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post #151 of 226
1/22/13 at 10:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

the i5 is not much more than the i3 and it should help do the transcoding for plex no? I have read that a i3 cant do 1080P transcoding for plex. I wasent planning to do transcoding to anything but 1 tv. But maybe thats not a bad idea anymore.

if its going to create a lot of sound and power then that would be a bummer.

Wherever you read that from... it's absolute B.S...

I can invite you over to see a live demo of my self built CentOS 6 NAS running an I3 2120 concurrently transcoding two separate 1080p movies, one to an iPad2 and the other to an iPhone 4S, while at the same time streaming to an HTPC and ripping a BR into it with makeMKV...
The NAS has the plex server installed of course...
Try searching my posts from about a year ago for more info...
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post #152 of 226
1/22/13 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by balky View Post

Wherever you read that from... it's absolute B.S...

I can invite you over to see a live demo of my self built CentOS 6 NAS running an I3 2120 concurrently transcoding two separate 1080p movies, one to an iPad2 and the other to an iPhone 4S, while at the same time streaming to an HTPC and ripping a BR into it with makeMKV...
The NAS has the plex server installed of course...
Try searching my posts from about a year ago for more info...
What quality are you transcoding it to? I can set a 1080P movie to transcode at a setting of automatic or predefined.... On a small device it may seem ok. but on a 65" tv you can notice if something is not hi-def. I can say without a shadow of a doubt my roomates i7 was stuttering once or twice on setting 8 for transcoding. We moved it to 6 and it played fine but the quality is obviously not the highest possible. That was on a googleTV and on a roky 2 xs.
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post #153 of 226
1/22/13 at 12:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

What quality are you transcoding it to? I can set a 1080P movie to transcode at a setting of automatic or predefined.... On a small device it may seem ok. but on a 65" tv you can notice if something is not hi-def. I can say without a shadow of a doubt my roomates i7 was stuttering once or twice on setting 8 for transcoding. We moved it to 6 and it played fine but the quality is obviously not the highest possible. That was on a googleTV and on a roky 2 xs.

my G860 can trancode just as well as my i7 2600k or my 3570k in my HTPC.

The 3.0ghz dual core pentium level is more than enough - you sure your issue is not network speed?? You have gigabit hard wired ?????
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post #154 of 226
1/23/13 at 6:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

What quality are you transcoding it to? I can set a 1080P movie to transcode at a setting of automatic or predefined.... On a small device it may seem ok. but on a 65" tv you can notice if something is not hi-def. I can say without a shadow of a doubt my roomates i7 was stuttering once or twice on setting 8 for transcoding. We moved it to 6 and it played fine but the quality is obviously not the highest possible. That was on a googleTV and on a roky 2 xs.

I thought this was about the claim that the I3 is not powerful enough to transcode 1080p movies... that you read it somewhere or so...

Well, if you're accepting that the transcoding is possible, then I will add that it was transcoding to 720p for both devices at the same time.

You need a "clean" and well setup wi-fi network for this to work well...

As for your network, any of the $35 green gig switches should do. you only need to ensure that you force 1000M / full duplex (or 100M / full duplex) on the PC network card...
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post #155 of 226
1/23/13 at 7:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

So I guess I have 3 choices.....

Unraid or Free nas setup thats a low end build.

win8 with flex raid on an i5 to be a Fileserver + HTPC

or just buy a synology.... Thoughts?
Or you can buy Pogoplug for $18.99, install ArchLinux and Samba on it and make it your NAS (4 USB drives). 2 of them give you the ability to connect 8 NAS drives and so on..
Each Pogo uses just 4W.
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post #156 of 226
1/23/13 at 9:23am
Surprised djtoodles hasn't insulted anyone/everyone else reporting their experience like he did with me.

I was going to post more information for him. Not going to happen.
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post #157 of 226
1/23/13 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Surprised djtoodles hasn't insulted anyone/everyone else reporting their experience like he did with me.

