HTPC build as well as some virtualization

[luckylinux]

I would like to hear some opinions about an HTPC build I'd like to do.
I though to use something like the Silverstone GD01 as the case and something like a Bequiet BN186 - 400W 80+ Gold (could you suggest others please? I love corsair AX-7/850 series, but here it's a bit overkill to say the least), but from there I have absolutely no idea what to put in: I'd really like a board with LOTS of PCI/PCIe slots (6 or 7, therefore a ATX board).

I wanted to host my media server (Mythtv under GNU/Linux) in VMWare Esxi and doing therefore some virtualization as well. Options are therefore a bit stretch:

a) Going with AMD (I already own a Athlon X4 setup on a M4A89GTD-PRO - maybe that's enough - that board supports FX processor as well, though it's a beta BIOS )
Therefore buying a new FX-6100 / FX-6200 / FX-8120 CPU and something like an ASUS M4AX99-EVO which supports ECC-Memory and virtualization

b) Going with INTEL (which has plenty of possibilities and inconvenients at the same time)
- ASUS P8BWS + Xeon E3-12xx series: dual integrated INTEL NIC, supports VT-D ? (I hope since it's designed for Xeon ...)
- Any Z68/Z77/H67/H77/P67 board doesn't AFAIK VT-D
- The only motherboards supporting VT-D for socket 1155 are Intel's and some Supermicro's, though they're (relatively more) expensive, and some INTEL entry level microATX motherboards using non-K processors (but I'll eventually run out of PCI/PCIe slots very soon)

Since INTEL doesn't support ECC memory for non-Xeon processors, I'd normally go with AMD, but since this will be ON 24/7 power consumption is a big deal, more that it is with ECC memory. Maybe those Ivy-Bridge processors can solve this

Any thoughts would be appreciated. The Athlon X4 doesn't make a very good virtualization CPU, and I don't think it can handle recording of video streams without too much problems.
I plan on adding an entry video card as well (currently I already have a GT-430, GT-520, HD-6450 and HD-5450 to choose from ).

Budget ... let's say ... it's not so tight ... better have something which will (hopefully) last long.
Planning on using a USB stick for Esxi to boot from, then using SAN/NAS for storage. No SSD/HDD therefore. Better keep the budget under 650$ (the GD01 case is 130$ by itself) though

BTW, do you know how they call these things to split a DVB-T or DVB-S cable into two? I bought one and then realized that it was actually a filter splitting two different signal frequencies. Recording on two separated cards would be very good

 

[Dangman]

I would like to hear some opinions about an HTPC build I'd like to do.
I though to use something like the Silverstone GD01 as the case and something like a Bequiet BN186 - 400W 80+ Gold (could you suggest others please? I love corsair AX-7/850 series, but here it's a bit overkill to say the least)

Seasonic X-650 will be more than enough. Maybe even the no-fan Seasonic 400W PSUs.

b) Going with INTEL (which has plenty of possibilities and inconvenients at the same time)
- ASUS P8BWS + Xeon E3-12xx series: dual integrated INTEL NIC, supports VT-D ? (I hope since it's designed for Xeon ...)

It does support VT-D as long as you update to the latest BIOs.

- Any Z68/Z77/H67/H77/P67 board doesn't AFAIK VT-D
- The only motherboards supporting VT-D for socket 1155 are Intel's and some Supermicro's, though they're (relatively more) expensive, and some INTEL entry level microATX motherboards using non-K processors (but I'll eventually run out of PCI/PCIe slots very soon)

No. There are other mobos out there that supports VT-D that aren't Intel and Supermicro's:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1590654

While I generally don't trust AsRock which makes up a majority of mobos in that list, my point is that there are other mobos out there for the consumer LGA 1155 chipsets other than the Q67 that supposedly supports VT-D.

Since INTEL doesn't support ECC memory for non-Xeon processors, I'd normally go with AMD, but since this will be ON 24/7 power consumption is a big deal, more that it is with ECC memory. Maybe those Ivy-Bridge processors can solve this

Probably not. It's a legit business plan from Intel: Force the user to pay more money for their workstation type chipsets and such.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If buying new, I'd recommend Intel if power usage is a huge concern. As for which Intel, it's largely dependent how badly you need ECC. Consumer if no and server if yes.

If you don't really mind power usage or don't really need ECC, I'd just upgrade to the cheapest Phenom II X6 CPU you can find and use that on your current mobo.

 

[luckylinux]

Thank you for your very fast reply, Danny Bui.

No. There are other mobos out there that supports VT-D that aren't Intel and Supermicro's:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1590654

I read about ASROCK motherboards and even contacted them a few days ago. No wonder though, they're surely on Easter's holidays.

While I generally don't trust AsRock which makes up a majority of mobos in that list, my point is that there are other mobos out there for the consumer LGA 1155 chipsets other than the Q67 that supposedly supports VT-D.

Would be too much to ask for a "K" series CPU supporting VT-D ? That way 4.5GHz on air and 4 cores without even HT would work like a charm

Probably not. It's a legit business plan from Intel: Force the user to pay more money for their workstation type chipsets and such.

Yeah, I know. That's why I like AMD and the reason for my two small NAS are AMD-based using ECC memory.

If buying new, I'd recommend Intel if power usage is a huge concern. As for which Intel, it's largely dependent how badly you need ECC. Consumer if no and server if yes.

If you don't really mind power usage or don't really need ECC, I'd just upgrade to the cheapest Phenom II X6 CPU you can find and use that on your current mobo.

This will be a virtualisation rig on which the most important things running will be
a) an HTPC server (GNU/Linux, probably Debian or Gentoo)
b) a standard Server (monitoring, notifications, small web server, ...)

Only "problem" is that I'd need at least two PCI (non PCIe) slots for video cards or a dual one supported on GNU/Linux. Most if not all PCIe cards are not supported AFAIK.

As I said I already own an Athlon X4 (630 I think) with NO L3 cache. That's why it has a relatively low TDP. Furthermore the board I currently have supports ECC. I'd say the performance per watt of the Athlon X4 will be almost half or more those of the I5-2500 for instance. The only advantage of the Xeon E3 series is that 4C/8T costs about the same as an I5-2500. The MB costs the double though, so in the end MB+CPU cost around any MB + I7-2600. So if virtualization is planned, I'd say I'd get the Xeon + ECC RAM: will cost about the same.

Do you know any other board supporting Xeon E3-12xx (I saw some Supermicro's, but not really convinced)? Thank you very much.

 

[Dangman]

Would be too much to ask for a "K" series CPU supporting VT-D ? That way 4.5GHz on air and 4 cores without even HT would work like a charm

Unfortuantely, that would be too much to ask: Only non-K CPUs technically have VT-D.

The only advantage of the Xeon E3 series is that 4C/8T costs about the same as an I5-2500. The MB costs the double though, so in the end MB+CPU cost around any MB + I7-2600. So if virtualization is planned, I'd say I'd get the Xeon + ECC RAM: will cost about the same.

