the capabilities of the HTPC hardware. The advantages of combining them are:

* One device to buy, one device to administer, one device to power, one device to hide from the wife
* Local media for HTPC (no potential for streaming lag)

Disadvantages, as I see it:

* Need to be careful if you decide to use the PC for something else, that you don't mess up the graphics config and potentially destroy the ability to use hardware decoding for movies
* Need to pay for something more powerful
* Need to think first before taking your NAS offline if you're a tinkerer
* Need to find a case which you're happy with and which can accommodate as many HDDs as you think you'll need over the lifetime of the device, bearing in mind whatever you will use it for over the lifetime of the device
* By separating storage from playback, you can more easily toss out the HTPC and replace it with something more up to date, eg when 4K media becomes more common you'll need a more powerful GPU

In my case, I'm settling more towards keeping them separate, mainly because of that last disadvantage (the first three are negligible, in my opinion; the fourth one only matters if you need more than a 2.5" HDD). I would probably have gone the other way if it weren't for that, though the possibility of 4k doesn't bother me - CD quality is still great on a 46" screen. However if you expect your storage needs will be limited (eg by compressing any local media), and will be happy to replace it in, say, three years, then combining would be fine. Either way, get something you're happy with, which really means being comfortable with knowing what you will need over the expected lifetime of the device. You can find good solutions to both scenarios, and plenty of good guidance in existing threads.

My current setup is a Haswell quad i7 for NAS duties and as a day to day PC (running Debian), and an Odroid for HTPC / Kodi (Ubuntu). The Odroid is going to be replaced as I haven't figured out how to configure it or found the right encoding of my media to allow it to be hardware decoded on the device, which in my opinion is probably the biggest determinant of performance, and with my limited spare time, I'd rather just swap out the unit for something 'better'. That said, when playing media in something like VLC on my i7 (ie not through Kodi), it sits well below 20% for CD quality media (7-12% for a slow moving movie), and around 25% for 1080i (again, slow moving images). Remember that those percentages are of a single core, not 25% of 4 cores / 8 threads, and I do not believe that VLC is using hardware decoding. I don't think you need to consider a Xeon unless your home network is pushing and pulling significant amounts of data from the NAS. The PC is sucking 100W at idle (though I see it at times down at 75W), it increased to 107W while watching a 1080i video.

I have an Intel-based preference for various reasons, so have discounted AMD and ARM-based devices for my search. Having read about a handful of different options, you could consider a NUC if you want to combine storing your media locally and need only one 2.5" HDD (in my case, my i7 would always be the primary storage location and NAS, and use rsync to distribute content for local copies). That'll get you 2TB currently; Toshiba has just been announced a 3TB 2.5" HDD, it'll be available some time after May. The current Haswell NUCs should be fine, I'd suggest an i5 so that you get the HD5000 GPU, and so that you have plenty of horsepower for anything which will not be hardware decoded. Be aware that people say that NUCs are overkill ("huge overkill" I think it was written as), and state that Chromeboxes are still a very good option (price-wise, they're much better if they'll do what you need). A Chromebox is what I'm more likely to end up with, assuming I stick with separating media storage from media presentation - I don't want a USB disk hanging out the back of my HTPC just to get local storage. I think I had read that the Broadwell i5 NUCs should be released in March, i3 NUCs in February and i7 in April or May. I haven't seen any news on when Broadwell Chromeboxes would be released.

If you do want significant local storage, personally I'd head down the path of building an mATX box - the ITX boxes I've seen with room for a 3.5" HDD start getting close to the size of the smaller mATX boxes, mATX cases and motherboards are typically cheaper, and they're more futureproof in my opinion (ie more room for additional 3.5" HDDs and PCI devices in future). Take a look at some of the builds on silentpcreview.com for ideas (click on Silent PC Build Guides on the left - there's no need for a separate GPU for Kodi), and their case reviews - they have a number of recent ITX case reviews. Personally, if I were to head down the path of combining NAS+HTPC, I would be more likely to end up with a Fractal Define Mini as I like the unassuming black box with no visual distractions (lights, DVD trays, lines or curves). And it can hold 6x 3.5" HDDs in about the same space as my AV receiver - overkill, but that's the way I tend to do things.

Note that I haven't investigated Netflix or Hulu on a Linux build, I didn't think Netflix was possible but I haven't looked for quite some time. I stream Netflix through my BD player instead, and don't use Hulu. You may need to look at Chromebox, or something other than Linux, if those are priorities and they're still not supported on Linux.

[Matt Devo]

Use the old i5 for a NAS, and a ChromeBox (or similar) for Kodibuntu.

Netflix works fine on Linux these days (at least Ubuntu anyway), haven't checked Hulu recently.

[Spookshow]

I think I will keep them separate for many reasons that I will not bore you to list. But now my question would be is the old i5 strong enough to stream up to 4 1080p vid's at once? Also is a chromebox or something similar going to be slow on Kodibuntu with some addons and a heavy skin?

[Matt Devo]

I think I will keep them separate for many reasons that I will not bore you to list. But now my question would be is the old i5 strong enough to stream up to 4 1080p vid's at once? Also is a chromebox or something similar going to be slow on Kodibuntu with some addons and a heavy skin?

on a gigE connection, sure. Remember that most NAS are powered by dual core Atom CPUs still.

A Haswell Celeron device like the ChromeBox has no issues whatsoever handling heavy skins (ie, Aeon Nox)

[Spookshow]

Thats all I needed to know. Thanks much.