Low Power PC Build for Streaming / NAS

[JK200SX]

Hi,

I'm a long time reader but first time poster on this forum. I've read a lot on this topic and received a lot of information on using an atom cpu/itx form factor, but after speaking to quite a few peope this week, and doing a lot of reading, I don't think the cpu will cut it from what I intend on doing.

What I'm interested in is something that is cheap to buy/build myself that can act as a server for the squeezebox, and stream movies to the 2 WDTV Lives, and while I'm at it, I may as well set it up as the main storage system for my home network. As a brief rundown my network consists of 2 pc's, 2 WDTV Lives, 2 Dreamboxes, a HP printer, an external drive connected to one of the WDTv's and the Netgear Stora.

As mentioned, in a previous thread the atom cpu's where discussed, but now I'm inclined to something with a bit more power and a slight sacrifice in power use. I'm after something cheap to buy/build which can act as a nas/storage and act as a server for the squeezebox. Oh, I also use Playon media server that I stream to the wdtv boxes as well.

I came across this and it looks just like what I'm after:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/25w-performance-pc,2551.html

They claim 25W idle, whic isn't to far from the Atom D525 type systems.

So, they use the following components:

- Core i5-661
- MSI H57M-ED65 mobo
- 220W power supply by FSP/Fortron
- Micro ATX case
- 640GB 2.5” hard drive, the MK6465GSX
- 4 G DDR3 1333 Ram

What I want to do is build a system similar, with parts that I can locate locally (preferably). So, I will go through each of the questions I have (one by one) and perhaps this can provide some commentary:

1. CPU The core I5-661, sounds reasonable, but would be comfortable with a core I3 or any other core I5 5's for that matter. They would all be able to do what I'm after. (an old pentium 4 3.2 that I have can just do the playon transcoding, so I'm sure a step up to the I3/5 would handle the multiple tasks easily. I don't believe the atom will do what I want). So would intechanging the I5 661 for another of the I3/ I5 cpu's have a detrimental effect on the power consumption (ie as per the link above)?

2. Motherboard: I cannot find the motherboard mentioned in the link above. So which other motherboard could I use in this application without adding to the power consumption costs? I would want the motherboard to have on board raid, but the question is should I use on board raid, or go via software with Win7? I may be able to get my hands on an ASUS P7H57D-V EVO Motherboard. Would this do what I need (ie powerwise) and have the raid onboard?

Power Supply: I don't know much about power supplies, but in the link they talk about a 220W 80+ powersupply, that is suppose to be ultraefficient at low power draw such as at idle. Where can I buy something like this in Australia?

3. Case: The link above talks about a micro atx case. I suppose this is dependent on the motherboard. As space isn't really an issue any size is ok, so I'm after something that helps with cooling and is relatively cheap. Looks aren't really that important.

4. Ram: I suppose 4Gb will be more than enough, will probably start off with 2GB. Is there a difference with brand in terms of power usage? I presume I will need the 1333 type?

5. Hard Drive: I already have a 320GB hard drive that I will use for the OS and otheer software and will buy 2 x 1.5TB WG green HD's that I will try to run in Raid 1 format. I presume the WD greens will be the best in terms of power efficiency? Will I be able to spin these drives down when they are not in use to conserve power? I presume this would be a BIOS function of the motherboard, but how to check before buying?

I think thats about it. I'm in driving distance to a Centrecom, MSY and Cnet if that helps with hardware suggestion.

Thanks for reading, and if anyone would recommend something els better,cheaper that would best serve my solution then please let me know?

 

[Jesse B]

1. CPU The core I5-661, sounds reasonable, but would be comfortable with a core I3 or any other core I5 5's for that matter. They would all be able to do what I'm after. (an old pentium 4 3.2 that I have can just do the playon transcoding, so I'm sure a step up to the I3/5 would handle the multiple tasks easily. I don't believe the atom will do what I want). So would intechanging the I5 661 for another of the I3/ I5 cpu's have a detrimental effect on the power consumption (ie as per the link above)?

An i3 or i5 would be plenty powerful for this type of application. Most of the suggestions I see for low power builds are for i3 or AM3 CPU's, depending on your preference. These don't draw a lot of power to begin with, and it's not like they'll ever experience any high utilization for an extended period of time, so power consumption is reasonable.

