- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Location
- the present
second attempt.. 3 machines now lol
my current P4 is way too noisy to be the HTPC. and it chokes on HD playback
photo/video editing & gaming:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6
Xeon X3210
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (2 kits)
4x250GB Matrix RAID 0 Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 640P2N821AR
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Pioneer DVR-212D
Corsair HX520W
P180
TOTAL $1600
htpc:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-G33M-DS2R
C2D E4400
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (1 kit)
500GB Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ (bels 2.7/2.9)
Sapphire RADEON HD 2600XT Video Card GDDR4
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (this actually won't fit in the NSK2400.. alternatives?)
Pioneer DVR-212D
Antec NSK2400 (w/SU380 power supply)
TOTAL $900
media server (my existing machine):
P4T-E
P4 1.7GHz 478
1GB RAMBUS
1TB of random IDE 7200
128MB GeForce4 Ti4600
with some upgrades:
P180
hotswap bays
1TB SATA/II for total backup
SATA controller
TOTAL $350
and here is the original post...
Alright, what do you guys think? The main reason I'm trying 2 machines is because I want performance, but I want it quiet since the HTPC will be in the living room. Seemed like too many HDDs, and I want to work in a 2 generation hot swap somehow. Plus, I definitely want to OC both of these to ~ 3-3.6GHz depending on how noisy it gets. I'm not as worried about noise on the media server since it will be in another room.
Maybe something like this:
HTPC - 33% htpc, 33%media editing, 33% gaming
Server - 75% server, 25%media editing or gaming if the other pc is in use
The components I'm MOST undecided about are the RAM and the motherboards. Not just how well they will OC together, but with the RAM, 4x1 or 2x2 with the idea of getting another 2x2 down the road.
Which brings up the question - which one should I put double duty on for gaming and photo/video editing? the HTPC or the media server? Since I want WHS on the storage box, I opted for the HTPC on this first attempt:
The HTPC:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6
Intel C2D Q6600 B3/G0
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (2 kits)
4x250GB Matrix RAID 0+5 Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
Sapphire RADEON HD 2600XT Video Card GDDR4
Corsair HX520W
Water Cooling (no details yet)
Pioneer DVR-212D
P180
TOTAL $1870
The Media & backup Server:
Window Home Server
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R
Xeon X3210 (alt E2140)
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 2x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (1 kit)
OS = 250GB Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
Storage RAID 1 or 5? = 3x500GB Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ (bels 2.7/2.9)
Hot swap bay for 2-gen weekly, duplicate backups (not sure which yet)
*waiting to see the 500GB Seagate 7200.11 ST3500320AS (bels 2.5/2.8)
GIGABYTE GeForce 8500 GT GV-NX85T256HP 512MB
Corsair HX520W
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Lite-On LH-20A1S
P180
TOTAL $1250
A note on the backup strategy. I don't have the specifics down yet, but what I want to do is have a drive (or drives) in hotswap that backs up all pertinent data. I'll keep duplicates of those in my office and rotate the hotswap once a week. Something like that
my current P4 is way too noisy to be the HTPC. and it chokes on HD playback
photo/video editing & gaming:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6
Xeon X3210
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (2 kits)
4x250GB Matrix RAID 0 Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 640P2N821AR
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Pioneer DVR-212D
Corsair HX520W
P180
TOTAL $1600
htpc:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-G33M-DS2R
C2D E4400
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (1 kit)
500GB Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ (bels 2.7/2.9)
Sapphire RADEON HD 2600XT Video Card GDDR4
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (this actually won't fit in the NSK2400.. alternatives?)
Pioneer DVR-212D
Antec NSK2400 (w/SU380 power supply)
TOTAL $900
media server (my existing machine):
P4T-E
P4 1.7GHz 478
1GB RAMBUS
1TB of random IDE 7200
128MB GeForce4 Ti4600
with some upgrades:
P180
hotswap bays
1TB SATA/II for total backup
SATA controller
TOTAL $350
and here is the original post...
Alright, what do you guys think? The main reason I'm trying 2 machines is because I want performance, but I want it quiet since the HTPC will be in the living room. Seemed like too many HDDs, and I want to work in a 2 generation hot swap somehow. Plus, I definitely want to OC both of these to ~ 3-3.6GHz depending on how noisy it gets. I'm not as worried about noise on the media server since it will be in another room.
Maybe something like this:
HTPC - 33% htpc, 33%media editing, 33% gaming
Server - 75% server, 25%media editing or gaming if the other pc is in use
The components I'm MOST undecided about are the RAM and the motherboards. Not just how well they will OC together, but with the RAM, 4x1 or 2x2 with the idea of getting another 2x2 down the road.
Which brings up the question - which one should I put double duty on for gaming and photo/video editing? the HTPC or the media server? Since I want WHS on the storage box, I opted for the HTPC on this first attempt:
The HTPC:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6
Intel C2D Q6600 B3/G0
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 4x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (2 kits)
4x250GB Matrix RAID 0+5 Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
Sapphire RADEON HD 2600XT Video Card GDDR4
Corsair HX520W
Water Cooling (no details yet)
Pioneer DVR-212D
P180
TOTAL $1870
The Media & backup Server:
Window Home Server
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R
Xeon X3210 (alt E2140)
Crucial Ballistix - BL2KIT12864AA804 2x1GB PC6400 at 4-4-4-12 (1 kit)
OS = 250GB Seagate 7200.10 ST3250410AS (bels 2.7/2.8)
Storage RAID 1 or 5? = 3x500GB Samsung SpinPoint T166 HD501LJ (bels 2.7/2.9)
Hot swap bay for 2-gen weekly, duplicate backups (not sure which yet)
*waiting to see the 500GB Seagate 7200.11 ST3500320AS (bels 2.5/2.8)
GIGABYTE GeForce 8500 GT GV-NX85T256HP 512MB
Corsair HX520W
Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Lite-On LH-20A1S
P180
TOTAL $1250
A note on the backup strategy. I don't have the specifics down yet, but what I want to do is have a drive (or drives) in hotswap that backs up all pertinent data. I'll keep duplicates of those in my office and rotate the hotswap once a week. Something like that
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