1080p streaming/decoding minimums?

[filthysanchez]

I have a core 2 duo e6750 with 4 gigs of ram and an 8800 gt that I'd like to put to server duty. Will it be enough to stream 1080p over my home network or would a quad core be better or necessary?

I'm looking into a network media player for the living room, and I have a playstation in the bedroom that I typically stream to using PS3 media server

 

[Snowknight26]

Transfering data over a network isn't very demanding. You could definitely get away with something that's not even a fourth as fast and you'd still be fine.

 

[Dangman]

As Snowknight26 pointed out, that setup will be more than enough for streaming HD content.

 

[Trepidati0n]

Transfering data over a network isn't very demanding. You could definitely get away with something that's not even a fourth as fast and you'd still be fine.

Transferring video data over a wired network isn't very demanding.

 

[JohnDC]

My server is an AMD BE2350 dual-core, and it works great streaming full folder rips of Blu-Ray's.

 

[cengique]

I have a server with Atom and still works fine if you have a fast network. Getting a gigabit hub really sped up copying arranging hd files.

 

[ccityinstaller]

I have a server with Atom and still works fine if you have a fast network. Getting a gigabit hub really sped up copying arranging hd files.

This..I have been using an Asus ION 330 ITX (dual core 1.6Ghz W/HT), coupled with 4GB of ram and the on-board Nvidia 9400GT, and have had ZERO issues..I can playback extremely high bit-rate BR rips, and stream them wireless to my older HP laptop which has an AMD Turion X2 with no shuddering or frame dropping..

Considering the power draw of the system you are planning to use, I would honestly sell it out via the FS forums, and pick up a low power AMD APU, or even an ION2 setup..If you really wanna keep the CPU/MB/Ram you have, then I would drop the 8800 and pickup a cheap AMD 5450/Nvidia GT240 class card..They are more then powerful enough for hardware decoding, and will use 1/5-1/4th the power of the 8800, with no noise to boot!

 

[filthysanchez]

Power's not an especially bring issue, initial price is. And I have a fanless cooler on the 8800

 

[davidduc]

Spend your budget on Gigabit switch & other network equipments, even an atom based server is capable of streaming HD flawlessly.

 

[Ripley]

The question is are you simply providing them as a file share or are you doing some kind of transcoding? For a simple file share, like a NAS device, many commercial prodcuts designed for home use do this and other features with less than 1Ghz and very little RAM. However if you are running something like PS3 Media Server and doing transcoding on the fly to some kind of device that requires a lot more power. Either way though has had been mentioned, having a good network link between devices will make a huge difference. While some people are able to get 1080p to work over wireless or powerline generally you need a wired 1gig link.