2. Motherboard: I cannot find the motherboard mentioned in the link above. So which other motherboard could I use in this application without adding to the power consumption costs? I would want the motherboard to have on board raid, but the question is should I use on board raid, or go via software with Win7? I may be able to get my hands on an ASUS P7H57D-V EVO Motherboard. Would this do what I need (ie powerwise) and have the raid onboard?

As long as you pick a motherboard that isn't incredibly feature-rich, there shouldn't be an issue with power consumption. Just take a glance at what kind of specs the motherboard Tom's used has, and try to match them the best you can. As for the RAID, I don't have enough experience with that, so I'll let someone else chime in.

Power Supply: I don't know much about power supplies, but in the link they talk about a 220W 80+ powersupply, that is suppose to be ultraefficient at low power draw such as at idle. Where can I buy something like this in Australia?

80+ is pretty common among power supplies these days. It just means they're 80% efficient or better. Any large company usually has this rating on their supplies, so they shouldn't be difficult to find at all. Any PC hardware store should carry at least a few.

There's 80 Plus, as well as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum ratings. Each is more efficient, and more expensive. 80 Plus and 80 Plus Bronze are usually reasonably priced.

3. Case: The link above talks about a micro atx case. I suppose this is dependent on the motherboard. As space isn't really an issue any size is ok, so I'm after something that helps with cooling and is relatively cheap. Looks aren't really that important.

Just find a case that's cheap, and preferably has lots of large fans. Larger fans move more air, and are quieter, generally speaking.

4. Ram: I suppose 4Gb will be more than enough, will probably start off with 2GB. Is there a difference with brand in terms of power usage? I presume I will need the 1333 type?

I'd go with 4GB of RAM just to be safe, but I don't see any reason why 2GB would give you problems. It's easy enough to add more if need be.
Power usage is very minimal with RAM, so I wouldn't even think about it.
Any DDR3 will be exponentially faster than you need it to be, so just buy something reliable and affordable

5. Hard Drive: I already have a 320GB hard drive that I will use for the OS and otheer software and will buy 2 x 1.5TB WG green HD's that I will try to run in Raid 1 format. I presume the WD greens will be the best in terms of power efficiency? Will I be able to spin these drives down when they are not in use to conserve power? I presume this would be a BIOS function of the motherboard, but how to check before buying?

WD Greens and the newer Samsung drives are quite power efficient, and have decent performance. Depending on which option you go for RAID will depend on whether or not you can spin them down (I think), but again, I'll leave that to somebody that knows what they're talking about.


Good luck, hopefully I was somewhat helpful

 

[JK200SX]

Thanks for your reply! I'll look into the specs for the motherboard and hoprfully someone else can enlighten us on disk spin down and raid.

 

[Hydaral]

If all it's going to do is push stuff across a network then the processor does not need to be that powerful, I have a D525, it barely exceeds 20% when writing to it's ZFS mirrored drives across a Gb network at 30 MB/s.

 

[JK200SX]

Will it handle transcoding a stream for playon and streaming music, for example?

 

[Hydaral]

I have never heard of Playon, but would it actually transcode, or does it just download and send out on another protocol?

 

[UrbanVoyeur]

Will it handle transcoding a stream for playon and streaming music, for example?

Atoms are terrible at transcoding, but good at everything else - I have a D510 in my NAS.

If your NAS has to do double duty as a media transcoder, then an i3 or i5 or a comparable AMD would be a better choice. You might also want to look at a the newest Intel chips carry a slight price premium but a big power boost in media encoding.

 

[JK200SX]

Details for playon can be found here:

http://www.playon.tv/playon

So, this basically streams to either of my 2 WDTV-Live boxes when I require - currently being done by my laptop (ASUS F5R, T2130, 1.86MHZ).

 

[Hydaral]

The PlayOn reqs state:

"For minimum playback quality, your CPU score must be around 500 or higher from PassMark. A score of 1000 or better is highly recommended. If your PC is at or just above the minimum specifications for CPU and RAM, you may have trouble streaming videos, unless your PC is used as a dedicated PlayOn server."

http://www.playon.tv/support/minreqs

Check the Passmark scores:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

My D525 gets 718, so theoretically it should be fine if used as a dedicated server.

Your T2130 gets a Passmark of 814, so check out the CPU usage on it.