My First HD HTPC/File Server Build Questions - Rate & Suggestions (Long Read, Sorry)

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Zefram0911

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Apr 19, 2002
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Please excuse my ignorance on the subject. I've tried to do the best research that I can and feel like I still fall short in trying to figuring out the best components for my build. I'm a network admin, so working with computers is second nature, but my AV experience isn't as solid. With the help of these forums, I did setup my own home theater. HDTV and 5.1 surround sound. So here goes...

GOALS in order of priority (willing to sacrifice):

1) Play Bluray and HD DVDs. I already have a Toshiba HD-A3 (I picked the wrong format, but that's what I get for early adoption), but would like play both HD formats. I considered picking up a PS3, but thought that a HTPC/File Server would be more functional, plus more fun to boot.

2) Have all my media files in one unit. I'd like to do a RAID 5 array with FIVE 1 TB hard drives. I think that would give me 4TBs of space. I want to be able to rip all my DVDs, Bluray, and HDDVDs and play them from the hard drives. I'll also be downloading tv shows and movies. I'll also be using the space to back up other files and photos.

3) PC Gaming. This one really isn't as crucial, because I already have a high powered water cooled gaming/day to day rig, but it would be nice if from time to time, I could play some first person shooters. If it's doable, great, would be a big plus. If not, I don't really mind so much.

EQUIPMENT LIST
Here are the things I already have from my home theater and parts I have for my HTPC.

Home Theater - OWN
Panasonic 50'' 600U
Yamaha RX-V661
Klipsch Quintet III + Syngery Sub-10
Comcast HD DVR
Toshiba HD-A3
Philips Upconverting DVD
Wii & PS2
Logitech Harmony One

PC Parts & Comments - OWN
Intel Q6600 - Quad core, I know it's overkill, but it's a left over from another build, so I won't have to buy another processor. I know the processor will do 3.6Ghz easily. Might overclock and Folding@Home. I'm concerned about the cpu dumping too much heat into the system though.
4GB (2x2GB) OCZ Reaper PC26400 DDR2 Ram - More spare parts from a previous build.
Microsoft Vista Ultimate 32Bit - Previous build, trying to decide between this and the 64Bit version.

PC Parts & Comments - WILL OR MIGHT PURCHASE - Suggestions and your comments welcomed
Antec Mini P180 - I decided to go with a micro ATX case because space is a premium in an apartment and I just love the solid construction and aesthetics of this case. It's small and quiet. I'm willing to entertain other case suggestions even HTPC cases, but they have to be able to hold at least 4 hard drives. This will be a file server also.
ASUS P5E-VM HDMI - I hear this is the perfect micro ATX motherboard for HTPCs. I'm having a hard time with this one because I don't know whether I'll need a video card and sound card with this. It does do 1080p through built in HDMI and has onboard Coaxial S/PDIF out.
13-131-237-04.jpg

FIVE (5) Western Digital Caviar 1TB Hard Drives - Lots of storage for a 4TB Raid 5 array for cheap. Spins up and down from 7200rpm to 5400rpm as needed. Quiet and cheap. I wanted to fill all five 3.5'' bays in the Antec case. Plus lots of space to fill my needs.
Areca ARC-1220 SATA II Raid Controller Card - A great PCI-Express Raid card with lots of good reviews. A little pricey though. Does support up to 8 hard drives if I ever move out of a micro ATX case/board.
LG Blu-ray/HD DVD ROM GGC-H20L - I don't have a need for a blu-ray burner just yet and the Plextor combo drives are insanely priced, even with a bluray burner. I just need something that reads both HD formats. Seems perfect.
Seasonic M12 SS-700HM - 700W power supply. I honestly am not sure how much of a power supply I need, but 700W seems a little much. I'm waivering between the 700W, 600W, and 500W versions. I love them because they're modular and have a reputation for quiet performance.
Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth Wireless Mini-Keyboard - A nice, sleek, wireless keyboard with trackpad. Great to control everything and even browse the web. If I decide to game I'll need to buy a seperate mouse. I think it'll be a great complement to the Harmony One.