Wasn't factoring the 2600 when I said "As for which Intel, it's largely dependent how badly you need ECC. Consumer if no and server if yes. " But fair enough.

Do you know any other board supporting Xeon E3-12xx (I saw some Supermicro's, but not really convinced)? Thank you very much.

Huh? How are you not convinced that Supermicro LGA 1155 mobos will support the E3-12xx series? In any case, any mobo on this list supports the E3-12xx series:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...eactivatedMark=False&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100

 

[luckylinux]

Wasn't factoring the 2600 when I said "As for which Intel, it's largely dependent how badly you need ECC. Consumer if no and server if yes. " But fair enough.

Since idle power consumption it's not so different, I'd rather get the I7-2600 than for instance the I5-2400, so when I need power I'll have it

Huh? How are you not convinced that Supermicro LGA 1155 mobos will support the E3-12xx series? In any case, any mobo on this list supports the E3-12xx series:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...eactivatedMark=False&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100

That's not what I meant (sorry, my bad): it's about their ways of doing motherboards which are supposed to be standard but aren't. I recently contacted them and their ATX/E-ATX motherboards are not (always) compatible with THEIR cases (ATX or E-ATX, respectively).

I'm a bit wondered if they can be fitted in standard ATX cases ...
About ASUS boards ... not so sure about it ... I already bought quite the lot of them but the more I surf the web, the worse their reputations gets. Especially their RMA procedure.
TYAN isn't (unfortunately) available at my place, otherwise I'd get it.

I'm just wondering how come LGA1156 (the older !) had 6 DIMM slots and supported REGISTERED ECC, since the (newer) LGA1155 doesn't.

 

[Dangman]

That's not what I meant (sorry, my bad): it's about their ways of doing motherboards which are supposed to be standard but aren't. I recently contacted them and their ATX/E-ATX motherboards are not (always) compatible with THEIR cases (ATX or E-ATX, respectively).

I'm a bit wondered if they can be fitted in standard ATX cases ...[/QUOTE]
The Supermicro mobos on that list should fit just fine in standard ATX cases. One of the Newegg reviews for the Supermicr MBD-X9SCM-F-O shows that one user has installed it inside the Rosewill Blackhawk case. Another user even placed it in an Antec 300 case, a case that isn't exactly roomy. So yeah, you probably don't worry about fitting issues.

I would definitely recommend a Supermicro over an Asus or Tyan any day. Also, I really wouldn't recommend Tyan in the first place: They always seem low quality to me and I rarely see people use them here on the forums.

I'm just wondering how come LGA1156 (the older !) had 6 DIMM slots and supported REGISTERED ECC, since the (newer) LGA1155 doesn't.

Just a guess but Intel probably limited the capability of the E3-12xx and server LGA 1155 chipsets to, again, force people to go for their socket 2011 server mobos when they hit the market. Makes sense from a business standpoint. Especially considering that back when LGA 1156 CPUs were the main leaders, I generally recommended LGA 1156 server mobos over socket 1366 server mobos due to the better value. And many other people did the same. So yeah, Intel learned their lesson.

 

[luckylinux]

OK.
Let's see the possibilities remaining so far.

I read not so good things about the Seasonic PSUs on Newegg and are not so tempted to go with them ... I might change my mind of course

Please note: prices indicated in USD are almost the same as in my currency (1:1 ratio), but may differ from Newegg / Amazon / ...

The case indicated below is for reference only. Eventually I might go with the GD-07 since it supports EATX motherboards and offers USB 3.0 front panel access (if that doesn't come with a too high price premium, of course). If you have other cases in mind feel free to suggest, since my local retailer doesn't categorize them all. It just has to be a case max 470mm (wide) x 175 mm (heigh) x (?)mm deep and not tower-like.

I see the budget is already ... dead

=========== Option 1 (entry level reference) ===========
1 x Silverstone GD-01 @ 150$
1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$
1 x Intel I7-2600 4C/8T @ 290$
1 x Intel DQ67OW B3 @ 115$ // The USB 3.0 version is not sold by my preferred retailer
1 x Patriot Memory DDR3 NON-ECC 1600MHz 16GB @ 120$
1 x USB 3.0 memory stick 16GB @ 25$
1 x Graphic card for HTPC (GT430, GT520, ...) @ 40$
Total: 815$

=========== Option 2 (Xeon entry level) =============
1 x Silverstone GD-01 @ 150$
1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$
1 x Intel Xeon E3-1230 4C/8T@ 230$
1 x SUPERMICRO X9SCA @ 225$
4 x KINGSTON ValueRAM KVR1333D3E9S/4GEC (ECC-Unbuffered) @ 120$
1 x USB 3.0 memory stick 16GB @ 25$
1 x Graphic card for HTPC (GT430, GT520, ...) @ 40$
Total: 865$

========== Option 3 (Opteron entry level) ============
1 x Silverstone GD-01 @ 150$
1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$
1 x AMD Opteron 6234 "Interlagos B2" 6M/12T @ 390$
1 x Supermicro H8SGL-F @ 290$ // Integrated Dual LAN + IPMI
2 x KINGSTON ValueRAM KVR1333D3LD4R9S/8GEC (ECC-Registered) @ 130$
1 x USB 3.0 memory stick 16GB @ 25$
1 x Graphic card for HTPC (GT430, GT520, ...) @ 40$
Total: 1100$

========== Option 4 (Xeon high level) =============
1 x Silverstone GD-01 @ 150$
1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$
1 x INTEL Xeon E5-2609 "Sandy-Bridge EP" @ 290$ // Or its single socket equivalent which will be much more faster - when available
1 x SUPERMICRO X9SRA @ 360$ // Integrated Dual LAN, NO IPMI
2 x KINGSTON ValueRAM KVR1333D3LD4R9S/8GEC (ECC-Registered) @ 130$
1 x USB 3.0 memory stick 16GB @ 25$
1 x Graphic card for HTPC (GT430, GT520, ...) @ 40$
Total: 1070$

=========== Option 5 (AMD FX entry level) ===========
Since at idle these chips aren't that bad they're worth a try (even undervolt them maybe).
1 x Silverstone GD-01 @ 150$
1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$
1 x AMD AMD FX-8120 @ 190$
1 x ASUS M5A99X EVO @ 125$ // Or the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX @ 160$
4 x KINGSTON ValueRAM KVR1333D3E9S/4GEC (ECC-Unbuffered) @ 120$
1 x USB 3.0 memory stick 16GB @ 25$
1 x Graphic card for HTPC (GT430, GT520, ...) @ 40$
Total: 725$

So in the end only the last option doesn't kill my wallet ... Though it will in the electrical bill.
I think I need help for a cheaper case (but always ATX or eATX and NOT tower-like) and a power-efficient PSU which is a little less expensive. Corsairs are >90$ at my retailer and > 160$ for modular 80+ GOLD.
Any idea how to modify one of the above configs to lower the price, and which one is "better" (higher CPU power, not too worried about LOAD power consumption since most of the time will be idle and all the processors listed above have about the same power consumption at idle)?

