[mythtv-users] Hardware advice for new combined frontend/backend

[Josh White]

First, a little background information:

I'm building a new media room in my basement, and I'll be adding my first
HDTV to my setup which means I'll need another frontend.  My current setup
consists of an old P4 Dell that hosts my 3 tuner cards (Hauppauge PVR-250
and 2x PVR-500)  and recordings drive, and I have an 2 500gb drives in an
LVM arrangement on my desktop machine that host my video collection (mainly
ripped DVDs) which I share via NFS with my various frontends.  My video
storage is filling up fast, and I'd like to remove it from my main desktop
machine (since I'm prone to tinkering on that machine, and that leads to
reboots...which is a pain with all my frontends and NFS).  Since my video
collection is growing larger, and I since I see little chance of the growth
rate slowing) I'm starting to become concerned with the risk of a drive
failure wiping out my entire collection (the time I've spent ripping my dvds
is extensive, and something I'd rather not repeat).

Since I need a new frontend, and since I can't currently do all I want my
current backend to do with a single machine, my proposal is to build a new
combined frontend/backend for my new HDTV, and to retire my old Dell
backend.  For the time being, I intend to move my 3 tuners to the new
backend/frontend machine (which are analog, but I have no intention of
stepping into the HD tuning world yet, at least not HD cable, I may tinker
with OTA...), add two more 500gb drives for my video collection, that I will
work into a raid 5 array.  I'll also be adding a 500gb drive just for
recordings.  I'll install the OS, database, etc., on an 80gb drive.  The
network will be hard-wired via gigibit ethernet.  I'll be using a Phenom 4X
cpu, 4gb of 1066mhz ram, and the motherboard has onboard nvidia 8-series
graphics.

It seems like a 4 core cpu with 4gb of ram should be able to handle the
various tasks involved; displaying HD video content (on occasion),
commercial flagging, occasional DVD rips, and the overhead involved with the
RAID array.  I run .21, and tend to stick with the major releases, so I
won't have VDPAU support until it .22, so displaying HD content will likely
work the machine a bit in the near future.  My main goal is that it perform
any/all of these tasks at any given time.  I'd like to be able to set it up
so that video playback has high enough priority that anything less noticable
to a human will be done when it gets done (if the CPU is maxed, then a DVD
rip may take longer, or commercial flagging would have to go a bit slower,
etc.).

I will be wiring the room for 5.1 surround-sound speakers through the walls,
and I will be using the on-board sound, assuming it will be powerful
enough.  If need be, I will add some kind of amplifier (this will be quite
configurable for me, as I will be integrating a network and sound/video
patch panel).


So what does the myth community think?  Can this work as I've eluded I'd
like it to work?  Are there any bone-headed hardware choices I've made?  Do
I need more? Can I do it with less?

If anyone's interested, here's what I'm looking to buy from newegg:

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811160008

DVD burners (2x):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151176

OS Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148231

Raid aray drives (4x)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Recording drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157141

Network Switch:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122139

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104038

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244

Case Fan (2x)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835132010

Case Fan (3x)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705038

Of the items in the list, I'm the least sure about the power supply, and the
fans.  I've never had a bad power supply, ever, and I've had one bad fan (in
my current dell backend that I replaced 5 years ago...no problems since).

Thanks for reading, and thanks for any assistance.

-Josh
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