Spec me a Server (please :P)

ozz9955

ozz9955

ozz9955

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Joined
8 Oct 2012
Posts
26
So I've laid out a spec already, just figured I'd get you guys to check it! This will be my first build, and preparation for the monster build that will follow it! Okay, what I primarily plan to use the system for:

- As a media server for my media playing devices. (TVs, consoles, iphone etc)
- DVD and BD decoder.
- Central file storage and potential RAID setup.

What I would like the system to do but I'm not fussed if it doesn't:

- RAW processing and editing, as well as handling meta data etc.
- Video processing on a small scale - ie decent home movies (car shows, holidays, stuff like that)
- Small homebrew games from steam (until my gaming rig is built.)
- Overclock

And the features?

- NOT bothered about speed all that much but I don't want the thing to run 100% for hours on end.
- I want it to have low power draw where possible
- I want it to be QUIET

Okay so here's my preliminary spec, feel free to tear it apart :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £76.79
1 x ASRock FM2A75M-ITX AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £73.99
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (OEM) £56.99
1 x PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III Series 400W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - White £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £25.99
1 x Xigmatek Apache II CD903 CPU-Cooler - 92mm (Socket LGA775/1155/1156 AMD AM2/AM3/FM1) £10.99
2 x NZXT FN-120 Enthusiast Performance Case Fan - 120mm £6.00 (£12.00)
Total : £399.31 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 
Last edited:
if you really only want to do

- As a media server for my media playing devices. (TVs, consoles, iphone etc)
- DVD and BD decoder.
- Central file storage and potential RAID setup.

Then any spec of system will do, I'm currently running NAS4FREE on an AMD x64 2400 single core cpu, 1Gbyte ram. Media streams to my smart tv, Blue ray player, ps3, laptop and ipad. I have streamed to 3 devices so far at the same time, with one being HD content. Haven't had time to really push it. It also has quite a few power saving features and noise reduction options too.
Can also act as iTunes server, but I haven't played with this feature. It also can be used as iSCSI Host which I use extensively in my test rig of two VMWare ESX servers.


NAS4FREE is free, so if you have an old pc use that, then spend your money on a workstation to do all your decoding and encoding.
 
I understand your point and agree to an extent, but what's the point in building two systems to do two jobs when I can build one that does both?
 
I have 2 daughters who stream movies from it, it holds my complete DVD and music library. So I leave it on all the time and I've put it in garage out of the way. So like you say depends on what you use it for, just an idea to save a bit of money?
 
Yeah you're right - I don't have an old PC around though to be fair, so I'll have to start somewhere, and I think after all that I might go with the suggestion above and get the HP microserver. Considering they're about £150 after the cashback, add a couple of HDD and a ODD, upgrade the ram and I'm pretty much there!

Cheers for the help guys - leaves a few more pennies to put towards the gaming build! :)
 
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