[junk]

Hello,

I'm planning on building a thin XMBC-computer. With "thin", I mean with some kind of (small) Solid State Disk (SSD) for the operating system (probably Windows XP stripped-to-the-bone) and all media on storage over Gigabit Ethernet to a some kind of NAS device (tips gratefully accepted :-) ).

Do anyone have a installation like this? Is Gigabit Ethernet fast enough to playback HD-material?

I imagine this solution would be quite nice (if it works) as the HTPC itself could be very small and slim (m-ATX or even mini-ITX). No hard drives => silent. The NAS device could be stuffed away somewhere (wardrobe? ;-) ).

What say you?

[Dwolf]

yes gigabit is fast enough, heck regular 100mbit lan is fine. I use a ssd with vista 32bit (org planned to use xp sp3, but i found vista better with my gpu for anti-tearing)

DG45FC x4500 HDMI Media mITX mobo
Intel e8600 CPU
HIPER HFC-10828-C2 ultra-slim heatsink
Patriot 64gb 2.5'' warp SSD
4gb of Kingston pc6400 RAM
120watt PicoPSU
Aopen S120 mITX case (cheap, tiny, and very nice piano black finish)
Logitech Harmony One Remote + USB-UIRT to control everything

[firewuff]

yes gigabit is fast enough, heck regular 100mbit lan is fine. I use a ssd with vista 32bit (org planned to use xp sp3, but i found vista better with my gpu for anti-tearing)

THe thing to watch with the NAS boxes is not your network speed, you can stream HD over 11G (54Mb/s... Blu-Ray tops out around 40Mb/s) wireless on a good connection (not reliabily). It's depends more on the NAS box'es speed. I've got a Thescus 2100 which isn't bad and had no problems streaming from it but some of the older ones won't keep up.

BTW SSD's arn't all that "thin". Their average power requirments are higher (peak power is lower when compared to a spinning up HDD) and speed is better but not a concern for this application, the also run a lot hotter. I'd stick with a 5400rpm drive for price and power and heat unless this is going in a car or on a trampoline (hehehe...pimp my play set). With 2+ GB of ram you wont notice the difference in performance (except on boot) as your not using the disk in any case.


BRETT

[Snowflake]

I'm running a system like you specify, although i'm running XBMC Live so i'm linux based. Total install is on an 8G USB key, all media streamed from a Promise NS4300N storage array.

The only thing I don't really like is that I have to use SMB (Samba, ie. windows networking) for the connection to the NAS, when i'd prefer to use NFS (which is oodles faster between a Linux-based storage array and a Linux-based xbmc.

Still, no problems yet at 720p. Haven't tried any 1080p yet.

[junk]

Thank you for your inputs!

I didn't know about the heat and power demands on SSD disks, might aswell go for a 5400 RPM instead. The USB-installation sounded interesting though... I've heard that a USB flash memory gets worn down if there's a lot of write operations to it (as it will be if I use it as storage for the OS). Is this true?

The Thecus 2100 seems good, the Promise device might be a little to expensive for me. I guess you're running the HDDs mirrored on the Thecus? I would love to have a NAS device with support for atleast three disks (read RAID-5), but it might be tough with my budget.

[ZTOctavian]

For your NAS try this its what I use and is great!

http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/product...ectID=5052

Takes 2 SATA II drives and is gigabit aswell very quiet just one small fan in back and under load take up only <19 watts.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...=HD-029-BT

Nick

[watzen]

Even though it's gigabit, it only has an throughput of ~7-8 MB/s (56-64Mb/s). Gigabit has the theoretical potential of 125 MB/s. This issue is shared among almost all consumer NAS-devices.

For your NAS try this its what I use and is great!

http://www.raidsonic.de/en/pages/product...ectID=5052

Takes 2 SATA II drives and is gigabit aswell very quiet just one small fan in back and under load take up only <19 watts.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduc...=HD-029-BT

Nick

[ZTOctavian]

This is true! damn marketing folk

DWolf how the hell have you that PSU wired to that board?

I just looked up the board it has the 2 x 12 main connector?
ah... just saw the pico!

I didnt get any PicoPSU in any christmas crackers this year!


Which exact picoPSU and transformer are you using?

Cheers,
Nick.

[Dwolf]

Which exact picoPSU and transformer are you using?

PicoPSU 120W DC-DC + PW12-8.5A AC-DC (110W),
Also using a Molex to 4-Pin P4 12V power adapter

btw, ssd's run cool, at least mine does, barely even anything remotely warm to the touch; I also bought for the fact its completely silent. (the faster performance is just an added bonus)

[Mshake]

it would be nice if you can use windows xp embedded to install xbmc ...unsure of even where to get the license or even to buy it

[Kryspy]

I use FreeNAS on a dual core Intel CPU. FreeNAS will install on much, much older machines than I use.

It is documented that FreeNAS, built on FreeBSD has slow Samba output. The fix is using the embedded install and speed is great. Best of all it is free.

Kryspy

[ZTOctavian]

Well Junk!

Just found a nice case too! prolly one Ill go for:

http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=179

Its the MI-100BK by Apex.

Pros:
It has an imbedded 250watt PSU.
It has a port incase a future mini-ITX mobo you wish to use has PCI-E x16.
Small with glossy black finish - looks nice!
Cheap cheap cheap!

Regards,
Nick.

[junk]

Thank you for all tips! Will definitely look into them!

ZTOctavian, do you have the case, or are you (as me) planning on buying?

[ZTOctavian]

hey dwolf!

Hi Junk,

Planning.... case seems difficult to get!? no longer supported by aopen.

Sorry to hijack your thread but you made need this info anyways!

@ DWOLF
Would this bee the stuff?


http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=10#ac110

Top of the page link ---> picoPSU-120 12V DC-DC ATX PSU
+
Further down ----> 110W AC Universal Adapter 12V 9A


Have you got any where else to get these their bloody expensive!!!!

Thanks again,
Nick.

[nugentgl]

HFX in Austria? sells similar PSU's to the PICO PSU. Might be cheaper if you live in Europe.