<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 10:00 PM, Richard Shaw <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:hobbes1069@gmail.com">hobbes1069@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 1:06 AM, Josh White <<a href="mailto:jaw1959@gmail.com">jaw1959@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> First, a little background information:<br>
><br>
> I'm building a new media room in my basement, and I'll be adding my first<br>
> HDTV to my setup which means I'll need another frontend. My current setup<br>
> consists of an old P4 Dell that hosts my 3 tuner cards (Hauppauge PVR-250<br>
> and 2x PVR-500) and recordings drive, and I have an 2 500gb drives in an<br>
> LVM arrangement on my desktop machine that host my video collection (mainly<br>
> ripped DVDs) which I share via NFS with my various frontends. My video<br>
> storage is filling up fast, and I'd like to remove it from my main desktop<br>
> machine (since I'm prone to tinkering on that machine, and that leads to<br>
> reboots...which is a pain with all my frontends and NFS). Since my video<br>
> collection is growing larger, and I since I see little chance of the growth<br>
> rate slowing) I'm starting to become concerned with the risk of a drive<br>
> failure wiping out my entire collection (the time I've spent ripping my dvds<br>
> is extensive, and something I'd rather not repeat).<br>
><br>
> Since I need a new frontend, and since I can't currently do all I want my<br>
> current backend to do with a single machine, my proposal is to build a new<br>
> combined frontend/backend for my new HDTV, and to retire my old Dell<br>
> backend. For the time being, I intend to move my 3 tuners to the new<br>
> backend/frontend machine (which are analog, but I have no intention of<br>
> stepping into the HD tuning world yet, at least not HD cable, I may tinker<br>
> with OTA...), add two more 500gb drives for my video collection, that I will<br>
> work into a raid 5 array. I'll also be adding a 500gb drive just for<br>
> recordings. I'll install the OS, database, etc., on an 80gb drive. The<br>
> network will be hard-wired via gigibit ethernet. I'll be using a Phenom 4X<br>
> cpu, 4gb of 1066mhz ram, and the motherboard has onboard nvidia 8-series<br>
> graphics.<br>
><br>
> It seems like a 4 core cpu with 4gb of ram should be able to handle the<br>
> various tasks involved; displaying HD video content (on occasion),<br>
> commercial flagging, occasional DVD rips, and the overhead involved with the<br>
> RAID array. I run .21, and tend to stick with the major releases, so I<br>
> won't have VDPAU support until it .22, so displaying HD content will likely<br>
> work the machine a bit in the near future. My main goal is that it perform<br>
> any/all of these tasks at any given time. I'd like to be able to set it up<br>
> so that video playback has high enough priority that anything less noticable<br>
> to a human will be done when it gets done (if the CPU is maxed, then a DVD<br>
> rip may take longer, or commercial flagging would have to go a bit slower,<br>
> etc.).<br>
><br>
> I will be wiring the room for 5.1 surround-sound speakers through the walls,<br>
> and I will be using the on-board sound, assuming it will be powerful<br>
> enough. If need be, I will add some kind of amplifier (this will be quite<br>
> configurable for me, as I will be integrating a network and sound/video<br>
> patch panel).<br>
><br>
><br>
> So what does the myth community think? Can this work as I've eluded I'd<br>
> like it to work? Are there any bone-headed hardware choices I've made? Do<br>
> I need more? Can I do it with less?<br>
><br>
> If anyone's interested, here's what I'm looking to buy from newegg:<br>
><br>
> Case:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811160008" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811160008</a><br>
><br>
> DVD burners (2x):<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151176" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151176</a><br>
><br>
> OS Drive:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148231" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148231</a><br>
><br>
> Raid aray drives (4x)<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288</a><br>
><br>
> Recording drive:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288</a><br>
><br>
> Motherboard:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157141" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157141</a><br>
><br>
> Network Switch:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122139" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122139</a><br>
><br>
> Power Supply:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052</a><br>
><br>
> Memory:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104038" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104038</a><br>
><br>
> CPU:<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244</a><br>
><br>
> Case Fan (2x)<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835132010" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835132010</a><br>
><br>
> Case Fan (3x)<br>
> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705038" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705038</a><br>
><br>
> Of the items in the list, I'm the least sure about the power supply, and the<br>
> fans. I've never had a bad power supply, ever, and I've had one bad fan (in<br>
> my current dell backend that I replaced 5 years ago...no problems since).<br>
><br>
> Thanks for reading, and thanks for any assistance.<br>
<br>
<br>
</div></div>Are you sure you want to go with onboard ATI video? Also, it looks<br>
like your MB is has 2 PCI-E slots which you'll never need. I would<br>
knock the MB down a bit and spend the money on a processor or storage.<br>
<br>
Also, from browsing the list most people indicate that for now you'd<br>
probably be better with a faster dual-core CPU than a slower<br>
Quad-core. So again, I would spend a little less on the MB and more on<br>
the CPU. I have the following in my desktop system and really like it<br>
for the price. It's well rated, has a dual BIOS in case a flash goes<br>
wrong and has all solid capacitors. In addition it has optical and<br>
coax digital audio out, MB headers for audio out over HDMI while the<br>
board you chose does not have digital audio out as far as I can tell.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128081" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128081</a><br>
<br>
Get a nvidia 9000 series fanless for VDPAU support later.<br>
<br>
Just my $0.02<br>
<br>
Richard<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br>Um, thanks...Richard. <br><br>Sorry, I couldn't resist. See my previous post concerning the video card and the PCI-E slots. I will consider a faster, dual core CPU, but honestly, the motherboard and CPU are two of the lower-priced parts on the list, I'm not sure what dual core CPU I could buy that would be faster; I was under the impression that the Phenom CPUs are faster per clock-tick than an Athlon64x2. I suppose for the same money I could get a low-end Core2Duo, but that would be running about the same clock speed, and I have to think that four 2.3ghz CPUs would be better than two 2.4ghz CPUs. I suppose I could buy a $55 Athlon and add another hard drive to my raid array. <br>