I was going to post more information for him. Not going to happen.

I can understand why.

his loss.

I specifically pointed out you as a great reference and owner of the exact knowledge he wanted/desired to him after that comment expressing what he might have lost.
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post #158 of 226
1/23/13 at 12:21pm
Poking fun
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post #159 of 226
1/24/13 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

my G860 can trancode just as well as my i7 2600k or my 3570k in my HTPC.

The 3.0ghz dual core pentium level is more than enough - you sure your issue is not network speed?? You have gigabit hard wired ?????
yes its 1gb hardwired and we have 2 gb wireless routers in the house. One is an AC router 1 is a dual band N.
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post #160 of 226
1/24/13 at 10:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark_Slayer View Post

Poking fun

LOL
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post #161 of 226
1/24/13 at 10:44am
Thread Starter 
At this point I am trying to decide if i can hardwire a closet or somewhere else and add power to just do a normal case and use raspi's to the tv's. Appears with some overclocking you can get those to play 1080p back no problem with the existing skin i use in xbmc. So that way I dont have to worry about noise at all. Otherwise if I cant figure that out then I will probably do the i5 3570k and combine the two.

My roomate managed to do some work on his i7 and its pretty quiet minus the gpu card he has in there now. Since the 3570k has the gpu built in I shouldnt have that problem. Still kicking the tires on what to buy.
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post #162 of 226
1/24/13 at 1:22pm
Well... I ended up building an i7 all in one.

I used a COSMOS II case- Dual Video cards... MAX IOPS SSD... 14 HDD's... 1000 watt PSU... dual blu ray... 16GB DDR3 on an Asus Deluxe motherboard. The plan was to use it for everything. I bough a case that could hold many HDD's and I planned to use as a server and HTPC too.

Then I decided I wanted a dedicated HTPC so I built a cheap G630 machine. It was much better having a smaller simpler dedicated HTPC. I used the Desktop as the server still.
Then I upgraded my G630 HTPC to a nicer Z77 based 3570K i 5 machine. My current HTPC is in an Antec300Case with LOW fan settings- a Vertex3 120GB SSD, Antec NEO 400 watt PSU, 8GB DDR3 1600mhz Gskill Ripjaws Ram, Asrock PRO 3 Motherboard and the i5 CPU. It's nice.

I used a G630 to make a server. It was modest. Asrock H61 mobo and G630 CPU. WHS2011 + flexraid. I used a gaming tower as the case.

Then... I wanted more so I upgraded the motherboard to a Z77 and the CPU to a G860. I kept the same 8GB DDR3. I upgraded the SATA card to an IBM 1015 x8 card. I upgraded the case to a NORCO 4220. Upgraded the PSU from coolermaster 460watt to a Rosewill 80+ Gold 650watt. Added a bunch more HDD's.


My point is where ever you start you won't end. But with me- I got to reused hardware and enjoyed expanding this or that one step at a time. You can not do that with a NAS solution.

Depends on what flexibility you want later.

Certainly a server build is going to give you the most options and performance but it's trickier to build and set up. Not hard... but not as easy as a NAS box.

The common misconception is the server costs more. It does not. you can make one cheap.... as cheap as a NAS if you wanted.

I have an i7 desktop, i5 HTPC and a G860 based WHS media server. It's really the best set up. It's way better than a NAS box, or an all in one solution. Not saying you need to do what I do... but I am pointing out a server with a separate HTPC is always going to give you more and work better IMO...
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post #163 of 226
1/24/13 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

Well... I ended up building an i7 all in one.

I used a COSMOS II case- Dual Video cards... MAX IOPS SSD... 14 HDD's... 1000 watt PSU... dual blu ray... 16GB DDR3 on an Asus Deluxe motherboard. The plan was to use it for everything. I bough a case that could hold many HDD's and I planned to use as a server and HTPC too.

