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There is article with some detailed power draw tests of the DN2800MT here: http://www.linuxtech.net/reviews/intel_DN2800MT_cedarview_atom_power_draw.html

A server with 15-20 drives will never be low cost and low power and a 1000Watt PSU will never be low power either (unless your definition of low power and low cost is way different than mine...). What you are planning is a high end storage system (at least for home use).

I have 4 WD10EVCS (the 1TB version of the WD AV-GP) hard disks, that have been running 24/7 in a RAID5 for 18 months now with zero issues. Unlike the 1TB desktop WD GP drive, the AV drives never had that famous Load_Cycle_Count issue. Also the AV drives come with 5 years warranty instead of 3 on...

Here is my links list straight from my bookmarks: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Default.aspx http://www.asus.com/ProductGroup2.aspx?PG_ID=mKyCKlQ4oSEtSu5m http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=100026&lang=un http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp...

Fully agree, I plan to do just that with this case and one of the Pineview Atom mobos (to keep the power consumption down as it will be running 24/7). There are a few Pineview Atom boards with 4-6 SATA connections on board, ideal for a Linux software RAID setup...

Agreed, but the Zotac with its 6 SATA ports looks even better to me. OTOH the DFI will use less power due to the mobile cpu.

I have a Gigabyte MA770-UD3 and I love it, rock solid, all ports and expansion slots you could ever need and it supports ECC memory which I personally wouldn't do without. I'm using it with an Athlon x2 4850e but it can take all the latest AM3 cpus too. As for memory I opted for 2x 1GB...

Many people use Linux HTPCs succesfully, personally I have nevr had issues with 5.1 audio (over S/PDIF) it has always been plug-n-play in my experience. I use Mandriva with XBMC (package is here) , in Mandriva 2010.0 Pulseaudio works great (that's coming from someone who has been a PA basher up...

The following article is very useful: http://www.linuxtech.net/features/intel_atom_pineview_motherboards_overview.html Personally I find the Zotac DTX board very interesting, I might get one (once it's available) to build a file server with it.

You could also still sell what's left of your laptop on ebay for spare parts. Someone might buy it for the screen or the motherboard. That would reduce your costs even further.

The screws normally just squeeze themselves in-between the the heatsink fins, when you screw them in. Try it, it should work, it used to be the same with many 486 and Pentium heatsinks many years ago.

If you don't need hulu or other flash based stuff, then I would recommend an ION based system too, you might also consider the Acer Revo which is now also available in the US and Canada, see here for an overview.

HD files won't be an issue, even a PIII or an Atom can do it when using a GF 8 or 9 GPU. The only question is with regards to Hulu HD and similar Flash based services (until Adobe finally decides to support hardware decoding in the Flash plugin...).

There are currently cheap HP media center IR receivers around on ebay (for around $10), they work great with the Harmony, I got one of those for it.

1080p has roughly twice the amount of pixels as 720p, therefore to keep the same compression level, twice the bitrate is needed (assuming same frame rate). Therefore a 1080p 10500 kbps movie is compressed with approximately the same quality as a 720p 5425 kbps movie.

You can't be serious, I have made a reasonable suggestion to the OP (which you might agree with or not) and get attacked for it by a few obvious trolls like valve1138 and you say I'm trolling? Everyone can have his opinion, but when someone uses the word loonix and argues with personal...

Your posts are always so insightful and informative, come on fill us in then, how does WHS store it's files?

It seems the OP decided to stay away from more Windows too :D :D

Fair point, but backups can be rescheduled (I don't know WHS, but if it's any good it would do that automatically once it starts back up again) and from Linux you could still share out all the Windows filesystems, so there would only be a short interruption while the box reboots. But I guess...

Oh dear the dreaded command line... much better to spend a few hundred bucks to avoid it... :rolleyes: (just to end up having to muck around in the Windows registry)

From Linux you have access to all content stored in the Windows partitions, no need to store media on both. In fact the Linux partition could be rather small (10GB or so) and not contain any content at all, all content could still be stored only on the WHS partition as usual.

