Guide to Building a HTPC, Workstation and Server - Page 629

looks perfectly fine to me. do you have a PSU ??

I'm been wondering if it's necessary to upgrade the core components of my HTPC. I'm currently running an Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo (3.00 GHz) with 6 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM. I only use my PC for disc and file playback. I don't have anything set up for streaming or any kind of media server. On occasion I get stuttering with blu ray playback and I don't know if it's because the software (WinDVD 11 Pro or PDVD 12 Ultra (TMT5 has lip-sync issues at 24p on my computer)) is stuttering or because something in the background begins running like Windows Update or anti-virus updates. I watched a blu ray last week and one core maxed at 82% usage during the playback and I think they other was 40% or 60%, but much lower. So I was wondering if a quad core processor would be able to handle video playback better if something in the background starts up? Does that seem like it might warrant an upgrade?

Regarding upgrading I've been trying to decide between AMD and Intel. Yes, I know, this cold be prime troll bait, but really, I'm not trying to feed the trolls, I do have an honest question about the choosing one. I understand that Intel has better performance than AMD and and also the fact that AMD's processors work a little differently than Intel. Hence different clock speeds and AMD's "Intel Equivalent" speed listing (at least in the past). I also remember in the past that people would say AMD handled media application better than Intel but Intel was better for utility/non-mdeia types of applications, does this still hold true? I'm assuming that with how far microprocessors have come in the last few years (8 years since I built my Athlon 64 3000+ system, and 4 years since I replaced that with my Core 2 Duo E8400) that it probably make no difference anymore. I've been trying to come to a decision between and AMD because it costs less and an Intel computer which will easily cost $100 more for "equivalent" components. I'm not trying to build the cheapest PC possible, but I do usually aim for the middle in terms of system performance.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Why would you not just buy a graphics card for your current setup? Hardware acceleration would take all the load off the CPU.

My apologies for not mentioning that above, I completely forgot. I just recently installed a Radeon HD 7750 and the max GPU usage logged was pretty low. I also have windows installed to a 10,000 rpm drive, but that shouldn't matter much for disc playback. I have media files stored on regular 7200 rpm drives. But the majority of use it disc playback.

I'm not sure if I understand. If you are using an E8400 Core 2 Duo and a Radeon 7750, there's absolutely no reason you should be having stuttering. The CPU is not the problem. Are you sure hardware acceleration is enabled in PowerDVD?

Thanks Renethx. Much appreciated!

I will check but I'm pretty sure it is enabled.

Even if it's enabled, it sounds like it isn't working - your system is more than capable of playing back Blu-rays properly.
I assume you've already updated your AMD Radeon drivers to the latest version - http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx - , and installed all available updates for WinDVD 11 - http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index.jsp?pgid=800161&ppid=3500025 - and PowerDVD 12 - http://www.cyberlink.com/downloads/support/powerdvd/patches_en_US.html - ?

As far as I know, everything is up to date. I've been checking for updates inside the software but there haven't been any. I've only owned the software for a month or two. Typically 99% or the movie plays back fine but occasionally it gets glitch and stuttery.

Oh how I wish I could see a new one available...

Hey guys, first post here but long time reader...sheesh sounds like a radio call in line. Anywho...I'm stepping into building my first HTPC, I think, and just want to see what you guys think of whether or not I'm making it more complicated than I should be. I had some spare parts lying around which is what got me thinking about what to do with them. Here is what I would ideally like to do. I would like to setup a central media server to feed several rooms in the house none of which are hardwired with cat6. I currently have HDTVs in the Kitchen, Living Room, Family Room, Master Bedroom, 2 guest rooms, and a quite unfinished home theater / party room in the basement. The networking closet, if you want to call it that, is in the basement. All it has in it currently is the cable modem (30MB Infinity) and Router (ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router). With a repeater on each floor I'm getting close to or over 90% signal on all 3 floors.