EDIT: for comparing the configurations I always took the same amount of RAM. For the Opteron and Xeon E5 configuration more can be added of course.

 

[kac77]

May I ask what exactly are you doing with this machine? I run Mythtv, and have been running it for at least 5 years now. A dual core anything is more than enough to record. You really don't need processors this powerful and buying Xeon anything is a rip off unless you are in an enterprise environment where you aren't footed with the bill.

If you want to run Virtualization and you need to do it cheap AMD would be the way to go. If money was no object I would recommend something different, but considering AMD has those extensions enabled on just about anything higher than a Sempron it would be kind of hard to pass up in my eyes. All you would then need are the virt extensions on the I/O in order to passthrough to the VM.

 

[luckylinux]

May I ask what exactly are you doing with this machine? I run Mythtv, and have been running it for at least 5 years now. A dual core anything is more than enough to record. You really don't need processors this powerful and buying Xeon anything is a rip off unless you are in an enterprise environment where you aren't footed with the bill.

(I forgot the CPU cooler in my shopping list above ... Adding another 70$ for the Noctua NH-C14 or NH-L12)

If you want to run Virtualization and you need to do it cheap AMD would be the way to go. If money was no object I would recommend something different, but considering AMD has those extensions enabled on just about anything higher than a Sempron it would be kind of hard to pass up in my eyes. All you would then need are the virt extensions on the I/O in order to passthrough to the VM.

I know, and that's why I like AMD: ANY AM3(+) CPU you buy supports ECC and virtualization with I/O (is it IOMMU ?).

I'll be doing, as said above:
a) HTPC VM: doing recording (maybe even 2 streams at the time), playback (need discrete GPU), **maybe** gaming (surely not the newest titles), ...
b) I always wanted to make my own virtualization lab (I even created a thread here for that), but since I need to spend > 600$ anyway I could do both a VM host and an HTPC build at the same time. I'm not going to run 10 VMs at the same time, but surely 2, maybe even 3.One would be compiling stuff (Gentoo / Distcc) for other machines, the other act as a general purpose server (basically only Mysql and Apache/Lighttpd). I think 125W in that tiny box is gonna be a problem though ... with the Noctua NH-C14 only 4mm from the top of the case ... I could leave it open

The big expense is the case and you pay much of a premium for 80+ Gold PSUs.
I'm not against AMD builds, and since at idle it's not so bad as power consumption, it may just ... work. Another advantage is that I could get all from my preferred retailer, so no support issues (if any).

 

[kac77]

I know, and that's why I like AMD: ANY AM3(+) CPU you buy supports ECC and virtualization with I/O (is it IOMMU ?).

I'll be doing, as said above:
a) HTPC VM: doing recording (maybe even 2 streams at the time), playback (need discrete GPU), **maybe** gaming (surely not the newest titles), ...
b) I always wanted to make my own virtualization lab (I even created a thread here for that), but since I need to spend > 600$ anyway I could do both a VM host and an HTPC build at the same time. I'm not going to run 10 VMs at the same time, but surely 2, maybe even 3.One would be compiling stuff (Gentoo / Distcc) for other machines, the other act as a general purpose server (basically only Mysql and Apache/Lighttpd). I think 125W in that tiny box is gonna be a problem though ... with the Noctua NH-C14 only 4mm from the top of the case ... I could leave it open

The big expense is the case and you pay much of a premium for 80+ Gold PSUs.
I'm not against AMD builds, and since at idle it's not so bad as power consumption, it may just ... work. Another advantage is that I could get all from my preferred retailer, so no support issues (if any).

Hmm well OK seems like the virtualization thing is more of a project correct? If the focus is to learn VMWare then go with what you need out of the above. Then a Quad would be justified. You can pin CPU 1 and 2 to Myth and Pin 3 to one VM and 4 to another. Linux itself run headless is mighty quick and doesn't require much. If all you're doing is running MYSQL and Apache only one CPU core is needed. With CPU4 left over.

Now if the project isn't to learn VMWare specifically then I would go with KVM (still using a quad core) since it's built in. You wouldn't have to worry about IOMMU and passing through PCI and Video Cards. It's kind of your choice when it comes to that.

 

[luckylinux]

Hmm well OK seems like the virtualization thing is more of a project correct? If the focus is to learn VMWare then go with what you need out of the above. Then a Quad would be justified. You can pin CPU 1 and 2 to Myth and Pin 3 to one VM and 4 to another. Linux itself run headless is mighty quick and doesn't require much. If all you're doing is running MYSQL and Apache only one CPU core is needed. With CPU4 left over.

Well actually I surely will have an HTPC VM and a Monitoring VM doing logging about systems, networking, as well as some Zoneminder. I will have 8 threads with the setup specified above, though I could "get down" to a I5-2400 and save 120$ (in AMD's case it doesn't change that much from a FX-8120 to a FX-6100).

Alternatively I could just buy for each server a Pentium dual core for 40$ with a H67 motherboard for 50$, with 50$ of RAM in a 60$ case, powered by a 300W 40$ PSU. Still I don't think the performance / dollar and/or performance / watt will be better. And I wouldn't do virtualization then Though if one machine goes down, the other stays up, which is a good thing

Now if the project isn't to learn VMWare specifically then I would go with KVM (still using a quad core) since it's built in. You wouldn't have to worry about IOMMU and passing through PCI and Video Cards. It's kind of your choice when it comes to that.

It's not like I'd have to learn VMWare, but I'd like to go either with it or Xen/Xenserver, but as all of these require VT-D it's the same thing ...

Virtualbox and KVM don't seem to need VT-D support, so any processor with any motherboard should work you say? For only one OS needing to have a graphic card it's a good idea, not so sure about the NIC: a pass-through may have been useful here.

I haven't experienced with KVM [yet], but I read something about using it with Qemu. Is it true?

If going with Virtualbox / KVM a I5-2500K or IB equivalent OC at 4.3-4.5GHz on air on a Z77 motherboard might be a better choice then (with NON-ECC RAM, though I could get 32GB fairy cheap). Don't you think?

 

[Dangman]

I read not so good things about the Seasonic PSUs on Newegg and are not so tempted to go with them ... I might change my mind of course

They're Newegg reviews for a POWER SUPPLY! You might as well ask a puppy about computers as that's the same level of intelligences those Newegg reviews have for PSUs. The fact that Apevia PSUs have 3-4 stars on Newegg is proof positive that Newegg customer reviewers know nothing about PSUs.

So I'd take those comments with a grain of salt.

I see the budget is already ... dead

Not exactly dead since you didn't tell us what your budget what

1 x BE QUIET! Efficient Power, 400 Watts (BN186) @ 75$

Goddamn, getting info about this PSU from the Germans is like pulling teeth.

Corsairs are >90$ at my retailer and > 160$ for modular 80+ GOLD.

