Where We Are Right Now: The Media Vault
Here is a dive inside Rig #1: Our 24/7 Home Media Server & HTPC.
The foundation of this build is the Fractal Design Node 304. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a brilliant little Mini-ITX case with a clean front panel.
To keep things compact, we paired it with a spare Mini-ITX motherboard we had stored on the shelf. Now, this is a non-Z chipset board but it actually works out just fine for us.
The Brains: Repurposing with Purpose
Sitting in the motherboard socket is an Intel Core i5-9600K.
Now, hardware purists might look at that K-series chip on a non-Z motherboard and ask, "Why use an overclockable CPU if your motherboard chipset won't let you tweak it?"
The answer goes right back to our philosophy of smart recycling. This chip already has performance headroom for server tasks, and it doesn't benefit from being overclocked in this scenario anyway. Its integrated graphics engine is fully capable of handling on-the-fly Plex hardware transcoding when friends stream from outside the house.
To make sure this machine can run 24/7 without sounding like a jet engine in the living room, we installed a fanless be quiet! CPU heatsink. Because there are no moving parts on the cooler, the CPU operates in complete, blissful silence.
Powering the system is a fantastic but admittedly old 650W EVGA power supply—a brand that will pop us regularly as a favourite of ours.
The Storage Matrix: 130 Terabytes and Counting
This is where things get genuinely ridiculous. To host nearly 50,000 music tracks, 1,500+ films, and close to 18,000 TV episodes, we needed a storage array with some serious room.
Inside the case sits a 2TB SSD handling primary music operations for everyday reading, alongside a dedicated 500GB internal SSD acting as a high-speed scratchpad for miscellaneous read/write tasks (keeping this off the main storage drives).
Connected directly to the Mini-ITX rig are two 6-bay TerraMaster Direct Attached Storage (DAS) units. Inside these units sits our pride and joy: eight Toshiba MG08 series 16TB enterprise hard drives.
Multimedia & Game Nights
To round out the HTPC side of things, we threw in a dedicated Creative 5.1 sound card to feed audio out to the sound system. Along with two Xbox controllers ready for local cooperative game nights—but we’ll save the details of our HTPC couch gaming for a dedicated blog post!
Up Next...
That is where the 24/7 media vault stands today: compact, silent, and holding a literal mountain of data.
But a media server is only half of it. In our next log, we’re going to look at the primary desktop rig.
The Hardware Graveyard: Why Older Tech is the Secret
Upgrading a PC usually leaves you with a pile of spare parts. Most people let them collect dust in a closet or sit in a cupboard until they are completely obsolete, eventually heading to a recycling centre.
We think that's a massive waste.
In the tech world, there is a bad habit of treating hardware as effectively useless the moment a newer generation hits the market. But if you design your tech ecosystem effectively your old purchases can serve you for years to come. In our setup, our primary gaming rig and our home media server share a matching architectural philosophy. When the gaming rig gets an upgrade, the older components step down to take over the daily duties of our server hardware and Home Theater PC (HTPC).
Maximum Value, Minimum Cost
Because hosting a media server or running an HTPC requires a completely different type of performance than high-end gaming, these older components get an immediate lease on life relative to their workload. A multi-core processor or a graphics card that might be starting to sweat under the weight of the latest AAA games may just cruise through server tasks. They go from being aging components to ultra-reliable server hearts, running with massive performance headroom.
Could we go out and buy brand-new, entry-level hardware specifically for these other builds? Sure. But why spend the cash? The cost-to-performance ratio of buying new budget parts compared to utilising high-quality older parts you already own just doesn't make financial sense. By reusing your gear, you stretch the absolute value of your original tech investment over a much longer timeline.
The Second-Hand Marketplace
But what if you don't have a personal pipeline of upgraded parts sitting around? The second-hand market is a goldmine for building budget-friendly, high-performance home rigs if you know where to look and what to look for.
Master the eBay Hunt
Platforms like eBay are flooded with older PC hardware from enthusiasts upgrading their rigs. When building your own computer or server, you don't always need the bleeding edge. Looking for bundles—like an older motherboard, CPU, and RAM combo sold together—can save you a massive amount of money and guarantee that those core components already work together.
Tap Into Enterprise Upgrades
Every year, corporate offices and data centers across the UK decommission thousands of perfectly good computers and storage arrays. You can find dedicated independent refurbishment sites or specialist marketplaces selling used enterprise-grade gear with high discounts. An older, ex-business desktop computer can easily be converted into a powerhouse Plex or network storage machine with minimal effort.
A Critical Safety Warning for System Builders
Smart recycling and second-hand hunting have their strict limits, and the line is drawn entirely at the power supply.
A power supply isn’t just another component; it’s the active shield protecting your data. Reputable brands design their Power Supply Units (PSU) with manufacturer warranties ranging from 5 to 10 years for a reason. That is the window where the internal electronics should be guaranteed to deliver clean, stable voltage.