The parts I have to work with are:
i5-760
Asus P7P55D
8gb RAM
1 Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
1 Seagate 3TB ST3000DM001
XFX 6950 2GB
Seasonic X650

Don't have a case or another OS to use so would need to buy those. Was considering the Silverstone GD08B (or similar) but unsure if I need WHS 2011 or Windows 7/8. The 3TB Seagate is currently in my main computer and I've been ripping my Blu Rays to it and playing around with XBMC locally. I still have another 50 or so Blu Rays left to rip as well as a few hundred DVDs I haven't got around to yet. I'd also like to stream Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu through them if possible. While building this would be fairly easy for me where I'm not sure what to do is do I need to also build a central media server or a NAS? Would the HTPC function as either the NAS or the Media Server. I don't ever forsee myself having enough media to fill up more than 12TB of space, I mean right now I've almost filled up 1 3TB HDD and that took 61 Blu Ray lossless rips and I'm just a little shy of half of my blu rays. So would buying like a Synology DS213 and slapping 2 4TB drives in there be necessary or just build the HTPC and put the HDD's in there?

I know this question has generally been asked to death ad nauseum but I'm still unsure of what would fit my needs and I just don't want to throw money at multiple solutions if I only need one or two of them.

You can def do what you want. Those parts would work fine for a server. The Silverstone 08 can hold up a good number of drives (8-14) and would work well if you wanted a component style case.

Otherwise you'd be better served by a tower like the Define XL/ R2 or a server chassis like a NORCO 4220 in terms of pure functionality over small/cool looking.

Your board, Ram, CPU seasonic 650watt, and Seagate 3TB are all a good foundation for a server.

I'd recommend a few more 3TB seagates and WHS2011 or 2012 for the OS (you could use windows but WHS has advantages)

You probably do not need the 6950 card GPU but if you don't have integrated graphics you might need it.

I saw your post in regards to the Define XL v2 and I really like the case. My last few builds have all used the Fractal R4 and I love the thought they put into their cases.

So what is the difference between running a media server or an HTPC? Is there any really besides the name?
I'm not against picking up more space server so more HDD's are doable.

I know, but it is just sitting in it's box after it got replaced by the 680. Was semi considering using it as a Steam box for their big picture mode but I already have a dedicated gaming system.

I have a 4870 x2 I did that with. They just suck too much power to use when you don't need.

But if your using as HTPC I'd say do it and you can run MADVR or SVP .

Video cards are less useful in pure servers.

That they are, was just trying to find a use for it and selling it seemed like a waste. I'll start looking into finding the XL v2 case and some extra HDD's. If I go the HTPC route would you still recommend WHS 2011 over say Windows 8? I just realized I have two flash drives with Windows 8 Pro on them from purchasing a couple a laptops for family members who wanted to keep Windows 7 on them so I do have an OS I can use. I'm running Windows 8 on both my gaming and workstation computer and am enjoying the experience.

Thanks for the pointers Mfusick.

Windows is better than WHS for a HTPC, but WHS is better for a server.

It's your choice.

If you already own one. I'd say try it. You can always change if you don't like it.

Hi

I dont have a fancy setup, just a desktop PC hooked up to a HDTV. I'm thinking of adding this external HD, a WD 3tb element, which looks like a pretty good deal this weekend (about $108 after shipping and rebate)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=556458&CatId=4230

I'm going to copy BDs to it. My concern is when playing back, will the external drive make too much noise? PC is a few feet away from tv. (it's USB so it will be slow, but I think should be enough for streaming bluray.)

Thanks

I am using WHS 2011(previously WHS v1) on a 30TB server (Norco 4020) and windows 8 for a 20TB (Rosewill L4000 8 bay) server both acting as media servers to my home network and I can see no advantage to using WHS 2011 over windows 8 pro. I have been running it this way for a couple of weeks as a test and am probably going to convert the other server to windows 8 pro.