Then I decided I wanted a dedicated HTPC so I built a cheap G630 machine. It was much better having a smaller simpler dedicated HTPC. I used the Desktop as the server still.
Then I upgraded my G630 HTPC to a nicer Z77 based 3570K i 5 machine. My current HTPC is in an Antec300Case with LOW fan settings- a Vertex3 120GB SSD, Antec NEO 400 watt PSU, 8GB DDR3 1600mhz Gskill Ripjaws Ram, Asrock PRO 3 Motherboard and the i5 CPU. It's nice.

I used a G630 to make a server. It was modest. Asrock H61 mobo and G630 CPU. WHS2011 + flexraid. I used a gaming tower as the case.

Then... I wanted more so I upgraded the motherboard to a Z77 and the CPU to a G860. I kept the same 8GB DDR3. I upgraded the SATA card to an IBM 1015 x8 card. I upgraded the case to a NORCO 4220. Upgraded the PSU from coolermaster 460watt to a Rosewill 80+ Gold 650watt. Added a bunch more HDD's.


My point is where ever you start you won't end. But with me- I got to reused hardware and enjoyed expanding this or that one step at a time. You can not do that with a NAS solution.

Depends on what flexibility you want later.

Certainly a server build is going to give you the most options and performance but it's trickier to build and set up. Not hard... but not as easy as a NAS box.

The common misconception is the server costs more. It does not. you can make one cheap.... as cheap as a NAS if you wanted.

I have an i7 desktop, i5 HTPC and a G860 based WHS media server. It's really the best set up. It's way better than a NAS box, or an all in one solution. Not saying you need to do what I do... but I am pointing out a server with a separate HTPC is always going to give you more and work better IMO...
Yeah I think I am going to go the i5 route and the all in one. will a 300watt power supply be enough for that + up to 5-6 drives? i will run an ssd on w8. also can w8 run flexraid? Is there anywhere to look to see what psu's run the quietest and see what my build will use power wise?

If i end up doing seperate boxes for HTPC, it will likely be a raspi or similar, as they are dummy players just accessing the shares.
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post #164 of 226
1/24/13 at 3:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

Yeah I think I am going to go the i5 route and the all in one. will a 300watt power supply be enough for that + up to 5-6 drives? i will run an ssd on w8. also can w8 run flexraid? Is there anywhere to look to see what psu's run the quietest and see what my build will use power wise?

If i end up doing seperate boxes for HTPC, it will likely be a raspi or similar, as they are dummy players just accessing the shares.

Man, if only there was someone who had tested this stuff multiple times over that could have offered you advice.

Someone like that would have been invaluable to offer their experience and opinion to help you. Of course they probably would have had an "agenda" and couldn't have been trusted. rolleyes.gif
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post #165 of 226
1/24/13 at 3:44pm
lol^
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post #166 of 226
1/24/13 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

Yeah I think I am going to go the i5 route and the all in one. will a 300watt power supply be enough for that + up to 5-6 drives? i will run an ssd on w8. also can w8 run flexraid? Is there anywhere to look to see what psu's run the quietest and see what my build will use power wise?

If i end up doing seperate boxes for HTPC, it will likely be a raspi or similar, as they are dummy players just accessing the shares.

I would think 300 watts is on the low end.

You only need about 60 watts for 6 HDD's so that's not a big deal. 400 watts would be safer IMO.

300 would do it without a video card I think. But 400 isnt going to cost much more and leave you room for more drives, sata cards and accessories. If you wanted to do a video card or you wanted to add a SATA card... additional drives... or whatever your covered.

I'd go 400 watts but I am sure it would run on 300 watts.
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post #167 of 226
1/24/13 at 3:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

I would think 300 watts is on the low end.

You only need about 60 watts for 6 HDD's so that's not a big deal. 400 watts would be safer IMO.

300 would do it without a video card I think. But 400 isnt going to cost much more and leave you room for more drives, sata cards and accessories. If you wanted to do a video card or you wanted to add a SATA card... additional drives... or whatever your covered.

