PC from Scratch (Storage Purpose)

[gotothesettings]

Hi!

So, I will start to record my gameplays (each game from start to finish) and I will need a PC for storage purposes only.

There will be gameplays with only 2 hours as well as gameplays way over 60 hours, so I guess I will need a sheer brutal of storage (of course, something that can be upgraded in the future as well).

I come to the community one more time to help me building the right system. Budget is flexible (around $2,000 USD ceiling).

Thanks already for all the help!

 

[nomdeplume]

Could you further detail your entire planned setup/network. My very limited understanding is more than just a second PC for storage comes into play rather quickly when files start piling up.

 

[R0H1T]

Do you mean the entire PC, or just the parts for storage?

 

[Frick]

I don't have any good suggestions but some questions: At what settings will you record and with what software? Meaning, how much will 1h of gameplay take up?

 

[JrRacinFan]

Instead of a full PC build I think a NAS or a multiple bay DAS should help and suffice.

I'm thinking something like this

https://www.newegg.com/terra-master-f4-423/p/14P-006A-00047?Item=9SIAA3NHXY6923&cm_sp=SP-_-2225845-_-0-_-3-_-9SIAA3NHXY6923-_-DAS-_-das-_-5

OR this

https://www.newegg.com/terramaster-d4-300-enclosure/p/0VN-00AD-00011

EDIT:

OR
are you thinkgin you need a 2nd system to record yoru gameplay AND store it doing both purposes? HDMI capture card and such?

 

[gotothesettings]

Could you further detail your entire planned setup/network. My very limited understanding is more than just a second PC for storage comes into play rather quickly when files start piling up.

Thanks for the reply!

Well, the PC will have one purpose only: to storage large files. I will make some editing as well in this PC.

Do you mean the entire PC, or just the parts for storage?

Yeah. The entire PC. I won't use this PC for nothing else. Just storage.

I don't have any good suggestions but some questions: At what settings will you record and with what software? Meaning, how much will 1h of gameplay take up?

Thanks for the reply!

Will be recording in FHD (1920x1080) resolution (16:9 aspect ratio). Think I'm going to use the Adrenalin software (any other suggestion?).

Instead of a full PC build I think a NAS or a multiple bay DAS should help and suffice.

Except I don't want to share the files over any network (apart from uploading the edited videos/gameplays to a future YouTube channel).

are you thinkgin you need a 2nd system to record yoru gameplay AND store it doing both purposes? HDMI capture card and such?

So sorry - I didn't quite understand the questions...

 

[DaemonForce]

If you're doing local recordings, get a DAS or some accessory disk for storage, doesn't have to be delegated to a 2nd computer.
If you're streaming stuff or centralizing the majority of your storage to a 2nd computer, get a NAS.
HDD shouldn't matter but an SSD helps. Make sure the recordings are going to a high speed low latency disk through its own bandwidth guarantee.
I run a Toshiba 16TB HDD and Whitelabel 4.9TB HDD in an eMachines going through a 10GbE SFP over DAC.
It might go over better if I used an M.2 over PCI-E x1 or something but this is fine.

Are your recordings in 1440p60 or higher? At that point the SSD might be required.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Yeah. The entire PC. I won't use this PC for nothing else. Just storage.

Except I don't want to share the files over any network (apart from uploading the edited videos/gameplays to a future YouTube channel).

Sounds very contradictory if you ask me. How do you plan on getting said files onto this PC to begin with? A flash drive?

 

[nomdeplume]

Sounds very contradictory if you ask me. How do you plan on getting said files onto this PC to begin with? A flash drive?

Exactly.

Didn't want to theorize on their setup and plans. Seems as if they are in the beginning stages of recognizing what this is going to require in time and equipment to pursue at a reasonable level. Storage is one thing. Editing and storing is an exponential endeavor. Network switch, routers, getting all the software and connections working properly together, streaming cards,...

 

[JWNoctis]

Do you mean to build a PC with little else but a capture card, oodles of reasonably fast storage, and some hardware video encoding capability? What's with the network? Do you mean to keep it airgapped or something?

A basic non-X3D non-APU Zen 4, a reliable ~$200 B650 board, reasonable amount of DDR5-6000 RAM, a good power supply, a SSD boot drive, and 4 large HDDs in RAID 10 configuration might be the cheapest way to do it, depending on the resolution and bitrate you have in mind. I think desktop Zen 4's iGPU supported hardware H.264/H.265 encode, but how well I do not know.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

Wouldn't it be easier just to get a good Thunderbolt enclosure (say one that holds 4 nvme drives.....startech and others make them). Then cram it full of as much nvme storage as you can afford, and get a thunderbolt card to install in your computer. it wouldn't be much (if any) cheaper but it would be very fast storage, and you wouldn't have to involve any network at all (like you would have to if you wanted to take full advantage of having a second computer or a nas).

 

[bug]

Well, the PC will have one purpose only: to storage large files. I will make some editing as well in this PC.

That's two purposes. But you already have a PC capable of playing games, why not use it to do the editing, as well?

As already pointed out, all you need is an external enclosure (with a fast interface) and the biggest HDD you can shove into that. Building a whole PC just to hold a bunch of video files seems a bit excessive.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Building a whole PC just to hold a bunch of video files seems a bit excessive.

Also @gotothesettings doesn't want to add anything into a local network so some sort of enclosure instead sounds right

 

[R0H1T]

Wouldn't it be easier just to get a good Thunderbolt enclosure (say one that holds 4 nvme drives.....startech and others make them). Then cram it full of as much nvme storage as you can afford, and get a thunderbolt card to install in your computer. it wouldn't be much (if any) cheaper but it would be very fast storage, and you wouldn't have to involve any network at all (like you would have to if you wanted to take full advantage of having a second computer or a nas).

Too expensive for places outside US or EU, if he's from Brazil the costs would probably be much higher & may come without warranty?

 

[nomdeplume]

Too expensive for places outside US or EU, if he's from Brazil the costs would probably be much higher & may come without warranty?

I agree, this isn't going on the corporate spending account somewhere that type of good is overly common. HDD are going to be $$$$$$$$$$ enough.
Pulling everything together will requires some ingenuity and searching.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

I priced it at $1500 US (for 16tb, enclosure, and pcie TB card)....he is talking about spending $2000 US.

If it would really cost that much more there, than that sucks.

I poked around some on Amazon Brasil portal......my Portuguese isn't that good

 

[R0H1T]

The OP is a bit unclear, $2k for an entire PC & storage to save games? Is the emphasis on storage or performance?

If he's getting a new PC it doesn't make sense to use the older(?) one just for storage. Unless there's multiple people working on them simultaneously!

 

[bug]

Too expensive for places outside US or EU, if he's from Brazil the costs would probably be much higher & may come without warranty?

While that may be true, what is he going to use to connect another PC if he builds one? USB is already faster than any NIC you can get.

 

[Chrispy_]

This thread is confusing.

There's a missing link here somewhere:
Hardware capture card in the storage PC that captures 1080p60 via HDMI passthrough? What about sound and voice comms capture?
If you're planning to store data captured by the gaming PC, then you either need storage for the gaming PC, or it's a seperate PC on the local network, which means it's a NAS.

Could you further detail your entire planned setup/network.

This is mandatory information in order for this thread to generate any meaningful help.
Without this, the entire thread is just confused guesswork!