Need some help catching up on new boards

[MC Escher]

I must apologize, but I have been unable to put together the information I need through reading existing posts.

I am a moderately experienced builder who has been building his own machines for about 15 years now, and it's time for a new one.

What I'd like to do is lay out a few parameters for what I am seeking so that suggestions can be made.

I promise to try to keep it simple, and I want to thank you for your help in advance. It is VERY appreciated by this dinosaur who let the "bleeding edge' stuff pass him by.


OK...

Basic Background:
I want to build myself a media server.This is NOT meant to be a gaming machine, but I am perfectly willing to take advantage of gaming technology to build a better box.

I had originally envisioned a 775 Quad Core or i7 build with X58 & ICH10R bridges. QPI would be nice as well.




Issue 1:
I had envisioned a board that had one PATA circuit to hang two optical drives on and two separate RAID controllers. One to use for a 2-drive RAID1 setup on Solid State drives and the other for a 6 drive RAID5 array with 6 One TB hard drives for a 5 TB storage area.
However, I am beginning to get the feeling that I wont find all those things in one board, and I may need to compromise. Hopefully it will be a wise compromise.


Issue 2:
One of the things that I want to be able to do is watch a full 1080p movie on a 60" Flat Screen TV while simultaneously surfing the web on a fairly typical 22-24" LCD monitor running at Native resolution. (Say, 1680x1050 or 1920x1200)
I see that multiple video card setups are all the rage these days, sometimes linked and sometimes not.. Is that something that would be useful to me in this build, perhaps with a separate video card for each display or is this a needless complication that would serve no purpose to a non-gamer? I also should point out that I would need to use a TV tuner card as well. Whether that's just one capability on a single card or a dedicated TV card that doesn't even directly drive a display device doesn't matter to me. I simply need to know what the basic parameters should be and I can select the specific devices later




I would be grateful for some hardware suggestions for a Motherboard that would make a good foundation for this build. I don't need an in depth answer, but a brief explanation of the reasoning behind a suggestion would be very helpful.

If it would help, I should mention that cost isn't an issue per se, but of course, it would be foolish to spend a ton of money just to have bragging rights for the 2 days before the box is obsolete again.


Finally, I'm not too worried about the issues of memory choice or specific video card choices right now. Or which EXACT chip to get.

I just want to figure out what foundation would best suit my intentions.


Oh.....
One last thing....

Once built, this machine will probably serve for at LEAST 5 years, if not more, without any upgrades. When I build a new computer, I tend to keep it until it either breaks down or becomes too obsolete to function.

 

[Sylvanas]

Good post, welcome to AT.

I won;t be able to provide all the answer but perhaps just a few. I'm not sure if one video card with two outputs can accelerate content on one screen while allow browsing on another, I think you'll need two cards. Two of these is all you'll need. Something like this as I understand it has two RAID controllers (specs here ). Add in a Dual Athlon X2 250 or a Phenom 2 (depending on if you'll make use of the extra cores on a Dual/Triple/Quad) and you are ready to go. If you intend to use high end media production software you'll benefit from a Quad (not to mention a Quad is always better for future proofing). You could do the same for an i7 build but for a media server I doubt you'd need all that power (and cost)- as I understand it it's just video content and storage which are the key factors here.

 

[MC Escher]

You know, you make an excellent point about not needing the i7 power in a media server. I've been in the habit of always building the nest I can because I don't want it to get too old to be useful any earlier than it has to. The only catch I see with your suggestion is that I am a die hard Intel user, and if I didn't go i7 I would fall back on Core 2 Quad, possibly Extreme if I thought it would do me any good.

And I think you confirmed my suspicion that I would want at least one video card for every display. Perhaps it would be wise to hook up two cards in a Crossfie or SLI Bridge (Do I have the terminology right?) in order to drive my big screen TV, then a third card running by itself for websurfing...


You know, something I can't figure out about Matrix RAID...
Can I make two different arrays on a single Matrix RAID controller?



BTW, thank you for the welcome.
I appreciate it.

 

[theAnimal]

RAID 5 should really be done with a separate RAID card.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I believe you've overshot your mark (by maybe a factor of 10 )

I don't think you need 2 video cards - and I don't think you need the disk I/O you are envisioning with SSDs

Today's integrated graphics platforms accelerate HD and substantially reduce cpu utilization. The IGP typically will allow for the connection of 2 'outputs' (albeit one digital and one analog). If the analog output for your surfing is a bummer a $50 graphics card can output dual digital (HDMI/DVI) feeds and also provide HD video hardware acceleration (in addition to outputting 5.1 LPCM digital audio thru your HDMI connection).

WARNING: Using my Radeon 4xxx series video card in such a manner results in cpu utilization of 40%!!! But then again I'm running undervolted and underclocked - LOL. At stock the resource meter says my HD is taking up 6% cpu utilization.

As far as your media serving - integrated into certain chipsets with eSATA you have a port-multiplier function.

An example: My latest project for my media library is taking this external enclosure and running 5 1Tb drives (actually 2 1Tb and 2 500Gb but a guy can dream, right?) off a single eSATA connection on an AMD 790gx using the port multiplier function (and not using their adapter card). I am not familiar with SATA port multiplier functions with Intel chipsets.

I hope to avoid the aggravation of a dedicated media server while maintaining the ability to stream audio and video across my network. I'm interested in seeing what the Kill-a-Watt shows if I can successfully put that sucker to sleep.

Similar external enclosures go on special at NewEgg each month. A 5-bay enclosure has a max capacity of 10TB by spec so if you do RAID5 you could either have 4 Tb or 6Tb with 1.5 Tb drives.

Since you wish to stick with Intel check out the GMA 4500 series - something like the X4500HD is the top of the line IIRC. With AMD anything with the SB750 should suit your needs.



edit: I fergit - check out the Divco Fusion HDTV card. There is a dual tuner version that is quite snappy if you wish to record a seperate channel while watching another.

You need to study up on 'QAM' abilities. QAM gives you the ability to view unencrypted digital cable channels - the only way to view encrypted cable is with a CableCard system which you must purchase from an OEM.