Help Building Media Server Using Free C2D Processor

[wired.illusion]

So these days I pretty much only run laptops due to work, so it's been an extremely long time since I've built a new box (so long that apparently I can't remember my old forum account). That said, I recently came across an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 for free. Seems like a waste to let it sit there, so I figure I may as well replace my existing media server that is really showing some signs of age (Ancient Pentium D 820 box with a ton of HDD space).

I've been out of the game a long time so I'm just looking for someone to make sure I'm not doing anything terribly stupid. It will end up being thrown into a small rack that I want to buy as I have another rackmount rig that is just sitting on a file cabinet instead of in a rack. Here is what I'm looking at:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (MassCool 8W553B1M3 HSF)
• Gigabye GA-P43T-ES3G LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard (Not a big selection out there for 775 right now)
• G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM (Good reviews on Newegg, I'm out of date with brands these days)
• Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W PSU (I've read good things about the TX series)
• ARK 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case (Replacing Fans)
• 1TB WD Caviar Black (OS), a few 2TB WD Caviar Greens (Storage)
• Undecided on GPU

I already have quite a few drives. I'll probably run Windows Home Server, undecided at the moment though. Was thinking of RAID5/6, but I'll probably just go with a decent backup plan on externals like I'm doing now.

Questions:

• What should I do about GPU? I'll be using software for streaming the supports some GPU decoding/encoding, so I probably don't want to go super bare-bones (CoreAVC and such).
• Is the PSU overkill? In the future I'll probably max out the hard drives.
• Should I go for DDR3 1333 to run at lower timings, or just go with DDR3 1600 for the overhead and upgradability?

Oh and I'm building it to do the following, nothing too stressful:

• File Server/Repository
• Media Streaming To PS3 (ps3mediaserver)
• Torrenting
• Print Server
• Subversion Server
• Backups

Budget is under $600 for the most part, but I'm flexible. Will be buying parts from Newegg for the most part. I tend to prefer Intel and nVidia.

Appreciate any input. Cheers!

 

[mfenn]

What should I do about GPU? I'll be using software for streaming the supports some GPU decoding/encoding, so I probably don't want to go super bare-bones (CoreAVC and such).

If you just want CUDA support, then something cheap like a GTS 450 will do nicely.

Is the PSU overkill? In the future I'll probably max out the hard drives.

My god yes. The core platform is only going to be somewhere around 200W MAX and each HDD adds about 10-15W. A 430CX will be more than enough.

Should I go for DDR3 1333 to run at lower timings, or just go with DDR3 1600 for the overhead and upgradability?

Do not spend a ton of money on tight timings or DDR3 1600. You won't notice a difference (don't tell me you were planning to overclock a server).

Additionally, I would advise against doing a rackmount system unless you have experience with them and know 100% what you're doing. Case in point, don't forget that you will need rails for your 4U case.

 

[Fayd]

So these days I pretty much only run laptops due to work, so it's been an extremely long time since I've built a new box (so long that apparently I can't remember my old forum account). That said, I recently came across an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 for free. Seems like a waste to let it sit there, so I figure I may as well replace my existing media server that is really showing some signs of age (Ancient Pentium D 820 box with a ton of HDD space).

I've been out of the game a long time so I'm just looking for someone to make sure I'm not doing anything terribly stupid. It will end up being thrown into a small rack that I want to buy as I have another rackmount rig that is just sitting on a file cabinet instead of in a rack. Here is what I'm looking at:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (MassCool 8W553B1M3 HSF)
• Gigabye GA-P43T-ES3G LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard (Not a big selection out there for 775 right now)
• G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM (Good reviews on Newegg, I'm out of date with brands these days)
• Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W PSU (I've read good things about the TX series)
• ARK 4U-500-CA Black 4U Rackmount Case (Replacing Fans)
• 1TB WD Caviar Black (OS), a few 2TB WD Caviar Greens (Storage)
• Undecided on GPU

I already have quite a few drives. I'll probably run Windows Home Server, undecided at the moment though. Was thinking of RAID5/6, but I'll probably just go with a decent backup plan on externals like I'm doing now.

Questions:

• What should I do about GPU? I'll be using software for streaming the supports some GPU decoding/encoding, so I probably don't want to go super bare-bones (CoreAVC and such).
• Is the PSU overkill? In the future I'll probably max out the hard drives.
• Should I go for DDR3 1333 to run at lower timings, or just go with DDR3 1600 for the overhead and upgradability?

Oh and I'm building it to do the following, nothing too stressful:

• File Server/Repository
• Media Streaming To PS3 (ps3mediaserver)
• Torrenting
• Print Server
• Subversion Server
• Backups

Budget is under $600 for the most part, but I'm flexible. Will be buying parts from Newegg for the most part. I tend to prefer Intel and nVidia.

