Media Server PC ideas... anyone using one?

[dartworth]

I was reading an article in the June 2004 issue of Maximum PC called "How to build a media server PC". It got me thinking and I might take this on as my new project.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone here has built one and is using it. I am thinking of using it as a PVR, MP3, DVD/DivX, etc server. Streaming data to various computers, TVs and over the net.

If you have one, please list the specs of you machine and what you use it for.

Thanks

 

[n0cmonkey]

Do a search for HTPC, that should pop up a few threads. I think that's what people are calling them anyhow...

 

[dartworth]

I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Oops. Gotcha. Sorry about the wasted time.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: dartworth
I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

I used a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 for mine.

http://pics.apartment808.com/users/CZroe/airflow_front.jpg
(Ignore the messy wiring. I was swapping to an Antec TruPower 430w at the time)

That's six (6) 120GB WD1200JB drives in there + 1 100GB WD1000JB boot drive.

Only problem is that I have no decent way to get large files like recorded TV seasons and DVD images on and off. I've been promising a Gigabit upgrade to myself for some time but Gigabit does not mate well with PCI's bandwidth limitations as it is and the PCI bandwidth issue is exascerbated by both the six-channel RAID card and the problem in all i850-based P4 boards (PCI bandwidth is limited to ~80MBps instead of 133MBps.). Instead, I was considering buying and throwing an All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV in there with its AGP Firewire port for networking off the PCI bus but that would be redundant for a guy who is planning on building an ATI HDTV Wonder Media Center PC

I'd sure like to read that article!

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: dartworth
I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

I used a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 for mine.

http://pics.apartment808.com/users/CZroe/airflow_front.jpg
(Ignore the messy wiring. I was swapping to an Antec TruPower 430w at the time)

That's six (6) 120GB WD1200JB drives in there + 1 100GB WD1000JB boot drive.

Only problem is that I have no decent way to get large files like recorded TV seasons and DVD images on and off. I've been promising a Gigabit upgrade to myself for some time but Gigabit does not mate well with PCI's bandwidth limitations as it is and the PCI bandwidth issue is exascerbated by both the six-channel RAID card and the problem in all i850-based P4 boards (PCI bandwidth is limited to ~80MBps instead of 133MBps.). Instead, I was considering buying and throwing an All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV in there with its AGP Firewire port for networking off the PCI bus but that would be redundant for a guy who is planning on building an ATI HDTV Wonder Media Center PC

I'd sure like to read that article!

1. Since it is a SERVER, get a SERVER motherboard.

2. Check to see if any current implementations of onboard gigabit circumvent the PIC bus. I know many 100Mbps implementations exist, so it might not be far out. Get that mobo and have fun.

 

[coolred]

I'd sure like to read that article!

The article while good was nothing special, if you already know quite a bit about how a media center PC would work, and it sounds like you do.


dartworth-searching for info on HTPC may still be of some help to you as a lot of people make thier HTPC's do double duty as a media center PC.

Also www.htpcnews.com is a great site that may also help you.

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: dartworth
I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

I used a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 for mine.

http://pics.apartment808.com/users/CZroe/airflow_front.jpg
(Ignore the messy wiring. I was swapping to an Antec TruPower 430w at the time)

That's six (6) 120GB WD1200JB drives in there + 1 100GB WD1000JB boot drive.

Only problem is that I have no decent way to get large files like recorded TV seasons and DVD images on and off. I've been promising a Gigabit upgrade to myself for some time but Gigabit does not mate well with PCI's bandwidth limitations as it is and the PCI bandwidth issue is exascerbated by both the six-channel RAID card and the problem in all i850-based P4 boards (PCI bandwidth is limited to ~80MBps instead of 133MBps.). Instead, I was considering buying and throwing an All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV in there with its AGP Firewire port for networking off the PCI bus but that would be redundant for a guy who is planning on building an ATI HDTV Wonder Media Center PC

I'd sure like to read that article!

1. Since it is a SERVER, get a SERVER motherboard.

2. Check to see if any current implementations of onboard gigabit circumvent the PCI bus. I know many 1000Mbps implementations exist, so it might not be far out. Get that mobo and have fun.

That'll be kinda difficult without changing a lot more. Currently, it's nothing more than a storage server. Besides, the E-whatever it was server chipset from that time also has the 80MB max PCI bandwidth limitation (Read it in Intel's errata sheet) so I still gotta watch out for bad server boards

If you were going to shove a bunch of hard drives in a closet just for storing stuff on, why wouldn't you use the slowest PC in the house? It's not like CPU performance is going to be a problem and there's not much to recycle from an old s423 P4 RDRAM board. S478 CPU? No. RDRAM? No. Case? No (I'd have to scrap a perfectly working system for that). Before I get rid of this and load it all in a decent server setup, I'd at least like to have the accompanying HTPC finished and implemented.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: dartworth
I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

I used a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 for mine.

http://pics.apartment808.com/users/CZroe/airflow_front.jpg
(Ignore the messy wiring. I was swapping to an Antec TruPower 430w at the time)

That's six (6) 120GB WD1200JB drives in there + 1 100GB WD1000JB boot drive.

