Hey All,
So, I'm here for a bit of advice, to do with replacing my home server. Currently, Its role is to:
- Run a software RAID-5 array, full of media (music, tv and some HD stuff).
- Share this array via SMB shares
- Run Torrentflux and SABNzbd (torrent /usenet clients)
So basically, not a lot more than those hardware NAS boxes you can get. This computer's spec? P2 @350Mhz, 512MB RAM, 4-port PCI SATA card, 1x300 system, 3x750 raid-5 and Debian 5 (lenny).
Now, this thing has worked very well. As far as streaming HD content across the network is concerned it does this very well. However, with me considering building an HTPC, it seems sensible to combine HTPC and server into one.
Now, the current system is low power, low noise and low heat, (passively cooled P2, and a rubber suspension system for the four HDDs). With a mind to continuing this, I was looking at the dual core intel atom boards with onboard graphics. Are any of those capable of decoding H.264? Or would I be best advised to opt for a separate graphics card?
If the intel atom wouldn't cut it, what do you think would? Incidentally, due to my reliance on the software raid, I'm going to be using Linux (specifically, I'll stick with Debian).
Any advice is welcome! Oh, and if you're wondering, I measured read speeds of about 25MBytes/sec with the software raid5 on that current file server, which I didn't think was too bad!
Cheers for any advice or help!
Blueacid
So, I'm here for a bit of advice, to do with replacing my home server. Currently, Its role is to:
- Run a software RAID-5 array, full of media (music, tv and some HD stuff).
- Share this array via SMB shares
- Run Torrentflux and SABNzbd (torrent /usenet clients)
So basically, not a lot more than those hardware NAS boxes you can get. This computer's spec? P2 @350Mhz, 512MB RAM, 4-port PCI SATA card, 1x300 system, 3x750 raid-5 and Debian 5 (lenny).
Now, this thing has worked very well. As far as streaming HD content across the network is concerned it does this very well. However, with me considering building an HTPC, it seems sensible to combine HTPC and server into one.
Now, the current system is low power, low noise and low heat, (passively cooled P2, and a rubber suspension system for the four HDDs). With a mind to continuing this, I was looking at the dual core intel atom boards with onboard graphics. Are any of those capable of decoding H.264? Or would I be best advised to opt for a separate graphics card?
If the intel atom wouldn't cut it, what do you think would? Incidentally, due to my reliance on the software raid, I'm going to be using Linux (specifically, I'll stick with Debian).
Any advice is welcome! Oh, and if you're wondering, I measured read speeds of about 25MBytes/sec with the software raid5 on that current file server, which I didn't think was too bad!
Cheers for any advice or help!
Blueacid
(Plus the 4x onboard SATA is handy too!)