sam9s HTPC Project! powered by XBMC!!

[srinisundar]

Hi srini

I believe that the NAS which i referred is for 2-bay with a total capacity of 6tb with the intro of 3tb drives. I have put a benchmark of 6tb as of now for a period of say 2 to 3 yrs but who knows as you said it might grow with the broadband boom in India where people are getting 4mbps speed so i believe the time frame is going to be short for even a 10tb collection. My only consideration of this out-of-box NAS being low power and efficient for my needs (torrent download and serving my htpc). I think DIY NAS may not function with the same low power but might be efficient. If you are running it 24/7 then i think these kind of boxes make sense rather than going for DIY. What do you say?

Hi,
If you are going to store only music on the NAS definitely 6TB is more than enough for your life time. But if you are going to add movies in that, you will need more. Movie storage that too depend on the size of the rip you are going to have.
As you said may be out of the box NAS can be power efficient, since built NAS can draw as like your HTPC system. I Will dig out net to check the power factor/consumption.

 

[manniraj]

Hi,
If you are going to store only music on the NAS definitely 6TB is more than enough for your life time. But if you are going to add movies in that, you will need more. Movie storage that too depend on the size of the rip you are going to have.
As you said may be out of the box NAS can be power efficient, since built NAS can draw as like your HTPC system. I Will dig out net to check the power factor/consumption.

I can see from your signature that you have 8tb WD NAS can you tell me where did you procure it or is it a DIY.

 

[manniraj]

Hi all,

there is a deal going on for "deal of the day" at itdepot.com for GT520 for Rs.2999. Check this out Theitdepot - Asus GeForce GT520 1GB GDDR3 NVidia PCI E Graphics Card (ENGT520 SILENT-DI-1GD3-LP) Looks like a good deal. Anybody interested can get it immediately before the last stock.

 

[srinisundar]

I can see from your signature that you have 8tb WD NAS can you tell me where did you procure it or is it a DIY.

I got it from USA. This is exhausted already and on the verge of building an bigger one.. so doing my eyes rolling all over wherever NAS were quoted.

 

[sam9s]

Oh good then it is in the process. I was looking into a out of the box item as well something like Newegg.com - Synology DS211J Diskless System DiskStation 2-bay NAS Server for Small Office and Home Use and it is one of the best selling simple NAS. I am thinking of procuring this sometime in Oct/Dec as one of my friend is coming down from US. I am going to use the NAS only for torrent download and for my htpc to load movies/music. What do you think??

well out of the box certainly is easier to procure but lands up pretty expensive ........the above NAS link you shared .........even if you just convert the USD it lands to about 9000, without the HDD, add two 1 TB HDD (bare minimum for a NAS) the cost shoots to 14000. I have my DIY NAS (WIP) with two 1TB HDD for around 8000. (4+4).
Also if you do built/buy a NAS dont just stick to torrents and storage, there is lot more you can do with a NAS

This thread was an inspiration to me to go for HTPC though I have a A.C.Ryan Palyon HD in my HT.With this thread as basic guide and other threads as followup I ordered the following with my regular computer supplier.

Asus P8H 67mlx Board
Core i3 2100
Nvidia GT440 GPU
Silverstone Sugo series SG02B f00020 Case.
CM460W SMPS PSU
Coarsair 4GB DDR3 RAM
Sony BD5300 BD drive.
Seagate 1 Tb HDD ( It is from my stock)

For this they quoted Rs 37650(Without HDD) and i placed order for the same.Now they say the above silverstone sugo is not available and only Silerstone LC16B MR 220 and LC 20B are available and both the above model costs Rs11500 and if i opt for this case then my total cost will go up by another Rs7000 which i like to avoid.Pls suggest some other case wih the availability foraround Rs 5000 for the above configuration.

Beautifull hardware there visakara, you will enjoy building this one .....about the case, you can order from itdepot. Check out this page ...

Theitdepot - Computer Cabinets
Refine the search from choosing "Media Center Case" from the left menu ......

Hi,
If you are going to store only music on the NAS definitely 6TB is more than enough for your life time. But if you are going to add movies in that, you will need more. Movie storage that too depend on the size of the rip you are going to have.