I'd go 400 watts but I am sure it would run on 300 watts.
doesnt the 3570k come with an onboard intel 4000? that should be plenty for XBMC i would assume.

also on flexraid does it allow raid5,6 10 etc? or is it doing raid 1 with parities only?
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post #168 of 226
1/24/13 at 3:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin View Post

Man, if only there was someone who had tested this stuff multiple times over that could have offered you advice.

Someone like that would have been invaluable to offer their experience and opinion to help you. Of course they probably would have had an "agenda" and couldn't have been trusted. rolleyes.gif

smile.gif
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post #169 of 226
1/24/13 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

doesnt the 3570k come with an onboard intel 4000? that should be plenty for XBMC i would assume.

also on flexraid does it allow raid5,6 10 etc? or is it doing raid 1 with parities only?

Your confused about hardware raid and software raid.
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post #170 of 226
1/24/13 at 6:37pm
Thread Starter 
how does this case look? http://www.microcenter.com/product/323929/V3_Black_Edition_ATX_Mid_Tower_Computer_Case

seems like it will fit in the spot if i put it sideways as the height is less than 17.25" or would I be better off with that earlier htpc case? same expansion slots.
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post #171 of 226
1/24/13 at 6:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

Your confused about hardware raid and software raid.
possibly... is it using it as 1 pool or is each drive a separate share?
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post #172 of 226
1/25/13 at 5:41am
Software raid is very different from hardware raid. Flexraid is based of parity. It records the parity data on a drive. If any if your drives fail that parity data is used to recreate drive. The calculations are done software side - by CPU. There isn't a raid controller or different raid modes like JOBS, Raid0, Raid 10 etc....

With software raid you don't worry about restoring or breaking an array.

Unlike hardware raid you can power down your pc and remove any data drive anytime and install it in another PC and your data is there. Nice feature for movies n stuff.

Hardware raid you can't do that .
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post #173 of 226
1/25/13 at 6:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

I would think 300 watts is on the low end.

You only need about 60 watts for 6 HDD's so that's not a big deal. 400 watts would be safer IMO.

300 would do it without a video card I think. But 400 isnt going to cost much more and leave you room for more drives, sata cards and accessories. If you wanted to do a video card or you wanted to add a SATA card... additional drives... or whatever your covered.

I'd go 400 watts but I am sure it would run on 300 watts.

Wow, you got him to look at ATX.
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post #174 of 226
1/25/13 at 8:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

Software raid is very different from hardware raid. Flexraid is based of parity. It records the parity data on a drive. If any if your drives fail that parity data is used to recreate drive. The calculations are done software side - by CPU. There isn't a raid controller or different raid modes like JOBS, Raid0, Raid 10 etc....

With software raid you don't worry about restoring or breaking an array.

Unlike hardware raid you can power down your pc and remove any data drive anytime and install it in another PC and your data is there. Nice feature for movies n stuff.

Hardware raid you can't do that .
does flexraid look at all the drives as one drive letter and share or is it doing each drive separate?
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post #175 of 226
1/25/13 at 8:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by macks View Post

Wow, you got him to look at ATX.
I really dont care if its atx or itx. It just needs to be 17.25" in width case wise and fit 1 ssd drive and up to 5-6 3.5" drives. Beyond that I dont really care the form factor smile.gif
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post #176 of 226
1/25/13 at 4:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by djtoodles View Post

does flexraid look at all the drives as one drive letter and share or is it doing each drive separate?

You can do it either way or a combination of both.
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post #177 of 226
1/26/13 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy_Steb View Post

You can do it either way or a combination of both.

This^
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post #178 of 226
1/26/13 at 3:54pm
Thread Starter 
cool thanks guys. i went to microcenter today and bought everything minus the case. I ordered that from newegg today. Look forward to putting it together this week smile.gif
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post #179 of 226
1/27/13 at 6:25am
POST PICTURES.

people like pictures smile.gif
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post #180 of 226
1/27/13 at 6:25am
What did you end up buying ?
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