Can you help with media server and occasional encoding build?

[toontoon]

Here's what I'm thinking

CPU - cheapest Quad core since speed isn't a concern
CPU cooler - quietest that can cool the above
Motherboard - Whichever supports the above CPU and has onboard graphics
Memory - 4GB, speed not important
HD - 4x2TB, speed not important
DVD writer - any
Case - smallest, quietest that all of the above will fit into, the smaller the better preferably
PSU - quietest with enough power to run all of the above

K/B, mouse, monitor and OS not needed

Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[95thrifles]

As you want 4 HDDs rules out ITx actualy, so a nice Athlon x4 mATX build would be best

Hows this look? There are smaller cases out there, but not that will take 4 HDDs

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £79.99
4 x Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA-II 64MB Cache - OEM (WD20EARS) £74.99 x 4 = £299.96
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard £69.98
BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W Power Supply £42.98
Silverstone SST-PS03B Precision Midi Tower Case - Black £40.84
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC) £35.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 939 / AM2 / AM3 / 775 / 1155/ 1156 / 1366) £19.39
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £11.99
Total : £601.12

 

[JonJ678]

As you want 4 HDDs rules out ITx actualy, so a nice Athlon x4 mATX build would be best

How so? See Wolvers build; four hard drives and itx is comfortably achievable these days.

I'm curious about the quad core, speed not important bit. A dual core will use less electricity, and so will be cooler and quieter. It'll still offer ample performance for a htpc, and it doesn't really matter if occasional encoding takes a bit longer. A 3ghz intel dual core from the core 2 duo days is fast enough to transcode most things below HD on the fly if need be. I'm not sure what it takes to transcode 1080p in real time, that might be an argument for a fast quad core.

Personally, I would be looking at an i3 530, which isn't sandy bridge, with the mini-itx gigabyte board which proved so popular. If speed really doesn't matter, the range of undervolting options will drop the idle power consumption to the region of an atom, and if speed does matter a little bit, 3ghz undervolted or 4ghz while still quiet are comfortably available.

The reason I would be looking at a fast dual core is that I would like the htpc to do other things as well, such as backing up all the other computers in the house, compressing their backups, and uploading them somewhere. The movie skipping because the htpc is doing other things would annoy me, so I'm inclined to over-specify the processor.

Size and quiet are opposing factors I'm afraid. Quiet is related to power consumption, but also to size, in that big quiet things are a lot easier than tiny quiet things.

 

[toontoon]

Looks great, I'll have a good look into that

Thanks

 

[toontoon]

How so? See Wolvers build; four hard drives and itx is comfortably achievable these days.

I'm curious about the quad core, speed not important bit. A dual core will use less electricity, and so will be cooler and quieter. It'll still offer ample performance for a htpc, and it doesn't really matter if occasional encoding takes a bit longer. A 3ghz intel dual core from the core 2 duo days is fast enough to transcode most things below HD on the fly if need be. I'm not sure what it takes to transcode 1080p in real time, that might be an argument for a fast quad core.

Personally, I would be looking at an i3 530, which isn't sandy bridge, with the mini-itx gigabyte board which proved so popular. If speed really doesn't matter, the range of undervolting options will drop the idle power consumption to the region of an atom, and if speed does matter a little bit, 3ghz undervolted or 4ghz while still quiet are comfortably available.

The reason I would be looking at a fast dual core is that I would like the htpc to do other things as well, such as backing up all the other computers in the house, compressing their backups, and uploading them somewhere. The movie skipping because the htpc is doing other things would annoy me, so I'm inclined to over-specify the processor.

Size and quiet are opposing factors I'm afraid. Quiet is related to power consumption, but also to size, in that big quiet things are a lot easier than tiny quiet things.

I just chose quad core because I fancied one, not really essential to be honest. The dual core sounds interesting, I'll have a look at the thread you posted

Thanks for your help

 

[95thrifles]

snip

I wouldnt mind but I was only reading through his build a couple days ago as well, memory like a gold fish at times, lol