The main objective of NAS is to get lots of centralised stroage, with your backup solution so that you data remains safe ..... the basic min size for a NAS would start with atleast 2TB of HDD. I for one is starting with 4 TB and would ramp it up to atleast 25-30 TB within 6 months ....... I wont have torrents, as I prefer direct downloads, but will have proper RAID and backup, will run on NFS. It will also act as my FTP server. With a public ip (waiting for it) I shall be able to access/manage my 24x7 running NAS via internet throughout the world

 

[manniraj]

Hi Sam

Thanks for the suggestion. I have also started thinking of going with the DIY for NAS. Can you suggest me good/efficient/economical mobo+processor combo for my NAS, I would be sourcing this thru my friend from US who is planning to come down to India sometime in Sept. The rest of the hardware case/ram/psu I will source it here in India.

 

[jeevabobby26]

hi sam9s,

Congratulations on your Succesive HTPC Project.:clapping::clapping::clapping:

Your HTPC work is very good and you are inspirational to many members to do an HTPC. The work and the way you exposed every thing on HTPC in this thread helps everyone and it leads to do forum members to do there own HTPC.

After your XBMC Powered HTPC project, many members were started to build thereo own HTPC more or less same as your HTPC.

Me too will soon begin a HTPC. My system is an 4 years old i think.

1) Intel 945GCPE Motherboard
2) Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 CPU 2.2 Ghz
3) Transcend 1GB DDR2 RAM
4) HDD Capacity is 160GB Seagate Sata

Give me suggestions, if i can able to do an HTPC based on this old system.
What are all the hardwares and Softwares i need to build a HTPC. Waiting for your advise and suggestions.

Thanks in advance

 

[sam9s]

Hi Sam

Thanks for the suggestion. I have also started thinking of going with the DIY for NAS. Can you suggest me good/efficient/economical mobo+processor combo for my NAS, I would be sourcing this thru my friend from US who is planning to come down to India sometime in Sept. The rest of the hardware case/ram/psu I will source it here in India.

Any post Pentium 4 processor with compatible mobo/PSU and 2-4GB DDR2 ram would do ..... NAS hardware is no big deal ... get it from some old hardware shope .....

hi sam9s,

Congratulations on your Succesive HTPC Project.:clapping::clapping::clapping:

Your HTPC work is very good and you are inspirational to many members to do an HTPC. The work and the way you exposed every thing on HTPC in this thread helps everyone and it leads to do forum members to do there own HTPC.

After your XBMC Powered HTPC project, many members were started to build thereo own HTPC more or less same as your HTPC.

Me too will soon begin a HTPC. My system is an 4 years old i think.

1) Intel 945GCPE Motherboard
2) Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 2.2 Ghz
3) Transcend 1GB DDR2 RAM

Give me suggestions, if i can able to do an HTPC based on this old system.
What are all the hardwares and Softwares i need to build a HTPC. Waiting for your advise and suggestions.

Thanks in advance

Thank you my friend, your hardware looks good. I could not find if your board has PCIe or AGP. Are you sure its a C2D Board and not Pentium Dual Core board..... both are pretty different procs you know....... RAM you can increase to 1GB ... its just a 500 bucks investment ....

 

[manniraj]

Any post Pentium 4 processor with compatible mobo/PSU and 2-4GB DDR2 ram would do ..... NAS hardware is no big deal ... get it from some old hardware shope .....

Thanks and would this be power efficient or the new series i3 cpu and mobo's will be as it is going to run 24/7.

 

[sam9s]

its would be less power hungry than the i3 .... plus why to spend on i3. It would be an over kill ...... get a Dual Core processor ..... 2-300 watt max is what you need for NAS. but quality PSU as its gonna run 24X7

 

[jeevabobby26]

Thank you my friend, your hardware looks good. I could not find if your board has PCIe or AGP. Are you sure its a C2D Board and not Pentium Dual Core board..... both are pretty different procs you know....... RAM you can increase to 1GB ... its just a 500 bucks investment ....

hi,

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate that. Yes im sure its Intel Core2Duo Processor, i have my original bill copy of that entire system configuration i bought at that time. Actually i mention the system configuration details by seeing the bill copy before posting it in here. And about PCIe or AGP, my board has PCI. There are 2 PCI connector slots in this board. Right now the Ram capacity is DDR2 1GB in this Core2Duo Board, if you want me increase the RAM to 2GB. I will add another DDR2 1Gb RAM in the second slot provided.

