[dagatech]

Hi folks, would appreciate your thoughts on the choices I've made. My current XBMC machine is 5 years old and has started to act up with occasional BSODs. So it's new build time. I'm a pretty basic user - 2D only, 720p/1080p mkvs, etc. nothing fancy. However, I would like to be somewhat future compatible, and quiet/cool is a priority as well. Maybe down the road I'll convert this box into an NAS and pick up a cheap xbmc player (CuBox-i, I'm looking your way). Therefore, I've come up with the following:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H87I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $59.99)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case ($54.99)
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 400W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (taken from old machine)
Total: $290.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-22 11:20 EDT-0400)

Install OpenElec on a 32gb USB 3.0 drive I have, and be in business. Does this make sense? Anything I'm not thinking about?

Thanks!

[edit] oh right, storage! I have two 1tb wd greens, and a 2tb samsung ecogreen, that would come from the old machine to the new. no current need for more space.

[allan87]

Well, it is 400X as power hungry as a raspberry pi. (FYI, I find he only performance issue with the pi relates to addons to access remote (internet) media - not playback, just the python scripts that navigate to the media). If your primary use is local media playback, it has advantages - size, power consumption, CEC support...

[dagatech]

Well, it is 400X as power hungry as a raspberry pi. (FYI, I find he only performance issue with the pi relates to addons to access remote (internet) media - not playback, just the python scripts that navigate to the media). If your primary use is local media playback, it has advantages - size, power consumption, CEC support...

Yeah, i know the PSU is probably overkill, but I already have it and want to save money. And I don't know that a Pi would work for my needs - would I just connect the various drives by USB or something? I don't really like that idea...plus, as I said I would like to turn this into an NAS at some point.

[allan87]

1. The Pi has two USB ports and 100 Base-T ethernet.

The widely accepted 'best practices' setup uses one of the USB ports for a USB stick to hold the 'storage' volume, but I see no reason why you could not use a small partition on one of the drives for this purpose. You would need powered enclosures and, if you wanted to attach all three drives in three enclosures, a powered USB hub.

I have no media physically attached. My media is on:
- a 2TB NAS (WD MyBook Live) in the basement not close to full
- a 500 GB volume on a computer in my home office, running my myth backend.

2. A Pi can function as a NAS. Openelec shares by SMB out of the box.

3. I would be very unhappy with a NAS running 24/7 off a 400 watt pawer supply. at 20¢ per KWh, 100 watts would cost $175 for the year. That would pay for a 3TB mybook live.

Now, as I mentioned, if you use addons to stream internet video, the navigation is slow, very slow, and you would likely be dissatisfied.

[cwide]

Well, it is 400X as power hungry as a raspberry pi. (FYI, I find he only performance issue with the pi relates to addons to access remote (internet) media - not playback, just the python scripts that navigate to the media). If your primary use is local media playback, it has advantages - size, power consumption, CEC support...

How did you arrive at 400X as power hungry?

[allan87]

How did you arrive at 400X as power hungry?

It isn't really, just potentially so, depending on its efficiency, the amount of power being drawn by the components etc. That's why I used 100 watts wrt the NAS scenario above. Suffice it to say that the proposed design is many, many times more power hungry. The OP can better determine what his design will actually draw and I hope he took the 400W comment with a grain of salt. FYI, the raspberry pi uses about 1 watt and runs 24/7. The MyBook Live NAS uses about 10 watts when it is active.

[dagatech]

1. The Pi has two USB ports and 100 Base-T ethernet.

The widely accepted 'best practices' setup uses one of the USB ports for a USB stick to hold the 'storage' volume, but I see no reason why you could not use a small partition on one of the drives for this purpose. You would need powered enclosures and, if you wanted to attach all three drives in three enclosures, a powered USB hub.

I have no media physically attached. My media is on:
- a 2TB NAS (WD MyBook Live) in the basement not close to full
- a 500 GB volume on a computer in my home office, running my myth backend.

2. A Pi can function as a NAS. Openelec shares by SMB out of the box.

3. I would be very unhappy with a NAS running 24/7 off a 400 watt pawer supply. at 20¢ per KWh, 100 watts would cost $175 for the year. That would pay for a 3TB mybook live.

Now, as I mentioned, if you use addons to stream internet video, the navigation is slow, very slow, and you would likely be dissatisfied.

Interesting. I don't really like the idea of having three external enclosures sitting out, to be honest, but it is an alternative. I do occasionally stream internet video, not frequently but sometimes. I just did a little reading on using a Pi as an NAS, and it seems like bandwidth gets pretty severely limited. It's true that at the moment my needs are pretty basic, but I really want flexibility for the future. I suppose the Pi is cheap enough that I could always upgrade later on, but...I dunno, I guess I just prefer the idea of an actual computer box. Call me old fashioned

Okay, I also just did some reading on power draws. It seems like idle wattage, assuming I allow the Intel low power states (yes) and program openelec to spin down the drives when not active (will try) would be pretty low, like around 30ish?

[edit] just read your next comment. According to PCPartPicker, estimated wattage is 138w...I'm assuming that's under load.

