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The media server is a transplant, not a new build. These parts set the constraints everything else works around.
| Component | Bearing on the build |
|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Have6-core, 65 W TDP, no integrated graphics | 65 W settles the cooling question. No iGPU means the GPU is also display output. |
| ASUS Prime B450M-A II HavemATX, AM4, 6× SATA, 1× M.2, one PCIe 3.0 x16 + x1 slots | The binding constraint. Only one x16 slot, and the M.2 socket disables SATA 5/6 when populated. |
| 16 GB DDR4 HaveBoard takes up to 128 GB across four slots | Fine for Jellyfin plus containers. Thin if you add VMs — cheap upgrade later. |
| ZOTAC RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC 8 GB Have~130 W, dual-slot, axial fans | NVENC handles Jellyfin transcodes. Axial cooler recirculates heat, so front intake matters. |
| NETGEAR ProSafe GS116 Have16-port gigabit, unmanaged, 11.22″ desktop form factor | Internet and management only. Needs printed rack ears. No official kit exists. |
| Hard drives HaveQuantity on hand | Port count, not bay count, is the limit. See storage math below. |
Rack & power 3 items
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| VEVOR 20U Open Frame Server Rack23″–40″ adjustable depth, 4-post, casters · B0C64YY7G7 Set post-to-post depth to 24″ before mounting anything. | 1 | 125.99 |
| CyberPower CP1500PFCRM2U Other list1500 VA / 1000 W pure sine, 2U, 10.5″ deep · B0B354X985 Pure sine is the right call for the PSU's active PFC. | 1 | — |
| CyberPower CPS815RMS8-outlet surge, 1U rackmount · B0D82NNNCZ Feed from wall, not from the UPS output. | 1 | 49.98 |
Media server 8 items
4U chassis housing the existing Ryzen build. Everything here either mounts it, cools it, or powers it.
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| GPERHUAN 4U Server Chassis7× 3.5″ bays, ATX/mATX/ITX, front panel lock · B0D4764WSF One 120 mm front position, two 80 mm rear. | 1 | 89.99 |
| MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5750 W, 80+ Gold, fully modular, ATX 3.1 · B0CC3QBGDL Good price. Modular matters in a 4U — every uninstalled cable is airflow. | 1 | 89.99 |
| Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Mini135 mm tall, dual tower, 6 heat pipes, AM4 · B0CQQYJC5M ~15 mm clearance in a 4U. Mount blowing front-to-back. | 1 | 33.90 |
| ARCTIC P12 Pro120 mm PWM, 600–3000 RPM, static-pressure optimised · B0DJDC74BP Front intake. Put this in hub slot 1 so its RPM is the one reported. | 1 | 6.39 |
| ARCTIC P8 Max80 mm PWM, 500–5000 RPM, 0 dB mode · B09VDNGW8K Rear exhaust. Cap the curve — 5000 RPM on 80 mm is unpleasant. | 2 | 17.98 |
| ARCTIC Case Fan Hub Add10× 4-pin PWM out, SATA power, magnetic · B0887VG14J Dumb splitter, so Debian keeps control via the motherboard header. | 1 | 12.00 |
| ARCTIC MX-7 thermal paste4 g with MX-Cleaner | 1 | 9.59 |
| SinLoon PCIe x1 90° riser, 10 cm Test earlyRoutes x1 cards around the dual-slot GPUCheap risers cause intermittent link failures. Verify both cards before closing the lid. | 2 | 29.98 |
Storage & network 5 items
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| ELECNEXUS 4-Port SATA CardPCIe 3.0 x1 to 4× 6 Gbps SATA Runs at PCIe 2.0 x1 (~500 MB/s shared) in your board. HDDs on this card, SSD on a board port. | 1 | 21.99 |
| XikeStor 2.5 Gb PCIe NIC Good pickIntel I226-V, low-profile bracket included Intel over Realtek — better Linux driver support. This is the direct NAS link. | 1 | 18.99 |
| Thermalright M.2 2280 heatsinkAssumes you already have the M.2 drive — none on the list | 1 | 5.79 |
| ADCAUDX SATA III cables, 6-packSlim, 1 m, locking latch | 1 | 12.68 |
| 2.5″ to 3.5″ drive adapter AddThe chassis has seven 3.5″ bays and no stated 2.5″ mount | 1 | 8.00 |
Mounting hardware 2 items · both missing
Nothing on the wishlist carries the weight of anything. This is the single biggest gap in the build.
