HTPC/NAS or separate?

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Linglan

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Dec 14, 2002
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Planning on build HTPC but I need a NAS to store all the media for 1080P movie

so question will be do I put together a HTPC with multiple HD inside or a separate NAS with standalone Media Player?
 
I would say do a separate NAS for movies. Then use the HTPC for recorded shows. Only full ATX case HTPC's would have enough room to do more than 4 HDDs. Once you hit that limit you'll be opening up the case again.....like I did last year.

If you do a separate NAS you can get a case that maximizes hard drive space. Not impossible to do with a HTPC but not nearly as easy as a Full ATX case.
 
I'm running a lian li pc-q25 as a vmware esx server with media center and home server. I have a separate htpc that it streams from. Using a silicon dust hdhomerun with cable card to record. 5 hard drives + 1 wd raptor.
 
If you're comfortable with ESXi and virtualization, I'd recommend a HTPC/NAS combo. If you're not, I'd recommend seperating the two as it gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of OS selection and storage solutions/methods
 
It all depends on how many HDDs you want to use. DVDs compressed are under 2gigs so a 2 TB HDD would store Just under 1,000 DVDs blurays depends on the quality so say 5 to 12gigs or under 100 movies per disk. If you think your going to doing high quality movies to one computer and that is it then you might want to just get a case the can support many HDDs and buy drives as needed. If you want to stream to more then one computer then a separate NAS is the way to go.
 
lian li pc-q25 that is an awesome case for server
guess I will go separate, thanks for all the reply :)

another question, build NAS or buy prebuild like QNAP or Synology?
 
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I've currently got mine together in one box using a Lian Li PC-354B case. It fits PERFECTLY in my entertainment center and has plenty of room for HDDs. Since it's on all the time anyway for recorded shows, I haven't had any problems streaming to whatever device(s) I want - no need to have two boxes powered up 24/7.

That being said, I've recently been exploring building an unraid box just to get some redundancy with my data, rather than keeping manual backups.
 
You could always just upgrade to a NAS later as needed. I'm in a bit of the same quandry - I've got a HTPC using WMC for recorded shows (dedicated recording drive) and have a separate 2TB drive for all my Media (1080p movies/pictures/music/etc). I have enough room for another 2-3TB drive and figure I'll expand once I fill my current 2TB.

Once the next drive fills up, I'm considering adding a QNAP or similar and moving all that data to an external NAS. But for now, a Win7 HTPC with internal media drive(s) suffice just fine. Yes, this doesn't really answer the backup/redundancy question, but it works well for now - though I do have a monthly backup of pics/music to a network attached backup drive for the irrecoverable stuff.
 
here are the spec I will thinking about building, care to check if it is over kill?
right now I will use this as HTPC/NAS for now since it will be put beside the TV, will become my NAS in future
it will be streaming 1080P movie to TV and PC, and I never record TV show...

CPU: I3 2125T
MB : Asrock Z77M-ITX
Ram: 2x 4G DDR3 ram whatever the cheapest, it is damn cheap anyway
SSD: 32GB mSATA for OS
HD : 1x 2TB HD, too expensive, just whatever work will expand when price drop
Power : Seasonic 380W
Case: Lian Li pc-q25
 
Danny Bui said:
If you're comfortable with ESXi and virtualization, I'd recommend a HTPC/NAS combo. If you're not, I'd recommend seperating the two as it gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of OS selection and storage solutions/methods
Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly with this (granted, getting the htpc vga passthrough to go is not a straight-forward affair). In general though, separating your htpc from your file serving has so many benefits that its definitely worth doing - whether that's by physical systems or by virtualization, there's upsides to each. The most frustration usually comes from having all your media storage tied directly into your htpc (OS-wise), such that you're limited with a lot of your options, even simple maintenance on either results in taking the other down, and random conflicts become much bigger issues.
 
Linglan said:
CPU: I3 2125T
Click to expand...
Two things: First, that CPU doesn't exist. Did you mean the i3 2120T? Or did you mean the i3 2125? Second, if you meant the i3 2120T, I wouldn't recommend it. The regular Core i3 2125 actually has about the same idle power usage as the i3 2120T. The i3 2120T uses less power than the i3 2125 due to the fact that it's clocked a whole lot lower. Which means that it'll take longer doing tasks which means more power being used. As such, you're better off with the Core i3 2125: Similar power usage, slightly cheaper, and faster.

Linglan said:
MB : Asrock Z77M-ITX
Click to expand...
I generally don't trust AsRock's quality nor do I like how short their warranty are. I recommend getting the Asus Z77 mITX mobos instead.
Linglan said:
Ram: 2x 4G DDR3 ram whatever the cheapest, it is damn cheap anyway
Click to expand...
Just make sure that the RAM is rated at 1.5V. Any higher and you risk damage to the CPU.
 
tyty :) :) :)
well, unfortunately, over here, Asus sell for twice the price for that Asrock mb :(
at least warranty is 3 years, so still good I guess.
 
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From everything I've heard, Asrock should be fine assuming you get a working unit out the gate. Just make sure to test it fully first, as the biggest complaint seems to be DOA rate (including individual components that would still allow otherwise normal operation). However, the reviews in general of the asrock boards' functionality usually are pretty favorable, not to mention their desktop 1155 sb boards often played nice with vt-d whereas asus completely dropped the ball on that front.

Disclaimer: I haven't personally worked with asrock mb's (and in contrast to my post, have had otherwise very favorable experiences with asus boards).
 
just saw this Asus P8H77-I
any different between Asus Z77-I ?

just read Anandtech, looks like I only need H77, not going to overclock anyway or use PCIE, so Z77 features are useless
 
Linglan said:
just saw this Asus P8H77-I
any different between Asus Z77-I ?

just read Anandtech, looks like I only need H77, not going to overclock anyway or use PCIE, so Z77 features are useless
Click to expand...

The P8H77-I also has 6 SATA ports. I was looking at the Asrock Z77 ITX board, which had a msata slot... but rethinking that now w/ the P8H77-I since I am to build a NAS w/ it using a Lian-Li PC-Q25 case... and possibly throw my ceton cablecard tuner in it as well.
 
I'm interested in that motherboard too but doesn't seem to be readily available for purchase in North America yet. Had this same problem trying to procure a P8H67-I vanilla as well.
 
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