HTPC/NAS Build (G5 CaseMod)

[SailorJerry]

Hi All,

In the early stages of doing my first ever build of any type - a HTPC/NAS in a G5 Case. My current (terrible seagate central) NAS has reached capacity and managed to snag an almost mint inside and out G5 and Cinema Display from my work for nothing. I have had an old G5 case lying around for a while but was not in good nick, fancied a bit of a project so this seemed ideal. Having found the tonymac community i knew i was onto a winner.

So i needed to decide what to put inside, having read extensively the buyers guide and other build posts i have put together the following part list i think would be suitable, and have managed to get a half already across ebay and various at decent enough prices.

This build will be running 24/7 as a NAS and PLEX server for my close family whilst also outputing direct to my home TV and a 2nd Monitor. Flirting with the idea of dual boot with separate ssd for Windows for occasional gaming.
It will be wired so no WiFi necessary. I would like the build to be quiet especially when not doing much, but doesn't need to be 100% silent

I would appreciate any comments on where i may fall short with my build or areas that could be improved. My key concerns are:
Will i need a sound card or will onboard audio suffice? 5.1 etc
Is my graphics card overkill? Will use for gaming occasionally and will be running two monitors usually.
Is the H60 cooler overkill? Would an air cooler be quieter?
A little overkill is okay of course

Thanks for any feedback!!

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Storage: 4 X Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive: LG GS40N DVD/CD Writer

Case Fan: 2 X Cooler Master R4-SFNL-14PK-R1 44.0 CFM 120mm Fan

Other: Corsair Carbide 200R Front I/O Panel

 

[Going Bald]

Hi All,

In the early stages of doing my first ever build of any type - a HTPC/NAS in a G5 Case. My current (terrible seagate central) NAS has reached capacity and managed to snag an almost mint inside and out G5 and Cinema Display from my work for nothing. I have had an old G5 case lying around for a while but was not in good nick, fancied a bit of a project so this seemed ideal. Having found the tonymac community i knew i was onto a winner.

So i needed to decide what to put inside, having read extensively the buyers guide and other build posts i have put together the following part list i think would be suitable, and have managed to get a half already across ebay and various at decent enough prices.

This build will be running 24/7 as a NAS and PLEX server for my close family whilst also outputing direct to my home TV and a 2nd Monitor. Flirting with the idea of dual boot with separate ssd for Windows for occasional gaming.
It will be wired so no WiFi necessary. I would like the build to be quiet especially when not doing much, but doesn't need to be 100% silent

I would appreciate any comments on where i may fall short with my build or areas that could be improved. My key concerns are:
Will i need a sound card or will onboard audio suffice? 5.1 etc
Is my graphics card overkill? Will use for gaming occasionally and will be running two monitors usually.
Is the H60 cooler overkill? Would an air cooler be quieter?
A little overkill is okay of course

Thanks for any feedback!!

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Storage: 4 X Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive: LG GS40N DVD/CD Writer

Case Fan: 2 X Cooler Master R4-SFNL-14PK-R1 44.0 CFM 120mm Fan

Other: Corsair Carbide 200R Front I/O Panel

Since you are not really stressing the CPU (no OC, right) then liquid cooling is not needed. Get a good mid-range 120MM CPU cooler (suggest the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO or the Noctua NH-U9S)
I would also recommend the Noctua case fans - they are very quiet.

 

[SailorJerry]

Since you are not really stressing the CPU (no OC, right) then liquid cooling is not needed. Get a good mid-range 120MM CPU cooler (suggest the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO or the Noctua NH-U9S)
I would also recommend the Noctua case fans - they are very quiet.

Thanks Going Bald, the H60 was mainly for aesthetics but have given in to my sensible side and ordered the CoolerMaster, will be more than enough for me.

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Thanks Going Bald, the H60 was mainly for aesthetics but have given in to my sensible side and ordered the CoolerMaster, will be more than enough for me.

Your build looks very reasonable indeed. I'm in the later stages of a similar build, but using regular parts with no modding involved.

OSX does lend itself very well to this, but take your time to learn about the tweaking required.

Also, if you use a separate desktop system, then remote access probably via screen sharing will be useful to you. I currently use this to access my NAS in progress and it does a very good job when properly tweaked.

 

[SailorJerry]

Your build looks very reasonable indeed. I'm in the later stages of a similar build, but using regular parts with no modding involved.

OSX does lend itself very well to this, but take your time to learn about the tweaking required.