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Tecmojo 1U Universal Rack Rails, 2-pack Add20.9″–32″ adjustable, 14-gauge steel, 110 lb · B0DXTVRY6G One set each for the 4U, both 2U boxes, and the UPS. Front ears alone will bend on a 40 lb chassis. | 2 | 110.00 |
| M6 cage nuts + screws, 50-pack AddThe rack includes ten. Four rail sets plus chassis ears exhausts that immediately. | 1 | 12.00 |
| Still needed, all sections | $142.00 | |
Monitoring 3 items
These three work together: Bluetooth thermometer in the rack, USB adapter so the headless box can read it, smart plug for real draw numbers. Feed both into your Mattermost alerting.
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Govee H5075 thermometer / hygrometerBluetooth, alerts, data export — rack ambient temperature | 1 | 12.99 |
| ASUS USB-BT500Bluetooth 5.0 — lets the headless server read the H5075 over BlueZ | 1 | 19.74 |
| Govee Smart Plug, energy monitoring15 A — measures actual rack draw so you can size the UPS on data, not estimates | 1 | 15.29 |
Game server future build · separate budget
Second box, built on an AM3+ Gigabyte platform already on hand and running. Not day-one spend — the prices here are reference only and stay out of the totals at the top. The chassis takes a standard ATX PSU, so this runs the same PSU model as the media server rather than a second form factor to stock.
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Rosewill RSV-Z2600U Stock4× 3.5″ bays + 1× 5.25″, mATX, 4 PCI slots, 2× USB 3.0, front panel lock · B096WG8H6X 15.0″ deep, aluminium, rear-mount PSU. Ships with 3× 80 mm PWM fans and rack mounting hardware. Amazon's Choice, 4.2 across 57 reviews — a real brand, unlike the alternatives at this size. Only 1 left in stock, and this is also the suggested cloud-server chassis. Two are needed if both boxes use it. | 1 | 99.99 |
| UTLGAMENG 2U Micro-ATX Chassis Alternate3× 3.5″ or 2× 3.5″ + 1× 2.5″, mATX/ITX to 9.6″×9.6″, 4 PCIe slots · B0FY5R88NZ 16.89″ deep, standard ATX PSU, GPU to 11.4″, published 65 mm cooler ceiling. $30 cheaper and in stock, with a proper 2.5″ mount the Rosewill lacks. Against it: one fewer drive bay, no fans included, and six reviews on an unknown brand. The fallback if the Rosewill sells out. | alt | 69.99 |
| Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 R2 HaveAM3+, AMD 760G, mATX 9.6″×7.6″, 4× DDR3 slots, 1× PCIe x16 + 1× x1 + 2× PCI Form factor confirmed — clears both 2U cases with room to spare. Sockets AM3+, so the CPU is an FX or Phenom II. | 1 | — |
| AMD FX-6300 HaveSix-core Piledriver, 3.5 GHz base / 4.1 GHz turbo, 95 W TDP, AM3+ Cores are plentiful; single-thread throughput is not, and most game servers are bound by exactly that. Fine for a handful of players, thin for a busy Minecraft world. Meter it before committing a permanent U — Piledriver idles far higher than the Ryzen. No integrated graphics on the chip, but the board's 760G provides onboard video, so no GPU is needed and chassis card clearance doesn't apply. | 1 | — |
| 20 GB DDR3-1333 HaveUnbuffered, non-ECC · A0 4 GB · A1 4 GB · A2 4 GB · A3 8 GB All four slots are full. More memory means replacing sticks, not adding them. The board's DMI table claims a 16 GB ceiling and a 4 GB module limit, but it is running 20 GB with an 8 GB stick — the table is just conservative. | 4 | — |
| Low-profile CPU cooler Tight fitMust dissipate 95 W inside roughly 70 mm · UTLGAMENG publishes 65 mm; Rosewill publishes nothing The narrowest constraint in this build. The stock FX-6300 cooler is around 65 mm, so it may just clear — measure it before assuming. The media server's Peerless Assassin is 135 mm and is not an option. If the stock cooler doesn't fit, note that 95 W AM3+ in a sub-70 mm envelope is a thin market — check AM3+ mounting explicitly, since most current low-profile coolers ship AM4 brackets only. | 1 | — |
| MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 Second unit750 W, 80+ Gold, fully modular, ATX 3.1 · B0CC3QBGDL Same model as the media server, not the same physical unit — one PSU can't feed two chassis. Now that the parts are known this box draws roughly 160 W loaded (95 W CPU, board, four DIMMs, one SSD), so 750 W runs it at about 21% — below the efficiency sweet spot and around $30 more than a 450 W would cost. The argument for it is one spare model that drops into either server. | 1 | 89.99 |
| TEAMGROUP AX2 1 TB SATA SSD Price2.5″, SATA III, 3D NAND TLC · B08CKFDPJ3 Boot drive. The UTLGAMENG has a 2.5″ mount; the Rosewill doesn't, so on that one it needs a 2.5″-to-3.5″ adapter and takes one of the four bays. Confirmed SB7x0 at SATA II — about 275 MB/s, against this drive's 540 MB/s rating. At $129.99, roughly double market, half of what you'd pay for is unreachable on this board. A $50–70 Crucial, Samsung or WD 1 TB performs identically here. Buy on warranty and endurance, not on the speed number. The controller is also in IDE mode, not AHCI. That costs NCQ and reliable TRIM, which matters far more to an SSD than the SATA generation does. Switch it in BIOS before this drive goes in. | 1 | 129.99 |
| Priced so far, Rosewill chassis · one case only, not both · CPU, board and cooler still open | $319.97 | |
Cloud server & NAS other list
| Item | Qty | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Rosewill RSV-Z2600U Same case as game4× 3.5″ bays + 1× 5.25″, mATX, 3× 80 mm PWM, 15″ deep · B096WG8H6X Cloud server. Four bays beats three, and it's a real brand with review volume. This is the same chassis the game server now takes, and stock is down to one. Either buy two while they're available, or put the UTLGAMENG in one of the two boxes. | 1 | — |
| 8-bay 2U NAS LaterIntel N100 board, LSI HBA in IT mode, OMV + mergerfs + SnapRAID Holds the bulk library. Connects to the media server by direct ethernet, not through the switch. | 1 | — |
Print these 4 models
PETG or ASA, never PLA. A 4U server, a GPU and a UPS in one frame will creep PLA at 50–60 °C, and a sagging bracket puts cables under tension. 0.20 mm layers, 4 walls, 20–30% infill, 40% around screw holes.
| Model | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| GS116 rack earsChriswak · Printables 73173 | 1 | M3 nuts + M3×16 mm screws, 8–12. Print this first — it unblocks the rack layout. |
| Side cable bracketsk8md · Printables 772936 | 6–8 | Mounts with the same rack screws as the device beside it, so it costs no U. Rear posts: power down one side, data down the other. |
| Blank panels, 1U / 2U / 4Ubtadeus · Printables 381380 | 3–4 | EIA-310 compliant. Two side pieces and one center, center flipped in the slicer. |
| Sub-1U cable guideoXiVanisher · Printables 532072 | 1 | Under half a U, holes sized for larger RJ45 boots. Mount directly below the switch. |
The math
Storage ports
The board has six SATA, but the M.2 socket disables SATA 5/6 when populated. The GPU takes the only x16 slot, so an LSI HBA is off the table — the x1 SATA card is the workaround.
| Board SATA (with M.2 fitted) | 4 |
| ELECNEXUS x1 card | +4 |
| Available | 8 |
| Needed: 7 HDD + 1 SSD | 8 |
Exactly enough. Skip the M.2 and you get ten ports with room to spare.
Power draw
| Ryzen 5 3600 (PPT) | 88 W |
| RTX 3050 | 130 W |
| Board + RAM | 40 W |
| Drives, idle | 50 W |
| Fans | 15 W |
| Typical | ~325 W |
| Cold boot, all drives spinning up | ~450 W |
750 W puts you near 43% load, right by the Gold efficiency peak. A 550 W would have saved $50 but leaves no room for a future GPU.