Is electricity expensive over there in Europe? I ask because the whole Gold, Silver, and Bronze ranking honestly doesn't matter much and might take awhile for you to recoup your costs:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/04/80_plus_irrelevant_to_you_when_buying_psu/1

which one is "better" (higher CPU power, not too worried about LOAD power consumption since most of the time will be idle and all the processors listed above have about the same power consumption at idle)?

Huh? I don't understand what you're asking here: What do you mean by "better"? Highest performance? Lowest power usage? Best features? Best price to performance?

 

[luckylinux]

They're Newegg reviews for a POWER SUPPLY! You might as well ask a puppy about computers as that's the same level of intelligences those Newegg reviews have for PSUs. The fact that Apevia PSUs have 3-4 stars on Newegg is proof positive that Newegg customer reviewers know nothing about PSUs.

So I'd take those comments with a grain of salt.

OK, thank you for the advice.

Not exactly dead since you didn't tell us what your budget what

See my first post :

Budget ... let's say ... it's not so tight ... better have something which will (hopefully) last long.
Planning on using a USB stick for Esxi to boot from, then using SAN/NAS for storage. No SSD/HDD therefore. Better keep the budget under 650$ (the GD01 case is 130$ by itself) though

Goddamn, getting info about this PSU from the Germans is like pulling teeth.

I didn't understand this part, sorry. You mean their website is so messed up, or you're stuck with the German language? Fortunately German manufacters and retailers also give details in English. In Switzerland you're (in fact, I'm) stuck with German alone If they only would provide informations in English, French or Italian.

It doesn't have to be this one, though I'd say it seems better than LC Power of FSP.

Is electricity expensive over there in Europe? I ask because the whole Gold, Silver, and Bronze ranking honestly doesn't matter much and might take awhile for you to recoup your costs:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/04/80_plus_irrelevant_to_you_when_buying_psu/1

Thank you for the link, I'll give it a look. Here I'd say it's about 0.20$ / KWh (inclusive energy, transport and taxes). Last two months I burned up 850 KWh (~ 425 Kwh/month) ! A year ago it was half that. If that goes even higher... It's not as if a 80+ Gold will be much better than a 80+ Bronze at 20% load, except the fact it costs twice, I agree with that

Huh? I don't understand what you're asking here: What do you mean by "better"? Highest performance? Lowest power usage? Best features? Best price to performance?

I'd say highest performance, but I'd also would like to know lowest power usage (at idle they should be almost the same), best features , best performance/$ and performance/W.

 

[Dangman]

See my first post :

Totally skimmed over that part. When you wrote "it's not so tight", I probably just ignored everything else you said after that.

I didn't understand this part, sorry. You mean their website is so messed up, or you're stuck with the German language? Fortunately German manufacters and retailers also give details in English. In Switzerland you're (in fact, I'm) stuck with German alone If they only would provide informations in English, French or Italian.

I found their english website. However what I meant was that Be Quiet did not share the exact layout of the rails and who exactly the manufacturer was on their website. Searching the web for picutres of the rail layout as well as the UL code for that PSU was also a pain in the ass. And I still haven't found it yet.

I'd say highest performance, but I'd also would like to know lowest power usage (at idle they should be almost the same), best features , best performance/$ and performance/W.

Highest performance is a bit difficult to answer since virtualization itself generally prefers more cores. However the performance of each core does play a role in the performance of the VMs themselves. Assuming that your VMs are more core dependent than clock speed dependent, the AMD setups wins here. But if the VMs aren't core dependent but clock speed dependent, Intel wins here. Though in general for a virtual machine server: more cores are better.

As for lowest power usage at load, that goes to any of the Intel setups: They're gonna use less power than an AMD CPU at load. But how often will the server be loaded up? At idle, as you mentioned, it's gonna be a wash since they have similar idle power usage.

As for best features, also hard to say: while the FX entry level has USB 3.0, the Supermicro based setups has Intel NICs (Intel NICs are generally one of the more reliable and fastest NICs out there), IPMI, and KVM over IP. Those last two features alone are totally worth it for a server IMO. But the lack of built-in USB 3.0 for all the setups except for the AMD FX entry level might hurt you considering that you want to use a USB 3.0 flash drive as your boot.

As for best price to performance, I'd have to say it's a tie between the AMD FX entry level and the Xeon Entry level.

 

[kac77]

Well actually I surely will have an HTPC VM and a Monitoring VM doing logging about systems, networking, as well as some Zoneminder. I will have 8 threads with the setup specified above, though I could "get down" to a I5-2400 and save 120$ (in AMD's case it doesn't change that much from a FX-8120 to a FX-6100).

Alternatively I could just buy for each server a Pentium dual core for 40$ with a H67 motherboard for 50$, with 50$ of RAM in a 60$ case, powered by a 300W 40$ PSU. Still I don't think the performance / dollar and/or performance / watt will be better. And I wouldn't do virtualization then Though if one machine goes down, the other stays up, which is a good thing


It's not like I'd have to learn VMWare, but I'd like to go either with it or Xen/Xenserver, but as all of these require VT-D it's the same thing ...

Virtualbox and KVM don't seem to need VT-D support, so any processor with any motherboard should work you say? For only one OS needing to have a graphic card it's a good idea, not so sure about the NIC: a pass-through may have been useful here.

I haven't experienced with KVM [yet], but I read something about using it with Qemu. Is it true?

If going with Virtualbox / KVM a I5-2500K or IB equivalent OC at 4.3-4.5GHz on air on a Z77 motherboard might be a better choice then (with NON-ECC RAM, though I could get 32GB fairy cheap). Don't you think?

Let me say it this way. You might be virtualizing more than necessary.

You're not running different OS's here. Zoneminder and Mythtv run in the environment natively.

Mythtv I would put on the host. No need to passthrough video or your recording devices.

You can virtualize Zoneminder since you'll be using IP camera's probably. (But you might also get away with putting it on the host as well.) So bridge the nic and assign an IP address for the server. No passthrough required more than local storage.

So the only thing left to virtualize would be additional projects which would conflict (EX: different Apache mods, etc).

Basically it would look like this....

Linux Distro -> MythTV+ZoneMinder (HOST)
|___> KVM -> VM 1 (Project1) -> VM2 (Project 2)

Basically I'm simplifying the spec since you have that HTPC component and only virtualizing where needed. In the VMWare scenario you are passing through because you aren't likely to run Mythtv on the "hypervisor". So why use VmWare for this case? Don't get me wrong it has it's place.. in enterprise. For Home settings especially with an HTPC in mind I don't think it's a logical way to go.

 

[luckylinux]

Totally skimmed over that part. When you wrote "it's not so tight", I probably just ignored everything else you said after that.

No problem. Sometimes I do the same

I found their english website. However what I meant was that Be Quiet did not share the exact layout of the rails and who exactly the manufacturer was on their website. Searching the web for picutres of the rail layout as well as the UL code for that PSU was also a pain in the ass. And I still haven't found it yet.

I see what you mean. I said: it doesn't have to be that one in particular. Do you think for the rates here in Swizerland (0.2$/KWh, not sure about the rest of Europe) the 80+ Gold PSU is worth, or better take a quality (Corsair, Thermaltake) 80+ Bronze PSU?

