2008 server then media player

[Smudger]

Hi, bit of a strange one. I'm soon to start my mcitp and am looking for something cheap to run the server o/s on. Then I had the idea that I could use the machine afterwards as a media player/htpc. I had a look at the dell zino, but not sure if that could cope with server. Does anyone know of a machine that could perform both roles, or would i be better off building something myself?

[Funkstar]

Server 2008 lacks much of the media playback functions of desktop systems, however much of this can be added with some addons, such as the Desktop Expeience (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc772567.aspx). There are also ways to get DVB drivers installed for having TV cards working under Server 2k8.

For more on this :
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/in...64-only-81774/

[Smudger]

I wasn't very clear in my original post...
I guess really I am looking for a media centre PC (small) which could handle server 2008, then be rebuilt as Win7 after I've finished the course. Any ideas?

[Funkstar]

Ah, ok.

As long as it is 64bit and has enough RAM, anything should be able to handle 2K8 R2. The OS isn't that demanding in itself, it's just when you start to load it up with users and other services like SQL Server, Exchange, etc.

[scaryjim]

I'm running 2k8 web edition at work on a 2.5GHz Opteron quad core with 4GB RAM and it works very smoothly. I think if I were you I'd got for an Athlon II x3 or x4 on a 785G or 880G motherboard with 4GB DDR3-1066 - anything more than that would be overkill. You can use the onboard graphics for both server and HTPC duties (the 785G and 880G have a better hardware decoding block for HTPC duties than the older 780G and 790G...)

[Smudger]

So, something like this?

Qty Link No. Description Scansure
Available Ex VAT Inc VAT
LN10531 Jou-Jye Nu-1290 Black Slimline MicroATX Case Screwless (Desktop orTower) with 300W aPFC PSU £46.98 £55.20
LN27633 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC, Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18 £69.64 £81.83
LN29161 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Single, - OEM £66.07 £77.63
LN29168 AMD Athlon II X3 435, Triple Core, Rana, S AM3, 2.9GHz, 1.5MB Cache, HT 2000MHz, 95W, Retail £52.43 £61.61
LN31412 1TB Hitachi, 0F10383, Deskstar 7K1000.C, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8 ms, NCQ £44.99 £52.86
LN28200 Asus M4A785D-M PRO, AMD 785G, AM3/2+/2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1200/1066/800, SATA 3Gb/s RAID, uATX, VGA £50.99 £59.91



Net Total £331.10

Carriage £0.00

VAT £57.94
Total £389.04

[scaryjim]

Looks ideal to me

[Moby-Dick]

remeber MCITP isn't based on R2 also to really do MCITP you'll need to run a number of 2k8 boxes as VM's to test domain controller functionality etc. the thing is these dont have to be very quick - cheapest quad core you can lay your hands on , and a board that'll take 4 slots of RAm would be nice so you can squeeze 8GB in there ( possibly downgrade after you've done your certs )