Airflow
One 120 mm in (~70 CFM), two 80 mm out (~80 CFM) plus PSU exhaust. Slightly negative pressure.
Not a thermal problem — intake pulls through the drive cage, cooling the HDDs on the way past. It is a dust problem: unfiltered air enters through every seam. Blow the chassis out every few months.
If the P12 Pro has to run loud to hold GPU temps, drop to one rear P8 Max. Less exhaust, closer to neutral, quieter.
PCIe slots
One x16 (GPU) plus x1 slots. Two x1 cards want those slots: the SATA card and the NIC.
Verify the exact x1 slot count on your board before ordering both. If there's only one usable slot after the dual-slot GPU, something has to give — most likely the SATA card, with bulk storage moving to the NAS instead.
10 GbE is not possible here. It needs x4 or x8. 2.5 G over x1 is the ceiling.
Fan control on Debian
The hub is a dumb splitter, so lm-sensors and fancontrol drive it through the motherboard header. The real obstacle is the Super I/O driver.
Nuvoton chips need acpi_enforce_resources=lax at boot. ITE chips need the out-of-tree it87 module via DKMS — the frankcrawford fork is the maintained one.
Run sensors-detect after the build. If pwmconfig finds no PWM outputs, that's the ACPI lock, not the hardware. Fallback: set a conservative fixed curve in BIOS and move on.
Wiring the fans
| PA120 Mini | CPU_FAN |
| P12 Pro front | Hub, slot 1 |
| 2× P8 Max rear | Hub |
| Hub input | CHA_FAN1 |
| CHA_FAN2 | free |
Cooler stays off the hub so it tracks CPU temp independently. The hub reports RPM from slot 1 only — put the intake there, since it's the fan whose failure matters most.
Verify before ordering
- x1 slot count on the B450M-A II, with the dual-slot GPU physically installed. Two x1 cards are on the list.
- Rear fan cutout size on the 4U chassis. If they're 120 mm rather than 80 mm, buy P12 Pros instead of P8 Maxes.
- Cooler clearance from motherboard tray to the nearest obstruction. 135 mm should clear, but the chassis publishes no maximum.
- GPU length against the front drive cage. The chassis doesn't publish a maximum card length either.
- SATA power connector count on the PSU. Eight drives means eight connectors, correctly spaced for the cage.
- Rack load rating on the VEVOR listing. VEVOR's own pages contradict each other — some say 200 lb, others 500 lb. Your full build lands near 235 lb.
- SSD price. $129.99 for 1 TB SATA is about double the going rate — and on the game server's SATA II controller, half the speed you're paying for is unreachable.
- Measure the FX-6300's stock cooler. It has to fit under roughly 70 mm. This is the one game-server dimension with no slack, and AM3+ low-profile replacements are scarce.
- Switch the game server's SATA controller to AHCI in BIOS. It currently runs in IDE mode, which costs NCQ and TRIM. Do it before the SSD is installed, and confirm the initramfs carries the
ahcimodule andfstabuses UUIDs — otherwise the box won't boot afterwards.
Build order
- Set rack depth to 24″ post-to-post and level it before anything goes in. Changing this later means re-hanging everything.
- Mount the rear cable brackets while the frame is empty. Reaching behind a loaded open frame with a driver is miserable and you'll skip half of them.
- Ground the rack with the included wire. Open frame plus metal chassis, two minutes, worth it.
- UPS in the bottom 2U. Heaviest mass lowest. Load it in place — the rack holds its rating stationary, not while rolling.
- Rails before servers, working bottom to top.
- Test the riser cards on the bench before the chassis goes in the rack. A flaky NIC you blame on drivers for an hour is usually the riser.
- Set the fan curve in BIOS before racking. First GPU load spike on an uncapped 80 mm at 5000 RPM is memorable for the wrong reason.
- Leave 6–8″ service loops per device so a chassis can slide out on its rails without unplugging. Route slack through the brackets, not around them.