Highest performance is a bit difficult to answer since virtualization itself generally prefers more cores. However the performance of each core does play a role in the performance of the VMs themselves. Assuming that your VMs are more core dependent than clock speed dependent, the AMD setups wins here. But if the VMs aren't core dependent but clock speed dependent, Intel wins here. Though in general for a virtual machine server: more cores are better.

As for lowest power usage at load, that goes to any of the Intel setups: They're gonna use less power than an AMD CPU at load. But how often will the server be loaded up? At idle, as you mentioned, it's gonna be a wash since they have similar idle power usage.

As for best features, also hard to say: while the FX entry level has USB 3.0, the Supermicro based setups has Intel NICs (Intel NICs are generally one of the more reliable and fastest NICs out there), IPMI, and KVM over IP. Those last two features alone are totally worth it for a server IMO. But the lack of built-in USB 3.0 for all the setups except for the AMD FX entry level might hurt you considering that you want to use a USB 3.0 flash drive as your boot.

As for best price to performance, I'd have to say it's a tie between the AMD FX entry level and the Xeon Entry level.

The Supermicro only has IPMI for the Opteron server. The Entry Xeon Server doesn't have IPMI (alternative Supermicro boards that have IPMI are microATX therefore less PCI/PCIe slots).

However I think another wise solution may be for the HTPC to not worry too much about virtualization. Maybe do 2 builds (though I don't really like the idea of having many tower-like cases around), one for the VM Host and one for the HTPC, and I turn the VM Host on only when I really need it I'm not so sure about heat inside that small case (GD01 or GD07).

 

[luckylinux]

Let me say it this way. You might be virtualizing more than necessary.

You're not running different OS's here. Zoneminder and Mythtv run in the environment natively.

Mythtv I would put on the host. No need to passthrough video or your recording devices.

You can virtualize Zoneminder since you'll be using IP camera's probably. (But you might also get away with putting it on the host as well.) So bridge the nic and assign an IP address for the server. No passthrough required more than local storage.

So the only thing left to virtualize would be additional projects which would conflict (EX: different Apache mods, etc).

Basically it would look like this....

Linux Distro -> MythTV+ZoneMinder (HOST)
|___> KVM -> VM 1 (Project1) -> VM2 (Project 2)

Basically I'm simplifying the spec since you have that HTPC component and only virtualizing where needed.

Yeah, I'll have to plan more carefully, maybe on paper or on some project management system

I could do very well do two builds, however it costs more and I really wanted a single build because I already have an Athlon X4 laying around and an Athlon X2 as well. It just sucks to do two builds considering the INTEL chips are so expensive, while I'd have to trash these two.

An H67 + I5-2400 costs about the same as an I7-2600 therefore it's not so bad. I can wait until IB however.

 

[kac77]

Yeah, I'll have to plan more carefully, maybe on paper or on some project management system

I could do very well do two builds, however it costs more and I really wanted a single build because I already have an Athlon X4 laying around and an Athlon X2 as well. It just sucks to do two builds considering the INTEL chips are so expensive, while I'd have to trash these two.

An H67 + I5-2400 costs about the same as an I7-2600 therefore it's not so bad. I can wait until IB however.

If you have the the Athlon X4 laying around use it. MythTV and Zone won't need more than two or three. You'd still have a core left for whatever project you wanted. Athlon X4's aren't speed deamons by any stretch, but they are more than powerful enough to drive an HTPC with a VM of Apache. I would say give it a whirl before spending money. If Linux is your host you can swap out the whole MB + CPU combo if you don't have enough grunt. But I would use old hardware where possible first. You could test it out until IB comes out.

 

[luckylinux]

If you have the the Athlon X4 laying around USE IT. MythTV and Zone won't need more than two or three. You'd still have a core left for whatever project you wanted. Athlon X4's aren't speed deamons by any stretch, but they are more than powerful enough to drive an HTPC with a VM of Apache. I would say give it a whirl before spending money. If Linux is your host you can swap out the whole MB + CPU combo if you don't have enough grunt. But I would use old hardware where possible first.

I just though the Athlon X4 has quite high idle power usage, even when using Cool&Quiet.
I'm running currently Zoneminder ONLY on an Athlon X2 with 2 HDDs and it takes around 45W at idle. If I remember correctly the X4 with 5 HDDs attached but idle consumed about 70W.

If that's true it'd be around 50KWh/month
I'd disable one core in the BIOS too, but when I tried this on the X2 nothing changed (power consumption didn't decrease).

Furthermore I though AMD CPUs were not as good as INTEL's in media handling.

However on an Athlon X4 I think it's better to run Debian, not Gentoo

 

[kac77]

I just though the Athlon X4 has quite high idle power usage, even when using Cool&Quiet.
I'm running currently Zoneminder ONLY on an Athlon X2 with 2 HDDs and it takes around 45W at idle. If I remember correctly the X4 with 5 HDDs attached but idle consumed about 70W.

If that's true it'd be around 50KWh/month
I'd disable one core in the BIOS too, but when I tried this on the X2 nothing changed (power consumption didn't decrease).

Furthermore I though AMD CPUs were not as good as INTEL's in media handling.

However on an Athlon X4 I think it's better to run Debian, not Gentoo

If power is your concern then yeah it would make sense. Intel would be better hands down. You need to weigh out your priorities though. If I already had the Athlon x4 I would use it. You're most likely pairing it with a video card. It is doing the decoding and in Mythtv you would select XVMC or whatever (I think they are getting ready to support VDPAU). Depends on what matters more to you. But from a purely performance standpoint that X4 is powerful enough to do what you want... the question seems to be at what power envelope. That's your call.

 

[luckylinux]

If power is your concern then yeah it would make sense. Intel would be better hands down. You need to weigh out your priorities though. If I already had the Athlon x4 I would use it. You're most likely pairing it with a video card. It is doing the decoding and in Mythtv you would select XVMC or whatever (I think they are getting ready to support VDPAU). Depends on what matters more to you. But from a purely performance standpoint that X4 is powerful enough to do what you want... the question seems to be at what power envelope. That's your call.

The power envelope seems to be already "relatively good" since there is no L3 cache and that consumes power too. An extra undervolting might help as well, don't know, taking the chip down to 2.2GHz or something instead of 2.9GHz. Maybe on that board the core disabling function actually work ... Then I could only use 3 out of these 4 cores and lower power consumption as well. Will have to do some tests, but I get your point.

I'll get the case and PSU. I already have some HDDs I don't use yet, don't know if going the SSD way is a good idea (would recording directly to the SAN / NAS work good ). Though it'll wear out very fast, so I don't think it's a good idea. Better stick with a WD Green or some 2.5'' HDDs.
The PSU I suggested seems to be rather unknown. Any other reccomendations for a better one ? At least 300W, 80+ (maybe bronze) power efficiency, relatively quiet and not too much expensive ? I personally have had good experience with Corsair until now (well, I don't really power them up very often though ), but they're quite pricey and don't make a 300W PSU AFAIK

Recommendations for a cheaper case (ATX, not only microATX !) or should I stick with the GD01 ?

