Need advice re: NAS or DIY PC

[Biscuit]

Just to get rid of most of the fud/bad information in this thread.

You do not need a powerful machine to put out a samba share/torrent/serve media. Hence why most nas(es) are low mhz arm processors with 128/256 ram.

The main advantages are power and noise. Which for something that is switched on 24/7 is usually more important than overall grunt.

Who has been saying you need a powerful machine? Every single poster aside from the OP has suggested he can use something low end. 'If the machine is transcoding on the fly' it takes a lot of processing power is the only comment i can see which could be construed that way but its an entirely accurate statement.

Try reading a thread properly first mr condescending high horse

ok mate. im not happy with the case anyway as its way too big. so my next questions are:-

1. what mini atx case can you recommend?
2. what psu shall i get that will be more power efficient?
3.how do i setup this system? as a nas? or simply a windows media player with pc share abilities for the ps3 to access?

There are loads of mATX cases out there to choose from, what kind of style are you looking for?
You want to look for 80+ certification PSUs. Hell at under 100W you could comfortably use a powerbrick and picopsu.

[abaxas]

Who has been saying you need a powerful machine? Every single poster aside from the OP has suggested he can use something low end. 'If the machine is transcoding on the fly' it takes a lot of processing power is the only comment i can see which could be construed that way but its an entirely accurate statement.

Try reading a thread properly first mr condescending high horse

A Hp micro server is a very powerful computer. You simply dont need that power for the tasks in hand.

[Biscuit]

The point behind that is that it's good value, no-one is suggesting that he actually needs the extra power.

A Microserver can be had for £150 after rebate, a NAS of similar capacity would be double that at least.

[dave87]

The point behind that is that it's good value, no-one is suggesting that he actually needs the extra power.

A Microserver can be had for £150 after rebate, a NAS of similar capacity would be double that at least.

Exactly.

It also offers flexibility - it can be set to whichever purpose you need it to. Mine is currently a simple fileserver, but if I virtualised things then I could happily run a number of different roles on it without too much difficulty.

[nasorpc]

i totally agree abaxus mate. this is the only reason i keep going to and fro and was going to get rid of my media centre. im currently looking at a software called k10stat which allows you to adjust cpu, but its so complicated.

[scaryjim]

If there are any suggestions on dropping the AMD Athlon II 240e x2 cpu voltage or changes to the bios that may reduce its power consumption, then i'm all for it.

Take the mutlipier down to 10x at the max, perhaps even less (the HP microserver runs at 1.6GHz iirc, which would be an 8x multi). You may find that dropping the max multiplier also lets it run at a lower voltage than the 1.2v you were limited to previously.

Also, I don't think you've yet mentioned what PSU you are using? As I said previously, the PSU can make a big difference to efficiency, if it's either cheap (and therefore inefficient) or overspecced (PSUs are at their least efficient at very low loads). For that rig you want as an absolute maximum a 250W PSU, and you want an absolute minimum of 80+ bronze certification (not an easy combination to find, I admit).

I also notice that you mention your case isn't up to much - if you're running an matx board you shoulkd have a wide range of choices for an HTPC case; could be worth considering a nicer case and keeping it as an HTPC / NAS combined...

[nasorpc]

i've just boughtbthe cpu multipler down to minimum 10x which bought the speed down to 1000mhz. but guess what? the it made the pc so slooooow and the wattage difference was a measly 1 watt lol!

ive put it back to its original speed. at least i now know what i want and that is...

...I now want to keep this pc but somehow setup, so that the whole network can share media files. Unfortunately the ps3 is useless in streaming movies, so i may get a dedicated media player like apple tv/wdtv for one room, whilst the pc will be a dedicated player + nas for another room. I just hope it works out because otherwise i've created a crap setup.

[nasorpc]

Sorry for all the mess about. I've definately decided to keep this pc thanks to your great advice. I just needed a kick up the backside to remind me of how good of a pc i already have.

Sorry Scaryjim mate, i didn't see your post. Currently i'm using this PC Case

I'm want to thank you for your advice, but i've decided against getting a psu. The reasons are because CAT made me realise that the savings i will make, will take me a long time to recoup and i'm most likely going to change the whole pc in another years time, so to spend £30 - £50 on a psu doesn't make it feasable if i'm only going to gain 5-10 watts.

But i would be most grateful if you can advice me on how to setup the pc - software wise, so its easy to use for family, yet has the ability to share. I assume if i got a dedicated media player such as Apple TV or WD TV live, i won't need to stream, will i?

Here is my proposed layout:-

[dave87]

Just to give you an idea, this is how I've set up my network:



All wired, so there aren't any issues with wireless speed/latency (especially if multiple devices are working on files stored centrally at the same time). You don't have to do the same, however:

• Have a central machine which everything is stored on - makes sharing (& backups) a lot easier.
• Have the central machine wired to the router - eliminates half the bandwidth troubles.
• Where possible, wire the other devices (WD TV Live, PS3 etc) - use wireless only as a last resort.
• Higher power draw devices - use them only when you need them - have other, lower power ones for 24x7 use - so only turn on your HTPC when you need the HTPC, PS3 when you need the PS3 etc.

