Nov 2012 - $400 Server

Description: This mini-ITX server/NAS is a good fit for the individual or small family. The case's footprint is rather small, but supports 6 full sized hard drives (five 3.5" bay + one 5.25" bay). A fanless motherboard keeps the build very quiet, and the low-power integrated C-60 dual-core CPU provides plenty of power for file serving needs. The motherboard supports up to 6 SATA III devices, and has 12 (6 internal, 6 external) USB 2.0 ports, meaning you could potentially have 16TB of high speed storage and 32 TB of medium speed storage connected to this at once if you were using nothing but 3TB drives (assuming 3TB drives eventually have their problems worked out). Of course, for this low-budget build, we will only be adding 4 TB of hard drive space, which you can expand on later on. A gigE NIC means great networking speeds. An efficient power supply will keep your monthly electric bill down, and the lack of any other peripheral means that power consumption and heat generation is at a minimum.

Cost Breakdown
Subtotal	MIRs	Total
$386	---	$386

Individual Parts
Type	Part	Price	MIR	Link
RAM	G.Skill 4GB 1600MHz	$18	---	Newegg
Hard Drive	2 x WD Caviar Green 2 TB Refurb	$180	---	Newegg
Case	Bitfenix Prodigy	$80	---	Newegg
Power Supply	Antec EA-380D	$28	---	Amazon Warehouse

Combos
Type	Part	Part	Price	MIR	Link
Motherboard + CPU	ASUS C60M1-I	AMD C-60 APU	$80	---	Newegg

Variations:

Case: Replaces the case with a slightly smaller one. The case has less hard drive bays, so expansion is impacted, but if you feel that 4 hard drives would be enough, the CM Elite 120 would be a good fit for you. You'll also save quite a nice chunk of change with this cases, so that can either be saved up, or can go towards a small SSD or HDD boot drive.

Substitutions
Type	Part	Price	MIR	Link
Case	CM Elite 120	$50	$10	Newegg
SSD	Samsung 830 64GB	$63	---	Amazon
Hard Drive	WD Caviar Blue 500GB Refurb	$50	---	Newegg

Power Supply: Replace the power supply with a PicoPSU. The PicoPSU has no fan and is powered by a power-brick (AC-DC adapter). It's also 90% efficient at most power levels, meaning you get more power from each watt drawn from the wall. The PicoPSU will require a series of adapters and brackets to work, all of which are included below. It should be compatible with either of the cases above. The 120W PicoPSU below maxes out at 102W using the provided adapter, which should be enough for the motherboard, CPU, and 6 hard drives to all be running at full load, and still have power to spare. However, if you feel like you need more power, 150W and 160W versions are available as well.

Substitutions
Type	Part	Price	MIR	Link
Power Supply	PicoPSU 120W + 102W Adapter	$55	---	Mini-Box
Power Supply	PicoPSU 150W + 150W Adapter	$70	---	Mini-Box
Power Supply	PicoPSU 160W + 192W Adapter	$76	---	Mini-Box
Bracket	Rear Power Jack Bracket	$1	---	Mini-Box
Adapter	(2) MOLEX to 2x SATA	$6	---	Newegg
Adapter	MOLEX Splitter	$4	---	Newegg

Expansion: Expansion is simple with the Prodigy. Simply buy some more hard drives (matching ones, if you are implementing RAID) and add them to the case bays. If you need to add a 6th hard drive, use a 3.5" to 5.25" bay adapter, and add the hard drive to the 5.25" optical drive bay of the case. With 6 hard drives, you'll have used up all the internal SATA ports on the motherboard.