Also, if you use a separate desktop system, then remote access probably via screen sharing will be useful to you. I currently use this to access my NAS in progress and it does a very good job when properly tweaked.

Thanks WonkeyDonkey, do you have a build/install log I can keep an eye on?

I'm looking forward to the install process, will be fun to learn as have little experience here, sure I'll have a few issues along the way.

When you say separate desktop system I assume you refer to any other computer, I have a PC laptop and a mid 2012 MBP... What program would you recommend for remote access? Could be handy for solving family issues when away. Thanks for the idea!

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

I don't have a build log yet, no. I will in the future, but my progress is small due to work commitments.

What I meant was using a different desktop system for your daily needs, as opposed to using your NAS/HTPC build for that as well. I've seen some people use thir dekstop systems as a NAS/HTPC all in one.

I plan for my NAS to be headless here, so no monitor connected, and I have a headless adaptor plugged in.

My desktop system maintains an ethernet connection to the NAS and I access it via screen sharing which is built in to OSX. You can do this over wireless as well if you prefer.

The end result is not dissimilar to running a virtual machine such as in Virtualbox, Parallels etc. You access a system within a system.

 

[VioletDragon]

I don't have a build log yet, no. I will in the future, but my progress is small due to work commitments.

What I meant was using a different desktop system for your daily needs, as opposed to using your NAS/HTPC build for that as well. I've seen some people use thir dekstop systems as a NAS/HTPC all in one.

I plan for my NAS to be headless here, so no monitor connected, and I have a headless adaptor plugged in.

My desktop system maintains an ethernet connection to the NAS and I access it via screen sharing which is built in to OSX. You can do this over wireless as well if you prefer.

The end result is not dissimilar to running a virtual machine such as in Virtualbox, Parallels etc. You access a system within a system.

Im working on my NAS as we speak adding all gigabit Ethernet cables through the house and to the TV. Also the media machine in the bedroom Im currently waiting for the 3TB and 2TB drives to come for Time Machine back ups the drive I've got currently is for iTunes also storage the main time machine back up drive is still on my main hack.

 

[SailorJerry]

I don't have a build log yet, no. I will in the future, but my progress is small due to work commitments.

What I meant was using a different desktop system for your daily needs, as opposed to using your NAS/HTPC build for that as well. I've seen some people use thir dekstop systems as a NAS/HTPC all in one.

I plan for my NAS to be headless here, so no monitor connected, and I have a headless adaptor plugged in.

My desktop system maintains an ethernet connection to the NAS and I access it via screen sharing which is built in to OSX. You can do this over wireless as well if you prefer.

The end result is not dissimilar to running a virtual machine such as in Virtualbox, Parallels etc. You access a system within a system.

Sounds good, will definitely look into that further. I haven't come across headless tech before and it looks very interesting!

Remote access would be good for when i'm away though i do like to have OSX running on my TV. No particular reason or benefit to it i've seen, though gesturing between two live sporting events on different desktops is one small benefit!

Would there be a way to access the mac remotely via a TV, perhaps an android tv? I wouldn't expect it would wotk on a non smart TV - is that even possible without having a separate system hooked to the TV?

Thanks for your insight WonkeyDonkey

 

[WonkeyDonkey]

Sounds good, will definitely look into that further. I haven't come across headless tech before and it looks very interesting!

Remote access would be good for when i'm away though i do like to have OSX running on my TV. No particular reason or benefit to it i've seen, though gesturing between two live sporting events on different desktops is one small benefit!

Would there be a way to access the mac remotely via a TV, perhaps an android tv? I wouldn't expect it would wotk on a non smart TV - is that even possible without having a separate system hooked to the TV?

Thanks for your insight WonkeyDonkey

Technically you dont even need a headless adaptor. I had one originally because an older mac mini had severe graphics issues if there was no monitor connected and you tried to remote in. It was widely reported that a simple headless adaptor made things work, and that was indeed the case.

If you wanted to access it remotely via TV, then you would need some kind of VNC/screen sharing client for your TV. Mine is an LG Smart TV and does not have any such app available that Im aware of.

You will also have additional steps required to verify that your router has the necessary ports open and port forwarding, to allow that access from an external network, if you want to have remote access from another location.

Mine is all internal here, so I use 10.x.x.x addresses for ethernet and the NAS wifi card is now an aceess point with a 192.x.x.x address which is bound to a single ethernet connection from the router.

 

[VioletDragon]

Im not using a Headless Adaptor. Im using just screen share which is built into OS X. Which Headless Adaptor are you using?