You are simply showing that you have no clue about Linux and by attacking other people's perfectly sensible suggestions you just make yourself ridiculous. When booting to Linux he can still access his Windows filesystems and all the content in them from Linux.

The OP want's to use his EXISTING hardware also as a HTPC (other than maybe adding a graphics card and a Bluray drive). I suggested Linux (dual boot as suggested by jfnirvana292 is probably best) so he doesn't have to spend loads more money on a completely new HTPC or on devices like SageTV...

Well, that's the beauty of Linux, with Linux having a "server HTPC" is not a problem at all, it can easily handle both. There is no such thing as server Linux and desktop Linux, it's the same thing, it just depends on which apps you install (server apps, desktop apps or both). Even the so called...

Or just switch to Linux! Not only is Linux free (saving you money), but with Linux you can easily do all those things, all with your existing PC (saving you even more money), no need to spend money on new hardware (other than maybe a better graphics card, Linux video playback works best with...

Well any Nvidia ION system (see full list here) would be sort of similar, or else a GF9300/9400 based ITX mobo if you need a C2D instead of an Atom.

Wrong forum, mate!

Well if you would consider XBMC on Linux, that certainly works great on the ION, there are several people on the XBMC forum that use it and all comments I read were positive. XBMC Live (Linux based) is easy to set up and it can be installed on a USB stick. Otherwise you will have to get a...

The Asrock is a complete system, it has 2GB RAM which is fine with Windows7 for Mediacenter (this is what others on here say, I'm not a Windows guy). If you build your own system with the Zotac mobo, I'd suggest 2GB of RAM too, and you can certainly use a USB stick instead of a hard drive...

The Asrock is the easiest and most popular option and would surely suit your needs, but you might be able to build a system yourself cheaper with the Zotac mobo . Make sure you chose a system with a dual-core Atom (N330), rather than single core, as single core would be a bit limited with...

I'm using a PCH with YAMJ too, so I understand what you mean! I'd suggest have a look at a Nvidia ION system, I know some former PCH users who switched to ION nettops and are happy with it.

No, PCI and PCI-e are incompatible with each other, but most new cards are actually PCI-e these days (even many tuner cards) and you can stick a PCI-ex1 card in a PCI-ex16 slot, so I would think it's very unlikely that in the future you will need more PCI slots (any more cards you might want...

It's the Geforce 8 and 9 series, not the 7 series, that are the way to go. They both do video decoding offload. The main difference (with regards to the on-board GPUs) is, that the 8 series (8200/8300) is only available for AMD cpus, while the 9 series (9300/9400) is exclusively for Intel cpus...

Correct. A case that can take ATX can also take microATX or usually even miniITX, they have the screwholes for all sizes. The other way round would not be possible (you can't put a big board in a small case!). You mean Intel or AMD? Be prepared for a never-ending discussion... :D An...

I agree, replace the mobo with one of those 8200/8300 mobos listed in that article I mentioned in my previous post. With regards to RAM, any 800Mhz DDR2 RAM is fine (make sure you buy a kit of 2x1GB for dual channel, personally I prefer Kingston or Crucial), anything faster would be a waste in...

Check if your TV takes RGB over component, some TVs do, in that case all you need is a cheap VGA to component cable. Otherwise maybe have a look at a Nvidia ION based system, see overview here. (you should be able to build a Nvidia ION+Atom based system running XBMC Live/Linux for $250)

The 45W instead of 65W is TDP, which means thermal design power, i.e. the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_design_power It has very little to do with power consumption at idle or average load, I...

I have to disagree, unfortunately TDP values are very misleading and can't be used to compare processors between different manufacturers (Intel <> AMD) as each of them defines TDP differently. In my personal experience a 65W TDP E5300 is more power efficient AND generates less heat than a 4850e...

Do you work for newegg? ;) You seem to be pushing their stuff quite a bit...

A LOT... :D