1) Dynet DDR2 800MHz 1GB Desktop Memory - Rs.560/-
2) Transcend DDR2 800MHz 1GB Desktop Memory - Rs.760/-
3) Kingston DDR2 800MHz 1GB Desktop Memory - Rs.950/-

These are the RAMs i have from a local dealer. Which one will be best suited or better go for the same Transcend brand i already have in my board.

Thanks

 

[sam9s]

If you do not have a PCIe then you should atleast have AGP. Or do we have onboard graphics .... You processor is more than sufficient. I am just concerned for the GPU.
For RAM any ram would do ALA its DDR2. If you already have transcend then yest its better to go for another transcend ....

 

[vasishta.sushant]

^^^
Get the Transcend, preferably the one with same latency. Running two 1 GB sticks of same specifications will give you better results than a 2GB stick of same specs since the two sticks will be configured in dual channel mode and thus offer better throughput.

Also you might wanna confirm if the prices are of DDR3 or DDR2. The prices look more like DDR3 prices. DDR2 prices are a lot higher.

 

[jeevabobby26]

If you do not have a PCIe then you should atleast have AGP. Or do we have onboard graphics .... You processor is more than sufficient. I am just concerned for the GPU.
For RAM any ram would do ALA its DDR2. If you already have transcend then yest its better to go for another transcend ....

hi,

I truely dont know the difference between PCIe and PCI. Please expalin me, im a noob in this and im not computer guy. But my C2D board has the PCI Connector Slot 1 @ Slot 2, thats what the quick reference manaul says. I dont have any onboard graphics. Suggest me a good GPU. For RAM i will settle on Transcend brand itself as you and sushant said. Thanks

^^^
Get the Transcend, preferably the one with same latency. Running two 1 GB sticks of same specifications will give you better results than a 2GB stick of same specs since the two sticks will be configured in dual channel mode and thus offer better throughput.

Also you might wanna confirm if the prices are of DDR3 or DDR2. The prices look more like DDR3 prices. DDR2 prices are a lot higher.

Hi Sushant,

Thanks for your inputs too on this. Yes, i confirm the prices are for DDR2 RAMs not for DDR3 RAMs.

 

[sam9s]

hi,

I truely dont know the difference between PCIe and PCI. Please expalin me, im a noob in this and im not computer guy. But my C2D board has the PCI Connector Slot 1 @ Slot 2, thats what the quick reference manaul says. I dont have any onboard graphics. Suggest me a good GPU. For RAM i will settle on Transcend brand itself as you and sushant said. Thanks

Ok tell me how do you connect your monitor from your CPU.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

its would be less power hungry than the i3 .... plus why to spend on i3. It would be an over kill

Overkill i agree, more power hungry, i disagree. both e4500 and core i3 2100 are 65W TDP processores, core i3 2100 has an idle power consumption of 5W and when you compare TDP with processing power, core i3 2100 blows e4500 out of the park.

Not revelant to OP as he has the hardware already..but just saying

Some body looking for a NAS i heard..

http://www.hifivision.com/general-lounge/19526-new-buisness-network-attached-storage.html

 

[jeevabobby26]

Ok tell me how do you connect your monitor from your CPU.

The monitor to CPU is connected by an VGA Cord.

 

[sam9s]

The monitor to CPU is connected by an VGA Cord.

By CPU I think you mean the Mobo, which means onboard graphics .... onboard graphics for this gen boards were not that good. Are you able to play 720p/1080p content via say vlc or MPC .. ??

 

[jeevabobby26]

By CPU I think you mean the Mobo, which means onboard graphics .... onboard graphics for this gen boards were not that good. Are you able to play 720p/1080p content via say vlc or MPC .. ??

From CPU cabinet backside i have VGA output connection for connecting my Monitor, thats how i connected my CPU and Monitor. I dont use this system for playing 720p or 1080p movies.But if i have to play or check, i use VLC and KMP. Yes the onboard graphics is so so 1000 times poor than any. Thats why i dont use this for Videos or gamings. Ok what i have to do for Graphics Card. Which one brand and model to go, which one will be best suited for this board and HTPC use.

 

[sam9s]

^^ As far as I see it does not have AGP neither does it have PCIe, so you can not put any external GPU. Onboard graphics are no good..... I am sorry to say, if at all you want to go for an HTPC you have to purchase a new/second hand board with a PCIe. You can however use the same processor as that seems to be sufficient .....