[Dougie Fresh]

Max load for an i3-3225 system (4GB RAM, 120GB SSD, H77 mini-ITX motherboard, 120W PSU) is 70W so I don't think a G3220 / H87 is going to be double at 138W unless that 400W PSU is super inefficient.

[allan87]

I don't find any bandwidth issues with a wired pi. I stream 1080i MPEG-2 video (mythTV recordings) from a mac mini to the pi, and it plays perfectly. It starts almost instantly and skipping forward and back is also instant. Wireless is another thing - 1080i MPEG-2 video is too much for wireless on a pi (in my experience) but 1080 mp4s are no problem at all.

Not sure about the idle wattage on your proposed setup. Depends significantly on the standby draw of the PSU.

I guess my point was not so much that you are best off with a pi, but that if the RAM, CPU and GPU in tiny 1 watt device can do the job, why get something so hefty?

[cwide]

Idle should be around 25-30W. Yes. That's what mine does anyway and I have the same type of setup.

It would be very surprising to see it ever reach more than 80W even under load. Maybe if all the HDDs are spinning.

[dagatech]

Max load for an i3-3225 system (4GB RAM, 120GB SSD, H77 mini-ITX motherboard, 120W PSU) is 70W so I don't think a G3220 / H87 is going to be double at 138W unless that 400W PSU is super inefficient.

wow...good to know, thank you! the PSU is 80 plus certified, so it should be reasonable...

I don't find any bandwidth issues with a wired pi. I stream 1080i MPEG-2 video (mythTV recordings) from a mac mini to the pi, and it plays perfectly. It starts almost instantly and skipping forward and back is also instant. Wireless is another thing - 1080i MPEG-2 video is too much for wireless on a pi (in my experience) but 1080 mp4s are no problem at all.

Not sure about the idle wattage on your proposed setup. Depends significantly on the standby draw of the PSU.

I guess my point was not so much that you are best off with a pi, but that if the RAM, CPU and GPU in tiny 1 watt device can do the job, why get something so hefty?

I'd be running wired at least for this device, so that's not an issue. It probably would have the bandwidth for one stream, but my current system already stutters when I try to do two things at once, and who knows what the future holds. The Pi probably would work for my needs today, but I'd rather just build now and be prepared for the future. Sort of tied into that, I like the flexibility of having a full machine. If I want to, next month I could buy an SSD and install Windows 8 to play with it. Or Ubuntu. Or...etc, it's just a lot more flexible in terms of options. But I appreciate the suggestions and information!

Idle should be around 25-30W. Yes. That's what mine does anyway and I have the same type of setup.

It would be very surprising to see it ever reach more than 80W even under load. Maybe if all the HDDs are spinning.

good to know - thanks!

[trent33]

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H87I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.99 @ Amazon)

Replace these two parts with a Celeron 847:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813138368

Or Celeron 1007u
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128598

Save $110. Has 4 SATA ports. Plenty of juice for a Windows or Linux HTPC and/or NAS. Personally I'm waiting for the new Kabinis and Bay Trail Atoms before I upgrade; I want fanless

Also consider dropping down to 4GB RAM; 8GB seems overkill. Another $30 saved there.

I've read that the Pi is insufficient as a NAS device, due to the USB sharing the PCI lane or something like that. I personally use a Pogoplug E02 ($18 on Ebay) with arch linux ARM and 2x 3TB USB HDDs for my low power NAS. But it can't double as a HTPC like the Pi can.

[dagatech]

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H87I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.99 @ Amazon)

Replace these two parts with a Celeron 847:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813138368

Or Celeron 1007u
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128598

Save $110. Has 4 SATA ports. Plenty of juice for a Windows or Linux HTPC and/or NAS. Personally I'm waiting for the new Kabinis and Bay Trail Atoms before I upgrade; I want fanless

Also consider dropping down to 4GB RAM; 8GB seems overkill. Another $30 saved there.

I've read that the Pi is insufficient as a NAS device, due to the USB sharing the PCI lane or something like that. I personally use a Pogoplug E02 ($18 on Ebay) with arch linux ARM and 2x 3TB USB HDDs for my low power NAS. But it can't double as a HTPC like the Pi can.

Thanks! I thought about doing something like that embedded mobo, but again, I want flexibility for the future. I was researching FreeNAS for down the road and apparently it doesn't like some of the lower end boards, so thats one consideration. Mostly, though, I don't want to find myself needing to upgrade again in 2 years. I'd rather go another 5!

I've actually already ordered the RAM, got it on sale for $60. Again, figured it gave me the maximum number of options for the future, I can add another 8gb stick if it ends up being useful.

[trent33]

Yes I suppose if cost or energy efficiency isn't a concern, then the parts you have chosen will likely serve you well for 5 years. In that case, you might as well upgrade to an i3 or i5!

[dagatech]

Yes I suppose if cost or energy efficiency isn't a concern, then the parts you have chosen will likely serve you well for 5 years. In that case, you might as well upgrade to an i3 or i5!

Haha - cost and efficiency are definitely concerns, I just want to find the best balance of everything. I looked at getting an i3, but the differences don't seem worth doubling the price? I don't currently do any transcoding, and I think my android devices can play .mkv files anyway.