Thank you very much for your support.
As for now I'll do two separated builds. For light tests even KVM on that would work though.

 

[Dangman]

I'll get the case and PSU. I already have some HDDs I don't use yet, don't know if going the SSD way is a good idea (would recording directly to the SAN / NAS work good ). Though it'll wear out very fast, so I don't think it's a good idea. Better stick with a WD Green or some 2.5'' HDDs.

A SSD is useful if you're using a media app that does a lot of reads or if you turn off the HTPC when not in use. But as a recording drive, I wouldn't do that.

Recording to the SAN/NAS would work fine if your network is all gigabit, you have a solid gigabit switch/router with jumbo frames, and if all the NICs in the network are actually legit gigabit NICs (i.e not crappy older Realtek gigabit NICs)

The PSU I suggested seems to be rather unknown. Any other reccomendations for a better one ? At least 300W, 80+ (maybe bronze) power efficiency, relatively quiet and not too much expensive ?

The Antec Earthwatts EA380D or EA430D are my recommendations.

I personally have had good experience with Corsair until now (well, I don't really power them up very often though ), but they're quite pricey and don't make a 300W PSU AFAIK

You don't see a lot of good PSUs around the 350W and below mark because it's actually not that cost-effective to do so. IIRC, the manufacturing price difference between a good 400W and a good 300W PSU are like a few dollars. Considering that people are gonna buy the larger PSU over a smaller PSU, that's why you generally don't see a lot of good sub 350W PSUs. The few you do see are often priced just as high as some good 400W to 500W PSUs. Hence why Corsair hasn't have a PSU below the 400W mark. Hell, right now Corsair only has one PSU for sale around the 400W mark and that's the CX430. That particular PSU isn't exactly high quality.

Besides, Corsair's last attempt at releasing a lower wattage but high quality PSU in Europe probably made them swear off those type of PSUs. Several years back, according to the Corsair market people, there was supposedly a huge market for low wattage but high quality PSUs in Europe. So they released the Corsair HX450W in Europe: a modular and high quality PSU built by Seasonic. By all accounts, it was an excellent PSU. But It didn't sell well at all. Corsair lost quite a bit of money on those PSUs. And now Corsair learned their lessons: low-wattage + high quality is a bad combination for business.

Recommendations for a cheaper case (ATX, not only microATX !) or should I stick with the GD01 ?

Why exactly do you need ATX for an HTPC? You're doing two seperate builds now right?

 

[luckylinux]

A SSD is useful if you're using a media app that does a lot of reads or if you turn off the HTPC when not in use. But as a recording drive, I wouldn't do that.

Recording to the SAN/NAS would work fine if your network is all gigabit, you have a solid gigabit switch/router with jumbo frames, and if all the NICs in the network are actually legit gigabit NICs (i.e not crappy older Realtek gigabit NICs)

Gigabit network should be good, using two procurves 1810g Planning on doing link aggregation as well

The Antec Earthwatts EA380D or EA430D are my recommendations.

I'll order the EA380D next week. The EA430D will be overkill for that purpose (since I'm using it for a "thin client" type of PC).

You don't see a lot of good PSUs around the 350W and below mark because it's actually not that cost-effective to do so. IIRC, the manufacturing price difference between a good 400W and a good 300W PSU are like a few dollars. Considering that people are gonna buy the larger PSU over a smaller PSU, that's why you generally don't see a lot of good sub 350W PSUs. The few you do see are often priced just as high as some good 400W to 500W PSUs. Hence why Corsair hasn't have a PSU below the 400W mark. Hell, right now Corsair only has one PSU for sale around the 400W mark and that's the CX430. That particular PSU isn't exactly high quality.

Besides, Corsair's last attempt at releasing a lower wattage but high quality PSU in Europe probably made them swear off those type of PSUs. Several years back, according to the Corsair market people, there was supposedly a huge market for low wattage but high quality PSUs in Europe. So they released the Corsair HX450W in Europe: a modular and high quality PSU built by Seasonic. By all accounts, it was an excellent PSU. But It didn't sell well at all. Corsair lost quite a bit of money on those PSUs. And now Corsair learned their lessons: low-wattage + high quality is a bad combination for business.

Why exactly do you need ATX for an HTPC? You're doing two seperate builds now right?

You think it's crazy? Well, I'm pretty sure it isn't really: if I have one graphic card, 1 NIC, 1 video recording card and 1 USB 3.0 card, I filled all of my PCIe slots
Still I may try to use the inboard USB 3.0 as well as an external USB 3.0 HUB but I don't think it's really practical (using the USB 3.0 BUS for 4 x USB 2.0 Webcam doing Zoneminder, if you wondered). It should not saturate. I'm not going to use the USB 3.0 BUS for other things therefore that may be settled.
As for the NIC I'm a bit reluctant to use the integrated Realtek. The other two PCI/PCIe slots are not disputable (video recording & discrete video card).

But if you're going to help me until the end of the thread, here are the components I have available and not yet implemented (we'll they're inside the cases, but they're not running [yet/anymore]). I'm not sure about all the components since I'll be away from home for a few days:

Asus P8Z68-M PRO (B3)
INTEL I5-2500K
4x4GB Patriot RAM 1333MHz
1 x 500GB 2.5'' HDD (?)
SilverStone Grandia GD05
Bequiet PSU (probably the one indicated in my previous posts)
Noctua NH-C14

Maybe I could use this build and just swap the PSU for a better option, like the ANTEC you proposed. Maybe I'll do some overclocking, therefore it may be better to up a bit the wattage to 500W-550W. Alternatives here ?

Maybe if I swap the RAM for 4x4GB sticks I can convert this to virtualization.
Even a better CPU may be fitted there (FX-8120 ?), though the Athlon should be able to handle light loads: see here.

ASUS M4A89GTD-PRO
AMD Athlon X4 630 (?)
4x2GB Corsair RAM 1333MHz (?)
Fractal Design Define XL
Corsair HX-750 (yeah, I know, overkill for the use )
Corsair A70 CPU Cooler

Current Zoneminder-only build

Some Gigabyte 880G series motherboard (don't remember the model, sorry)
AMD Athlon X2 230 (?)
2x4 GB Patriot RAM 1333MHz (?)
Some unknown crappy microATX case
Integrated PSU
Scythe Shuriken Revision B CPU cooler

4 x 4GB sticks Kingston Unbuffered ECC RAM 1333MHz (as indicated in my previous posts)

Now I've gotta find a use for them. Maybe I'll take the EA380D for my "thin client" PC, converted from an Athlon X2

 

[luckylinux]

Otherwise (in the worst case) I could even get a new ASUS P8Z77-V LX (150$) or ASUS P8Z68-V LX (100$) and a newer case as well (~ 150$), while "recycling" the CPU, RAM and the NH-C14, keeping the budget below 300$.

