[Pwnm30rdi3]

I need to set-up a large server for my media center.
This server will serve as a storage device/ xbpc computer for my theater.
I have another 2 computers set-up to be xbpc for my other 2 rooms.

Budget
$2.5k for server
$1.5k for network w/o cat5 cables and whatnot. (really need help on network config/ set-up) I will be streaming lots of 1080p movies (20-30gb each movie)

Server Part List: Total ~ $2490.00
I was thinking a large case capable for expansion, like this? $300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811219021
5 x 2TB SAMSUNG EcoGreen's? $1,000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822152245
MSI motherboard? $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813130574
Rosewill 1000w? $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817182188
Intel i7 3.4Ghz? $320
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115070
Zimmerman Heat Sink $43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6835118003
6GB of RAM $37
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231223
GeForce GTX 580? $500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814130587

As for the network, idk what to do?
Do I want to run quad port NIC's? How do I set quad port NIC's up, should I run them in a trunk? What kind of routers do I need?
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/n...gt-qp.html

[baldmosher]

Why on earth would you want all your hard disks whirring inside your main PC case? Don't you have a spare room or attic you could use?

Personally I think you're in the wrong place asking the wrong people, but it seems a few in here have big server setups too so you should get some good experience. Most servers are fairly low-powered machines. Fileservers don't need a lot of processing power at all. Media servers don't need much more than that. If you're doing transcoding then you might need a bit more power, but only an i3 or maybe an i5 at a push.

...and if you're not gaming or using complex music production software and VSTs you won't need an i7 in your main PC anyway. Although it sounds like you have money to burn... if so go for it

As regards your network, simple Cat5e/Cat6 gigabit ethernet should do it, you probably won't need any complicated routers unless there are a number of people using the network all streaming transcoded signals & ripping BD rips to the server at the same time. In which case yeah I can see why you might want to go for an i7

But from your first post IMO you're spending 5x what you should be (obviously once you take fixed HDD costs out of the equation)

[Gunserotti]

I bought an Unraid server from here:

Http://www.greenleaf-technology.com/index.php

I have the 22 drive pro. It works flawlessly with XBMC. I can safely say it is the best purchase I have ever made. It requires virtually no maintenance. I have it located in a storage room and it serves the entire house. The owner of the site is a major contributor to the unraid hardware forum. Just a thought....

[cfg9000]

I highly recommend separating your file server from your primary desktop. Even disregarding that, an i7 and a GTX 580 is insanely overkill for XBMC. You don't need even half of your budget to do what you're asking.

Quad NICs? I'm not sure exactly what you think you're going to do that will saturate 4Gbps of network bandwidth. Holy crap.

[Kirky99]

Pardon my chuckle, I'm not sure what you're trying to do here. I've got three clients plus three other PC all working fine on a single Gigabit connection. There's no need I can think of to do the network setup you're proposing.

All three clients are running fine off a lowly Athlon II X2 240e processor. Currently running Windows. 7 x64 Professional and FlexRAID. Currently have 4 2TB drives in there and its fine on a 500w power supply. Granted that video card needs some juice, but I'm not sure why you need that video card either.

[baldmosher]

I'm sorely tempted to steal my old K6-333 machine back from my dad to use as a Linux fileserver..... I'd just need PCI SATA and gigabit ethernet cards. He's still using it, for some reason, despite having a modern laptop. I might try to persuade him to upgrade

I am not sure if that will actually be powerful enough to run W7, but it'd definitely run Linux, I've had it running Windows 2000 server before now.

[prae5]

Before you buy anything, it might be a better idea to sit down and detail exactly what you want to achieve.

In terms of hardware, i would suggest you don't use the server for playback. Keep that purely for server usage, for playback on clients get a few cheap ion based nettops and run openelec or similar on them.

For the server I have the same case with 8x1.5tb, 8x1tb, 5x500gb, 2x80gb and 2x60gb ssds. Great case for the money. I've got a super micro motherboard and a sas expander running all of the hard disks.

I run nexenta on it (opensolaris based) and run zfs on all of my disk pools. It runs couchpotato, sickbeard, sabnzbd for downloads. It runs mysql for shared libraries and also serves out my thumbnails folder and config files.

Network wise I run gig-e throughout the house. The server has a Intel gigabit et dual port card in it and feeds into a hp procurve 1800-24g switch. The switch supports trunking and runs a 2gb trunk between the server and switch. There's no real need for it as I seldom come close to saturating a 1gb connection, but I run it anyway.

Point is, work out what you want to do and what you need to achieve it before you randomly start selecting hardware. It will save you time and money and a lot of hassle in the future.

[wsume99]

Before you buy anything, it might be a better idea to sit down and detail exactly what you want to achieve.

In terms of hardware, i would suggest you don't use the server for playback. Keep that purely for server usage, for playback on clients get a few cheap ion based nettops and run openelec or similar on them.

+ ∞

Start here --> From which Group do you belong!?

1. Figure out what kind of HTPCs you need.
   
2. Determine how much storage you need. It's always a good idea to plan for expansion (which it seems you are on the right track there already with that Norco case which is the best option for a 20 drive server - if you need that kind of space).
   
3. Select server and network hardware to support your bandwith needs. (A gigabit network will be more than enough to stream three HD movies to client HTPCs.)
   

[aptalca]

Is this a joke

$500 GPU in a media server ?? GTX580?!?!?!

[Mallet21]

Like others have said.....You want the server part in 1 box and the XBMC part in another. You shouldn't have any problems accomplishing this within your budget.

[voip-ninja]

I'll add to the chorus. You don't want your HTPC to be some monster server. Build a server or buy a NAS device and keep it in a different area than the HTPC.

If you want to simplify things and have the budget for it, then you can get a very high quality NAS like this one;

http://www.amazon.com/Synology-DiskStati...439&sr=8-1

$800 plus the cost of hard drives. Expandable to 45TB. Virtually zero maintenance. This thing has done a fantastic job at storing all of my files and as a bonus I use it as a Time Machine backup volumes for the Macs in the house.

[aptalca]

I mean even if you do have your media server act as an htpc, you still don't need a GTX580.

A GT 430 or a 520 will do the highest bitrate 3D video just fine.

Is this supposed to be the most expensive server you can build?!?

This is the equivalent of getting an 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck to move a single piece of furniture across town.

[Beer40oz]

unRAID is great! I love mine and it's very easy to use and maintenance free...

[r1lee]

I will be doing something like this, and adding a second server to my setup. My first server has served its purpose and will still be used to surveillance and occasionally backing up my pictures/personal files from the new server. Old server was running...

WHS 2003
Intel Mini-itx board
4GB of ram
Core2Duo
http://www.chenbro.com/corporatesite/pro...php?sku=79
2TB * 1
1TB * 2.

I was receiving up to 70mb/sec transfer rates which was spectactular.

I've decided to do the following and this case will be going into my HT Rack with all my equipment. It will house everything from Videos, Music, Pictures and personal files.
I needed something that was superquiet and rackable. This was the closest i could get.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/chass...865-SQ.cfm

WHS 2011
intel i3-2100T
8GB of ram
Intel Server NIC - I try to keep all NIC's to be Intel only. I have achieved great speeds doing this.
2TB * 5 running in Raid5 (with 2 spares).
OS - running on 128GB SSD's in Raid 1 Mirror.
Video card = ATI 6570 passively cooled.
XBMC installed and fed to my processor.

Every room in the house has a CAT6A connection.
Once done and if I find that its too loud for my HT Room, i will find another place to house it.