Once a power supply works past its warranty period, its internal components slowly degrade, and its reliability becomes entirely uncertain. Reusing an ancient, out-of-warranty PSU to power a server that runs 24/7 is a ticking time bomb.
When you are diving into the hardware graveyard to build your next project, salvage and recycle everything you can—but always invest in a fresh, warrantied power supply to act as the foundation of your machine. Your data will thank you for it.
Why We Built a Custom Home Server?
Let’s face it: The golden age of streaming is officially over.
Why did we cut the cord? What benefits do we get? Is it worth it?
What started as a convenient way to watch your favourite shows has devolved into a frustrating web of fractured platforms, rising monthly subscription fees, and a revolving door of licensing agreements that yank movies off your watchlist without warning. If you love film, television, and music, relying on corporate streaming platforms means you are paying a monthly premium just to rent access to culture.
That is exactly why we decided to step off the carousel and build our own dedicated media server.
By taking control of our own hardware and self-hosting our library, we’ve created a private, permanent digital archive that rivals any mainstream platform in performance—with zero reoccurring fees, zero ads, and total ownership over the content.
Here is exactly why self-hosting is the best decision we ever made for our digital life, and how we are sharing that experience with our inner circle.
Taking Control: Our Current Library by the Numbers
When you manage your own server, you truly realise the scale of what you can curate. Because we built our rig with massive storage headroom and optimised transcoding capabilities, our self-hosted platform has grown into a staggering powerhouse of content.
To give you an idea of what a robust home server can handle, here is a quick snapshot of what our current rig is actively hosting and serving up on a daily basis:
TV Shows: 596 series totalling 17,846 individual episodes
Movies: 1,587 feature films in original disc quality
Music Library: 49,228 tracks representing 1,638 distinct artists
Try finding a mainstream streaming service that lets you keep that exact library forever, in maximum quality, without ever threatening to delete a single episode of your favourite comfort show.
Our Core Benefits of Cutting the Cord
1. Cost Savings & Total Ownership
The average household now pays for multiple streaming apps just to watch a handful of exclusives. With a self-hosted server, your only primary costs are the initial hardware and the hard drives. Once your data is on your array, it is yours permanently. No price hikes, no tiered subscription tiers for "4K access," and no content disappearing overnight due to corporate tax write-offs.
2. A Private Netflix for Friends and Family
One of the best features of a platform like Plex is its ability to create isolated, secure user profiles. We don't just use this massive library for ourselves; we share it directly with our home users and close friends. Our circle can log in from their own TVs, tablets, or phones, track their own "watch next" queues, and stream content simultaneously—all powered by our central home rig.
3. Audiophile-Grade Music Anywhere in the World
For music lovers, streaming platforms have a massive flaw: compression. By hosting our collection of nearly 50,000 tracks locally, we can stream lossless, high-fidelity audio directly to our devices. Using specialised mobile apps connected to our server, we have a private, seamless Spotify alternative in our pockets. Whether we are commuting, travelling abroad, or just out for a walk, our entire 1,638-artist collection is accessible anywhere in the world with zero compromises on sound quality.
What’s Coming Next:
Inside the "Hardware Graveyard"
You might be wondering: What kind of powerhouse does it take to stream files to multiple people at once?
The answer might surprise you. You don’t need to spend thousands of pounds on enterprise-grade server racks to get incredible performance. In fact, some of the best, most efficient home servers are built by breathing new life into older, reliable components.
In our upcoming blog posts, we are going to pull back the curtain and give you an exact look at the hardware powering this massive project. We’ll be breaking down our specific equipment specs—diving into why we select certain high-reliability enterprise drives, how we optimise power consumption for a machine that runs 24/7, and how you can salvage and repurpose components to build your own budget-friendly media monster.
We will walk you through the entire process, from component selection to software setup, so you can build a digital sanctuary of your own.
Stay tuned for the deep dive into our server architecture. Until then, happy building—and stop paying for subscriptions you don't own!
What’s on the Horizon?
Welcome! This isn't a motivational space—it’s just a running record of the projects we’re building and the stuff we’re actually interested in.
Welcome to the King Horizon log. This isn't a motivational space—it’s just a running record of the projects we’re building and the stuff we’re actually interested in.
We don’t believe in picking a lane. If the strategy is solid and the vibe is right, we’re in it. Here’s a look at what’s currently moving:
We’re deep into the production of our first major release—a psychological fiction novel published right here under the King Horizon banner. It’s a deep dive into the mental architecture of an outcast and how things are not always as they appear to be from the outside, and we’ll be sharing the process of bringing it from a draft to a drop.
We’re obsessed with how stories get told today. Expect posts breaking down digital media, as well as our take on the movies and TV shows that are actually pushing the needle.
On the technical side, we’re currently geeking out over self-hosting. Specifically, building out a private, home-based streaming platform to take back control of our own media library. We’ll be sharing the hardware and the headaches.
No gatekeeping. Just the raw process of chasing a horizon that’s always shifting.
— MK