Appreciate any input. Cheers!

g45 will be fine for media decoding. you don't need to go for cuda support. and it allows you to get around paying for an extra video card, both in terms of upfront cost and long-term power requirements.

otherwise, you're better off dumping the e6850 and going with either a new i3 or cheap amd build, both of which will have HD video decoding built into the CPU or chipset, and not need an extra processor.

850w is so ridiculously overkill i'd laugh if i did that sort of thing... i recommend you look for something in the 380-450 watt range. your processor should use up to 80 watts max.... chipset another 20 max, drives 5-10 watts per. that won't possibly add up to 850 watts.

i recently built a server that accomplishes a slightly different task. based it off a 785G mobo with an athlon II x4. i'm gonna move my 2tb harddrives into it to have it run media storage and ps3mediaserver soon.

it's been running stable for awhile off a corsair CX430. pretty decent power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121355
my suggestion for a mobo. it's not big on extra slots for harddrives, but it does have 3 PCI-E ports you could stick extra controllers into.

 

[wired.illusion]

Haha, thanks for the input guys. I am absolutely terrible with power supply estimates. I'll pick one, browse around for other things, and then a bit later see another PSU that is only $XX more and say "Oh hey why not?". Vicious cycle. It's why I asked for the sanity check, I always botch that.

Do not spend a ton of money on tight timings or DDR3 1600. You won't notice a difference (don't tell me you were planning to overclock a server).

Additionally, I would advise against doing a rackmount system unless you have experience with them and know 100% what you're doing. Case in point, don't forget that you will need rails for your 4U case.

Yeah I didn't mean I was going to go out and buy ram with super tight timings, I'm past though days. Was looking at ram within the same, low price range. Gotta love how cheap 4GB of ram is these days.

Also, thanks for the advice and warning. I'm pretty comfortable with rackmount systems though.

g45 will be fine for media decoding. you don't need to go for cuda support. and it allows you to get around paying for an extra video card, both in terms of upfront cost and long-term power requirements.

otherwise, you're better off dumping the e6850 and going with either a new i3 or cheap amd build, both of which will have HD video decoding built into the CPU or chipset, and not need an extra processor.

Hmmm I was actually looking for something with CUDA support, but wasn't sure what card was good enough. Can X4500HD handle transcoding/remuxing HD video (primarily 720p) on the fly for viewing on the PS3/Xbox? If so, awesome. That's really my goal here. Currently have my media server in another room and I just stream out to the PS3/Xbox in the living room. My current setup can't handle HD that well though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121355
my suggestion for a mobo. it's not big on extra slots for harddrives, but it does have 3 PCI-E ports you could stick extra controllers into.

You know I was looking at that earlier, but I decided to go for a DDR3 motherboard in the event I want to upgrade to 1155 at some point in the future. Quick re-use of RAM and whatnot (not to mention DDR3 is slightly cheaper). Not totally set on that though...

 

[Fayd]

Haha, thanks for the input guys. I am absolutely terrible with power supply estimates. I'll pick one, browse around for other things, and then a bit later see another PSU that is only $XX more and say "Oh hey why not?". Vicious cycle. It's why I asked for the sanity check, I always botch that.



Yeah I didn't mean I was going to go out and buy ram with super tight timings, I'm past though days. Was looking at ram within the same, low price range. Gotta love how cheap 4GB of ram is these days.

Also, thanks for the advice and warning. I'm pretty comfortable with rackmount systems though.



Hmmm I was actually looking for something with CUDA support, but wasn't sure what card was good enough. Can X4500HD handle transcoding/remuxing HD video (primarily 720p) on the fly for viewing on the PS3/Xbox? If so, awesome. That's really my goal here. Currently have my media server in another room and I just stream out to the PS3/Xbox in the living room. My current setup can't handle HD that well though.



You know I was looking at that earlier, but I decided to go for a DDR3 motherboard in the event I want to upgrade to 1155 at some point in the future. Quick re-use of RAM and whatnot (not to mention DDR3 is slightly cheaper). Not totally set on that though...

if you want to ever upgrade your HTPC to 1156, do so now. ditch the e6850 now before it drops any more value.

i still think you're better off going with an AMD setup. at the low to middle market range, AMD makes a compelling choice.

your processor alone should be able to handle transcoding 720P for playback on the fly. but yeah, g45 has hardware accelerated h264 decoding. i think anandtech did a review of it awhile ago.

btw, you can run ps3mediaserver on freenas, which gets you access to ZFS instead of using windows home server's file system. something to think about.

 

[mfenn]

Hmmm I was actually looking for something with CUDA support, but wasn't sure what card was good enough. Can X4500HD handle transcoding/remuxing HD video (primarily 720p) on the fly for viewing on the PS3/Xbox? If so, awesome. That's really my goal here. Currently have my media server in another room and I just stream out to the PS3/Xbox in the living room. My current setup can't handle HD that well though.

The G45 IGP will handle decode acceleration for display purposes only. Since you intend to transcode a stream and send it out over the network, you will need software and hardware that supports CUDA. It sounds like you've got the software side sorted out, and the GTS 450 will handle the hardware side of the equation just fine.