If you add something like Apple TV to the network (presumably on the TV the HTPC is currently connected to), then you don't really need the HTPC to be anything more than a fileserver (as in my example) so a low power NAS box would actually be fine - depending on how many devices are going to access material at the same time, the more you have the higher performance box you'll need.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Wow! This thread is full of epic network cartoons!! Its inspired me to do one too!

[Biscuit]

Hahahaha, i have to say, as a person who draws broadcast system schematics all day long... the last 3 posts have made me giggle.

Sorry!

[nasorpc]

lol @ cat.

@ dave - thanks for that detailed diagram mate. Just to let you know, EVERYTHING in my network is going to be wired, but i mentioned that the ps3 does not have to be wired as its almost next to the router.

I can't have the router next to the htpc as i haven't got the coax cable wiring running to that room. To do a re-wiring will make it a massive job which i'm not willing to take due to ill health.

But you must remember - htpc is only for direct movie watching and the media player is the one thats going to have to stream from the htpc hard drive(shared). Since according to biscuit, the media player will use its own hardware to transcode, i don't think it should be affected. I mainly want to watch at the most 720p movies.

Lets say even if i did manage to move the router next to the htpc, i then would be left with the ps3, media player (10 metres) and most importantly the office pc more than 50 metres away!

I now need advice on how to best setup the htpc to directly watch movies, yet at the same time give access to these movies to the media player.

[dave87]

Hahahaha, i have to say, as a person who draws broadcast system schematics all day long... the last 3 posts have made me giggle.

Sorry!

Not intended to be in any way accurate except as to the concepts = Server at the centre of the network, clients able to access via GbE or wireless where stated.

[dave87]

I perhaps should have made it clearer in my post, but by central I don't mean physically, but conceptually. It doesn't matter where the items are phyiscally that store/serve/stream the media, as long as they are connected by a decent link (i.e. Ethernet).

@ dave - thanks for that detailed diagram mate. Just to let you know, EVERYTHING in my network is going to be wired, but i mentioned that the ps3 does not have to be wired as its almost next to the router.

I can't have the router next to the htpc as i haven't got the coax cable wiring running to that room. To do a re-wiring will make it a massive job which i'm not willing to take due to ill health.

The diagram is conceptual - whilst some of the groupings are the same (I broke it down by room) the router isn't next to the switch, the server doesn't have to be next to it either (though in my case it is). All I was attempting to show is what you want to achieve in terms of centralising things - and generally the bits at the centre of the network would stay on 24/7.

But you must remember - htpc is only for direct movie watching and the media player is the one thats going to have to stream from the htpc hard drive(shared). Since according to biscuit, the media player will use its own hardware to transcode, i don't think it should be affected. I mainly want to watch at the most 720p movies.

This is one of the reasons I separated the HTPC role from the File Server role - the File Server would need to be on 24/7, the HTPC doesn't. The File Server is also lower powered, so it doesn't cost me in electricity, hence the suggestion that if you get the Apple TV then the HTPC becomes redundant, and you only need a file server (i.e. low power NAS box).

I now need advice on how to best setup the htpc to directly watch movies, yet at the same time give access to these movies to the media player.

This is where separating the two roles has its advantages. You'd have something like the HTPC or Apple TV to play the media back, and have a separate machine to store them. I'd think that the combined power consumption of a NAS box and AppleTV/WDTV would be lower than the power consumption of the HTPC on its own - with the added advantage that only the NAS box would need to be on 24/7.

[nasorpc]

The problem i have is that i need 2 media players in seperate rooms. I'm going to use the htpc now and again to watch movies, but when not needed, its going to be put in sleep-mode (5w only). I'm then going to use any of the following (DEPENDING ON THE ACTIVITY):-

Samsung galaxy s2
Upstairs pc
AppleTV/WDTV

to Wake-up the PC when needed. I know for definate that my samsung galaxy can wake up the HTPC whenever i need it remotely or within the house as i've already set it up like that. So for example:-

I want to transfer some files from upstairs pc to downstairs htpc - send a WOL command/VLC and the htpc comes to live, i then can either put it back to sleep or remotely do whatever i want.

I want to watch a movie on the media player - send WOL, wake up PC/NAS, watch movie and it'll go back to sleep.

I'm sure you get me, lol! (sorry for going on!)

But i desperately could do with your advice on the software side. Do i live window 7 + xbmc on and simply share a folder? Or should i replace the software?

[Biscuit]

Im not exactly sure what you mean about software. I dont know enough about the media players to know how they access the files over your network. My assumption is that it uses DLNA however they may also work using samba/cifs or even both. A PC based NAS should be able to share using any protocol you need assuming you get the right software, my understanding of XBMC is that it CAN share files using a PnP protocol however i dont know if this is actually DLNA.

As i mentioned, i just tend to use AFP and CIF shares in my house at the moment, i dont bother with any DLNA stuff at all so i dont knwo enough about it other than its all a complete pain in the arse to get working