config ideas for MythBE/NAS + Myth/XBMC/Boxee FE

[jalyst]

deanjo/movieman/anyone did you see my last few posts? Much appreciated.

[jalyst]

Here is the rough outline I have in mind, I already own parts that are in bold:

1x Intel Core i3 530
1x mATX H57 or Q57 mobo?
2x 2GB DDR3?
1x Asus Xonar Essence ST (PCI)
1x Asus H6 (Essence daughterboard)
1x Hauppauge HVR-2200
1x Antec True Power 3.0 650W
Storage Sub-sys:
1x 30GB SSD? ................................... [boot/system volume]
1x 1TB WD Black ..............................[capture disk, can it handle 4 simultaneous HD streams?]
3x 1/1.5TB 7.2k HDD? .........................[For content storage & BU, may not bother w/RAID]
__________
Low priority
**********
1x HTPC Case? ................................... [Have crappy old Lian-Li (PC-60?) mid-tower]
1x nV GT220? .................................... [only if IGP+CPU proves to be not enough]

Make/model recommendations greatly appreciated!

[movieman]

1x 1TB WD Black ..............................[capture disk, can it handle 4 simultaneous HD streams?]

What bit-rate is broadcast HD these days? I seem to remember that broadcasters are only using around 20Mbps, so I wouldn't imagine you'd have any trouble keeping up, particularly if you have lots of RAM for caching and a file system that doesn't sync all the time.

[jalyst]

Yeah that's it, i was pretty sure i'd be heaps safe on this one, just wanted to check with others.
So any specific makes/models you'd throw in where I haven't mentioned any?

Do you think I'm going to have problems with this as an AIO when I start doing:
flagging, transcoding, 4 hd streams (2 play 2 record) BT dloads, playing media off storage disks etc.

Thanks!

[movieman]

Do you think I'm going to have problems with this as an AIO when I start doing: flagging, transcoding, 4 hd streams (2 play 2 record) BT dloads, playing media off storage disks etc.

My Atom does most of that without any real problems (except it only records one SD broadcast ad a time and transcoding is very slow), so an I3 with twice as much RAM should easily handle it.

[jalyst]

has anyone heard of a h55/7 or q55/7 mATX mobo that has USB3/SATA6G?
I've only been able to find an ATX motherboard that meets those requirements: P7H57D-V EVO

come on ....
doesn't anyone have recommendations for makes/models?! ;-)

[movieman]

doesn't anyone have recommendations for makes/models?! ;-)

I would have suggested the WD Caviar Greens for the storage drives, but lately people have been saying they've had problems with the new versions; I'm not sure whether that's because they've switched to 4k sectors or whether there's something more inexplicable.

[jalyst]

So the mobo is a toss-up between these 6 Gbyte's & Asus's

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...08,3307&Page=1

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...rsk&templete=2
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...FyJ&templete=2
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...N30&templete=2

Only 1 of the 6 has SATA6G and USB3, and it's ATX, such a downer...
Does anyone know of any H55/57 or Q55/57 mATX mobo's that have SATA6G & USB3?
I guess it gets trickier to implement....

[jalyst]

Alas there's no Q5x/H5x mATX mobo's with SATA6G & USB3.
So it come down to these three:

GA-H57M-USB3 $174.0 [may be able to get for this price]
P7H55D-M EVO $179.3 [definitely can get for this price]
P7H57D-V EVO $292.6 [definitely can get for this price]

The last is ATX....
It does have SATA6G & USB3 but is substantially more than the other two.

I've realised that SATAII's "real world" limit is about 300MB/s anyway.
I'm not aware of any 30-40GB SSD's that could reach that limit, even at sustained read speeds.
So it's no big loss, when S6G does filter-down to H5x mATX boards, I can always sell & upgrade.

So these are my finalist parts (in AUD $):
*******************************************
approx $154 1x Intel Core i3-530
approx $179 1x GA-H57M-USB3 or P7H55D-M EVO
approx $145 G.Skill 2x 2GB DDR3 1600Mhz (PC-12800)
Storage Sub-sys:
approx $312 3x 1TB Samsung F3? ........................... [content storage & BU, may not bother w/RAID]
___________
Total = $790
---------------

Can I get some thoughts on this please!
Would you slot something different in?

[jalyst]

Hey...
I used to be able to go back to old posts and edit or delete.
How come I cant any more?