HIS Radeon HD3650 512MB - Fanless video card with HDMI dongle from one of the DVI ports. If I decide to game, I'll need a beefier video solution than onboard. The problem is, I can't find a PCI Raid card to fit my situation.

Auzentech Prelude 7.1 - Great sound card, I have one for my gaming rig. Will a sound card provide better audio than the onboard coaxial S/PDIF out to my receiver?

Now comes the questions...

QUESTIONS
1) Am I going to get the best quality running video through onboard HDMI and great audio through the onbaord coaxial S/PDIF out to my receiver? or can I run everything through the HDMI? This is my main concern really, because if I can figure this out, everything else is set.
2) If not, I'll need to add a video card AND sound card, but then I'll need a different RAID controller.
3) If that's the case, what micro ATX motherboard will support a video card, sound card, and raid card?
4) How big a power supply do I need with this build?
5) Am I missing anything or wrong in picking any of these components? I want something that's good and will last a few years.

Thank you so much already for the forums. Any questions and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Finally..a post that has all the right ingredients!

1. You listed what functionality you wanted.
2. You did your own research on hardware.
3. You have some valid questions.

This is a winner! :D

I have some questions for you though

1. Do you really need a stand alone RAID card when you have that functionality on this board already and before you say a stand alone card is better and the processing is done on the card...I agree..but you have a Quadcore..so is it really a requirement? (BTW, I also have that motherboard and Processor combo in my HTPC and love it!)

2. The case you went with, I guess it's not important to be in a rack or TV stand..etc?

3. The HDMI question is a great question. I wasn't interested in gaming at all so I went with a LP Leadtek 8500GT HDMI card. I run the onboard Coaxial to that, then HDMI to my receiver. I have the new Yamaha HTR6180 and this is where my problem lies. When I ran HDMI through the receiver the color and resolution never looked right even when I stretched it via the Nvidia control panel so I went HDMI straight to the TV and coaxial to my receiver. Not sure why since all my other HDMI inputs work flawlessly, this caused my biggest headache.

4. My biggest concern with this setup would be noise and heat especially if it's going to be close to your HT since you'll be using it to play your HD content. i currently have very very quiet fans in my Origen and use a Zalman 8700NT and it's pretty quiet and I run my q6600 @ 3GHz. I also run a Corsair 450Watt PS, though I only have 1 drive in my system and the LG BlueRay/HD-DVD drive is housed in an external Addtronics USB inclosure with it's own power. My HTPC is in my sig.
 
The P180 Mini is about the same size as many ATX cases out there. So it's not exactly a small case. However dunno of many HTPC or even mATX cases out there that can fit five hard drives
 
Vader said:
1. Do you really need a stand alone RAID card when you have that functionality on this board already and before you say a stand alone card is better and the processing is done on the card...I agree..but you have a Quadcore..so is it really a requirement? (BTW, I also have that motherboard and Processor combo in my HTPC and love it!)

2. The case you went with, I guess it's not important to be in a rack or TV stand..etc?

3. The HDMI question is a great question. I wasn't interested in gaming at all so I went with a LP Leadtek 8500GT HDMI card. I run the onboard Coaxial to that, then HDMI to my receiver. I have the new Yamaha HTR6180 and this is where my problem lies. When I ran HDMI through the receiver the color and resolution never looked right even when I stretched it via the Nvidia control panel so I went HDMI straight to the TV and coaxial to my receiver. Not sure why since all my other HDMI inputs work flawlessly, this caused my biggest headache.

4. My biggest concern with this setup would be noise and heat especially if it's going to be close to your HT since you'll be using it to play your HD content. i currently have very very quiet fans in my Origen and use a Zalman 8700NT and it's pretty quiet and I run my q6600 @ 3GHz. I also run a Corsair 450Watt PS, though I only have 1 drive in my system and the LG BlueRay/HD-DVD drive is housed in an external Addtronics USB inclosure with it's own power. My HTPC is in my sig.
Click to expand...