Only problem is that I have no decent way to get large files like recorded TV seasons and DVD images on and off. I've been promising a Gigabit upgrade to myself for some time but Gigabit does not mate well with PCI's bandwidth limitations as it is and the PCI bandwidth issue is exascerbated by both the six-channel RAID card and the problem in all i850-based P4 boards (PCI bandwidth is limited to ~80MBps instead of 133MBps.). Instead, I was considering buying and throwing an All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV in there with its AGP Firewire port for networking off the PCI bus but that would be redundant for a guy who is planning on building an ATI HDTV Wonder Media Center PC

I'd sure like to read that article!

1. Since it is a SERVER, get a SERVER motherboard.

2. Check to see if any current implementations of onboard gigabit circumvent the PCI bus. I know many 1000Mbps implementations exist, so it might not be far out. Get that mobo and have fun.

That'll be kinda difficult without changing a lot more. Currently, it's nothing more than a storage server. Besides, the E-whatever it was server chipset from that time also has the 80MB max PCI bandwidth limitation (Read it in Intel's errata sheet) so I still gotta watch out for bad server boards

If you were going to shove a bunch of hard drives in a closet just for storing stuff on, why wouldn't you use the slowest PC in the house? It's not like CPU performance is going to be a problem and there's not much to recycle from an old s423 P4 RDRAM board. S478 CPU? No. RDRAM? No. Case? No (I'd have to scrap a perfectly working system for that). Before I get rid of this and load it all in a decent server setup, I'd at least like to have the accompanying HTPC finished and implemented.

I would use a slow PC in terms of CPU, but I would sure as hell make sure its harddrive and subsystems were top notch.

 

[Ichinisan]

Oops

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: CZroe

Originally posted by: dartworth
I'm not looking to build a small shuttle type PVR that is part of your entertainment center.


I am lookng to build a media server. Something with 500-1000GB of storage with some sort of streaming devices thoughout the network.

I used a Promise SuperTrak SX6000 for mine.

http://pics.apartment808.com/users/CZroe/airflow_front.jpg
(Ignore the messy wiring. I was swapping to an Antec TruPower 430w at the time)

That's six (6) 120GB WD1200JB drives in there + 1 100GB WD1000JB boot drive.

Only problem is that I have no decent way to get large files like recorded TV seasons and DVD images on and off. I've been promising a Gigabit upgrade to myself for some time but Gigabit does not mate well with PCI's bandwidth limitations as it is and the PCI bandwidth issue is exascerbated by both the six-channel RAID card and the problem in all i850-based P4 boards (PCI bandwidth is limited to ~80MBps instead of 133MBps.). Instead, I was considering buying and throwing an All-in-Wonder Radeon 8500DV in there with its AGP Firewire port for networking off the PCI bus but that would be redundant for a guy who is planning on building an ATI HDTV Wonder Media Center PC

I'd sure like to read that article!

1. Since it is a SERVER, get a SERVER motherboard.

2. Check to see if any current implementations of onboard gigabit circumvent the PCI bus. I know many 1000Mbps implementations exist, so it might not be far out. Get that mobo and have fun.

That'll be kinda difficult without changing a lot more. Currently, it's nothing more than a storage server. Besides, the E-whatever it was server chipset from that time also has the 80MB max PCI bandwidth limitation (Read it in Intel's errata sheet) so I still gotta watch out for bad server boards

If you were going to shove a bunch of hard drives in a closet just for storing stuff on, why wouldn't you use the slowest PC in the house? It's not like CPU performance is going to be a problem and there's not much to recycle from an old s423 P4 RDRAM board. S478 CPU? No. RDRAM? No. Case? No (I'd have to scrap a perfectly working system for that). Before I get rid of this and load it all in a decent server setup, I'd at least like to have the accompanying HTPC finished and implemented.

I would use a slow PC in terms of CPU, but I would sure as hell make sure its harddrive and subsystems were top notch.

Well, I think a 1.3GHz Williamette P4 is already miss-matched with 512MB of PC800 RDRAM (The retail CPU only included two 64MB RIMMs). Sure, it's not a gig but back then Win98 was king and WinME didn't even exist. I've always thought the subsystems were fine (Except for the PCI problem) and the CPU could use a little bump I seems to run Windows2003 Server zippy enough. I just may go ahead and make it a domain server but I've also kinda always wanted to set up VPN and the thought of all those files having a routable IP just scares me Perhaps I need a second server