Not so sure what to do afterwards with that microATX mobo though

I think I'm gonna buy only ATX/E-ATX from now on: microATX has much less flexibility with PCI/PCIe slots.

 

[Dangman]

I'll order the EA380D next week. The EA430D will be overkill for that purpose (since I'm using it for a "thin client" type of PC).

I recommended the EA430D because here in the U.S, the EA430D is often only $2-3 more than the EA380D. So the EA380D isn't worth getting from a price to performance standpoint when that happens.

You think it's crazy?

Not crazy but more of I dislike a lof the ATX HTPC cases, even the GD01. To me, they have a shittier airflow layout and poorer noise level compared to some of the mATX HTPC cases like the Silverstone GD04 and GD05 and Antec NSK2480. The only ATX HTPC case that I can recommend to people would be the Lian Li PC-C60B but that's really expensive. Though the GD07's layout is good as well IMO but no pricing on that case is available.

As for the NIC I'm a bit reluctant to use the integrated Realtek. The other two PCI/PCIe slots are not disputable (video recording & discrete video card).

For a HTPC setup, the discrete video card can be disputed: Unless you're gaming, you probably won't need a discrete video card. The onboard video of most current motherboards and CPUs are enough for even blu-ray playback.

Maybe I could use this build and just swap the PSU for a better option, like the ANTEC you proposed. Maybe I'll do some overclocking, therefore it may be better to up a bit the wattage to 500W-550W. Alternatives here ?

Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W PSU gets my recommendation.

Even a better CPU may be fitted there (FX-8120 ?), though the Athlon should be able to handle light loads

Stick with the Athlon. For HTPC duties, you'll be fine with that CPU.

 

[luckylinux]

I recommended the EA430D because here in the U.S, the EA430D is often only $2-3 more than the EA380D. So the EA380D isn't worth getting from a price to performance standpoint when that happens.

Yeah, in the US you're lucky, because here the EA430D is at ~ 68$, while the EA380D
is at 51$. It's not really a huge difference, but not so small like you said either.

Not crazy but more of I dislike a lof the ATX HTPC cases, even the GD01. To me, they have a shittier airflow layout and poorer noise level compared to some of the mATX HTPC cases like the Silverstone GD04 and GD05 and Antec NSK2480. The only ATX HTPC case that I can recommend to people would be the Lian Li PC-C60B but that's really expensive. Though the GD07's layout is good as well IMO but no pricing on that case is available.

Not really so expensive though (50$ more): if it's worth it, I'll take it. Would prefer something with USB 3.0 front panel access though for that price (so that if in the future I really need it, I can use it).

For a HTPC setup, the discrete video card can be disputed: Unless you're gaming, you probably won't need a discrete video card. The onboard video of most current motherboards and CPUs are enough for even blu-ray playback.

Forget about bluray from now: it's already good if I'll watch DVD, probably I'll only watch ripped 720p or 1080p (1920x1080 ?).
It has to be good supported under GNU/Linux though. Furthermore the SB CPUs have that bug concerning the 23.xxx FPS (once in an hour or so it freezes for some seconds), doesn't it?

Seasonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W PSU gets my recommendation.

It doesn't seem that bad. What about the CORSAIR TX550M (same price) with cable management (htough there aren't many) ?

Stick with the Athlon. For HTPC duties, you'll be fine with that CPU.

Ehm ... the idea was to use the I5-2500K as CPU for my HTPC to lower power consumption, while I'll use the X4 for light virtualization and the X2 for the small client.
Are you suggesting another configuration? Like the X4 for HTPC and the I5-2500K for virtualization using KVM for instance?
Sorry I already changed my mind twice ... my bad


What about the integrated NIC (Realtek)? Should i go with a PCI/PCIe INTEL?

 

[Dangman]

Yeah, in the US you're lucky, because here the EA430D is at ~ 68$, while the EA380D
is at 51$. It's not really a huge difference, but not so small like you said either.

With that large of a price difference, yeah the EA380D is the better deal for you.

Not really so expensive though (50$ more): if it's worth it, I'll take it. Would prefer something with USB 3.0 front panel access though for that price (so that if in the future I really need it, I can use it).

I'm not entirely sure if the Lian Li is worth to be honest. Here in the U.S, that case costs $200. That's too pricey IMO for a HTPC case considering that regular ATX cases around that price range have better features, better quality, and probably better bang for the buck value.

It has to be good supported under GNU/Linux though. Furthermore the SB CPUs have that bug concerning the 23.xxx FPS (once in an hour or so it freezes for some seconds), doesn't it?

To be fair, going with a discrete card may not fix that issure either as AMD and Nvidia also don't do 24p well:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1333324

But yes, current Intel CPUs do have that 24p bug. But the issue is mitigated somwhat if you output at 60Hz or if your TV can't handle 24p.

As for Linux support, can't help you there: Haven't used Linux on modern hardware in awhile outside of virtual machines.

It doesn't seem that bad. What about the CORSAIR TX550M (same price) with cable management (htough there aren't many) ?

I'd still go with the Seasonic since it's of higher quality. The Antec High Current Gamer 520W is also an option.

Ehm ... the idea was to use the I5-2500K as CPU for my HTPC to lower power consumption, while I'll use the X4 for light virtualization and the X2 for the small client.
Are you suggesting another configuration? Like the X4 for HTPC and the I5-2500K for virtualization using KVM for instance?
Sorry I already changed my mind twice ... my bad

Oh. Yeah I was confused there. Wasn't suggesting another config.

What about the integrated NIC (Realtek)? Should i go with a PCI/PCIe INTEL?

Try it out first, if it's not fast or reliable enough, get a PCI-E Intel NIC. Though I have a feeling that the Realtek should be fine.

 

[luckylinux]

Try it out first, if it's not fast or reliable enough, get a PCI-E Intel NIC. Though I have a feeling that the Realtek should be fine.

Yeah, because otherwise I'm out of PCI/PCIe slots

I'll try with the current microATX build then.

Using a PCI card for video recording, maybe a second one for another recording (not so sure), eventually an INTEL NIC and (surely) an external USB 3.0 HUB.
That way I'll still have a x16 slot available in case I need a graphic card. If I need even more bandwidth I'd have to buy a dual port INTEL NIC, maybe from ebay, but frankly 120MB/s should be enough (I think the SAN / NAS will bottleneck before the gigabit ethernet), and recordings should be like 10-25 MB/s for (very) high-quality, right ? I could even use 2 x 1 port INTEL NIC and no graphic card (cheaper).

Seems like in the end the current configuration might just work. If I need another recorder, I could use USB acquisition cards so I don't need another PCI/PCIe slot. This should work (for now). It seems I'm always preoccupied by filling the PCI/PCIe slots

Hoping I'm not going too much OT (in that case I'll move this part below to another thread), but I am converting my current Desktop (I7-870, 16GB DDR3 RAM 1333MHz, ...., almost 2 years old) to SSD, though I feel like the lack of AES-NI is a major problem for me since I plan to encrypt my system. I was thinking of transforming this into a VM Host, while doing another (new) build. I don't feel lacking CPU power (4C / 8T should be plenty for now), but since I'm upgrading I wondered if it really was a good idea to go to Ivy Bridge (the I7-3770K is rated at 380$, though it's not officially out yet), a (fairly) good Z77 motherboard is at ~150$ plus RAM.