1. Onboard vs. a dedicated RAID card... my line of thought is that it would be easier to migrate to another motherboard if I decide to upgrade the board, especially if I decide to do a fully blown atx one day and add more drives. The RAID controller has room for 8 drives. Onboard only has 6... and they're all taken up with 1 combo drive and 5 HDDs. Also more reliability? I may be wrong with the last part though.
2. Refer to my response to Danny below. But suggestions that fit my desires/needs would definitely be welcomed.
3. I'm still unsure about the whole HDMI thing. I might wait until G45 boards come out. Maybe the decision will be easier then, because the onboard video is supposedly 1.7X better than the G35s. Is the sound quality with onboard sound worse than a dedicated sound card if I run it to my receiver? Also is coaxial much worse than optical?
4. I'm pretty sure noise won't be much of a problem. I'm going with a TRUE 120 with maybe one fan. The only other fans will be the case fans and a near silent power supply. If I do decide for a video card, I'd would pick a fanless one. There are a few from both red and green that I'm considering. The only noise would be 5 hard drives trashing, but the mini p180 might be enough to dampen the sound. I'll be sitting about 8 feet away from everything.

Danny Bui said:
The P180 Mini is about the same size as many ATX cases out there. So it's not exactly a small case. However dunno of many HTPC or even mATX cases out there that can fit five hard drives
Click to expand...
Yeah, I haven't found any HTPC mini ATX cases that fit the bill with five 3.5'' enclosures. I've seen and touched a mini 180 at a local Fry's and I LOVE it. It's sexy and my wife won't mind it in our living room. But if there is something that fits the bill and fits in my cabinet, even better.
 
I would really suggest getting an external enclosure for those 5 drives and just connect them via esata since obviously you are trying to overkill on performance. The trend is to small and quiet btw.

I just ripped 100 DVDs from my collection to straight VIDEO_TS folders, ie no compression over the default mpeg2 of dvd, and they only took up about 450 gig on a single drive.

I would suggest picking up drives one at a time as you need them. Serving ripped blu-ray or hd-dvd movies hasn't been really sorted out yet as far as I can tell so you're talking about dumping an extra 1k into something that there will literally be no tangible benefit from.
 
McG2k1 said:
I would really suggest getting an external enclosure for those 5 drives and just connect them via esata since obviously you are trying to overkill on performance. The trend is to small and quiet btw.

I just ripped 100 DVDs from my collection to straight VIDEO_TS folders, ie no compression over the default mpeg2 of dvd, and they only took up about 450 gig on a single drive.

I would suggest picking up drives one at a time as you need them. Serving ripped blu-ray or hd-dvd movies hasn't been really sorted out yet as far as I can tell so you're talking about dumping an extra 1k into something that there will literally be no tangible benefit from.
Click to expand...

I'm just using what I have laying around and I'm fielding options. I'm not too keen on the idea of external enclosures. I want everything in one unit.
 
Answering your questions now that I've done a bit research:
1) Good quality through onboard HDMI, yes. Audio, still unsure about this. Apparently for audio through HDMI, the motherboard will need to support DTS/DD connect.

Just a quote that I found:
CrimandEvil said:
The Gigabyte board supports DTS/DD connect which means it will take your audio source and remix it into either DTS or DD audio on the fly and it will also shot that DTS/DD audio over to the build in HDMI port; Gigabytes the only one to support this feature on their mobo.

The reason why this is cool is because of BlueRay movies; That neat lossless TrueHD audio gets decoded and then encoded into DTS on the fly and shot out to the HDMI port. Check the FAQ at the top of this forum for some links as to how TrueHD on the PC is broken and you'll see why this feature is awesome for an HTPC.
Click to expand...

2) Dunno of any good PCI Hardware RAID controllers. The really good ones are on PCI-E as you can tell.
4) With your setup, a Corsair 620HX is all that you need:
Corsair 620HX 620W Modular PSU - $140

If you don't care about modular cables, go with this PSU instead:
Corsair 650TX 650W PSU - $110

5) Better drop the gaming requirement. There are no mATX mobos today that have two PCI-E x16 slots that can support a quad-core CPU.
 
