Spare parts + MediaPortal = Xmas gift for parents (need a tiny bit of advice)

giantjoebot · 2007-12-07, 21:48

I used some spare parts to put together a little rig running MediaPortal for my parents. Its a bit under powered, and I was thinking of doing something to help it run a bit smoother. Here are the specs:

1.4ghz AMD Geode CPU (socket A)
PCChips SIS based micro ATX board
768MB DDR 400 CAS 2.5
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live!
Gigabit NIC
Radeon 9550
80GB hitachi 7200rpm HDD
250GB WD HDD

I got everything installed. This is not being used as a DVR by the way. Everything is running pretty smooth. Can handle some high quality video, but not all. I originally had 512mb of RAM in it, but it was acting sluggish. Bought a 512mb stick of RAM off a guy on criagslist for cheap, which gave me the total of 768MB, and it works a lot better now. Plus I changed as many of the windows settings that I could think of to free up resources.

I got the system files, and the program files, including MediaPortal, on the 80GB drive on the same partition. I haven't yet installed the 250GB drive (have to do some work on another machine before I can pull it). But I'm planning on putting the My Documents in the second drive, so all the media will be stored there. And I was thinking about putting the pagefile on the second drive as well, but I can't decided if this is a good idea or not.

Also the main drive will have utorrent running in the background.

So, should I put the page file on the second drive with the media, or leave it on the main drive with the system and program files?

drunkmonkey0 · 2007-12-07, 23:58

I would leave page files to target its own hard disk, i.E. C:\ hard disk has page file on C. E on E, so on.

But to get down hard disk whir, i found letting it sit on some bubble pack REALLY helped, something to dampen it. surpriseingly effective

giantjoebot · 2007-12-08, 10:49

Noise isn't the issue. Its due to the low amount of RAM, and since there is extra drive activity from utorrent. Basicly I just want to make it as snappy as possible, but I guess I could just split the pager file between the drives.

View Poll Results: which drive should I put the page file on?
Main drive with system and program files	1	100.00%
Second drive with media	0	0%
Voters: 1. You may not vote on this poll

2007-12-07, 21:48	#1 (permalink)
giantjoebot Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 42 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Spare parts + MediaPortal = Xmas gift for parents (need a tiny bit of advice) I used some spare parts to put together a little rig running MediaPortal for my parents. Its a bit under powered, and I was thinking of doing something to help it run a bit smoother. Here are the specs: 1.4ghz AMD Geode CPU (socket A) PCChips SIS based micro ATX board 768MB DDR 400 CAS 2.5 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Gigabit NIC Radeon 9550 80GB hitachi 7200rpm HDD 250GB WD HDD I got everything installed. This is not being used as a DVR by the way. Everything is running pretty smooth. Can handle some high quality video, but not all. I originally had 512mb of RAM in it, but it was acting sluggish. Bought a 512mb stick of RAM off a guy on criagslist for cheap, which gave me the total of 768MB, and it works a lot better now. Plus I changed as many of the windows settings that I could think of to free up resources. I got the system files, and the program files, including MediaPortal, on the 80GB drive on the same partition. I haven't yet installed the 250GB drive (have to do some work on another machine before I can pull it). But I'm planning on putting the My Documents in the second drive, so all the media will be stored there. And I was thinking about putting the pagefile on the second drive as well, but I can't decided if this is a good idea or not. Also the main drive will have utorrent running in the background. So, should I put the page file on the second drive with the media, or leave it on the main drive with the system and program files? Last edited by giantjoebot; 2007-12-07 at 21:59.

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2007-12-07, 23:58	#2 (permalink)
drunkmonkey0 Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Age: 23 Posts: 51 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Country:	I would leave page files to target its own hard disk, i.E. C:\ hard disk has page file on C. E on E, so on. But to get down hard disk whir, i found letting it sit on some bubble pack REALLY helped, something to dampen it. surpriseingly effective

2007-12-08, 10:49	#3 (permalink)
giantjoebot Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 42 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Noise isn't the issue. Its due to the low amount of RAM, and since there is extra drive activity from utorrent. Basicly I just want to make it as snappy as possible, but I guess I could just split the pager file between the drives.