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Forums - PC - micro-atx media server - opinions/help wanted

7200 might be a good idea for streaming data, but you probably don't need a RAID-1 setup for a media server. Save some money and just get the one drive, or offload the RAID duty to a backup server.



Complexity is not depth. Machismo is not maturity. Obsession is not dedication. Tedium is not challenge. Support gaming: support the Wii.

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What do I hate about modern gaming? I hate tedium replacing challenge, complexity replacing depth, and domination replacing entertainment. I hate the outsourcing of mechanics to physics textbooks, art direction to photocopiers, and story to cheap Hollywood screenwriters. I hate the confusion of obsession with dedication, style with substance, new with gimmicky, old with obsolete, new with evolutionary, and old with time-tested.
There is much to hate about modern gaming. That is why I support the Wii.

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Ok, so I'll go with a 7200rpm drive. My concerns were both motor noise and power usage. As for RAID 1, I'm lazy and RAID 1 is instant backup. I could buy an external drive, but that costs more, or I could stick it in my PC, but then I actually have to back it up. As I said, this media server will be hosting my home videos, and I really don't want to lose those.




If you drop a PS3 right on top of a Wii, it would definitely defeat it. Not so sure about the Xbox360. - mancandy
In the past we played games. In the future we watch games. - Forest-Spirit
11/03/09 Desposit: Mod Bribery (RolStoppable)  vg$ 500.00
06/03/09 Purchase: Moderator Privilege  vg$ -50,000.00

Nordlead Jr. Photo/Video Gallery!!! (Video Added 4/19/10)

I have three 7200rpm drives in my comp, and I never hear them.

Granted, I also have a lot of fans that are very noticeable, so that could help as well.



Wii/PC/DS Lite/PSP-2000 owner, shameless Nintendo and AMD fanboy.

My comp, as shown to the right (click for fullsize pic)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
Video Card: XFX 1 GB Radeon HD 5870
Memory: 8 GB A-Data DDR3-1600
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
Primary Storage: OCZ Vertex 120 GB
Case: Cooler Master HAF-932
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Extra Storage: WD Caviar Black 640 GB,
WD Caviar Black 750 GB, WD Caviar Black 1 TB
Display: Triple ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 monitors
Sound: HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card,
Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
Input: Logitech G5 mouse,
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard
Wii Friend Code: 2772 8804 2626 5138 Steam: jefforange89

I'd highly recommend using one of Shuttle's bare-bones PCs as a starting point. They're small, quiet, and surprisingly upgradeable. For your uses, I'd recommend this one - it has a replaceable DVD drive for when you want to upgrade to Blu-Ray, two internal 3.5" bays for your HDDs, a couple of eSATA bays, two low-profile PCI ports (one vanilla PCI, one X16), and built-in TOSLINK and coaxial digital audio, all running off of a measley 400W PSU that's (in my experience) whisper-quiet.

Just throw in a cheap Core 2 Duo, an equally cheap-ass low-profile graphics card w/HDMI, a stick of RAM, and a hard drive of your choice, and you're good to go.



"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."

 -Sean Malstrom

 

 

For HTPCs, AMD's CPUs are generally a lot superior since you don't need to buy a discrete GPU in the first place, and you can get a lot more value too. =\



Wii/PC/DS Lite/PSP-2000 owner, shameless Nintendo and AMD fanboy.

My comp, as shown to the right (click for fullsize pic)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
Video Card: XFX 1 GB Radeon HD 5870
Memory: 8 GB A-Data DDR3-1600
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
Primary Storage: OCZ Vertex 120 GB
Case: Cooler Master HAF-932
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Extra Storage: WD Caviar Black 640 GB,
WD Caviar Black 750 GB, WD Caviar Black 1 TB
Display: Triple ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 monitors
Sound: HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card,
Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
Input: Logitech G5 mouse,
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard
Wii Friend Code: 2772 8804 2626 5138 Steam: jefforange89
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if anything go with a raid 0 setup on the hdd's, a couple of 400gb, and you'll have double the read write speeds, and if it will be running constantly a server hdd will be of benefit, also make sure what you get will have a gigabit ethernet port.



I had raid 0 before and one of the drives failed, I'd rather go with raid 5 or 0+1 if I wanted more speed, but I don't think I need extra speed. I think if I don't go raid 1, I'll go with a backup drive that I manually run to save energy.

The barebones system seems a little expensive to me. I can probably buy all the same parts and put it together myself for $50 less. Also, it doesn't look like it comes with built in graphics, so I'd have to spend more for that. Unless I'm missing something about the box that gives it more value.

Does anyone have experience with linux based media servers, or should I go with XP?




If you drop a PS3 right on top of a Wii, it would definitely defeat it. Not so sure about the Xbox360. - mancandy
In the past we played games. In the future we watch games. - Forest-Spirit
11/03/09 Desposit: Mod Bribery (RolStoppable)  vg$ 500.00
06/03/09 Purchase: Moderator Privilege  vg$ -50,000.00

Nordlead Jr. Photo/Video Gallery!!! (Video Added 4/19/10)

I've been using Windows 7 for media stuffs, it works great. Don't know about XP, though.



Wii/PC/DS Lite/PSP-2000 owner, shameless Nintendo and AMD fanboy.

My comp, as shown to the right (click for fullsize pic)

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 3.2 GHz
Video Card: XFX 1 GB Radeon HD 5870
Memory: 8 GB A-Data DDR3-1600
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
Primary Storage: OCZ Vertex 120 GB
Case: Cooler Master HAF-932
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Extra Storage: WD Caviar Black 640 GB,
WD Caviar Black 750 GB, WD Caviar Black 1 TB
Display: Triple ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 monitors
Sound: HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card,
Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
Input: Logitech G5 mouse,
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard
Wii Friend Code: 2772 8804 2626 5138 Steam: jefforange89

I would suggest a faster CPU as the modern codecs and video files are too much for a simple single core to cope with. You'd be better off with one of the low power dual core cpus.



Tease.

then all the files you want to backup just set the archive bit on it and perform nightly incremental backups and a full backup every 2 weeks. give it a second disc for the backup and it will backup just the data you need and not waste with system files, and run raid 0 on the discs so you will have what you need in case of failure and the improved performance.