However a lga2011 MB costs about 250$ and a 6 core CPU is at 580$ plus RAM (and I could add much more RAM). Wondered if it was worth IV build at 530$ vs a SB-E at 830$ ("only" 300$ difference). Consider I don't game much and not the newest titles (which are limited by GPU and not CPU usually) and sometimes I do intensive simulations in MATLAB or other scientific software. 6 Cores might be handy for (desktop) virtualization too. I'd like to hear some thoughts on this too, or maybe we can move this part to another thread if you prefer. Or I'd better stick with what I've god and buying a NH-D14 and overclock it a bit (the Termaltake Frio I have is terrible: high temps & very noisy)?

 

[Pylor]

Did some skimming and reading of this thread and I'll throw my 2 cents in. I recently actually built a mythtv box that was virtualized in a virtualbox environment on an already existing 2008 server I was using as a fileserver. When it comes to recording TV (assuming that's what you're doing), off my cablecard system the cpu usage is practically negligable. The real power comes into play when you're trans/encoding that video, that's about the only time it really hits my e6850.

I actually used the CX430 and it's been working great and, according to my kill-a-watt like device it cut power consumption in half over an awful old 750 watt PSU from antec. Obviously some people have problems, but from my confirmation biased point of view, most corsair power supplies are pretty great, and I managed to pick that up for 16 dollars shipped after mail in rebate.

I wouldn't have the first clue about the AES situation though, as the most I've done with encryption is some bitlocker stuff. So I'll sit back and read about that, though I wouldn't think that AES would be a necessity to encrypt.

If you're just playing around to learn the stuff I'd just stick with what you have.

 

[luckylinux]

Did some skimming and reading of this thread and I'll throw my 2 cents in. I recently actually built a mythtv box that was virtualized in a virtualbox environment on an already existing 2008 server I was using as a fileserver. When it comes to recording TV (assuming that's what you're doing), off my cablecard system the cpu usage is practically negligable. The real power comes into play when you're trans/encoding that video, that's about the only time it really hits my e6850.

Thank you. I know recording only doesn't need lots of performance. Encoding and converting is a whole other story though. It can easily affect the performance of the system, but that usually depends on the codec used / in which format to convert to.

I actually used the CX430 and it's been working great and, according to my kill-a-watt like device it cut power consumption in half over an awful old 750 watt PSU from antec. Obviously some people have problems, but from my confirmation biased point of view, most corsair power supplies are pretty great, and I managed to pick that up for 16 dollars shipped after mail in rebate.

The CX430 is around 50$ here.

I wouldn't have the first clue about the AES situation though, as the most I've done with encryption is some bitlocker stuff. So I'll sit back and read about that, though I wouldn't think that AES would be a necessity to encrypt.

AES-NI is not required, but can accelerate up to 500% operations compared to non-capable systems. These SB CPUs can easily encrypt / decrypt AES at rates of 2.5Gbps or something like that, where my I7-870 doesn't get farther than 400MB/s. We can debate if that is enough to not bottleneck an SSD. Right now (unencrypted) it goes up to 230 MB / s in CrystalDiskMark, and with a SATA-III interface & cable. Still a lot better than a HDD though.

If you're just playing around to learn the stuff I'd just stick with what you have.

It would be surely the least expensive option.
Maybe changing the CPU Cooler (the NH-D14 is around 80$ these days) and overclocking to 4-4.2GHz can make me buy some other time (right now it's stuck at stock speeds ).

 

[kac77]

I'm not entirely sure if the Lian Li is worth to be honest. Here in the U.S, that case costs $200. That's too pricey IMO for a HTPC case considering that regular ATX cases around that price range have better features, better quality, and probably better bang for the buck value.

I would agree that Lian Li cases some times are over priced (Ok most of the time). Quality though is pretty darn high. Every single Lian Li case I've owned has been in a class of it's own. I wouldn't recommend them unless you can afford it. But if you can.... do it. .. I'm about to redo my main desktop machine and it's in a Lian Li and I'll post pics before I swap out the components. Trust me the difference between them and most others are night and day. They do sometimes have me-too models that you can sometimes get through other manufacturers. They are the cheaper ones. But the high priced cases you really can't get anywhere else and they last forever. With some of the other manufacturers I've bought over the years the moment it came time for upgrades I would ditch the case and get something else. With Lian Li generally the case is almost timeless.

As for Linux support, can't help you there: Haven't used Linux on modern hardware in awhile outside of virtual machines.

I can assist here. If you are running Linux do yourself a favor and get an Nvidia card. They are much better at supporting video acceleration API's within Linux than AMD and their performance of accelerating just general graphical content is better than Intel here. I have a GT 430 and it's been great.

 

[luckylinux]

I would agree that Lian Li cases some times are over priced (Ok most of the time). Quality though is pretty darn high. Every single Lian Li case I've owned has been in a class of it's own. I wouldn't recommend them unless you can afford it. But if you can.... do it. .. I'm about to redo my main desktop machine and it's in a Lian Li and I'll post pics before I swap out the components. Trust me the difference between them and most others are night and day. They do sometimes have me-too models that you can sometimes get through other manufacturers. They are the cheaper ones. But the high priced cases you really can't get anywhere else and they last forever. With some of the other manufacturers I've bought over the years the moment it came time for upgrades I would ditch the case and get something else. With Lian Li generally the case is almost timeless.

Thank you. I would however only buy a new case if I'll have to buy an ATX motherboard (Z77) and maybe an IB CPU. I wouldn't know what to do with my current microATX MB and I5-2500K, so let's see if they can be of good use

I can assist here. If you are running Linux do yourself a favor and get an Nvidia card. They are much better at supporting video acceleration API's within Linux than AMD and their performance of accelerating just general graphical content is better than Intel here. I have a GT 430 and it's been great.

I know. I use GNU/Linux on my desktop and notebook too. NVIDIA graphic cards are really amazing, though IMHO the only thing that really sucks on GNU/Linux is Adobe Flash player.
I have a GT430 and GT520 ready to install any time

So that makes all PCI/PCIe slots full (?): 1 x PCIe NVIDIA Graphic card, 1 - 2 x Video aquisition card, 1 x PCIe INTEL NIC.
I also would've wanted to use some kind of music playback, so something like the SOUNDGRAPH iMON UltraBay may be interesting (seems like Linux support it). But my current microATX board only has one 5.25'' bay, while this needs two. Any other reccomendations for this kind of device? Lian Li cases don't seem to offer two non-separated 5.25'' bays in ATX cases, except the PC-C34F which is not available in my country. I would've also liked removable dust-filters from a so-much-expensive case though. Any reccomendations for that ?