[Knubje]

Hi,

I am going to be building a media server which I will be running Windows Home Server as a main O/S with XBMC as my media package of choice

It will be directly connected to my TV and will sit inside a cabinet.

Core components I'm looking at:

Mobo) – GigaByte S775 NVidia S775 Nvidia GF9400 2XDDRII-800 1333FSB RAID HDMI GBE LAN FIREWIRE M-ATX MOTHERBOARD

Cpu) – Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 ‘Wolfdale’ 2.93GHZ

RAM)– Crucial Value 2GB DDR2 PC6400C6

Disk)– WD Caviar 1TB HD SATAII 32MB

I am going to use this computer only really for playing HD Movies/Blue Ray/Music connected to my home TV through HDMI. I will also have it as a file server on my home network.

Given the above spec, will there be any problems with using XBMC? Is the hardware capable?

[Knubje]

I guess that as no one posted they are either not sure or it will be fine

Hmmm, I'll take a punt anyway!

[Drelaz]

First off i would call this a HTPC that stores data locally which you also make available to the rest off the network. Its primair use it to play the file itself so its more a HTPC then a server.

Anyway the geforce 9300/9400 chipset is still the best one available atm for HTPCs. Unfortunately for some weird reason its declared EoL and isn't for sale anymore. But yeah if you have one then it would be a good choice. However i would wait a month to see how the new Intel Clarkdale processors will perform, these processors will replace Core 2 duo's.

Edit:
I see you got an answer here already:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-cine...erver.html

I would still go for the E7500 as you want to be sure your HTPC can play all files. Well beside waiting abit for the Clarkdale that is. Thats what i'm doing.

[Knubje]

Thanks for the input!

The chances are this isn't getting built until early next year anyway so there is a good chance the Clarkdale will be out by then. All depends on price and budget.

The second motherboard I mentioned is MSI and almost the same as the initial one. All of which should do the job I think.

You are probably right about the HTPC/NAS too

[Geeba]

Not sure I'd have a WHS box plugged in me telly - its actually designed not to have a GFX card... I do run one in mine as I do alot with it but I mostly remote to it.... you could use it as the file server too..... as a server the CPU is complete overkill... I run a single core 775 P4 3.4Ghz and it will serve up 1080p Blue Ray rip without so much as breaking a sweat.....

What about putting your new 1TB drive in the old server upgrading to WHS... letting that serve up movies and media and running a USB install of Live on the new hardware... ?

[Knubje]

Hmm, you could be right about WHS, although a friend of mine has this setup (iirc) and uses XBMC and it all works fine.

I was thinking about W7 or WHS to be honest, the OS isn't a big deal. I want a system that will do it all effectively. You could be right about the CPU and I might downscale it back to the E5500 instead of the 7500. Saving £50 and it still do the job I'd be happy with.

I don't have an old server, this is a completely new build hence I want to do it all

[Geeba]

My first server was an old PC destin for the skip - .... people bin old P4's these days... I recently had a Dell 2Ghz machine from a friend... it was going in his car boot to the tip! Just call me stig of the dump! LOL!!!