It is USB 2.0 so should be fast enough and I doubt you hear any noise unless you rest your ear right next to the drive.

So I'm about to build my first HTPC.. I've built many gaming systems but this whole low power consumption, low heat, quiet stuff is going against the grain for me.

I'm curious on some suggestions.

I have an AV closet that I built specifically for home theater components.
There is an entire home theater system located in there and I'd like to locate a HTPC in there now. I'd like to have a beefy HTPC that I could play some of the newer games on my TV if I wanted to.
Case size needs to be rack DIN width of 17 1/4 but the height wouldn't matter much.
I plan on stuffing it full with at least 5 large HDD's

It needs a decent video card with HDMI out which also supports LPCM output because my preamp doesn't support DTS-HD.

It will be my cable box/pvr, streaming server to my ps3 in the bedroom and a server to my android so I can watch movies remotely with Emit.

I'd like to keep the price under $750 but would go higher if it's worth the improvements.

There is a ventilation system in the AV closet but I wouldn't want to have to leave it running when I'm not watching TV. So the HTPC would be on but everything else would be off, just to stream to other devices in the home over the cat6 network.
I need it to be able to talk to my NAD learning remote or I'll pick up a harmony or something.
I've always been partial to Intel processors because they have never let me down.

quiet isn't probably as crucial as some other peoples locations because this wont be exposed.

Anyway, any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks
Edited by NGL_BrSH - 2/24/13 at 7:13pm

Hello. I am about to build my first HTPC as well, and have a GPU question. I've been using this forum for quite some time to research home audio and video, and was pleasantly suprised to see this thread. There is a ton of great info to sort through. That being said, i am looking for recommendations for GPU being used for TV, Movies, as well as gaming. I only plan on running the resolution to 1920 x 1080 with max AA, but this will be on a 60" television. Especially with gaming, should i have any concerns with a GTX 680 keeping up? I know the capability of the GPU, but my concern lies with the size of the display - any hitch will be magnified.
Any help/recommendations/direction would be greatly appreciated. I should note that i have not owned a PC(outside of a work laptop) in 15yrs, and i have never built one. The process has been a great learning experience to this point, not to mention quite fun.
Thanks

That cards should be fine for single display gaming

Thank you.

In recent times my whs 2011 server looses connection to my htpc.
I mean each time when i try to click the shared media folders thats located in the windows home server from my HPTC I get an error see below.



In which case i have to reboot either the server or the HTPC, in which case most of the time its the server to be able to access WHS's content through the htpc.

Never had this problem before, but these days its almost everyday. Not sure whats causing this, nothing has changed.
Any idea whats causing this, and how it can be avoided. I have used Assassins HTPC and server guide both to build these systems. Everything has been working flawlessly, except since few days now this has been acting up.

You have your shares or your permissions for sharing conflicted or changed. Either it's not done right in both Flexraid and WHS- or perhaps WHS and microsoft updates are resetting it. You can try to disable automatic updating of your server by choosing to manually choose to install available updates. That should prevent the system from updating and restarting automatically or resetting your share permissions.

Otherwise- I'd double check both your flexraid share settings and the WHS share settings.

Your problem is very annoying but it's not uncommon and easily fixed.

Thanks for your tip. I totally ignored the windows auto update option, and the system would download and install updates while at night and reboot.. thus leaving the connection in suspended state. I am pretty much sure i had disabled this earlier and opted for manual updates and installs, I wonder if any of the windows update reset it back to auto update and install, cos it have happened before. Just been happening for two weeks now.
Anyways i have reset it back to manual update and install, will observe for a couple of days and see how it goes, will post back with results.

I am building another HTPC using the Moneual Black Aluminum MonCaso 320B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811280021 which is only 104mm high. Because of the height I can only use a low profile video card, but I would like the best possible low profile video card. I have been looking this video card PowerColor AX7750 1GBD5-HL Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131480. Are there better low profile cards available?

any idea when the next guide will come out?