Help with PLEX setup. Primary PC + 1 or 2 HTPC

Here's my thought process so far. Any thoughts and ideas you have are greatly appreciated. So I'm at the point where I'm also setting up/building our Home Media set up with Plex as the main SW interface. I already have the majority of media on external 4TB HDs. I'm currently using 3, and figure I'll probably need room to grow over the next few years. In thinking of overall needs, I'll be building:
• A new PC, to handle Plex coding and whatnot and sending out the media to my devices

• Possibly one or two HTPCs for the bedroom and living room for media consumption. I'm still debating these. I don't know if I just want to pick up something like the Nvidia Shield or build my own. For the living room, I was actually thinking of taking our old Mac cube and ripping out the guts and converting it. I wouldn't need gaming capabilities on the bedroom setup, more the living room and nothing too crazy. I would like to incorporate some sort of RF/Bluetooth/Wireless USB remote setup for the devices though (which I'm having trouble finding a good one).

My initial thoughts were to build an all in one device/full on server in the office and run cabling to use the two TVs as 2nd and 3rd monitors. However, I don't think I'll have the room or want to use the TV as monitors. I think I'd rather have an interface on each TV running either Windows, Android, or OpenELEC and just using the PC in the office as a main computer/small home server for Plex and our stuff. That being said, I'm also debating on whether or not I want to have a larger ATX case that will just house my HDs or if I want to build a smaller one and have an external drive bay or Raid/NAS configuration.

I know for a PC I would like the following:
• SSD for main OS (already purchased, I grabbed a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB)
• Bluetooth built in (if possible)
• Not sure if I'll need a video card (might be fine with on board)
• Preferably as silent as possible. I've seen some of the quieter power supplies and whatnot
• I already picked up a nice 34" curved Samsung monitor, rather than using two smaller ones like I am now
• I like the idea of this case: Silverstone RVZ02B but I'd have to go with a Mini ITX motherboard. Not sure if it would fit all of my needs or not. Wanted to spit ball that with you. If a smaller case would work and I could do an external HD enclosure, then which case to go with?
• Possibly an external HD enclosure. Something like this maybe? MediaSonic ProBox
Do I then need, or should I get, a Motherboard with an external SATA hookup for it?
• I'm debating processors. Maybe i5-4690 3.5GHz
Do I need more/less? I'm not sure. I don't want any of the Plex processes to hang. Especially when trying to FF/RW while watching a 1080 movie. Also, something that will last a few years.
• Probably about 16gigs RAM, I figure that should be good for a while. 2 - 8GB sticks should be good
• I'd like at least a few USB 3.0 and I'm thinking SATA6

I think there was more but can't think of it right now. Feel free to fire away with questions if I missed something.
I figure I'll build the PC for the office, use it to also act as a home/Plex server/always be on and be good for general use. I can run CAT cables from the router to the bedroom and living room for faster network speeds so I don't have any WIFI issues. Speaking of which, I may need a new router as well for this.
There's so many thoughts and ideas I'm having all at once that I just need to bounce stuff off of someone and see things from a different angle.
Also, I'm trying to think economically, rather than just building a 2k system, since I'll be essentially building 2-3 separate configurations.

Any ideas, answers, and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks : )

 

I did plan for building a centralized media center PC to do everything, took years and I never finished it. I used to have big fileserver running but all those drives were replaced with few 4TB externals connected to my laptop. Times change. I still have that fileserver, I haven't yet dismantled it.

Chromecast + Videostream addon for Chrome. That's actually all I ever needed. I only wish it was invented years earlier. I even bought the premium version of Videostream from black friday sale. Everything except subtitles for 3D movies has worked perfectly.

Both my tv's have chromecast and videostream does all the transcoding and adds subtitles when needed. Local media I play with BS Player (because it'll download subs when I need them). BS Player works on android devices too and it can access network shares easy.

I actually do have "htpc", connected to my stereo system and TV in the living room. I haven't turned it on in months.

Nvidia Shield is also in my interest, definitely if/when I got my hands on 4k TV or I figure out one game I'd like to play in my living room instead of my desk here.

 

Thanks for the reply! I was definitely considering the Nvidia Shield for one of the rooms since an htpc doesn't seem necessary for a place like the bedroom. I've tried the previous version of chromecast, but i'll look into the updated version of the hardware as well.

 

I think you're making this too complex for yourself.

For the Plex Server, just about any modern PC can host it. Any system with an Intel Core i5 or i7 CPU made in the last 5 years (Sandy Bridge), and 8GB of RAM will be more than enough. You're not dealing with a ton of processing power requirements.

For storage, it's entirely up to you how you want to go with this. You can do something as simple as just internal 3.5" HDDs. You can get an external RAID enclosure, or an external NAS device. Again, you're not dealing with something that requires a ton of power or storage speed requirements.

For streaming clients, just use Rokus or Chromecasts, and control the media playback from a smartphone. You don't need to build separate client PCs in each room, or run long CAT cables, or run long HDMI cables to use your HDTVs as 2nd and 3rd monitors.

For your network, WiFi will be fine. Each Plex stream will be running anywhere from 3-7Mbps. Even something as rudimentary as 802.11g will work. But if your router is old, then it's a good time to upgrade it anyway to something like an 802.11n or 802.11ac. But again, you're not dealing with something that puts a strain on your network.


TL;DR:
Keep it simple. Any modern PC will have enough power to act as Plex server. Use Chromecasts at each HDTV as the streaming client, and control media playback through your smartphone.