New HTPC/NAS build

[kendallp]

I am looking to build a new HTPC/NAS system. This will mostly be used for storing/playing movie rips, music server, general storage.

Here is the system I was looking at:

Intel i3-540
Scythe SCSMZ-2000 CPU Cooler
Zotac H55ITX-C-E mobo
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3 F3-10666CL8D-4GBBRM
EVGA 01G-P3-1430-LR GeForce GT430
WD Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 2.5"
4 x WD AV-GP WD20EVDS 2TB
SeaSonic SS-560KM PSU
Lian Li PC-Q08B case



Micro-ITX case with 6 x 3.5" drive bays.
Mobo is micro-ITX with 6 sata connections.
2.5" drive for OS (Ubuntu server 10.04) because slightly faster and quieter.
PSU is larger than necessary but smallest I could find that was both modular and had 6+ SATA connections.
Probably overkill on the CPU cooler.

Toughest choice was video card. I have a 3D plasma TV, so I hate to not have the functionality.


If anyone has any suggestions or notices any faults in my plan, please let me know.


Thanks for all of the great posts!
-Kendall

 

[Osamede]

If you are going to have only the operating system and a programs on the first disk, then I would just get a 30GB or 60GGb SSD. 320 GB is way overkill size-wise and if boot speed is what you want, the the SSD is the way to go.

I have a 30GB OCZ SSD for my boot drive with Windows 2008 R2 Sever installed plus a few programs and I still cant fill up that 30GB SSD.

 

[kendallp]

I agree completely that 320GB is overkill for the OS drive but SSD seems to be overkill also. The MB doesn't support SATA III so there will be a bottleneck there. Also the machine will always be on, so startup speed is not that important. I guess the main reason for the OS drive is energy efficiency (with speed and sound levels being second) so I can leave it always on while sleeping the array drives based on this post from sammynl:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=18438&postcount=5

Based on that need, it seemed the 2.5" drive was my best bet.


I actually ended up going with the Asus ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP) GPU because the EVGA card doesn't ship with the low profile bracket and it was out of stock everywhere. So to offset the $10 cost for the Asus GPU I dropped to the 250GB 2.5" drive (still larger than necessary though).


Thanks for the response,
-Kendall

 

[kendallp]

Thought I would give a little update:

Received everything on Wednesday. For the life of me, could not get the USB drive install for Ubuntu Server 10.10 to work. After a few hours of trying I gave up and pulled a SATA CDROM out of another box and proceeded to install via CD.

Next problem: for some reason the NIC would not connect via DHCP to my router. I spent another few hours trying to get it to work, including removing the r8169 module and adding the latest RealTek r8168 module but no luck. Woke up this morning and decided I would try a different CAT5 cable and start the Win XP install prior to heading to work. Low and behold the NIC and router had synced up overnight and I was online (guessing this might of been a lease issue on the router).

So prior to leaving for the office, I started partitioning drives (running error check so I just left that running and went to work).

I hope to pick up some elastic today to mount the 2.5" drive and since I forgot to order Zalman fan mate, once it arrives I'll finally be able to close the case up.


Thanks again for all the great posts here!
-Kendall

 

[gastonio]

Thought I would give a little update:

Received everything on Wednesday. For the life of me, could not get the USB drive install for Ubuntu Server 10.10 to work. After a few hours of trying I gave up and pulled a SATA CDROM out of another box and proceeded to install via CD.

Next problem: for some reason the NIC would not connect via DHCP to my router. I spent another few hours trying to get it to work, including removing the r8169 module and adding the latest RealTek r8168 module but no luck. Woke up this morning and decided I would try a different CAT5 cable and start the Win XP install prior to heading to work. Low and behold the NIC and router had synced up overnight and I was online (guessing this might of been a lease issue on the router).

So prior to leaving for the office, I started partitioning drives (running error check so I just left that running and went to work).

I hope to pick up some elastic today to mount the 2.5" drive and since I forgot to order Zalman fan mate, once it arrives I'll finally be able to close the case up.


Thanks again for all the great posts here!
-Kendall

Hello,
i'm thinking about building a similiar system as you described. And of course got a few questions )).
Did you finish the setup? How is the performance and power consumption? Does HDMI provide the sound also? I want to stream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA audio to my receiver through hdmi. Is it possible with your setup?
Thank you for all the info you provide!