SFF to stream to TV and torrent

Trojan Horse · 20 Jul 2015 at 13:59

Hi there

Recently I got fibre and have been using my 850w i5 to torrent except now I want a more power efficient way of downloading.

I want to keep a small low power PC online for like 12h a day a few days of the week and want to keep it next to my TV (downstairs next to router) my PC is upstairs connected on same network, different router (homepluged into router into PC).

The SFF will be Ethernet connected and I just want to know what can I use to torrent and stream to my TV via HDMI

Want to connect the SFF up to a external USB hard drive and a 32gb sd card to boot from.

I've never done this before so can anyone point me in general direction to be able to use my SFF as a webviewer, controlled from upstairs on PC.

So what kind of SFF can I use with this, I am wanting to use a raspberry pi 2 b, connected to sd and USB ext 2tb drive.

Also TV isn't smart which is why I'm doing this.

Thanks very much, any help is appreciated!!

On Holiday · 20 Jul 2015 at 14:03

A NUC might be better for this? I haven't got experience of them but they're smaller and probably more suitable for under-the-TV use than an SFF.

ZXSpectrum · 20 Jul 2015 at 14:07

I have just bought a Intel Nuc. Its the dual core Celeron (NUCand I have stuck 8Gb in mine with an SSD and its pretty nippy. The Nuc was about £107, memory £35 and I already had the SSD. This is for my main pc though as I only need it for browsing, rdp and kodi but should be more than enough for your useage. It also has a dedicated SD Card slot as well. Oh and that cpu only takes 6w under load..

Trojan Horse · 20 Jul 2015 at 14:24

ZXSpectrum said:
I have just bought a Intel Nuc. Its the dual core Celeron (NUCand I have stuck 8Gb in mine with an SSD and its pretty nippy. The Nuc was about £107, memory £35 and I already had the SSD. This is for my main pc though as I only need it for browsing, rdp and kodi but should be more than enough for your useage. It also has a dedicated SD Card slot as well. Oh and that cpu only takes 6w under load..

Which NUC is that? Oh you has to pay for ram seperate, isn't 4gb (£20) enough for an NUC and do you install windows on it to torrent?

Also thanks very much

ZXSpectrum · 20 Jul 2015 at 15:07

Trojan Horse said:
Which NUC is that? Oh you has to pay for ram seperate, isn't 4gb (£20) enough for an NUC and do you install windows on it to torrent?

Also thanks very much

LOL Missed the bit I was editing.. :eek:

The NUC I have bought is the NUC5CPYH. Yes 4Gb would be more than enough. You can install windows on it but you don't need to as you can install something like Freenas and that has a torrent plugin called Transmission. Unfortunately I don't have any experience installing that.

WARNING.... BE AWARE THAT INSTALLING WINDOWS 7 ON A NEW NUC IS A COMPLETE PAIN... As I found out... Unfortunately even the SP1 disk doesn't have rudimentary support for USB3 and hence, with it having only USB3 ports, the keyboard and mouse do not work. You have to create a USB key to install from and then inject the USB3 drivers into the installation in 2 areas. With any luck I should have it sorted by tonight.

Trojan Horse · 21 Jul 2015 at 11:02

Thanks pal

I'm going to be getting a Gigabyte Brix bxbt-2807 for £80 - opinions? Do you reckon it can fit a 2TB HDD (3.5") £55 or will I have to go external?

Also would I be able to run both windows 7 (my sister might want to play flash games on the internet) as well as FreeNAS

Thanks

ZXSpectrum · 21 Jul 2015 at 11:51

Nah you will have to go external.. These Brix and NUCs are tiny and only have space for 1 2.5" Drive (Or NONE Depending on which one you go for) You can get 2Tb 2.5" That will fit in with no probs. Check out the thread in the Console section as you can get it cheaper if you buy the portable drive and remove the HDD (Invalidating Warranty Unfortunately) but you get a drive for up to £20 cheaper and have a spare caddy for an old 2.5" Drive.

You will be able to do what a friend does. He has windows on his SSD and also has a SD Card/USB Key with freenas on and boots from whichever he wants.

You are lucky as well as it has USB2 on the rear so shouldn't have any issues installing windows 7 like I did.

Trojan Horse · 21 Jul 2015 at 15:26

Hey man thanks for that, I would do that but with HDDs value warranty more, but think USN3 is adequate don't need SATA as all it is going to do is access video files really, and boot FreeNAS from a 8gig USB stick

Also I've looked into it more and had a look at some NAS servers. The Netgear RN10400-100EUS looks real neat, £140 instead of £80 (gigabyte brix) but has 3 hard drive caddies and will work out a better investment in the long run; have you had experience with either?

Are NAS servers just PCs on small form factor, realize can use this for Plex and backup my family photos so really quite useful

Trojan Horse · 22 Jul 2015 at 09:26

Dsteviedee · 22 Jul 2015 at 10:29

The NAS is just for storing and sharing your files.
You will still need something to play the media to your TV.

ZXSpectrum · 22 Jul 2015 at 12:59

You could look at something like the Proliant Microserver. They are a dedicated little NAS unit and when they are on offer with cashback you can get them for about £120. Checkout the server section and there is a big thread on them.

Vogon · 31 Jul 2015 at 14:34

ZXSpectrum said:
I have just bought a Intel Nuc. Its the dual core Celeron (NUCand I have stuck 8Gb in mine with an SSD and its pretty nippy. The Nuc was about £107, memory £35 and I already had the SSD. This is for my main pc though as I only need it for browsing, rdp and kodi but should be more than enough for your useage. It also has a dedicated SD Card slot as well. Oh and that cpu only takes 6w under load..

Can I ask if the wireless has a 5G option ?