Plex Server Beast

[MacFlix]

After being very disappointed that Apple neglected to update the Mac Mini, again, I have decided its time to seriously consider building out a Hackintosh Plex Server.

I currently run the Mac Mini from December 2012 (quad core i7) and an external case with 6 drives (going up to 8 very soon).

I want this thing to be an absolute beast capable of 10+ simultaneous transcodes/streams. I'd love to put the highest end 27" iMac into a case without a monitor. I considered getting the iMac but it would look stupid in my living room because I also wire my current Mac Mini into my 4K TV as a monitor.

Taking all recommendations because I really am starting from square one here. I have a friend who is solid with PC hardware to help me do the build itself but he has no experience with getting a system to run MacOS.

So I am taking any/all recommendations.

Someone else posted they did a build out with this case:
http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/node-series/node-804

And I love that it supports so many drives that I could possibly scrap my external case.

That's where I am at, looking for any recommendations you all might have! Also, cost really isn't an issue.

 

[xrayos]

I did the same thing with a fractal 304 case. I don't need so many drives, now that 8 and 10tb drives are out. The 304 is slightly wider and taller than a DS1513+ that it replaced. I only wished it had hot-swap HD trays. The 804 is a lot bigger than the 304.

I went mini-ATX (itx) for my build. Asrock H110m-itx, only $60 online retailer. If I had to do it again, then I would get one with dual GbE LAN. The Asrock H270m-itx. Now for the CPU, I tried everything from the i7-7700k to the i5-7600k. I initially thought that I had to use the 7700k for 4K content, but it's not needed. I prefer to have separate 4k encodes and 1080p encodes. Having said that, I wouldn't even use the 7600k. I would drop down to an i3-6100t or i3-7100t. I didn't go Pentium G4560 b/c I wasn't sure if AVX2.0 instructions were useful.


xpenology was so easy to setup. it worked like a charm. Still running smoothly.