Why are you going to uATX, yet utilizing a case that has the footprint of a standard ATX? Might as well just go with a standard ATX MB and get all you need, otherwise change the case (see my build at http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1032384438#post1032384438 if you need more ideas on how to maximize uATX footprint).

For info on G35 1080p HDMI video and audio output see, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=938473 . I'm not thoroughly impressed with G35, but then again I've been using it under XP (Vista support is supposedly much improved, especially for PowerDVD BD playback). I used the onboard coaxial spidf output to my receiver without a hitch, played great. On board raid is good also, but PITA to configure (need floppy boot disk).

Why also Q6600 and not a Q9300 45nm, that is as fast but runs cooler and consumes less power? In fact, even a E8200 should be sufficient (that's what I'm considering *downgrading* to). If this setup is in your living room, your priority should be 1) noise 2) function 3) power and 4) speed.

700W is way overkill, since most of your power consumption will be from 5V rail for HDD, and not the 12V for mobo.I'd say 500W is more than enough.

You're on the right track, just need to consolidate a little more...
 
The rule is:
Intel= needs a video card, IGPs are garbage for HTPC use.
AMD= can use the IGP, works great.
NV= Don't bother with their Intel boards, they're garbage, and their AMD boards are behind AMD's chipsets.

S_T said:
For info on G35 1080p HDMI video and audio output see, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=938473 . I'm not thoroughly impressed with G35, but then again I've been using it under XP (Vista support is supposedly much improved, especially for PowerDVD BD playback).
Click to expand...
A little background:
Intel's G965 was "capable" of HiDef DVD playback but it had crappy drivers and issues in silicone that prevented it from actually being able too.

Intel's G33 suffered from many of the same issues.

Intel's G35 was suppose to have correct this; they got it right in the silicone but failed again with the drivers. Intel has decided to hold off on actually doing anything about it and instead wait for the G45 to correct the software/driver problems.

If you want to use a mobo's IGP then your only choice is AMD's 780G since it's the only competent IGP for HTPC usage out there (until we see what NV has done with their 8x00 series mobos).

I would suggest seperating the two projects and building a seperate HTPC and a seperate server because it just makes so much fucking sense and you don't want to deal with the potential instability that combining the two will bring (unless your just doing simple file sharing but your not).
 
S_T said:
Why also Q6600 and not a Q9300 45nm, that is as fast but runs cooler and consumes less power?
Click to expand...

He already had the Q6600 on hand. Can't blame him on wanting to reuse it.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I would suggest seperating the two projects and building a seperate HTPC and a seperate server because it just makes so much fucking sense and you don't want to deal with the potential instability that combining the two will bring (unless your just doing simple file sharing but your not).
Click to expand...

Right, but the whole point of this project is to combine both. I don't have the desire to manage another box in my tiny apartment.

S_T said:
Why are you going to uATX, yet utilizing a case that has the footprint of a standard ATX? Might as well just go with a standard ATX MB and get all you need, otherwise change the case (see my build at http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1032384438#post1032384438 if you need more ideas on how to maximize uATX footprint).

For info on G35 1080p HDMI video and audio output see, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=938473 . I'm not thoroughly impressed with G35, but then again I've been using it under XP (Vista support is supposedly much improved, especially for PowerDVD BD playback). I used the onboard coaxial spidf output to my receiver without a hitch, played great. On board raid is good also, but PITA to configure (need floppy boot disk).

Why also Q6600 and not a Q9300 45nm, that is as fast but runs cooler and consumes less power? In fact, even a E8200 should be sufficient (that's what I'm considering *downgrading* to). If this setup is in your living room, your priority should be 1) noise 2) function 3) power and 4) speed.

700W is way overkill, since most of your power consumption will be from 5V rail for HDD, and not the 12V for mobo.I'd say 500W is more than enough.
Click to expand...

I'm using the mini P180 because it's the only small case I can find that has room for 5 hard drives. Using the Q6600, because it's already laying around and I don't want to buy another 45nm processor. I'm using as many spare parts as I have laying around. About the power supply, yep, it's over powered. I'm definitely getting something in the 500W range.

Thanks for the info and experiences with the G35. I may wait for the G45, but I'm really itching to get this done soon.
 
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