Building a good Server PC...

[Gixxer]

Hi i am planning on building a complete Server PC solution for my house network. The objective is to centralize everything into a pc that will be running 24/7. Doing file sharing, tv recording (very often), downloading, printer server, etc...

I know some of you have done some incredible server pc (i remember the one of millhouse) so i would like to know what should i be looking for.

The idea is to run under vista as i think its better than xp for serving.

My requirements are:

-At least one PCI for my Hauppauge T500 and plenty slots for future SAT card ( i guess PCIe), and maybe another T500(PCI).

-Plenty of SATA ports and at least able to connect 2 IDE hard drive.

- not sure about raid for know, but would be nice for the future.

what other requirements do server pcs need, or should i look into?

initially it will be connected to LAN with no monitor or TV.

how much CPU will i need? i dont think ill play lots of High Def but i dont want to be cheap and then regret it.
what about RAM?

any motherboard model or brand that is more focus to server pcs like this one? (without being proffesional solutions. ie. extremely expensive)


thanks a lot for any help/ideas.

be sure ill post a new thread with the building process and pictures

[Gixxer]

at least a good value for the cpu power?

[vvulture]

Generally speaking, a dedicated server doesn't need to be powerfull, just efficient and stable.
Streaming video content doesn't require CPU power. It's the client at the receiving end which needs to process the stream, and that is where CPU power is required.
Recording TV shows is pretty much the same deal. Any machine these days can handle recording a couple of TV shows and stream a video file all at the same time. The key is to get the HDD's to run as smoothly and as efficiently as possible. I use 2 separate HDD's ( one for recording and the other for timeshifting ). I have successfully recorded 8 TV shows at once ( just as a test ) and all was good. My TV cards are Hauppauge Nova-T 500 MCE dual DVB-T cards.

As far as software is concerned, although Windows Home Server is not supported i use it and runs great. You have to make sure that you're hardware will work, especially your TV cards. My TV cards were installed using Windows MCE drivers and i have no issues with them.
WHS will serve all your 'SERVING' needs. Head over to Introducing Windows Home Server and check it out. It really is a great piece of software. Adding extra storage for future growth is as simple as plugging in a HDD and tell WHS to use it as storage.
Also, WHS only requires 512Mb ram and will run on fairly low spec machine.

Cheers.

[Gixxer]

thanks for that feedback !

i dont think ill use WHS, as i dont think i will take any benefit from it, plus it adds complications for mediaportal tv server.

note taken about the hard drives.

any other suggestions from others about a good cpu power that will last some good years?

[Gixxer]

after considering investing in a powerfull CPU to make sure the server would be good for years or in case i decided to change it purpose.

what about consumption? is there a big difference in energy consumption between CPU?

if you are going to include 4 or 5 hard drives, 2 tuners, etc..

is it that significant the CPU energy consumption?

i guess that choosing a good motherboard will allow energy saving in case it has that option right?

thanks for any feedback

[maarten77]

i'd advice any motherboard that uses the 690g chipset and a low power processor. I use the Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H with an AMD Athlon BE-2400.
This chipset is known to have good energy effiency. I run it with two 500 Gb sata hard drive, an analog and digital tuner and it only uses 55 watts when idle (no recording). This is with a 300W PSU which I may replace with something more efficient.

when looking for processors, you need to look at the TDP (thermal design power) of the chip. this will give you an indication of how chips compare. it doesn't really tell you how much watts the chip will use; if possible you need to look up something that AMD calls ACP: average CPU power, which tells you what the chip will draw under normal user circumstances.

also, you need to consider that to underclock or undervolt a chip, you may get quite good results as well. If you underclock a normal athlon, the power used will be the same or better as with special chips like the BE-2400 that have a low TDP. Using AMD's cool and quiet technology does a lot of this without you needing to think about difficult settings.

as for motherboards, it is much more difficult to tell what is an efficient motherboard. this is not something that is compared or advertized much. cool and quiet is available on all motherboards that support athlons, as far as i know.

i found that looking at older motherboards and chips makes things a lot more difficult and not necessarily more power efficient. in terms of green computing, second hand parts are to be preferred though.

i can't advice on intel setups

[lexus]

If you want to know more about power requirements for AMD cpu's you should check out this review at toms hardware; they tested 35 AMD cpu's for power consumption.
35 AMD CPUs Tested for Power Consumption : Energy consumption of 35 AMD-Processors

Hope this helps.